Motivating factors for patients undergoing orthognathic surgery evaluation.

PURPOSE: Orthognathic surgery is generally performed to correct facial abnormalities related to the maxilla and/or mandible, and there are a variety of reasons for which patients choose to be evaluated for this procedure. We surveyed 637 cases to determine the patients' motivating factors for seeking surgical consultation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reviewed 637 cases from 1990 to 2006 in this study, and data were extracted from 501 appropriately completed surveys to determine why patients seek corrective maxillofacial surgery. Patients aged under 12 years and those with an identified syndrome were not included in the final data set. RESULTS: The results indicate that patients with dentofacial deformities have multiple complaints related to their poor maxillomandibular relationships. However, their primary motivation for undergoing surgical evaluation is not appearance; it is their bite/function. Of the 501 patients reviewed in this study, 216 (43%) were male and 285 (57%) were female. Age ranged from 12 to 45 years. Of the patients, 76% stated that their appearance was affected by their condition, but only 15% stated it was their primary motivation for undergoing surgical evaluation. Thirty-six percent stated that their bite was their primary motivation for seeking treatment. CONCLUSION: The most common reason for surgical evaluation was correction of bite or functional disability, not improvement of appearance. Most previously published studies on this subject included smaller sample sizes and showed appearance to be the primary motivating factor.

Clinically aggressive central giant cell granulomas in two patients with neurofibromatosis 1.

BACKGROUND: Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominantly inherited disorder caused by a spectrum of mutations affecting the Nf1 gene. Affected patients develop benign and malignant tumors at an increased frequency. Clinical findings include multiple cutaneous café-au-lait pigmentations, neurofibromas, axillary freckling, optic gliomas, benign iris hamartomas (Lisch nodules), scoliosis, and poorly defined soft tissue lesions of the skeleton. Kerl first reported an association of NF1 with multiple central giant cell granulomas (CGCGs) of the jaws. There have since been 4 additional published cases of NF1 patients with CGCGs of the jaws. CLINICAL CASES: We report on 2 patients who presented with NF1 and aggressive CGCGs of the jaws. In both cases, the clinical course was characterized by numerous recurrences despite mechanical curettage and surgical resection. CONCLUSIONS: We review proposed mechanisms to explain the apparent association between NF1 and an increased incidence of CGCGs of the jaws. While the presence of CGCGs of the jaws in patients with NF1 could represent either a coincidental association or a true genetic linkage, we propose that this phenomenon is most likely related to NF1-mediated osseous dysplasia. Compared to normal bone, the Nf1-haploinsufficient bone in a patient with NF1 may be less able to remodel in response to as of yet unidentified stimuli (e.g. excessive mechanical stress and/or vascular fragility), and consequently may be more susceptible to developing CGCG-like lesions. Alternatively, the CGCG in NF1 patients could represent a true neoplasm, resulting from additional, as of yet unidentified, genetic alterations to Nf1-haploinsufficient bone.