Could the orthognathic surgery of the mandible be used as indicator operation?

The documentation of postoperative wound infections by means of indicator operations within the surveillance system of postoperative wound infections of the National Reference Centre for the Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections is established. Until know there is no indicator operation for the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery available. In the period of 2009-2013 every orthognathic surgery of the mandible, which was performed at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of the University Medical Centre of Mainz (Germany), was used as indicator operation without an official participation. In none of the 258 orthognathic surgeries of the mandible an infection could be detected. If an operation without wound infection should be used as indicator operation is questionable. Keywords: indicator operation, oral- and maxillofacial surgery, orthognathic surgery of the mandible, Op-Kiss, clean-kontaminated