Our experience with sagittal split osteotomy for retrognathia.
Twenty-six cases which had been operated upon for retrognathia are reviewed. Most of these patients were unmarried, young individuals, and the improvement in their self-image and appearance was the major benefit from the surgical procedure: a lesser number felt the improvement in their bite and function was more important. Relapse, weakness of the lower lip, and numbness of the lower lip were the 3 most common complications. They occurred with sufficient frequency to encourage us to find a surgical approach with less morbidity for this problem of skeletal asymmetry. Perhaps a "C" cut (as champion;ed by Hinds), a forward block of the mandible with cartilage (as described by Trauner), or a vertical cut of the ramus with the posterior fragment notched into the anterior fragment (Mehnert), would yield results with fewer undesirable effects.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000601:surgery; D010027:Osteotomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D063173:Retrognathia / Q000601:surgery*