The influence of orthognathic surgery on masticatory performance in retrognathic patients

Abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by Dr Trevor Watts

Abstract

Controls chewed significantly better than subjects both before and after surgery, but there was a tendency for improvement after surgery in those subjects with poor pre-surgical chewing performance.

Main

van den Braber W, van der Bilt A et al. J Oral Rehabil 2005; 32: 237–241

One aim of orthognathic surgery is improvement of function. In this study, 11 patients (mean age 24.8 yrs) were tested before and 1-1.5 yrs after surgery. Controls were 12 patients (25.1) with class 1 occlusion. All subjects had complete dentitions and no TMJ disorders. Chewing tests were made with silicone rubber cubes, followed by sieving.

There was no significant reduction in median particle size after chewing for 15 or 30 cycles for the group of 11 subjects after surgery. Control patients reduced particle size by about ¼ more than subjects in these tests. Change in median particle size after surgery was inversely correlated with pre-surgical size (r= −0.7; P< 0.05), implying that subjects with poor pre-surgery performance tended to improve.