Motives for surgical-orthodontic treatment and effect of treatment on psychosocial well-being and satisfaction: a prospective study of 118 patients.

PURPOSE: A prospective, controlled study of consecutive surgical-orthodontic patients was performed to assess how treatment affects the patients' psychosocial well-being. We evaluated patients' treatment motivations and motive fulfillment in relation to their satisfaction with the treatment and assessed the correlation between their satisfaction and their psychosocial well-being.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 118 adult patients (51 men and 67 women, mean age 25 years) who had undergone surgical-orthodontic treatment were examined before the preoperative orthodontic treatment and 12 months after surgery or later. The motives for treatment, fulfillment of those motives, psychosocial well-being, and degree of post-treatment satisfaction were assessed using questionnaires validated for Danish patients. A total of 47 age- and gender-matched subjects without any current or previous need for orthodontic or surgical-orthodontic treatment served as the controls.

RESULTS: The patients stated oral function and appearance as their main treatment motives, and most reported that their motives had been fulfilled. Both their motives and the actual fulfillment of their motives influenced their treatment satisfaction. Another significant outcome of treatment was improved self-concept and social interaction. The more self-concept and social interaction were improved by treatment, the greater the post-treatment satisfaction the patients expressed.

CONCLUSIONS: Surgical-orthodontic treatment has significant potential to improve patients' psychosocial well-being. Patients' satisfaction with treatment correlated with the post-treatment psychosocial status. However, pretreatment motives significantly influenced the overall satisfaction after treatment. Thus, patients who weighted oral function motives greatest expressed the lowest degree of treatment satisfaction.