Postural assessment in class III patients before and after orthognathic surgery

This study aimed to assess body posture before and after bimaxillary orthognathic surgery by photogrammetry in skeletal class III patients.

Thirty-one patients with skeletal class III dentofacial deformities (14 men, 17 women) who underwent orthodontic preparation for surgery were included in this non-randomized controlled trial. Of these, 15 who did not undergo orthognathic surgery during the period of this study served as controls. Postural assessment was performed by photogrammetry using SAPO® (Postural Assessment Software) based on anterior-, posterior-, and lateral-view images taken 1 month before and 4 months after bimaxillary orthognathic surgery with internal rigid fixation (or 4 months after the initial assessment, for the control group). The study was approved by PUCRS Research Ethics Committee, and written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants prior to their inclusion in the study.

There was no significant difference between groups for age, gender, and GAP. In the intervention group, the right leg/hindfoot angle, which initially indicated a valgus deformity, normalized after intervention (P < 0.048). Posterior displacement of the head (P < 0.005) and trunk (P < 0.004) were observed after intervention.

These results suggest that correction of class III dentofacial deformities by bimaxillary orthognathic surgery can produce systemic postural adjustments, especially posterior displacement of the head and trunk and knee and ankle valgus.