Change in soft tissue in relation to that in hard tissue following orthognathic surgery was evaluated. Twenty-five patients were enrolled in the study. The diagnosis in all was jaw deformity (maxillary retrusion and mandibular protrusion) and all underwent a Le Fort I osteotomy and bilateral sagittal splitting ramus osteotomy. Three-dimensional (3D) computer-aided design (CAD) models (polygon models) of the hard and soft tissue of the maxilla and mandible were constructed and superimposed. Reference points were established on the pre- and postoperative hard and soft tissues. Specific elements of each reference point were divided into X, Y, and Z components, respectively, and the distances in each direction and 3D distance (normal distance) measured. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine differences in the mean values for the distance moved of each element as the error between pre- and postoperatively. The results revealed statistically significant differences in the Y-direction in the maxilla and the X- and Z-directions in the mandible. A significant difference was also observed in the 3D distances of the maxilla and mandible. Little evidence was found of linearity between the amount of hard and soft tissue movement in the X- and Z-directions in the maxilla. This means that 3D movement in the maxilla was masked more by changes in the morphology of the soft tissue than in the mandible, making it less evident. The results of this study suggest that the 3D analysis method used enables changes in hard and soft tissues to be understood qualitatively, and that it can be used in diagnosis and treatment in orthognathic surgery. It may also be useful in simulation of morphological change in soft tissue.
Keywords: 3D imaging; Facial profile; Orthognathic surgery; Osteotomy.