Soft Tissue Changes after Jaw Surgery in Class III Malocclusion Patients

Lee, So Yeon; Park, Beyoung Yun

Abstract

Orthognathic surgery for Class III malocclusion requires elaborate preoperative planning using cephalometries or Mock surgery models which would enable the surgeon to anticipate postoperative skeletal changes of maxilla and mandible as well as dentition. However, soft tissue changes after skeletal relocation is difficult to foresee. Current studies on this issue discusses the influence of numerous factors, such as the thickness of soft tissue, tonicity of musculature and other variables among individuals making postoperative soft tissue change a challenging prediction. However, the patient's satisfaction is greatly influenced by appearance of soft tissue change after orthognathic surgery, therefore it is imperative to predict a relatively accurate soft tissue change prior to surgery. Unexpected soft tissue changes such as the increase of the width of nose after maxilla advancement or increase of the width between mandibular angle after mandible setback can embarrass the surgeon on otherwise successful outcome. Despite its importance there has been only a few systematically studied reports on this subject. A 10 year retrospective study was designed to evaluate the soft tissue change after orthognathic surgery for class III malocclusion. Analysis of preoperative and postoperative arthropometric measurements were performed. Although variables exist to cloud proper assessment of soft tissue change after skeletal relocation, this study may serve as a future guide in prediction of soft tissue change after skeletal relocation.