Severity and Outcome Assessment score: a useful tool for auditing orthognathic surgery

Area of Science:

• Orthognathic surgery assessment
• Cephalometric analysis in orthodontics
• Clinical outcome auditing

Background:

• Lack of a universally adopted scoring system for orthognathic surgery in the UK.
• Importance of standardized objective measures for service provision and treatment allocation.
• Need for robust clinical governance in orthognathic pathways.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the experience of using the Severity and Outcome Assessment (SOA) tool.
• To demonstrate the utility of a standardized, objective measure for auditing orthognathic treatment outcomes.
• To highlight the SOA tool's role in case selection and resource allocation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Severity and Outcome Assessment (SOA) tool, developed by BOS and BAOMS.
• Employed 7 cephalometric skeletal, dental, and soft tissue measures to generate an overall score.
• Applied the SOA tool for auditing treatment outcomes within an NHS orthognathic team since August 2006.

Main Results:

• The SOA tool provides a quick, simple, and reproducible method for assessing patients.
• The tool facilitates objective measurement for auditing treatment outcomes in orthognathic surgery.
• Experience demonstrates the practical application of the SOA tool in a clinical setting.

Conclusions:

• The Severity and Outcome Assessment (SOA) tool offers a standardized approach to evaluating orthognathic surgery patients.
• Objective assessment via the SOA tool is valuable for auditing treatment outcomes and improving clinical governance.
• The SOA tool is a practical and reproducible method for enhancing the orthognathic pathway.