Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate and predict soft-tissue changes in the forehead, nose, lips, and chin in association with anterior maxillary osteotomy.
Materials and methods: The sample consisted of 20 adult patients (seven men and 13 women, 29.1 years of age immediately before surgery). Both hard- and soft-tissue changes were evaluated using a set of lateral cephalograms taken immediately before and at 7 months after surgery. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed to examine the relationship between hard- and soft-tissue changes. A prediction model was developed using a multiple regression equation.
Results and discussion: The findings were as follows: (1) Hard-tissue changes were only observed in the maxillary region. Soft-tissue changes included backward displacement of the subnasale and the upper and lower lips. (2) The highest correlation coefficient was obtained between hard- and soft-tissue changes in the upper lip region. (3) The horizontal soft-tissue change in the upper lip region was predicted using a multiple regression equation. These results suggest that anterior maxillary osteotomy influences hard- and soft-tissue changes in the upper lip region and that the response in the horizontal dimension in association with surgery can be predicted.