Can A Mentalis Muscle Suspension and Sliding Genioplasty Be Redone?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I had a mentalis muscle resuspension about 10 years ago. This was due to complications from a sliding genioplasty that made my chin huge, and a subsequent reduction a few years later. The suspension worked well but my lower gumline has slowly receded to the point where a few front teeth may be in jeopardy.Would dental implants affect the suspension in any way? It feels as if recently either my one tooth is infected or the suspension site has problems. Is it possible to redo the procedure if necessary? Also, would it be possible at this point to move the chin forward a bit due to some slack skin from the original procedures? Thank you for your time.

A: There are different types of mentalis muscle suspension procedures and I obviously don’t know which one you had done. Whether the suspension is the cause of your anterior mandibular gingival retraction I don’t know. But that issue aside, I see no reason that the teeth in jeopardy could not be removed and replaced by dental implants. The placement and soft tissue coverage around the implants would not negatively affect your prior suspension. It is always possible to redo your suspension at any time in the future. Moving the chin bone further forward (redoing your sliding genioplasty) would only help your soft tissue suspension effects as a whole new tightening of it would be done during that procedure.

Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana