In this work, we present a generic approach for biomechanical simulation of two typical boundary value problems arising in
cranio-maxillofacial surgery planning, i.e. the prediction of patient’s postoperative appearance for a given rearrangement
of bones and the reverse optimization of individual facial implants for a desired correction of facial outline. The paper
describes the basic methodology for the generation of individual geometrical models from tomographic data, incorporation of
the boundary conditions, finite element modeling of tissue biomechanics and experimental results of applied clinical studies.
Keywords cranio-maxillofacial surgery planning - soft tissue biomechanics - finite element analysis - implant optimization - rapid prototyping