Surgical complications of segmental Le Fort I osteotomy

Segmental maxillary osteotomy is a useful adjunct in orthognathic surgery for the correction of vertical and transverse maxillary deformities, but we know of few published reports that document complications. We evaluated the complication rates associated with segmental maxillary surgery in our unit by retrospective review of medical records, radiographs, and study models of 85 consecutive patients (mean age 23.3 years, range 14–51; male:female ratio 1:2) treated from 1995 to 2009. Types of deformity were anterior open bite (n = 30, 35%), transverse maxillary deficiency (n = 24, 28%), anterior open bite with transverse maxillary deficiency (n = 28, 33%), and anterior vertical maxillary excess (n = 3, 4%). There were 70 tripartite (82%), 13 bipartite (15%), and two quadripartite (2%) maxillas. Twenty-one patients (25%) had bone grafts. Fixation was done using titanium miniplates in 80 patients (94%), and titanium miniplates and resorbable plates in five (6%). The overall complication rate was 27%. Three patients (4%) had devitalisation of teeth, three (4%) developed minor periodontal defects, and one had tooth loss. Eight patients (9%) had plates removed, and two patients developed persistent postoperative palatal fistula. There was no segmental loss of bone or teeth. Our results show that complications in this cohort were relatively low, and that segmental maxillary surgery is safe as an adjunct in carefully selected cases.