General Category > Functional Surgery Questions

Underbite - Is this the best treatment?

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fullbald:
I am 32 year old male from Australia and have recently consulted with an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon about my underbite.

The surgeon indicated two problems with my teeth/jaws:
1. underdevelopment of upper jaw - this is the fundamental cause of underbite, while my lower jaw is actually within appropriate length.
2. 2mm asymmetric to the left for my lower jaw

The surgeon recommended 12-months braces, followed by surgery and then 6-months braces for the full treatment. Also with the surgery, the surgeon recommended to operate on upper jaw only. Having said that he also asked me to prepare myself for two-jaw surgery too, because of the reasons below:
1. depending on how the teeth react to the braces, upper jaw surgery may not be sufficient. We will need to wait until about 9-months in the braces before we can tell.
2. in order to correct the bite, moving upper jaw along forward too far may lead to unpleasant appearance where the nose will be burred. Therefore a two jaw surgery is needed where upper jaw move forward while lower jaw backward. He also mentioned that Genioplasty will be required too.

I understand the lower jaw surgery involves more risks comparing to upper jaw surgery only, however for a better result i think it will be worth it. I have attached the x-ray and some profiles pictures here https://imgur.com/a/wHeFn

I feel confident with the surgeon and the treatment plan but would love to hear your inputs.

Thanks in advance

kavan:
I think your doc told you right. From the ceph, it does look like a case of upper jaw only. But as he/she says, if the desired movements to the  upper jaw teeth don't budge as planned to meet objective of upper jaw only, then you do have to brace yourself (no pun intended) for double jaw. If the lower jaw needs to be moved back which ideally, it doesn't, then a genio would be needed to make up the distance lost by having to move it back.

fullbald:
Thanks for your reply, kavan.
I think im gonna go ahead with it.

JawKid7:
just know it's going to widen your nose so make sure you speak to your surgeon about it

fullbald:
Thanks  for your comment Jawkid7,

I asked my surgeon about it, she said she uses a technique where cut the maxilla bone behind the nose muscles, leaving the muscle in one piece, so the nose shouldnt be widened.

she also mentioned that my nose is about 10mm wider than average as it is. sad

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