Soft tissue profile changes after mandibular vestibuloplasty. A two-year follow-up study comparing the Edlan flap,...

It is the aim of the present study to examine the pattern of postoperative changes in the soft tissue profile of 50 edentulous patients after 3 common types of mandibular vestibuloplasty, the Edlan flap operation (n = 15), the buccal mucosal graft (n = 19), and the skin graft vestibuloplasty (n = 16). The soft tissue profile changes were recorded on lateral cephalometric radiographs taken preoperatively, and after 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months post surgery. The 3 groups did not differ with respect to clinical features or presurgical cranio-facial morphology. Neither was any significant difference in postoperative profile changes found between the groups. The surgery gave rise, directly and indirectly, to a number of changes in the facial soft tissue profile many of which were interrelated. The chin thickness increased by 2.3 mm, and the lower lip height exhibited a reduction of 1.8 mm at 1 month after surgery as a direct consequence of the operation. After 3 months the profile changes were mostly associated with the reduction of the anterior face height (overclosure).