Surgery first approach SFOA

[Chailatte]

Does anybody have any experience with the surgery first orthognathic approach? I hear there are no pre-orthodontics involved, only post.

[Anastasia8]

I think that approach is more common in Asia, unfortunately.

[sirwired]

It does exist, and it can really accelerate treatment, because the ortho isn't fighting the natural alignment like he is with ortho-first. That said, it makes the surgery a lot more difficult and prone to error. With ortho-first, all the surgeon has to do is slide the pieces into the places they "want" to go to create a well-integrated bite, and then latch them down with wires. With surgery-first, the surgeon has to free-hand the pieces into position based on his measurements, models, etc., fix them into place as best he can with the wires, and hope they don't shift while he attaches the screws and plates.