Changes in the facial soft-tissue profile after mandibular orthognathic surgery.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the correlation between soft- and hard-tissue changes after mandibular orthognathic surgery, to generate precise prognostic values for the esthetic treatment outcome of the facial profile. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, sagittal changes in the facial soft tissue profile in relation to surgical changes in hard structures after mandibular osteotomy were examined. The sample population included 144 reported adult patients aged 17-50 years who had received combined mandibular orthognathic surgery and orthodontic treatment at the Department of Orthodontics, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Germany. Both mandibular advancement and mandibular setback cases in monognathic and bignathic osteotomy procedures were included. All subjects had undergone rigid fixation. A cephalometric analysis of presurgical and postsurgical cephalograms was performed, and the correlations between hard-tissue and soft-tissue change ratios were evaluated using a bivariate linear regression analysis. RESULTS: The lower lip, represented by the landmark Labrale inferius (Li), followed the lower incisor (Ii) by 77%. The soft-tissue B-point (B') followed the B-point (B) by 97% and the soft-tissue Pogonion (Pg') followed the Pogonion (Pg) by 97% in a linear correlation. CONCLUSION: The scatterplots show a distinct linear correlation and no significant difference in the direction of the movement. A wider spread for the lower lip (Li/Ii) indicates a lower predictability of the expected lip position, whereas a narrow spread of the chin values (B'/B and the Pg'/Pg) reveals a very good predictability of the postoperative chin position. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This study contributes valid data for the soft-tissue profile prediction in orthognathic surgery.