Comparison of methods to assess neurosensory alterations following orthognathic surgery.

Orthognathic surgery may damage branches of the trigeminal nerve, resulting in postoperative neurosensory disturbances. Alterations may be due to surgical edema, stretching, or direct trauma to the nerve. Lack of a standard and objective method of assessment hinders efforts to study and/or reduce the incidence of neurosensory disturbances. This study compared three methods of assessing neurosensory disturbances in patients who underwent bilateral mandibular ramus sagittal split osteotomies. Forty patients (26 female, 14 male) ranging in age from 23 to 47 years participated in the study. All of the patients had bilateral mandibular ramus sagittal split osteotomies and were stabilized with rigid skeletal fixation. Neurosensory testing was performed prior to surgery, and at 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year following surgery. Methods of assessment included two-point discrimination, threshold to electrical stimulation, and somatosensory evoked potentials. Threshold to electrical stimulation and two-point discrimination were obtained by the two-alternate forced choice technique.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)