Abstract: PURPOSE: To investigate social and cultural influence on preference of orthognathic surgery in patients with maxillofacial deformities through establishment of models, in order to provide motivational supports, improve treatment coordination and patients' satisfaction. METHODS: The orthognathic group included 137 patients with maxillofacial malformations, while the control group included 245 students from one university in Guizhou province. Acceptance of cosmetic surgery scale(ACSS), Orthognathic quality of life questionnaire(OQLQ) and sociocultural attitudes towards appearance questionnaire-3(SATAQ-3) were used in two groups. SPSS 24.0 software package was used to analyze the data with hierarchical regression function. RESULTS: The results showed that there was a strong correlation between the studied variables (R²=0.26). Sociocultural factors could be used to predict patients' preference to orthognathic surgery. Patients in the orthognathic group could be predicted based on upward physical appearance comparison (t=2.28, P<0.024), while subjects in the control group could be predicted based on upward physical appearance comparison (t=2.47, P<0.014) and the appearance media pressure (t=2.30, P<0.022). Orthognathic related social pressure significantly explained the considerations of plastic surgery in patients with dento-maxillofacial deformities (P<0.000); However, this factor had no significant explanation for the controls (P<0.779). CONCLUSIONS: Social and cultural factors are proven to contribute to the selection of orthognathic surgery for patients with dental and/or maxillofacial malformations, and may affect patients' expectation on the final results.

Key words: Social cultural pressure, Dental maxillofacial deformities, Orthognathic surgery, Treatment motivation