Abstract:
The authors undertook a prospective study to evaluate the influence that the anatomical dimensions of the ramus of the mandible
and the presence of lower third molar teeth may have on the sagittal split ramus osteotomy. The anatomical dimensions
measured included the width of the anterior mandibular ramus, the height of the corpus posterior to the second mandibular
molar and the antero-posterior anatomical position of the lingual. The influence that these dimensions of the mandible may have
on the successful splitting of the mandibular ramus wasThe effect that the presence of wisdom teeth had on the difficulty of the
procedure was also investigated. This study found that, unlike the presence of third molars, there was no single anatomical
measurement that contributed to the level of difficulty of the sagittal split osteotomy. For descriptive purposes the authors
proposes a classification of the four typical patterns of unfavourable splits.
