Maxillomandibular Advancement for OSA: Serious Complications and Failures

Objective: The focus of this report was to analyze patients who presented for second opinion due to complications and failure following maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) performed elsewhere.

Materials and methods: During a five-year period, 16 patients presented with complications and/ or failure of MMA. The indication for treatment was obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Analysis of treatment records including plane radiography and/or cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), progress photographs and clinical examination were performed.

Results: Complete clinical and imaging records were available in all patients for analysis. Thirteen patients were surgical failures with advancement ranging from -4 to 5 mm. Five of the 13 patients had limited advancement at the initial surgery, and eight patients had hardware failure that required removal with resultant retrodisplacement of the mandible. Due to complications occurring in 11 patients, additional surgery ranging from two to six additional procedures after the initial operation was required. The complications included hardware failure (ten patients) that led to bone segment displacement (eight patients), non-union of the maxilla (two patients), non-union of the mandible (eight patients), chronic facial and/or joint pain (five patients), facial nerve injury (two patients), complete anesthesia of the lip/chin (five patients) and severe malocclusion (four patients).

Conclusions: Although MMA is typically a predictable operation with excellent outcomes, failure of improvement and severe long-term sequelae from surgical complications are possible. Surgical precision with sufficient skeletal advancement for airway improvement and stable skeletal fixation is necessary to achieve a successful outcome.