Stability of mandibular advancement after sagittal osteotomy with screw or wire fixation: a comparative study.

Stability and clinical results in 70 patients who underwent bilateral sagittal ramus osteotomy for mandibular advancement were studied. The patients were grouped by the method of fixation (screws vs. wire) and matched for the amount of advancement. There were 35 patients in each group, and the age, sex, and presurgical mandibular plane angle distributions were similar for the two groups. Although the pattern of skeletal and dental changes during the first postsurgical year were quite different for the groups, stability, incisal opening, and clinical results were equivalent at 1 year following surgery. In the first 6 weeks postsurgery, the screw fixation group was more stable horizontally and vertically than the wire group, but between 6 weeks and 1 year, the wire group showed recovery, and the mean differences all but disappeared.