Need help recessed small jaws

[Anna5]

i dont know anyone else who literally has no chin, my neck connect too almost my face surely this cant be normal

Really I don't think that is the case. I do think you have a nice chin and I truly think you look normal.

[Mark32]

To the OP, i have a similar profile (upturned nose and recessed lower jaw). I used to snore loudly but it seems to have improved with focussing on nasal breathing at night (which isn't alway possible for me). Can you breathe through your nose alright?

i have an upturned nose as well but in my case i think it may be my upper jaw that's recessed. i too snore loudly and mouth breath at night - and my nasal breathing often feels restricted during the day. i always thought this was possibly caused by the shape of my maxilla, however, from what you're saying it could actually be the shape of my nose that's at fault? is there something unusual in the development of the septum or something when you have an upturned nose?

also, how have you gone about shifting to nasal breathing at night? does it involve exercises or trying to adopt a different sleeping position before you nod off or something? i'd love to able to stop mouth breathing at night.

[dantheman]

It's a complicated association. Some will say that mouth breathing will cause a narrowed maxilla, others will say that a narrow maxilla will cause mouth breathing. I myself have a well-developed maxilla and don't have a narrow arch. Nevertheless I have some nasal congestion issues that are related to chronic sinusitis. I'm not sure why I can breathe better through my nose now, it's still a mystery to me. I've always been a mouth breather at night, though I usually don't have daytime issues breathing through my nose. Most pictures have me with my mouth closed.

In regards to the upturned nose issue, I think this is mostly genetic but can signal vertical maxillary overgrowth. Others can correct me if I'm wrong. I actually have a degree of maxillary prognathism, and a mild mandibular recession, that together give me a more obvious class II jaw appearance.

[Alue]

i dont know anyone else who literally has no chin, my neck connect too almost my face surely this cant be normal

I agree with what tiny said, your lower jaw is a little bit recessed but it's not extreme. 

I know how you feel, but believe me, mine's even worse, and thanks to orthodontic treatment as a kid my maxilla is as recessed as my chin now, which is much harder to fix.  I have searched far and wide and have never came across a case similar to mine.    Your case isn't that bad really, but I know what you are talking about.   And there are actually a lot of people with profiles similar to yours. 

I don't know if you have bite issues or a narrowed airway, but if you do decide to go the surgical route, you are in a position and age where you could have a very strong result. 

[Mark32]

...Nevertheless I have some nasal congestion issues that are related to chronic sinusitis. …

aside from something like a narrow maxilla restricting the size of the nasal cavity or symtoms of chronic sinusitis, what else can make it difficult to breath through your nose?

I know how you feel, but believe me, mine's even worse, and thanks to orthodontic treatment as a kid my maxilla is as recessed as my chin now, which is much harder to fix.  I have searched far and wide and have never came across a case similar to mine.

was the recession in your maxilla caused by treatment that involved extractions in your upper arch? would an advancement with a le fort 1 not move your maxilla to where it should be?

[ticktickatick]

Based on my own experience and also observing the jaw development of my siblings, I believe that starting out with a smaller (but still in the normal range) sized jaw and airway often leads to mouthbreathing and bad tongue positionin which changes the growth until the jaw is no longer normal (retrognathic).

When I was in elementary school I actually had an underbite, but a relatively small sized jaw and a small airway with a deviated septum. As my adult teeth came in my jaw never seemed to catch up and I went from an underbite to an overbite and retrognathic profile. I don't know when the mouthbreathing started, but I remember one of my sports coaches around age 10 telling me to breathe through my nose because I was always winded on the field. Didn't work though because I simply could not get enough air that way.

Tongue position also has a lot to do with jaw growth. Your tongue can exert a ton of force on your jaw as it's growing. If your tongue isn't properly placed on the roof your mouth at rest, you will have problems. As an adult researching these things I noticed that my natural tongue position was in the bottom of my mouth. That probably had a huge negative effect on my growth.

[OrthodontistExpert]

Fixing a small jaw also aims to fix a constricted airway, prevent or cure snoring, improve your facial proportions, normalise your profile, enhance jaw joint health, and gives you a functional interdigitating occlusion that you can chew with.

Ideal treatment is lead by a jaw correction expert, who then leads a team that includes an orthodontist.

Almost all patients are however primarily treated by an orthodontist, leading to inefficient or poorly coordinated treatments and often very poor or restricted outcomes.

This video helps explain idealized surgical-orthodontic treatment, and the outcomes of coordinated surgical-orthodontic care vs unilateral orthodontic care alone. I use it to help explain processes and outcomes to my own orthodontic patients.

I hope it helps you in discussing your own needs to your treating dentists.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bIivMIcwGhQ&list=PLjC4hIwmyQfjQWNkTyvRUV1iqKdaIAgjD