[1] However, the term dentofacial deformity describes an array of dental and maxillo-mandibular abnormalities, often presenting with a malocclusion, which is not amenable to orthodontic treatment alone and definitive treatment needs surgical alignment of upper/lower jaws or both (orthognathic surgery).
Individuals with dentofacial deformities often present with lower quality of life and compromised functions with respect to breathing, swallowing, chewing, speech articulation, and lip closure/posture.
[2][3][4] It is estimated that about 5% of general population present with dentofacial deformities that are not amenable to orthodontic treatment only and required sugical correction (orthognathic surgery) as well [5][6][7][8] and patients with Class III malocclusion appear to form the mojority of these patients.
Later on, around the turn of the twentieth century, early orthognathic surgery was born, when in St. Louis Edward Angle (orthodontist) and Vilray Blair (surgeon) started to work together and Blair stressed the importance of collaboration between surgeon and orthodontist.
[15] Detecting patients with dentofacial deformity by clinicians using an index is a new development in orthodontics and orthognathic surgery; Dr Anthony Ireland and his colleagues developed a new index called the index of orthognathic functional treatment need (IOFTN) that detects patients with the greatest need for orthognathic surgery as a part of their comprehensive treatment.