Should My Daughter Get Orthognathic Surgery Or Chin Reduction and Midface Augmentation?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I spoke with you earlier regarding my daughter’s issue with her jaw. You could see it’s protruding and too prominent for her face. We would like to see what her options are. Her teeth are straight but we don’t know if it would help with her bite and jaw structure m, if she would get braces. We did have a consultation here and they recommended she get braces to align the bite and then proceed with jaw reconstruction but we don’t know? She’s 18 and I don’t want her to go through the extremities of this particular surgical procedure. We took her to a plastic surgeon and that’s when the doctor referred me to you.

 A: The major consideration you have at this point is whether you are going to treat the facial skeletal disharmony (which is really a combination of upper jaw deficiency AND lower jaw excess) with 1) orthognathic surgery (upper and lower jaw surgery which requires before and after surgery braces….braces alone are inadequate) or 2) a facial camouflage technique of chin reduction and midface implant augmentation.(with or without rhinoplasty) There are arguments that can be made for either approach. Because she is so young this is the time to conclusively rule in or rule out the orthognathic surgery approach.

I can’t see her bite but, more importantly, you have seen an orthodontist who has. It will be helpful to see the digital records that they have taken.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana