Purpose: Intraoral vertical ramus osteotomy (IVRO) is an effective surgical technique for cases of mandibular setback, and is simpler and has a lower incidence of mentalis paresthesia compared to sagittal split ramus osteotomy (SSRO), another well-known orthognathic surgical technique for the mandible. However, IVRO has a disadvantage in the prolonged duration of postoperative maxilla-mandibular fixation (MMF) required due to the absence of rigid bone fixation. To avoid an extended MMF period, we developed a postoperative management protocol for our IVRO patients, which includes jaw exercises with elastic bands starting on the second day after surgery.Methods: We evaluated the cephalometric skeletal and dental stabilities of 16 IVRO patients as they followed our protocol.Results: The stabilities were confirmed and were similar to those of previous reports.Conclusion: One-day MMF and early initiation of jaw exercise after IVRO did not affect the jaw position stability. Moreover, our findings suggest that starting jaw exercise earlier after IVRO surgery is beneficial, as it allows patients to avoid a long period of rigid MMF so that they can resume their normal daily activities sooner.

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