Timing of orthognathic surgery on the changes of oral health-related quality of life in Chinese orthognathic surgery patients

•The orthognathic approach did not affect final OHRQoL in Chinese surgery patients.•Both treatment methods can obtain the same results.

IntroductionAlthough the association between orthognathic surgery and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) has been explored, few studies have been carried out to describe the influence of surgery type on perceived OHRQoL. The aim of this study was to evaluate the difference of OHRQoL between a surgery-first approach and an orthodontics-first approach, using the 14-item Oral Health Impact Profile questionnaire (Chinese version).MethodsFifty adult Chinese orthodontic patients who received either surgery-first or orthodontics-first treatment completed 5 distinct sections of the questionnaire. Chi-square tests were used to compare categorical variables. All analyses were carried out with Stata software (version 11.2; StataCorp, College Station, Tex).ResultsThe quality of life significantly improved after treatment in both groups. However, overall scores were highest before treatment in the surgery-first group but increased significantly from before treatment to 6 months after surgery and then significantly decreased after surgery in the orthodontics-first group. There were relatively lower scores in the surgery-first group than in the orthodontics-first group before surgery, at 12 months after beginning orthodontics, and at the end of treatment, although these differences did not reach significant levels.ConclusionsBoth treatment methods can obtain the same results. The timing of the orthognathic approach did not affect the final OHRQoL in Chinese orthognathic surgery patients.