Pronunciation of "Le Fort"

[dr hutchison]

For the OMFS folks and others out there: What is the correct pronunciation of "Le Fort," as in Le Fort fractures? They are named after the French surgeon René Le Fort, which would lead me to believe that the t is silent, but I've heard surgeons pronounce it like the English word "fort" instead of like "for." What's the consensus on this?

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[rene lefort]

"for" for sure!!!!
it is a french name as you wrote!!!

 

[Contach]

do you know how to say the Le?

It should be pronounced like the first half of "look."
It should not be pronounced like Cliff Lee

 

[dr hutchison]

I think it was clear that wasn't the part of the pronunciation in question.

 

[UBDent19]

All of the OMFS I've talked to about it pronounce the "t".

 

[rene lefort]

All of the OMFS I've talked to about it pronounce the "t".

Well,
they should start to talk lefor without T !!!
for god sake ! it is FRENCH!!!
it is the same thing if I started to pronounce the D in starteD.

 

[Newgoalsdentdoc]

Le Fort is French and the "t" is silent. Wow, this brings back memories of dental school learning about these classifications of maxillary fractures. The classifications or categories were named after French surgeon Rene' Le Fort. I'm a general dentist but I love Oral Surgery (smile).

 

[OG1]

Say the "t", to heck with what those Frenchies say!

All throughout dental school, ortho residency, and beyond, I've never heard it pronounced without the hard "t".

 

[rewJW]

FWIW I underwent a Lefort 1 and BSSO this past summer and every one of the docs involved, attendings and residents, older and younger, all pronounced it with the T like Lay-fort (not Lay-fore)

 

[armorshell]

It should be pronounced "Lafor", but int he US, culturally, it's pronounced incorrectly as "La Fort." This is similar to how the "Sjögren" in Sjögren's syndrome is horribly mispronounced.

 

[fdasta]

Surgeons don't really care to be culturally sensitive to pronounce Le Fort in its original French pronounciation so you'll just hear it pronounced "luh fort". I've never heard anyone say it in its French form and unless you plan on moving to France, I don't think you need to worry about it.

You may actually get ridiculed for saying Le Fort in a French accent in front of an oral surgeon and also have your sexual orientation publicly questioned if you happen to be male.. Just do yourself a favor and don't do it.