Incidence and consequences of bur breakage in orthognathic surgery: a retrospective study with discussion of 2 interesting clinical situations.

Purpose: To determine the incidence of bur breakage in routine orthognathic surgery, as well as its postsurgical sequela, and to illustrate 2 cases with more than 6 months' follow-up.

Patients And Methods: We performed a retrospective evaluation of case records of 76 consecutive orthognathic surgical procedures performed by a team of 2 surgeons over a period of 16 months, between January 2009 and July 2010, at a single center.

Results: Surgical bur breakage was reported in 5 patients in the series.