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Updated: Dec 7, 2025

A Postoperative Evaluation Guideline for Computer-Assisted Reconstruction of the Mandible
Published on: January 28, 2020
The three-dimensional evaluation of positional change in mandibular condyle after intraoral vertical ramus osteotomy
1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Key Laboratory of Oral Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Oral Disease, Stomatology Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510140, China.
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to compare the changes of the condylar axis, the anteroposterior condylar position relative to the glenoid fossa, after intraoral vertical ramus osteotomy (IVRO).
Study Design:
21 patients diagnosed as skeletal class III malocclusion underwent IVRO and were followed according to the authors' postoperative management regimen. The three-dimensional positions of the condyles were evaluated by cone-beam computerized tomography (CBCT) at pre-op, post-op, and at follow-up. CBCT images were referenced to assess the condylar axis change and the anteroposterior condylar position in the glenoid fossa. A repeated-measures analysis of variance (P<0.05) also was performed.
Results:
After surgery, both the axial condylar angles and the anteroposterior condylar position were significantly different (P<0.05). The coronal condylar axis rotated outwardly. The anteroposterior condylar position in the glenoid fossa had moved from the concentric to the anterior position. But the condyle changes between post-op and follow-up (P>0.05) were insignificant.
Conclusions:
With postoperative intermaxillary elastic traction, the condyles changed their positions physiologically for newly established jaw movement after IVRO.

