SURGICAL-CORRECTION OF DENTOFACIAL ANOMALIES - AN EVALUATION OF 2 PATIENT GROUPS WITH THE AID OF A QUESTIONNAIRE

The study is based on a questionnaire answered by 273 patients with de ntofacial anomalies who underwent surgery between 1988-1992 in Boden a nd Jonkoping. The questions concerned how the patients experienced the ir circumstances before, during, and after treatment, and the care the y received. The purpose of the study was to investigate the patients' experience of the treatment, and, thereby, evaluate the treatment team 's care in order to improve it. The patients responded mainly positive ly about the treatment they received, despite it having been both long and trying. The main problems for patients with dentofacial anomalies are functional and aesthetic. Patients were not particularly bothered by the length of time the treatment took or that the results had not been predicted with certainty prior to the treatment. The treatment re sulted in a radical change for the better in both appearance and the f unctional and occlusal aspects of the masticatory system. The question naire worked well as an instrument for use by the treatment teams to s urvey the results of their efforts hom the point of view of their pati ents.