Page 159 - Demo

Impact of orthognathic surgery on quality of life in patients with different dentofacial deformities1578DiscussionThe aim of this study was to investigate the impact of orthognathic surgery on OHRQoL in the immediate postoperative period until at least 1 year, as measured by the OHIP-14NL questionnaire. The OQLQ is another commonly used questionnaire in orthognathic studies. A comparison of the OQLQ with the OHIP-14NL has shown that both tools are able to discriminate differences in QoL over time and between patient groups. The OQLQ is more specific for orthognathic surgery.24 The English version of the OQLQ was developed in 2000 and validated in 2002.6,25 However, the current study did not use the OQLQ because the Dutch version has not yet been validated. The SF-36 is also used in some orthognathic studies, but it focuses more on one’s physical and mental status.27 The SF-36 was not used in this study because this questionnaire is not restricted to the orofacial area. Previous studies have reported a lower QoL in patients with dental facial deformities compared to a control group.28-30 The present study did not have a control group. The preoperative OHIP score in this study was higher than the OHIP scores of control groups in other studies. Thus, in general, one can conclude that the OHRQoL of persons with dentofacial deformities is worse overall than in patients without a dentofacial deformity.The current study found significant deterioration of the OHRQoL 1 day after surgery compared to baseline. However, the OHRQoL improved significantly in the first week. The OHRQoL was still significantly lower after 4 weeks, but after 6 months had improved. Comparable results after orthognathic surgery have been reported in other studies.27-34 Deterioration in the immediate postoperative period has also been described in patients who suffer from pain, swelling, limited mouth opening, reduced masticatory efficiency, and numbness of the lower lip.27,28,35 The answers to the additional questions in our study indicate that a high proportion of patients experience discomfort and need more self-care in the immediate postoperative period. This study also found a significant positive correlation between duration of surgery and OHIP score the first 7 days after surgery. There was no significant correlation between OHIP score and age or gender.