Everything You Need to Know About Corrective Jaw Surgery

The jaws are among the most distinguishing facial features. Your lower and upper jaw make a third of your face and can determine and affect your overall facial balance. Thus, many people with protruding or receded jaws feel very self-conscious. In such patients, corrective jaw surgery or orthognathic surgery can be a boon.

Orthognathic surgery improves the position, projection and symmetry of your jaws. It works on stabilising your jaw and dental relationships for better jaw function and an aesthetic profile. However, unfortunately, many people with asymmetrical jaws opt for easy fixes that only camouflage the problem without correcting it. They may get braces or a touch up of the overlying skin without realising that the real culprit is the jaw size and shape itself.

Here, orthognathic surgery comes into the picture in all its glorious versatility.

What Corrective Jaw Surgery Can Achieve

Orthognathic surgery enhances a patient’s facial profile if they have a disturbed jaw relationship. It improves symmetry, smile and lip projection and can even create a more youthful face. Additionally, it may combine with other procedures to improve the lower third of the face, making it feminine or masculine depending on the patient’s needs.

These achievements make it ideal for patients who have:

• Asymmetrical faces
• Dental misalignments that orthodontics cannot correct
• Gummy smiles
• Protruding upper or lower jaws (or both)
• Receded chins
• Repaired cleft palates

It is also important to remember that this procedure is a permanent solution to your needs. Expert surgeons use the latest technology to align and fix the jawbones, ensuring that your results are much more precise and safe.

You should also note that corrective jaw surgery cannot change what you look like all together. If you opt for this procedure to look like your favourite celebrity or meet unrealistic beauty standards, we have some bad news. Achieving such results is impossible without compromising your fundamental facial integrity and structure.

That said, orthognathic surgery can significantly improve your facial appearance and even your mental health. As we mentioned, the jawline is one of the foremost aesthetic markers on the face. This procedure boosts self-confidence and self-esteem by improving facial aesthetics, ensuring patients feel more attractive in their bodies with natural-looking results.

How is corrective jaw surgery done?

It is vital to be completely honest with your surgeon about your aesthetic expectations before undergoing surgery. They must be equally honest with you and transparent about the kind of outcome you can expect.

At advanced centres like RG Aesthetics, maxillofacial surgeons use 3D simulation technology to predict your outcome. Since this is a permanent solution to your dissatisfactions, knowing precisely what you will look like can be very comforting.

You will also work with an orthodontist simultaneously during your surgery planning. Since dental-jaw relationships change, having an expert in both fields on board ensures you get the best results from your jaw reduction surgery.

The Complete Procedure

This 2-4 hours long procedure happens under general anaesthesia and involves separating your jawbones from your facial architecture. They are then reshaped and repositioned into a more aesthetic and functional position, as determined during the 3D simulation.

The first step of the procedure is the incision through which your surgeon accesses your jawbone. To prevent any scarring on the front of your face, surgeons make an incision in your oral cavity. Such placement ensures that you face no inhibitions after the surgery due to visible scarring.

Expert maxillofacial surgeons in Delhi also use piezosurgery or ultrasonic bone surgery in orthognathic procedures. Using a device called a piezotome, your surgeon targets the jawbone without risking injury to any nearby vital nerves or teeth. The resulting experience is much safer, with less trauma, promoting a faster recovery.

The precision offered by the piezotome combined with the 3D simulation pre-planning ensures your surgery is planned to the exact millimetre. Once your jaw is sufficiently contoured, it is fixed into its new position with premium quality, steam-sterilised titanium plates and screws that stabilize the jaws on their new favourable position.

The Recovery Timeline After Corrective Jaw Surgery

Due to the advanced technologies used today, recovery after orthognathic surgery is quite comfortable. The procedure is much safer with minimal risk of infection, and you get excellent natural-looking results. Here are some staples of the post-jaw surgery timeline:

• Possible hospitalisation for up to 1 days
• Mild swelling on the face for up to 7-10 days
• Intermaxillary fixation, i.e. a period of jaw closure, for up to 7 days
• No solid foods or heavy exercise for 4 weeks
• Regular saline rinses for wound hygiene
• Temporary numbness on the lip and chin
• Possible nasal stuffiness

As long as you follow your surgeon’s post-operative instructions and choose an expert for your corrective jaw surgery, you should face little to no severe discomfort during recovery. Your surgeon’s goal is always to ensure you remain as comfortable as possible, and the measures you need to take post-jaw surgery promote this.

If you do not take these measures or undergo the procedure at the hand of a non-expert surgeon, you increase risk the following consequences:

• Relapse
• TMJ pain
• Permanent lower lip numbness
• Tooth damage
• Wound infection

Additionally, even if you do not experience these severe consequences, you might get bad quality results after your jaw reduction surgery. You may need revision surgery in such cases, which always produces more unpredictable results than getting a fresh surgery. It is also more expensive while giving less-than-ideal results.

Thus, choosing the right surgeon and centre for your procedure is essential. Not only do they prevent possible complications, but you also get high-quality results on the first go. Additionally, if you choose a centre with excellent infrastructure, you can predict your outcome before the surgery – an added bonus!

As an expert maxillofacial surgeon in Delhi, Dr Sanchaita Kohli achieves all this and more with the sophisticated technology at RG Aesthetics. Proficient in piezosurgery, Dr Kohli offers natural-looking, precise, and above all, safe results for all her patients with minimal trauma and downtime!