Maxillofacial imaging in the trauma patient.

Recent advances in imaging systems, software, and the use of additive manufacturing techniques have provided unprecedented opportunities for evaluation of both hard and soft tissues for presurgical planning, custom implant fabrications, and surgical guides. Standardization of the medical image files as digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) has made possible the development of software that can evaluate, manipulate, and reformat medical images that make them easily converted to file formats to fabricate medical models and custom devices from industrial manufacturing processes. These standards are applied to all medical capture devices to include magnetic resonance, ultrasound, conventional computed tomography (CT) scans, and dental cone beam CT (CBCT) ensuring that all of these files are compatible with picture archiving and communication systems, which store and provide access from multiple modalities.