Distribution of orthognathic surgery among the Swedish population: a retrospective register-based study

Objective The aim of this study was to provide a nationally representative assessment of orthognathic procedures performed in hospitalised patients in Sweden and study regional differences in prevalence, demographic parameters and hospitalisation time.Material and methods From the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare’s register, all the patients undergoing orthognathic surgery between 2010 and 2014 were identified. Outcome variables were categorised into: (1) Surgical methods and regional distribution (2) Demographic variations (3) Hospitalisation time.Results The population-prevalence-rate of orthognathic procedures over the 5-year period was 6.3 (SD 0.4) per 100,000 persons, a regional difference in the prevalence was found. Most common were Le Fort I osteotomies (43.4%) and bilateral sagittal split osteotomies (41.6%), 39% of the patients had bimaxillary surgery. The majority of the surgery was performed in the age group 19–29 (68.8%). The mean hospital stay was 2.2 days (SD = 0.9, range 1.7–3.4). A significant regional difference (p ≤ 0.001) was found in hospitalisation time for single-jaw versus bimaxillary surgery.Conclusions Regional differences in the distribution of orthognathic surgery and demographic variations were found in Sweden in 2010–2014. The underlying causes of variations are still unknown and request further investigation.