The medical field has experienced tremendous technological advancement. Regular inventions and innovations of modern equipment are helping to revolutionize the medical sector. Specialists can now perform some medical procedures, such as surgeries, at ease and with a high level of convenience. One of these technological inventions is piezosurgery.
Piezosurgery has been a perfect technique in the medical field, especially in dental and bone procedures. How much do you know about piezosurgery? Do you know its uses? The following article will outline some of the applications of piezosurgerys in the medical field.
What is Piezosurgery?
Piezosurgery is a special surgical method applied in dentistry using the piezo device to divide or separate hard tissues without interfering with soft tissues. This method is also helpful in other fields and procedures, such as orthognathic and craniofacial surgery. Additionally, the method is crucial in bone cutting in various situations and ensuring the adjacent soft tissues like palatal mucosa, brain, and inferior alveolar nerve are not damaged.
Some of the advantages of using piezosurgery devices include the following;
- With piezosurgery, there is improved visibility which helps to reduce bleeding and cavitation
- The use of a piezo device helps to reduce the risk of damaging adjacent soft tissues
- Due to the reduced noise and micrometric nature of the device, piezosurgerys helps enhance patient comfort and reduce anxiety during a procedure.
- Piezosurgery helps to Increase the survival of osteocytes
Here are Applications of Piezosurgery
1. Dentoalveolar Procedures
Piezosurgery can be used in many dentoalveolar procedures, especially where the separation of meticulous bone is required or when the surgical site location is around essential anatomical structures. Examples where piezosurgerys is used in dentoalveolar include extraction of an impacted molar, extraction of a tooth in a patient with periodontal biotype, and surgical exposure of the impacted teeth. In all these uses, piezosurgery helps to minimize the possibility of tissue damage.
2. Bone Graft Harvesting
Bone grafts are used in bone augmentation in blocks or chips form. These chips are mainly used in guided bone augmentation, especially where graft stabilization is robust, such as in multi-walled defects. Moreover, graft is used for horizontal dimension when the bony defect is significant or is challenging to achieve reliable stabilization. Piezosurgery is essential as it collect various bone grafts, such as free block grafts, bone chips, and microvascular free flaps.
3. Orthognathic Surgery
Piezosurgery devices are highly applied in orthognathic surgery procedures due to their lower risk of damaging adjacent tissues and precision in cutting. For example, when performing an orthognathic procedure such as a surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion (SARME), there is a lower risk of damaging the adjacent palatine artery, especially when separating the nasopalatine artery and making a midline maxillary cut.
4. Aesthetic Facial Surgery
Piezosurgery during rhinoplasty, compared to chisels, lowers the risk of damaging the adjacent tissues significantly. Using a chisel in rhinoplasty tends to be inconvenient and can lead to an increased risk of bleeding. Additionally, the chisel may be inaccurate due to the use of unguarded nature and blind use of the instrument. The piezosurgery device gives you control during the procedure, improving efficiency.
5. Distraction Osteogenesis
Distraction Osteogenesis is required when the soft tissues have covered the bone and can’t allow for proper bone augmentation or when bone lengthening is needed. Piezosurgery is used to carry out an initial osteotomy accurately and delicately, ensuring minimum damage to surrounding hard tissues and soft tissues. This helps to maintain the vascularity required in the formation of new bones. Additionally, using piezosurgery in distraction Osteogenesis procedures helps to preserve bone structure, especially the cancellous bone, which is significant in the healing process.
6. Temporomandibular Joint Surgeries
Using bone-cutting devices, such as saws and burs, may increase the risk of damaging vital structures, such as facial nerves and vessels, such as the internal maxillary artery, during osteoplasty and osteotomy procedures in the temporomandibular joint region. With piezosurgery accuracy in protecting such tissues, this device is highly used in these procedures.
Inferior Alveolar Nerve Preservation
The inferior alveolar nerve preservation is always at high risk whenever the impacted mandibular molars are extracted or when removing benign mandibular tumors is.
Trauma
Piezosurgery devices can be used to reconstruct various trauma cases, such as frontal bar fractures, osteotomize a healing fracture, and cut and shape the inner of a calvarial bone graft while preserving the adjacent tissues. Additionally, using the piezosurgery device in post-traumatic procedures helps to maintain bones, decrease blood loss, and protect adjacent soft tissues. It also ensures enhanced visibility and better results.
Conclusion
Piezosurgery is essential in the medical field. It can be applied in various procedures to ensure accuracy, low tissue damage, and improved outcomes. For example, piezosurgery in rhinoplasty procedures can help minimize the possibility of revision rhinoplasty procedures.
Piezosurgery in maxillofacial and oral surgeries helps to ensure effective and safer osteoplasty or osteotomy, compared to conventional rotating devices such as saw blades and burs. They are also convenient in the most complex surgery areas. This convenience and accuracy have led to the application of piezosurgery in different fields, such as orthopedic surgery, otorhinolaryngology, and neurosurgery. In the future, piezosurgery may be improved and adopted in other medical fields and entirely replace conventional cutting instruments.