title: Surgical Class III treatment: long-term stability and patient perceptions of treatment outcome.
abstract: To evaluate long-term changes after surgical correction of skeletal Class III deformity, postoperative cephalometric radiographs at 1 year and 2 or more years postsurgery were digitized for 92 patients who had received either a bilateral sagittal split osteotomy for mandibular setback, Le Fort I maxillary advancement, or a combination of the two procedures. Patients' perceptions of treatment were determined by four self-administered questionnaires: satisfaction, postsurgical perception of occlusion and function, problems with facial sensation, and postsurgical perceptions. From 1 year to longest follow-up, there were almost no mean changes in landmark positions for the maxillary advancement group and minimal mean changes in the mandibular setback and two-jaw groups. In all three groups, more than 90% of the patients showed no clinically significant long-term changes, which suggests that long-term changes are less likely after Class III than Class II treatment. At long-term recall, 89% of the patients expressed satisfaction with their treatment and would recommend it to others, 74% reported improved social interaction, and 63% said their appearance changed as they expected. The predominant problems reported were altered facial sensation for 67% of the patients and surprise at the length of recovery for 52%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, University of North Carolina School of Dentistry, Chapel Hill 27599-7450, USA.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Duong
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Proffit
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002508:Cephalometry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008313:Malocclusion, Angle Class III / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D010027:Osteotomy / Q000379:methods; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome