A 3-DIMENSIONAL SOFT-TISSUE ANALYSIS OF 15 PATIENTS WITH CLASS-II, DIVISION-1 MALOCCLUSIONS AFTER BIMAXILLARY SURGERY

A three-dimensional soft tissue study of the results of surgery in a group of 15 women with Class II, Division 1 malocclusions after orthognathic surgery was performed with laser scans.1 A group of 30 women with Class I malocclusions ages between 19 and 25 years were used as controls. Laser scans were taken before surgery, 3 months after surgery, and at least 1 year after retention. The skeletal 2 patients were shown to have a narrowing of the face over the maxillary complex, checks, the nose, as well as around the alar bases, the so called ''adenoid facies.'' There was also the expected mandibular deficiency. The effects of the bimaxillary surgery were not simply confined to the maxilla and the mandible, with soft tissue changes extending as far as the outer canthi of the eyes, There was very little relapse in the group as a whole from the third month to 1 year after surgery. This technique has proved to be a simple noninvasive method of measuring three dimensionally. It has proven to be a very useful tool in auditing surgical outcome and measuring surgical relapse.