It is known that orthognathic surgery influences the pharyngeal airway of patients: following the repositioning of the skeletal component the morphology of soft the tissues (in particular, the soft palate, tongue, pharyngeal tissues, and the hyoid bone) are altered. Whether these changes are kept at long follow-up is unknown. We answered this question looking at the morphological changes of the upper airway in a group of 50 orthognathic surgery patients five year after intervention.
Learning Objectives:
After this session, attendees will be able to:
Describe how the morphology of the upper airway is changing following orthognathic surgery.
Demonstrate whether these changes are still present 5 year after intervention.
Illustrate that assessing only the volumetric changes (total and partial volumes) of the upper airway might not be sufficient to fully characterize its complex morphology and the changes caused by surgical intervention.
