The Role of Computer Graphics in Cleft Lip and Palate Education

Abstract

For many years various charities have been sending doctors to developing countries to perform cleft lip and palate surgery. In the course of these missionary trips, visiting doctors can operate on only a limited number of patients. It has become clear that empowering the local surgeon to solve the problem is the solution. The SmileTrain commissioned our laboratory to created a series of CD roms that would instruct surgeons, using a combination of three-dimensional animation and live surgical footage. During the course of production for these CDs, we programmed custom plug-ins into commercial animation software (Maya 1 Alias) that would allow us to perform surgery techniques on a digital model of a unilateral and bilateral patient. The next phase of the project was to create a surgical simulator. From the animation project, we had developed a work flow for virtual surgery simulation. Using many of the concepts from the animation project, we were able to program a real-time virtual surgical simulator using Cþþ. The deformer-based surgery simulator is a stand-alone application that can allow a doctor to practice, record, and review a surgery in a safe digital environment.