| Objectives: The purpose of this study was to test the method of the Four Faces of Orthognathic Surgery® in regards to surgical accuracy and the ability to transfer this method to an academic setting. Methods: An experimental group consisted of 15 patients from a university setting and 17 patients from a private practice setting. Lateral cephalograms were taken immediately prior to the orthognathic procedure and post-operatively within six weeks. Pre-surgical, post-surgical cephalograms, and the hand generated surgical predictions were collected from the sample. The differences of planned and actual changes to incision were then analyzed to determine whether or not a statistical significance existed with respect to the following variables: surgical team, surgical complexity, and direction of maxillary movement. Results: The private practice sample evaluated in this study shows that 100% of the patients were treated to within 1mm of prediction. The university team sample had a greater variation in surgical accuracy than the private practice team with 87% of the patients treated within 2mm of prediction and 53% treated within 1mm of prediction. However, this variation is not statistically significant. When surgical complexity and the primary direction of maxillary movement were compared, no significant differences were found. Conclusions: The Four Faces of Orthognathic Surgery® is a significantly accurate method of surgically repositioning the maxilla to a planned treatment goal and is a very transferable method to assure accurate repositioning of a maxilla in an academic setting. |
