Surgical correction of infraorbital-maxillary deficiency

Patients who have a maxilla that is retruded or hypoplastic, or both, but who have a mandible of normal position and size, will have degrees of flatness in the middle third of the face. Using systematic clinical evaluation and cephalometric skeletal analysis, a clinically recognizable facial deformity manifested by retrusion or hypoplasia, or both, of the maxilla, anterior zygoma, and infraorbital rims has been recognized. This deformity has been classified as infraorbital maxillary deficiency. The purpose of this paper is to describe an infraorbital-maxillary osteotomy for correction of this dentofacial deformity and to give a rationale for its use. The design of this osteotomy is determined by the skeletal deformity and can be classified as either low or high. The objective is to produce simultaneously a functional occlusion and facial harmony. Two of eight cases corrected by this surgical treatment are described.