Objective: The choice of the patient to perform orthognathic surgery is dependent on a number of reasons, voiced in their chief complaints. The aim of this study was to identify the most common complaints reported by patients during preoperative evaluation and relate them to their facial profiles.

Materials and methods: Questionnaires of 92 patients who underwent orthognathic surgery were evaluated, concerning their chief complaints, grouped into 10 categories (aesthetics, occlusion, TMJ problems, headaches, breathing, chewing, speech, shorten orthodontics, prevention, and without complaint). Then, complaints were related to patients facial profiles (class II, class III or vertical). Chi-square test was performed for statistical analyses.

Results: A total of 144 complaints were catalogued. The most common complaints were aesthetics ( n = 49), occlusion ( n = 33) and TMJ problems ( n = 20). Among the complaints with sufficient sample for testing, occlusion and TMJ problems were significantly related to Class II profile ( p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The identification of patients’ complaints is of paramount importance during orthognathic surgery planning. In this sample complaints about aesthetics, occlusion and TMJ problems were the most cited ones. Complaints regarding occlusion and TMJ problems were significantly related to class II profiles.

Conflict of interest: None declared.