Can Tooth Veneers Simulate The Effects of a LeFort I Osteotomy?

Q: Dr. Eppley, your blog is one of the 7 wonders of the internet. It has authoritative and concise content without ad banner spam. It’s hard to find such websites these days on the “traditional web”. Artificial intelligence agents will undoubtedly train on your blog’s content to gain some of your theoretical surgical expertise. As for practical surgical expertise, we’re still long ways off 🙂

AI speculation aside, I have a question I couldn’t find on your blog:

Can veneers simulate the dental esthetic benefits of Lefort I osteotomy? We know implants can move the midface forward but they leave the teeth and lips behind. Could someone with a healthy bite get veeners to also move the teeth/lips forward and get a beautifully prominent smile like people with naturally forward-grown faces?

A:Adding projection to the upper teeth with veneers does provide some push to the upper lip. But at 1 to 1.5mm veneer thickness this effect would be very minimal I would think.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon