Sliding Genioplasty

Q: Dr. Eppley,I am mainly looking to improve  my profile and get more projection from my chin although I think I would benefit from slight additional vertical length as well.  I have done a fair amount of research about the various options for recessed chin (jaw surgery/ sliding genio/ chin aug) and understand chin aug to be the least invasive of them all.  I have an overbite that was made slightly better with braces about 2 years ago, but during the process I had 4 teeth extracted which seems to me has made my jawline/ dental arch narrower(may be just in my head).  My dentist has said that my overbite is not too bad but I want to make sure that a chin aug alone would be sufficient for my needs or should I be looking more at orthodontic options.

A: Thank you for sending your pictures. With your amount of horizontal chin deficiency and your dental/orthodontic history, there is on doubt that the origin of your chin concerns is a result of overall lower jaw growth deficiency. While major jaw surgery/orthognathic surgery would more ideally address that problem, it would be a very difficult and long road to go through orthodontics before and after surgery not to mention the actual jaw surgery itself. And you would still need some type of chin surgery done with the jaw surgery. Thus this leaves you with either a chin implant or a sliding genioplasty as more practical treatment options. To really add a vertical increase to you chin as well as a horizontal one, you ideally should have a sliding genioplasty. A chin implant to achieve that same type of result would almost have to be custom made to achieve similar dimensional changes.

Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana