Search PubMedSearch

Biomedical subjects

W R Proffit

Publications and source records attributed to W R Proffit.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Superior repositioning of the maxilla combined with mandibular advancement: mandibular RIF improves stability.

Postsurgical changes in 24 patients who had rigid internal fixation (RIF) of the mandible with screws after combined superior repositioning of the maxilla and mandibular advancement were compared with 53 patients who underwent the same surgery but who had intraosseous wire fixation, skeletal suspension wires, and 8 weeks of maxillomandibular fixation (MMF). During the first 8 weeks after surgery, the mean posterior relapse of the mandible was greater in the MMF group than in the RIF group (for example, -1.1 mm versus 0.15 mm at B point), and the percentage of patients with clinically significant vertical and horizontal changes was greater in the MMF group. By 1 year, there had been slight additional mean relapse in the MMF group (-1.5 mm net relapse at B point, with 42% of the patients showing 2 mm or more relapse). In the RIF group, the mandible was more likely to be repositioned forward than posteriorly (net mean change at B point, 0.7 mm forward; 33% had 2 mm or more forward movement). In the RIF group, all but one of the patients (96%) were judged to have an excellent clinical result; in the MMF group, the corresponding figure was 60%.

Adult

A comparison of outcomes of orthodontic and surgical-orthodontic treatment of Class II malocclusion in adults.

The treatment outcome for skeletal Class II malocclusion was reviewed in 33 nongrowing patients who were treated with orthodontics alone (by premolar extraction and tooth movement to camouflage the skeletal problem) and in 57 patients treated for similar problems with surgery and orthodontics (with mandibular advancement and with tooth movement to reduce rather than increase dental compensation for the skeletal deformity). Cephalometric and dental cast changes were scored to quantitate treatment effects. Two approaches were used to determine the treatment efficacy (the relative success of treatment): (1) whether the final value for a measurement criterion (such as an overjet and an ANB angle) fell within the normal range, and (2) the quantitative amount of correction produced relative to an "ideal" value. In addition, a panel of judges was used to rate esthetic changes from pretreatment and posttreatment facial slides. Both orthodontic treatment and surgical-orthodontic treatment improved the malocclusion as judged from dental casts. Surgery resulted in greater reduction of overjet and greater improvement in most cephalometric skeletal, dental, and soft tissue criteria. Before treatment, the surgical patients had lower esthetic ratings than the orthodontics-only patients. After treatment, the esthetic ratings for the orthodontic patients were unchanged. The surgical patients had improved but not to the pretreatment level of the orthodontics patients.

Adult

Stability of surgical maxillary expansion.

Stability after transverse expansion of the maxilla via Le Fort I osteotomy with segments was evaluated in 39 patients. The average expansion was 5.4 mm at the second molars, decreasing almost linearly to 2.8 mm at the first premolars. Postsurgical relapse also was greatest at the second molars, averaging 2.6 mm. The percentage of relapse was greatest posteriorly, decreasing from 49% at the second molars to 30% at the first premolars. Considerable variability in stability followed surgery: Three-fourths of the patients had some relapse at the first molars (greater than 3 mm in 28%), but one fourth were stable. Sixty-two percent of the patients had a net posttreatment gain in arch width at the first molars. No correlation was found between transverse relapse and the type of presurgical orthodontic tooth movement, the use of rigid fixation, or the use of an auxiliary stabilizing arch wire. The amount of postsurgical relapse was significantly greater in those who had concurrent mandibular surgery. To improve clinical results with surgical expansion, we recommend (1) moderate overexpansion at surgery for major transverse changes, (2) maintenance of the occlusal splint for at least 6 weeks, and (3) use of a lingual arch wire or auxiliary labial arch wire to maintain molar width during postsurgical orthodontics.

Adult

Surgical versus orthodontic correction of skeletal Class II malocclusion in adolescents: effects and indications.

To clarify the effects of orthodontic versus surgical treatment and to distinguish more clearly those Class II patients who can be treated successfully with orthodontics alone, we compared three groups of adolescents: forty patients treated successfully with orthognathic surgery, 40 patients treated successfully with orthodontics alone, and 21 patients whose orthodontic treatment was judged to be unsuccessful. Successful surgical treatment was accomplished largely by bringing the mandible forward, but this involved vertically repositioning the maxilla, alone or in combination with advancing the mandible, in 40% of the patients. Successful orthodontic treatment resulted from a combination of retraction of the maxillary incisors and protraction of the mandibular incisors; most of the successfully treated group also had significant vertical growth, and 40% had greater than 2 mm anteroposterior growth. The unsuccessfully treated orthodontic patients initially had greater overjet, more severe mandibular deficiency, and greater anterior facial height than those treated successfully; they also had less retraction of the maxillary incisors and less growth during treatment. In Class II adolescents beyond the growth spurt, surgery is likely to be needed for successful correction of the malocclusion if the overjet is greater than 10 mm, especially if the distance from pogonion to nasion perpendicular is 18 mm or more, mandibular body length is less than 70 mm, or facial height is greater than 125 mm.

Adolescent

Surgical-orthodontic correction of mandibular deficiency: five-year follow-up.

Changes in dental and skeletal relationships at 5 years postsurgery were evaluated in a group of 35 patients whose mandibular deficiency had been corrected by the same surgeon, using sagittal split osteotomy of the mandibular ramus. From 1 to 5 years postsurgery, there was a small (0.9-mm) but statistically significant mean decrease in mandibular length (condylion to point B). In six patients, the decrease in mandibular length was 2 to 4 mm, and in two it was more than 4 mm, but only one of these individuals had more than a 2-mm increase in overjet. There was no mean change in overjet, but three patients had a 2 to 4-mm increase. Of these, one had 3.2 mm shortening of the mandible, one had 1.4 mm shortening of the mandible, and one had no change in mandibular length but repositioning of the incisors. Most patients had a deep overbite initially, and there was a tendency for the bite to deepen between the first and fifth years postoperatively, more as a result of extrusion of incisors than of mandibular rotation. Remodeling of the gonial angle area, with vertical and/or horizontal repositioning of gonion, was noted in more than half the subjects. It appears that morphologic changes related to continued skeletal remodeling, often compensated for by small changes in mandibular posture or tooth positions, continue after 1 year postsurgery for many patients.

Adolescent

Magnetostrictive calibration of a precision optical measurement device for studies of tooth eruption.

In order to calibrate a precision-measuring instrument for studies of tooth eruption, a calibration device capable of repositioning an optical grating in steps accurate to at least 0.02 microns was required. At this level, piezoelectric and similar pushers encounter problems. A new calibration device based on the magnetostrictive properties of nickel was developed. Accuracy better than 0.02 microns was verified by relating its movements to the wavelength of the green line of mercury, and the device was successfully used to calibrate the instrument for establishing tooth position. Magnetostriction offers a way to calibrate precision measurement instruments for other applications.

Bicuspid

The effect of orthognathic surgery on head posture.

Changes in resting head and neck posture were studied in 201 patients following five different orthognathic surgery procedures: (1) LeFort I osteotomy for superior repositioning (intrusion) of the maxilla (n = 45); (2) bilateral sagittal split ramus osteotomy for mandibular advancement (n = 78); (3) mandibular setback (n = 19); (4) combined maxillary intrusion and mandibular advancement (n = 46); (5) combined maxillary intrusion and mandibular setback (n = 13). Head and neck posture were measured on standardized serial cephalograms taken in natural head position prior to, immediately after, and 1 year after surgery for each subject. Immediately after surgery, there was flexion of the head as measured by the craniovertical and craniocervical angles in all of the groups except the mandibular setback group, which showed little change. By 1 year post-surgery, the mean craniovertical and craniocervical angles were approximately the same as before surgery in the groups with one-jaw surgery. Statistically significant head flexion at 1 year (P less than 0.05) was observed in the combined maxillary intrusion and mandibular advancement group, and with maxillary intrusion plus mandibular setback, there was a trend toward persistent flexion. Neck posture showed no significant short- or long-term changes in any of the surgical groups.

Adult

Video microscope observations of human premolar eruption.

It is now possible to observe with an accuracy of 1-2 microns the pattern of eruptive movements of a human premolar as it moves from gingival emergence to the occlusal plane. This was accomplished by use of a video microscope to track the position of an optical ruling on the erupting tooth relative to a reference ruling mounted on adjacent teeth that were in occlusion. Net eruptive movements averaging 25-75 microns occurred from one day to the next until the tooth was almost in occlusion; then the eruptive rate slowed. Eruption occurred almost entirely at night. During the day, there was a marked slowing or cessation of eruption and often intrusion, which appeared to be related to masticatory activity.

Adolescent

Stability after surgical-orthodontic correction of skeletal Class III malocclusion. 2. Maxillary advancement.

Nearly half the patients with skeletal Class III malocclusion have maxillary deficiency as the major component of their problem, and modern surgical techniques allow maxillary osteotomy to correct the deformity. Changes at surgery and postsurgically were studied in 49 patients who underwent isolated surgical maxillary advancement. Thirty-one had wire osteosynthesis and maxillomandibular fixation, and 18 had rigid fixation with bone plates. In nearly half the patients, the maxilla was moved down as well as forward, indicating that the patient had both vertical and anteroposterior deficiency. In the anteroposterior plane, 80% of the patients had excellent stability at 1 year, while 20% had 2 to 4 mm of posterior movement of anterior maxillary landmarks. There was no difference in anteroposterior stability between wire/maxillomandibular fixation and rigid internal fixation groups. When the maxilla was moved down as well as forward, there was a strong tendency for relapse upward in both fixation groups. As a result, the chin frequently became more prominent from immediate postsurgery to 1-year followup, as upward movement of the maxilla allowed the mandible to rotate upward and forward.

Adult

Surgical mandibular advancement in adolescents: postsurgical growth related to stability.

Ten of 12 adolescents treated with surgical mandibular advancement showed postsurgical mandibular growth, as indicated by an increase in the distance from condylion to pogonion. In all cases, the growth was expressed vertically relative to the cranial base, so that the chin did not come forward. None of the patients had significant increments of anterior maxillary growth postsurgically. Several patients had vertical maxillary growth, which was compensated by vertical mandibular growth, so that the anteroposterior position of the chin was maintained. Forward growth of the maxilla is minimal after the peak of the adolescent growth spurt, and results of mandibular advancement surgery can be acceptably stable after that time.

Adolescent

Stability after surgical-orthodontic corrective of skeletal Class III malocclusion. 3. Combined maxillary and mandibular procedures.

Stability after combined Le Fort I and bilateral sagittal split osteotomies was reviewed in 51 patients with skeletal Class III malocclusion. Because vertical changes in the position of the maxilla affect both the vertical and anteroposterior positions of the mandible, the sample was subdivided by the direction of vertical movement of the maxilla at surgery. Excellent postsurgical stability was observed in the long-face Class III patients in whom upward and forward movement of the maxilla was combined with ramus osteotomy to prevent excessive forward rotation of the mandible. When the maxilla was moved forward and the mandible set back with minimal vertical change, moderate relapse tendencies were observed in both jaws, but most of the correction was maintained at 1 year. When the maxilla was moved down and forward while the mandible was set back, moderate vertical relapse of the maxilla and anteroposterior relapse of the mandible followed. Stability of the downward movement of the maxilla was, on average, better than that resulting from maxillary surgery alone.

Adult

Stability after surgical-orthodontic correction of skeletal Class III malocclusion. I. Mandibular setback.

Postsurgical stability of mandibular setback to correct mandibular prognathism was compared for three approaches: transoral vertical ramus osteotomy, bilateral sagittal split osteotomy with wire osteosynthesis and maxillomandibular fixation, and bilateral sagittal split osteotomy with rigid internal fixation via bone screws. In the transoral vertical ramus osteotomy group, the mean postsurgical change in chin position was almost zero, but nearly 50% of the patients did have clinically significant changes in chin position; two thirds of these movements were posterior and one third anterior. In the bilateral sagittal split osteotomy groups, the chin either stayed in its immediately postsurgical position or moved anteriorly. In one fourth of the patients who received maxillomandibular fixation and in nearly half of the patients who received rigid internal fixation, the chin moved forward more than 4 mm.

Adult

Who needs surgical-orthodontic treatment?

The indication for surgical-orthodontic treatment is a skeletal or dentoalveolar deformity so severe that the magnitude of the problem lies outside the envelope of possible correction by orthodontics alone. For adults, this means that satisfactory correction by tooth movement is not possible; for children, it means that the problem cannot be corrected satisfactorily by a combination of tooth movement and growth modification. Correction of the dental occlusion is not an adequate description of successful treatment; satisfactory facial esthetics must also result. Extrapolation from existing data for malocclusion in the United States suggests that there are a total of 1.2 million individuals in the present population with problems severe enough to require surgical-orthodontic treatment for satisfactory correction. Of these, 700,000 have Class II malocclusions and 300,000 have Class III malocclusions. Approximately 220,000 individuals have long-face problems and another 220,000 have other problems, but these groups have about a 60% overlap with the Class II and Class III groups.

Adolescent

Who seeks surgical-orthodontic treatment?

Clinical examination records of more than 1000 patients evaluated in the Dentofacial Clinic at the University of North Carolina were reviewed to determine whether patients with certain characteristics were more likely to seek and to receive surgical treatment. Facial asymmetry was found in 25% of the patients. Women were twice as likely as men to seek evaluation and were more likely to receive surgical treatment once evaluated. Individuals with a long face or skeletal Class III problem appeared more likely to seek evaluation than did those with mandibular deficiency and normal or short facial height, but the decision to accept or reject a recommendation for surgery did not seem to be related to morphologic characteristics.

Adolescent

Heparinization after Le Fort I osteotomy in a patient with chronic atrial fibrillation.

The middle-aged patient with a dentofacial deformity complicated by partial edentulism and underlying medical problems presents a challenge to the orthodontic-surgical team. The clinical management of a 51-year-old man with maxillary deficiency and chronic atrial fibrillation is presented. Preoperative evaluation and planning, and a scheme and rationale for perioperative anticoagulation, are crucial. The etiology and risks of chronic atrial fibrillation are reviewed along with anticoagulation therapy.

Atrial Fibrillation

Equilibrium theory revisited: factors influencing position of the teeth.

The major primary factors in the dental equilibrium appear to be resting pressures of tongue and lips, and forces created within the periodontal membrane, analogous to the forces of eruption. Forces from occlusion probably also play a role in the vertical position of teeth by affecting eruption. Respiratory needs influence head, jaw and tongue posture and thereby alter the equilibrium. "Deviate swallowing" is more likely to be an adaptation than a cause of tooth changes. Patients with failure of eruption have been recognized and alterations in the eruption mechanism may be more important clinically than has been recognized previously.

Dental Occlusion