Changes in the lip profile of patients that undergone Le Fort I maxillary orthognathic surgery

Luciano Mauro DEL SANTO, Ricardo Pires de SOUZA, Marinho DEL SANTO JR., Élcio MARCANTONIO

The literature has described that the predictability of the outcomes of orthognatic corrections in soft tissues is limited, because it shows signiicant variation and it does not offer inal conclusions, limiting its clinical applications. The goal of this article is to retrospectively study the effects of maxillary orthognathic surgeries, Le Fort I type, in upper and lower lips of adult patients. Moreover, it intends to discuss the problems involved in this research area. The sample was constituted of 19 Caucasian adults, aging from 19 to 42 year-old, being10 male and 9 female, that undergone maxillary orthognathic surgery in CEDEFACE (Araraquara – SP). The vast majority of the cases presented a signiicant discrepancy, antero posterior, vertical or both, reinforcing its surgical recommendation. Signiicant changes in soft tissues were observed when skeletal changes, antero posterior or vertical, were signiicant. The proportion of approximately 0.6:1 soft to hard tissue changes was observed in the upper lip. Vertical changes in the maxilla without signiicant horizontal changes were not suficient to vertically increase the upper lip size. Antero posterior changes in the lower lip as a consequence of the forward and downward maxillary relocation allow better lip posture. Vertical changes in the lower lip were not quantiied.

Keywords: Maxillary surgery. Le Fort I osteotomy. Facial profile. Lip profile.

Thursday, May 02, 2024 04:03