Pediatrics, Craniofacial and Orthognathic Surgery Track: Impacts of Dentofacial Disharmony and its Surgical Correction on Speech

Among dentofacial disharmony (DFD) patients, 90% of Class III, 73-87% of Class II, and 80% of anterior open bite (AOB) patients suffer from speech distortions, as compared to 3.5-5% of the general population. Speech disorders negatively affect patients’ self-esteem, quality of life, peer and teacher perceptions, and long-term career performance. As a result, it is important to understand the impacts of severe malocclusion on speech, and whether surgical correction yields improvements. Limited quantitative data exist to correlate malocclusion severity with speech distortion and track surgical outcomes in articulation. This dearth of data prevents surgical and orthodontic providers from giving evidence-based recommendations as to whether our interventions will address patients’ speech concerns. We hypothesize that speech distortions correlate with severity of DFD and that orthognathic surgery produces long-term improvement in articulation of DFD subjects.