Vertical ramus osteotomy for treatment of mandibular prognathism.

Following a brief literature review of treatment modalities for mandibular prognathism the authors propose a simplified method for vertical ramus osteotomy. The method was successfully used in 24 patients with mandibular prognathism (alone or in combination with open bite). Postoperative complications (suppuration of the operative wound) were found in 2 patients (8%), and postoperative recurrences--in 5 patients (20.8%). No complications, usually associated with sagittal and vertical intraoral osteotomies (hypoesthesia of the trigeminal nerve, Frey's syndrome, dissecting aneurysm of the internal carotid artery) were found to be consequential to the proposed method.