Planning
Planning for the surgery usually involves input from a multidisciplinary team. Involved professionals are oral and maxillofacial surgeons, plastic surgeons, ENT surgeons, orthodontists, and speech and language therapist. As the surgery usually results in a noticeable change in the patient's face a psychological assessment is occasionally required to assess patient's need for surgery and its predicted effect on the patient.
Radiographs and photographs are taken to help in the planning and there is software to predict the shape of the patient's face after surgery, which is useful both for planning and for explaining the surgery to the patient and the patient's family. Advanced software can allow the patient to see the predicted results of the surgery.
The main goals of orthognathic surgery are to achieve a correct bite, an aesthetic face and an enlarged airway. While correcting the bite is important, if the face is not considered the resulting bony changes might lead to an unaesthetic result. Orthognathic surgery is also available as a very successful treatment (90-100%) for obstructive sleep apnea. Great care needs to be taken during the planning phase to maximize airway patency.
Read more about this topic: Orthognathic Surgery
Famous quotes containing the word planning:
“When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
“Few men in our history have ever obtained the Presidency by planning to obtain it.”
—James A. Garfield (1831–1881)
“In the planning and designing of new communities, housing projects, and urban renewal, the planners both public and private, need to give explicit consideration to the kind of world that is being created for the children who will be growing up in these settings. Particular attention should be given to the opportunities which the environment presents or precludes for involvement of children with persons both older and younger than themselves.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)