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Updated: Mar 27, 2026
A Postoperative Evaluation Guideline for Computer-Assisted Reconstruction of the Mandible
Published on: January 28, 2020
[Cone-beam computed tomography evaluation of upper airway change in skeletal Class III patients after
Hongwei Wang1, Suqing Qi2, Ming Yan
1Department of Orthodontics, Hebei Eye Hospital, Xingtai Hebei 054001, China.
Objective:
To evaluate the short-term and long-term effects of pharyngeal airway in mandibular prognathism patients after the combined orthodontic and orthognathic treatment.
Methods:
The sample included 28 skeletal Class III patients (13 males, 15 females) who had undergone mandibular setback surgery and orthodontic treatment. Cone-beam CT was taken one week before treatment (T0), 6 months (T1) and 3 years after surgery (T2). Raw data were reconstructed into three-dimensional model. Sagittal and transversal measurements, cross sectional areas, partial and total volumes were computed.
Results:
Six months after surgery, oropharyngeal volume [(9 021 ± 4 263) mm³], hypopharyngeal volume [(9 236 ± 5 963) mm³] and total volume [(28 619 ± 9 854) mm³] decreased significantly (P < 0.05). Three years after surgery, only sagittal diameters [(15.9 ± 3.5) mm] and cross sectional areas [(996 ± 398) mm²] in the first cervical vertebra plane came back to the original levels (P > 0.05).
Conclusions:
The pharyngeal airway space decreased after orthodontic-orthognathic therapy in the short term and it increased in some areas in the long term.
