Severity and Outcome Assessment score: a useful tool for auditing orthognathic surgery.

Many indices and scoring systems exist for assessing skeletal patterns and malocclusion but none have been universally adopted by teams providing orthognathic surgery in the UK. Using a standardised objective measure of a patient's condition is important both for service provision, treatment allocation, and other clinical governance domains. The Severity and Outcome Assessment tool (SOA) developed by the British Orthodontic Society (BOS) and British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (BAOMS) provides a standardised method of assessing patients throughout the orthognathic pathway and lends itself to case selection, resource allocation and auditing treatment outcomes. The SOA uses 7 cephalometric skeletal, dental and soft tissue measures to produce an overall score.The SOA has been used by the current NHS Tayside orthognathic team since August 2006 to audit treatment outcomes. While we recognise that cephalometric analysis forms only one part of orthognathic treatment we believe that having an objective measure on which to assess treatment is useful. We present our experience of using this quick, simple and reproducible tool in auditing orthognathic treatment outcomes.

Humpback whale migrations to Antarctic summer foraging grounds through the southwest Pacific Ocean.

Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) populations typically undertake seasonal migrations, spending winters in low latitude breeding grounds and summers foraging in high latitude feeding grounds. Until recently, a broad scale understanding of whale movement has been derived from whaling records, Discovery marks, photo identification and genetic analyses. However, with advances in satellite tagging technology and concurrent development of analytical methodologies we can now detail finer scale humpback whale movement, infer behavioural context and examine how these animals interact with their physical environment. Here we describe the temporal and spatial characteristics of migration along the east Australian seaboard and into the Southern Ocean by 30 humpback whales satellite tagged over three consecutive austral summers. We characterise the putative Antarctic feeding grounds and identify supplemental foraging within temperate, migratory corridors. We demonstrate that Antarctic foraging habitat is associated with the marginal ice zone, with key predictors of inferred foraging behaviour including distance from the ice edge, ice melt rate and variability in ice concentration two months prior to arrival. We discuss the highly variable ice season within the putative foraging habitat and the implications that this and other environmental factors may have on the continued strong recovery of this humpback whale population.

Treatment of oral dysplasia with 5% imiquimod cream: short communication.

We report what we think is the first treatment of oral dysplasia with 5% imiquimod cream. A 60-year-old man presented with varying degrees of dysplasia on the soft palate. A cover plate was fabricated and the patient was prescribed 5% imiquimod cream, a topical imunomodulator, for six weeks. The lesion improved and histological examination of an incisional biopsy found no features of dysplasia. This case highlights the efficacy of imiquimod cream in the treatment of dysplasia, and the need for development of a preparation suitable for the oral mucosa.

'White-eyed' blowout fracture: a case series of five children.

The 'white-eyed' blowout fracture is an orbital injury in children that is commonly initially misdiagnosed as a head injury because of predominant autonomic features and lack of soft-tissue signs. We present five patients who presented with nausea and vomiting following an apparent mild head or facial injury. None of the five had any external evidence of injury. Despite each case describing diplopia, there was a delayed diagnosis of at least 24 h. CT examination demonstrated an inferior orbital wall fracture in all cases with entrapment of the inferior rectus muscle. Each patient underwent surgical repair, two within 48 h of their injury, both of whom achieved complete recovery of ocular movements, while three were delayed beyond 48 h, with a resulting residual limitation of upgaze in all. It is, therefore, important for clinicians to be aware of this condition, so that it can be diagnosed early in order for early surgical release to be performed, which is associated with an excellent prognosis.

Intraoral external oblique ridge compared with transbuccal lateral cortical plate fixation for the treatment of fractures of the mandibular angle: prospective randomised trial.

Since the initial description by Michelet et al. and research by Champy et al. the placement of a single, four-hole, monocortical, osteosynthesis plate has been considered an acceptable method of fixation for a fracture of the mandibular angle. We investigated the null hypothesis that there is no difference in the incidence of postoperative removal of an infected plate between miniplates placed on the mandibular external oblique ridge and those placed on the buccal surface of the mandible through a transbuccal approach to treat a fracture of the angle of the mandible. Patients were randomised to having their angle fractures treated with a ridge plate placed intraorally or transbucally. Other variables were investigated including the effect of smoking, drinking alcohol, oral hygiene, and the method of holding the reduction on removal of the plate, occlusal outcome, and degree of preoperative anatomical displacement and postoperative reduction. We also studied the operating time required for the two techniques, the effect of the presence and consequent removal of a wisdom tooth in the line of the fracture, and the effect of delay in taking the patient to theatre for subsequent removal of the plate for infection. Of the 261 angle fractures 34 (13%) plates were removed because of infection, and 6 of these (18%) required a further period of fixation, such as intermaxillary fixation, to treat non-union. The transbuccal plate had a significantly lower postoperative infection rate (6/124, 5%) than the ridge plate (28/137, 20%) (p=0.001). Smoking adversely affected the healing of angle fractures (p=0.000). Displacement of fractures is related to the infection rate (p=0.003), and there are no significant relations between delay in going to theatre or the presence and potential removal of a wisdom tooth in the line of the fracture and infection rate. There was a highly significant difference between the rate of removal of plates placed intraorally on the external oblique ridge, and plates placed transbucally (p=0.000). Transbuccal plates were far less likely to need removal for infection than ridge plates, odds ratio 5.05.

Excision of a submandibular gland: a safe day case procedure?

There are considerable benefits, both for patients and hospitals, if operations are done as day case procedures. Excision of a submandibular gland is a relatively common operation and it is usual practice for surgeons to be cautious, admit the patient for an overnight stay, and leave a drain in place. To assess the amount of postoperative bleeding into the wound (and hence potential risk to the airway) we have studied prospectively the amount of drainage that occurs. Sixty consecutive patients admitted for overnight postoperative monitoring after excision of a submandibular gland had a suction drain placed as part of the procedure. Drainage was measured by departmental staff at regular intervals during the following 24h. Nearly all the patients drained 40ml or less (mean 18ml) and in all cases there was a clear decrease in the volumes drained over the first 6-8h postoperatively. Drainage then became negligible. The plateau in drainage was evident regardless of the initial volume drained. Surgeons should be confident that drainage will cease after 6-8h in most patients, and residual drainage is negligible.

Orthognathic surgery: is patient information on the Internet valid?

The aims of this study were to evaluate the quality and reliability of UK websites providing information on orthognathic and jaw surgery to patients. An Internet search engine (www.google.com) was used to identify websites containing medical information on 'orthognathic surgery' and 'jaw surgery'. Of over 144,000 links for orthognathic surgery and 700,000 for jaw surgery, the first 100 were examined in detail. After excluding discussion groups, news and video feeds, and removing duplicate sites, only 25 relevant websites remained which were then evaluated using the DISCERN instrument (www.discern.org.uk/discern_instrument.php). Through the 16 questions assessing the reliability and quality of the consumer information which are scored from 1 to 5, a relative index of the quality of the information is produced. The maximum score attainable for an excellent website is 80. Of the 25 websites that were scored, DISCERN indicated the majority of websites fell well below the maximum score. The highest score achieved by one of the websites according to the DISCERN tool was 64 of 80 and the lowest score achieved was 21 of 80. The websites achieving maximum and minimum score were Wikipedia and qualitydentistry.com, respectively. By directing patients to validated websites, clinicians can ensure patients find appropriate information; however, further development of websites relating to orthognathic surgery is required. Internet information should be updated on a regular basis to account for improvements in orthodontic and surgical care.

Patterns of emergency maxillofacial referrals and provision of services.

The rising number of maxillofacial injuries in the UK requires a reappraisal of emergency services within our specialty. Although the impact of a dedicated trauma list has been reported, it has not been widely embraced, and we know of few data that help to plan the number or timing of such lists. We designed a minimum dataset to collect information about referral, cause of emergency, assessment of patients, and outcome during 2003 and 2004. Theatre data were examined retrospectively to analyse operations during the same period. We conclude that to serve a population of 2.6 million a minimum of 8 emergency lists are required each week to deal with non-complex cases; this equates to 3 lists/million population. The lists should be concentrated at weekends and early in the week.

[18F]-fluoride positron emission tomography for imaging condylar hyperplasia.

The management of condylar hyperplasia depends on the diagnosis of continued growth in the affected condyle, and there is currently no satisfactory way of imaging it. [(18)F]-fluoride positron emission tomography (PET) was included in the investigation of 5 patients who were suspected of having condylar hyperplasia, and the results were correlated with the operative findings. The technique correctly identified condylar hyperplasia in all patients. Our results suggest that [(18)F]-fluoride PET is a valid way of assessing patients with condylar hyperplasia.

Maxillofacial trauma and the role of alcohol.

Interpersonal violence is often associated with alcohol misuse. Most injuries that result from interpersonal violence affect the face, and maxillofacial surgeons are responsible for their treatment. Consequently maxillofacial surgeons are well placed to audit and help multi-agency task groups to address this social problem. An audit was undertaken of two years' emergency referrals within the Merseyside region to assess the association of maxillofacial trauma and alcohol. The age and sex distribution were assessed together with the cause and place where the injury occurred. Results show an involvement of alcohol with interpersonal violence of 72%, which is the highest published association. We also analysed the type of injury and the place where each injury occurred, and the association with alcohol in each circumstance. In an attempt to identify alcohol misuse, an Alcohol use Disorders Identification Test questionnaire (AUDIT) was used to offer a brief intervention to educate and modify hazardous, harmful, or dependent alcoholic behaviour.

Ten years of experience with the anterior maxillary and mandibular osteoplasty (class IV ridges): a retrospective analysis of implant survival rates.

The anterior maxillary osteoplasty restores adequate bone to the edentulous Class IV ridge prior to placement of endosseous implants. The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the long-term survival of implants placed into the particulate bone of an anterior alveolar osteoplasty to those placed into a 'block' onlay bone graft. Of 85 patients with Class IV 'knife-edge' alveolar ridges, 50 received interpositional particulate bone via an alveolar osteoplasty and 35 received an onlay cortico-cancellous graft. A total of 386 implants were placed as a secondary procedure and followed postoperatively (mean 6 years; 39 failures). There was improved cumulative survival of implants placed into the particulate bone of an osteoplasty compared to the block bone of an onlay graft. Implants supporting a fixed superstructure had a longer cumulative survival than those supporting a removable appliance. There was no statistical difference between implants placed into male and female bone, or between those in edentulous and partially dentate jaws. Within a partially dentate jaw there was a statistically significant increase in cumulative survival for implants within osteoplasty inlay bone compared to onlay bone grafts. Anterior osteoplasty is the surgical treatment of choice for augmentation of the resorbed Class IV alveolar ridge prior to placement of osseo-integrated implants.

Asian earthquake: report from the first volunteer British hospital team in Pakistan.

At 8:52 am on 8 October 2005 a massive earthquake wracked northern Pakistan and Kashmir. Various teams were sent to Islamabad and the disaster region from the UK. We discuss the types of injury patterns seen and recommend that a central register of volunteers should be created to deal with similar situations in the future.