Patient records
Name: Nguyen Thi Lan
Age: 22 years old
Nationality: Vietnamese
Diagnosis: Skeletal Class III malocclusion (underbite)
Treatment Hospital: Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (Shanghai)
Lan, a 22-year-old university student from Hanoi, Vietnam, is about to graduate. Despite her excellent grades, she suffers from severe underbite, which prevents her from smiling confidently and even affects her chewing and pronunciation. She dreams of having a normal, harmonious face before job interviews. In Vietnam, she consulted a doctor and was told she needed surgery, but the technology is not yet mature.
A Clear Plan for a Multidisciplinary Collaborative Program: Lan's mother found us through our online consultation platform. After understanding Lan's situation, our health consultant clearly informed her that this was not a simple cosmetic surgery, but a combined orthodontic-orthognathic treatment process requiring close collaboration between the Department of Orthodontics and the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, with the entire treatment potentially lasting 2-3 years. We recommended the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Ninth People's Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, an internationally renowned center in this field. We arranged a remote consultation for Lan with experts from the Ninth People's Hospital. Before the consultation, we guided her to complete the collection of a full set of data, including lateral cephalometric radiographs, panoramic radiographs, and dental molds, in Vietnam, and translated and uploaded them. During the consultation, the expert team from the Ninth People's Hospital developed a preliminary three-stage plan for her: "preoperative orthodontics - orthognathic surgery - postoperative orthodontics," and used computer simulation software to show her the possible postoperative facial appearance. We also detailed the time, cost, and required cooperation for each stage, giving her a clear blueprint for the entire long and complex treatment.
Throughout the long treatment process, Lan decided to undergo treatment in China, a journey that lasted over two years. Our services were present throughout. During the pre-operative orthodontic phase, we connected her with a senior orthodontist collaborating with the Ninth People's Hospital and assisted her with her 1-2 month flight from Hanoi to Shanghai for follow-up appointments. Our ground service team handled airport transfers and accommodation arrangements. After a year of orthodontic treatment, her teeth were aligned, preparing her for surgery. During the surgery, we arranged for her hospitalization and coordinated with a maxillofacial surgeon to perform a Le Fort I osteotomy of the maxilla combined with a sagittal split osteotomy of the mandible (BSSRO). This is a high-precision jawbone repositioning surgery that fundamentally corrects skeletal deformities. Post-operatively, we arranged for professional caregivers to provide liquid feeding and oral care, and our case manager frequently accompanied and encouraged her through the most challenging post-operative swelling period.
who had undergone a long-term transformation , entered the post-operative orthodontic phase. We continued to provide her with remote coordination services, ensuring that her orthodontist in Vietnam could maintain communication with experts in Shanghai to adjust her bite. A year after the surgery, when all treatments were completed and her braces were removed, Lan looked in the mirror at her harmonious face and perfect smile, and cried tears of joy. She sent us a photo of herself receiving an offer letter from her dream company, in which she smiled radiantly. She wrote, "For two years, you accompanied me through the most important part of my life. You reshaped not only my face, but also my life."