[A new procedure for profile prognosis in the surgical displacement of the maxilla and the mandible].

One of the most important goals of combined orthodontic-surgical treatment is the harmonization of the soft tissue profile. For a reliable prognosis of the soft tissue profile after surgical intervention, the soft tissue response to hard tissue displacements should be analysed in regard to horizontal and vertical effects. The material consists of the pre- and postsurgical cephalograms of 40 patients who underwent a Le Fort I osteotomy, 54 patients with displacement of the mandible by means of a sagittal split (Obwegeser/DalPont), and 42 patients with combined upper and lower repositioning. In contrast with recent investigations, the analysis of the soft tissue response was not based on the conventional landmarks. Instead of this, changes of the entire soft tissue profile were analysed in relation with the underlying outline of the hard tissue. The processed material resulted in numerical data which permit the elaboration of a profile prognosis with distinction of horizontal and vertical effects also taking the error assessment into account.