ABSTRACT
Problems and failures in orthodontic-orthognathic surgical treatment are frequently discussed among colleagues, but not often written about. This lack of documentation may be attributed to a natural inclination for us to report our successes and hide our failures. More positively, we believe the lack of written material on complications probably relates more to the overwhelming success rate in these procedures than to an inclination to hide failures. In addition, some complications are clearly a result of the orthodontic care before and/or after the surgical procedure. This article concentrates on exploring the many complications in orthognathic surgery that are more a result of the orthodontic phase of care, and how the orthodontist can react to and manage surgical complications to achieve a successful result. The more the orthodontist understands the nature of surgical problems, the more able he/she is to manage them.
Subject(s)
Malocclusion/etiology , Malocclusion/surgery , Oral Surgical Procedures/adverse effects , Orthodontics, Corrective/adverse effects , Bone Resorption/etiology , Humans , Jaw Fixation Techniques/adverse effects , Malocclusion/therapy , Mandibular Condyle/physiopathology , Orthodontics, Corrective/methods , Postoperative Complications/prevention & control , Preoperative Care/adverse effects , Treatment FailureABSTRACT
A sample of 34 growing Class II patients was used to assess the reliability of manual and computer-generated visual treatment objectives (VTOs) when compared with the actual treatment results. Skeletal, dental, and soft tissue measurements were performed on the VTO and on the posttreatment tracings. Using paired t-tests and Pearson correlation coefficients, comparisons were made between the VTO and posttreatment tracings. Both the manual and computer VTO methods were accurate when predicting skeletal changes that occurred during treatment. However, both methods were only moderately successful in forecasting dental and soft tissue alterations during treatment. Only slight differences were seen between the manual and computer VTO methods, with the computer being slightly more accurate with the soft tissue prediction. However, the differences between the two methods were not judged to be clinically significant. Overall, the prediction tracings were accurate to only a moderate degree, with marked individual variation evident throughout the sample.
