Correction of facial asymmetry and maxillary canting with corticotomy and 1-jaw orthognathic surgery.

Abstract

Although 2-jaw orthognathic surgery is a typical recommendation for the treatment

of facial asymmetry, another good treatment alternative is maxillary corticotomy

with temporary skeletal anchorage devices followed by mandibular orthognathic

surgery. The corticotomy procedure described here can achieve unilateral molar

intrusion and occlusal plane canting correction with potentially fewer

complications than 2-jaw orthognathic surgery. The approach allows movement of

dentoalveolar segments in less time than with conventional dental intrusion using

temporary skeletal anchorage devices. A 2-jaw asymmetry with occlusal plane

canting might be corrected using maxillary corticotomy and mandibular

orthognathics rather than 2-jaw orthognathics. Two patients with facial asymmetry

are presented here. In each one, the maxillary cant was corrected over a period

of 2 to 3 months with 3.5 mm of intrusion of the unilateral buccal segment. After

the preorthognathic cant correction, orthognathic surgery was done to correct the

mandibular asymmetry.