Condylar displacement after oblique sliding osteotomy of the mandibular rami. A stereometric and plain radiographic study.

Condylar displacement after oblique sliding osteotomy was examined in 8 patients by X-ray stereometry and plain radiography. During the first 8 postoperative weeks the displacement was in a medial/superior/posterior direction. After removal of the intermaxillary fixation a continuous lateral translation was found together with an initial inferior and a minor anterior translation which after 6 months postoperatively changed to a posterior translation. At 12 months postoperatively a difference in findings of condylar position was found between the X-ray stereometric and plain radiographic analyses. We regard this difference as due to the sum of remodelling and method errors.