title: Long-term soft tissue changes after orthodontic and surgical corrections of skeletal class III malocclusions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate long-term soft tissue changes after orthodontic and surgical corrections of skeletal Class III malocclusions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Postoperative cephalometric radiographs at 1 year and at 5 years or more after treatment were digitized for 92 patients who had surgical correction of their Class III problem by LeFort I maxillary advancement (n = 48), mandibular setback (n = 12), or a combination of the two procedures (n = 32) and for 25 patients who received orthodontic treatment only.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For all groups, the mean changes were quite small. For most measurements, fewer than 20% of patients experienced long-term changes from 2 mm to 4 mm, and fewer than 10% experienced long-term changes greater than 4 mm.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A smaller percentage of surgically treated Class III patients showed long-term soft tissue changes than did surgically treated Class II patients, but compared with both Class II patients and untreated adults they experienced greater long-term forward projection of the soft tissue chin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7450, USA.
authors.forename: L'Tanya J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: Amy Joslin
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Dover
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Proffit
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002508:Cephalometry; D002680:Chin / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008313:Malocclusion, Angle Class III / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy; D008334:Mandible / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D008437:Maxilla / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000379:methods*; D019340:Osteotomy, Le Fort; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome