PILLARS OF THE ORTHODONTIC - SURGICAL COLLABORATION: WHAT EXACTLY WE AIM TO TOGETHER

Since W R Proffitt’s recognition of the fundamental benefits of close surgical-orthodontic collaboration about 50 years ago, it was a constant upgrade and structural build up of the one and only way of correctly manage the complex skeletal maxillo-mandibular deformities - through a joint interdisciplinary orthognathic team work. In many countries, such teams are the essence of the good medico-dental practice in performing orthognathic treatment per se, but in others (like Bulgaria for example) - the treatment approach to the skeletal maxillofacial and dentoalveolar deformities has been somehow deeply fragmented and both the orthodontists and the surgeons have been following their own way of not only managing patients, but even training on a specialty pathways which have a negligible insight on the interdisciplinary collaboration and the details you need to bear in mind to build up a comprehensive treatment plan. This lecture will focus on the main aspects of the practical orthognathic collaboration from a surgical point of view and is a part of a more general effort to widely promote joint orthognathic team practices, in areas of Europe and the world that they have not been adopted yet.