How to Pronounce Osteotomy

Say it like this: os-tee-OT-oh-mee. The stress falls on the third syllable, so you'll say OT a bit louder and longer than the other parts. A common mistake is putting the stress on the first syllable (OS-tee-oh-mee), but that's not correct.

The word breaks into five syllables: os-tee-OT-oh-mee. Each part is fairly short and easy to say once you know where to put the emphasis.

'Osteo-' comes from Greek and means 'bone.' The suffix '-tomy' also comes from Greek and means 'to cut' or 'surgical cutting.' So osteotomy literally means 'bone cutting,' which is exactly what the procedure does.

An osteotomy is a surgical procedure where a surgeon carefully cuts and then moves bone to a new position. In dentistry, it's most often used to adjust jaw position and improve how teeth fit together.

Yes! 'Osteoporosis' uses 'osteo-' and means a bone disease. 'Lobotomy' uses '-tomy' and refers to cutting brain tissue. Many surgical words end in '-tomy,' like gastrotomy (cutting the stomach) or vasectomy (cutting the vas deferens).

You might read something like: 'The patient's orthodontist referred them to an oral surgeon for an osteotomy to correct their jaw alignment.' This shows the word being used in a dental context.

People often say os-tee-AH-tuh-mee, putting the stress on the wrong syllable and changing the vowel sound in the middle. Remember: the stress is on the third syllable (OT), and it should sound like 'OT-oh' not 'AH-tuh.'

In Greek-derived medical words, the stress often falls on the syllable right before a suffix. In osteotomy, the '-tomy' suffix is attached, so the stress naturally falls on the syllable before it (the third syllable, 'OT'). This is a common pattern in medical terminology.