A young patient is all smiles after ground-breaking maxillofacial surgery at Toowoomba Hospital.

Oral maxillofacial surgeon Dr Duncan Campbell said the techniques used in planning the surgery for patient Chloe Ryan were rarely seen outside a major metropolitan hospital

“Chloe’s upper jaw, lower jaw and chin were an incorrect position and quite severely out of alignment,” Dr Campbell said.

“This resulted in a significant under-bite, which caused her a lot of functional problems with eating.

“After years of orthodontic treatment, surgery was the only option to rectify it.

“So in consultation with orthodontist Dr Ashley Smith of Toowoomba Orthodontics we used a CT scan to get images of Chloe’s skull and facial bones, and we also used a laser scanner, rather than traditional dental impressions, to get images of Chloe’s teeth.

“This allowed us to plan the case without the patient needing to be present.”

Dr Campbell said the images were sent to a specialist medical software developer in Belgium, where the information was used to make 3D images, which were incorporated into the surgical plan.

“Then we did a phone hook-up with a technician in Belgium and between the three of us we used the plan to do a run-through of the surgery, and using soft tissue profiling we got a good idea of how the surgery would turn out, by being able to see the new position of the facial bones and also how the bite would end up,” he said.

“As far as I know for this was the first time in Queensland where this approach has been used outside of Brisbane, so we were very happy to be able to provide this type of surgery at Toowoomba Hospital.”

At her second two-weekly post-operation (post-op.) appointment patient Chloe Ryan said she was very pleased with the results of the surgery.

“It really feels different to open and close my mouth now, because of the position my jaw was in for so long, so it was great to have the surgery to fix things,” she said.

“I’ve always loved to eat steak but anything that takes a bit of effort to chew has been a problem so the surgery has made a big difference,”

Chris and Karenne Mullins said the surgery provided to their daughter Chloe had been tremendously important.

“Chloe has always had trouble, and she has had to put up with it for a long time,” Mr Mullins said.

“This will allow her to enjoy doing something that most of us take for granted, like having piece of steak and eating it without a problem.

“Dr Campbell said the surgery went very well, and he’s really pleased with the way Chloe has recovered so we’re very happy that Chloe’s orthodontist referred us to him.”

Dr Campbell said while not all cases were as unique as Chloe’s, there would still be a significant number of local patients who would benefit from having complex maxillofacial surgery at Toowoomba Hospital.

“We see many patients with less serious oral and maxillofacial facial issues, but at the really complex end of the spectrum we are averaging around two patients per month,” he said.

“While that doesn’t sound like a lot, every year it equates to 24 patients from Toowoomba and other areas within the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service who would have previously had to go to Brisbane for treatment.

“In complex surgical cases the patient would have an initial consultation, then surgery and a stay in hospital as an inpatient, and then post-op. appointments to see how they’re recovering.

“That’s a lot of travelling to Brisbane, and a lot of time away from home, so for those patients, having this type of surgery locally is a huge advantage.”

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