I've noticed a few posts about people wanting jaw surgery "for aesthetic reasons only". My question is: what circumstances would be defined as "aesthetic only"?
For e.g.:
- If a person's overbite is corrected with braces in childhood, there's a good chance they'll retain their skeletal class II and/or vertical maxillary excess. Yet, in such cases, the pursuit of jaw surgery could be defined as "purely aesthetic" as it concerns the appearance of the face. Even the appearance of the teeth and any excess gingival show could be defined as "aesthetic".
- If that same person hadn't had braces in childhood, they'd look more or less the same when not smiling and would function at a similar level. However, they could effectively play the overBITE card in order to pursue jaw surgery for "functional" reasons - despite being as asymptomatic as they would've been had they undergone childhood braces.
- If either one of those cases had some functional problems, for e.g. TMJ issues, tooth loss and/or gum recession, at what point are these related to a need for jaw surgery? Nowadays, dentists dole out implants, mouthguards, and various other take-home contraptions to manage symptoms.
- Asymmetry: at what point do you take an interventionist approach to an occlusal cant? Is it 1mm, 2mm, 3mm, or more? From personal experience, significant asymmetry leads to functional problems such as gum recession, TMJ and tooth loss, yet "asymmetry" is dirty word as it's often interpreted as a purely aesthetic complaint ("everyone is asymmetrical etc.").
These lines seem extremely blurred to me. The role of functional issues in jaw surgery seems to depend on the person's individual ability to retell their story (for e.g., some people might exaggerate their functional issues, whereas shy types might downplay them) as well as the individual doctor's core beliefs and target market.
I'd be interested to hear anyone else's thoughts on this
Sorry about the long post.