The importance of psychological support for orthognathic patients has taken an increasing precedence over recent years and is embedded in orthognathic commissioning guidelines. Furthermore, attention towards mental health-related conditions and their management is of prime importance and continues to be a key area of focus within healthcare settings. With this in mind, this paper aims to outline our experience of establishing a need for and subsequently securing funding to establish a clinical psychology service within an existing orthognathic service in the NHS. The information outlined may be of benefit to orthognathic teams seeking to secure such psychological support within their respective units.

Orthognathic surgery is a major elective procedure that can pose a significant amount of psychological distress to patients before, during and after surgery. These patients tend to have higher levels of state anxiety and a poor (facial) body image of themselves. Patients less satisfied by their outcomes tend to have had particularly high expectations of surgery beforehand. Therefore, it is important to ensure that there are effective and supportive psychology services in place. Here, we assess the utility and the role of clinical psychology in modern, holistic orthognathic surgery and the tools used to assess patients for further psychological intervention. CPD/Clinical Relevance: Clinicians should be aware of the services available to patients who are transitioning through the orthognathic surgery pathway.