Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Using Maxillomandibular Advancement Surgery

Maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) is an invasive but potentially effective surgical option in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) for patients who have difficulty tolerating continuous positive airway pressure and whose OSA has been refractory to other surgical modalities. By advancing the maxillomandibular skeletal framework, the nasopharyngeal, retropalatal, and hypopharyngeal airways are enlarged, resulting in reduced pharyngeal collapsibility during negative-pressure inspiration. Meta-analysis of existing literature has shown a surgical success rate of 86% and an OSA cure rate of 43.2%. This article describes the MMA procedure and demonstrates successful results of the treatment.