Perception of orthognathic surgery patients on postoperative care

Patient's anxiety and worry due to a lack of knowledge about the orthognathic surgery motivated the development of this study. The objective was to identify information needs of postoperative patient undergoing orthognathic surgery. It's an exploratory and qualitative research that used the focus group to collect the dada. Postoperative patients of orthognathic surgery from an oral and maxillofacial surgery and trauma ambulatory were invited to participate in the group. Through content analysis it was possible to identify the following problems related to the postoperative procedure: long recovery time, nutrition, oral hygiene, relief of postoperative signs and symptoms. Themes involving self-image and satisfaction levels related to the outcome of the surgery were also recognized pointing out the need of future studies to explore these issues.