Duration of orthodontic treatment in conjunction with orthognathic surgery.

Patients considering undergoing combined orthodontic-orthognathic treatment for correction of malocclusion require appropriate information, particularly with respect to duration of treatment. The primary aim of this study was to determine the duration of orthodontic treatment carried out in conjunction with orthognathic surgery and to analyze the influence of selected explanatory variables. A further aim was to compare the duration of orthodontic treatment in patients treated by orthodontists at Linköping University hospital orthodontic clinic and six regional orthodontic clinics. This is a retrospective study, based on data from the orthodontic records of patients who had undergone orthognathic surgery at the University Hospital Maxillofacial Unit in Linköping, Sweden, from 2000 to 2005. The subjects comprised 207 out of 233 patients (107 women and 100 men), aged 15.8-56.9 years, median 24.2 years at the time of surgery: 26 patients were excluded, either diagnosed with a syndrome, or because it was impossible to follow up the entire treatment. 59 subjects had undergone orthodontic treatment at the University hospital orthodontic clinic and 148 at the 6 regional orthodontic clinics. The variables recorded were gender, malocclusion, the number of appointments (scheduled and emergency) and treatment setting. The median value for pre-operative orthodontic treatment time was 19.2 months (range 2.4-68.4); for postoperative orthodontic treatment 4.6 months (range 0-18.8) and for total orthodontic treatment 27.8 months (range 5.9-79.1). For the University hospital orthodontic clinic, pre-operative (16.7 months) and total orthodontic treatment times (25 months) were significantly shorter than for the regional clinics; the duration of postoperative treatment was significantly longer (4.1 months). No other explanatory variables had a significant influence on the duration of orthodontic treatment. Compared with the regional orthodontic clinics, there were significantly fewer scheduled appointments at the University hospital orthodontic clinic, but no significant difference in emergency attendance.