Survey of patient experiences of orthognathic surgery: health-related quality of life and satisfaction

The objective of this study was to assess changes in patient quality of life (QoL) after orthognathic surgery at the Kuwait University Dental Clinic. A self-administered Arabic version of the Orthognathic Quality of Life Questionnaire (OQLQ) and two different visual analogue scales (VAS) were used. Sixty-six patients participated (63.6% female). The deformities were corrected by bimaxillary jaw surgery (83.3%), Le Fort I (9.1%), and bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (7.6%). The most important reasons given for undertaking the surgery were facial aesthetics (80.3%) and bite correction (75.8%). Of the patients who had reported moderate to high levels of problems pre-surgery, the majority reported improvements in facial appearance (91.3%), appearance of the teeth (97.0%), biting (96.3%), chewing (92.3%), and eating function (76.5%). Overall, 93.9% of patients reported better conditions after surgery, and the satisfaction level was very high (VAS 91.6%). The VAS score for QoL increased significantly from pre-surgery (73.0%) to post-surgery (93.6%) (P = 0.0001). The OQLQ score was also significantly decreased after surgery, reflecting improvements in the 'social aspects of dentofacial deformity', 'facial aesthetics', 'oral function', and 'awareness of dentofacial aesthetics' domains (P = 0.0001). Overall, the patients who underwent orthognathic surgery were satisfied and had improved QoL. The satisfaction rate in the present study reflects successful treatment with orthognathic surgery.