What Type Of Jaw Implant Creates The Chiseled Angular Jaw Angle Look?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I have a question about silicone vs medpor jaw angle implants. Forgive me if my question is silly, but I have only recently discovered the existence of jaw angle implants and am very, very interested. I am not only interested in widening the width of my jaw, but also of increasing the sharpness, angularity, and “chiselled” look of my jaw. In some before / after pictures on the internet, the patients' jaws are indeed wider, but they are still the U shape they were before. In other pictures, they are wider AND they are also the V shape–in other words, they have become much more angular, sharper, and more “chiselled” than before, not simply just wider.My question is this: I have read somewhere that only medpor implants can achieve this very sharp and angular jaw, and that silicone cannot achieve this. This is probably false information, but I am still a bit concerned about medpor if this indeed were the case, so my question is: Can silicone implants also achieve this sharp, angular and chiselled look?  Thank you so much, and I look forward to working with you.

A: Your question about jaw angle implants is nether silly or irrelevant. It actually speaks to a very basic difference befween styles of jaw angle implants, those that create width only and those that drop down the angle vertically and make it wider if desired. What you are referring to as increased angularity is the latter. As of now, Medpor makes the only jaw angle implant that adds this vertical dimension and comes in width increases of 3mm (virtually no width increase, 7mms, and 11mms) Silicone jaw angle implants do not come in this shape yet although that will change very shortly. I am designing these jaw angle shapes with a manufacturer in silicone currently.

I would caution you however that, regardless of any jaw angle implant style, the amount of definition seen is highly influenced by the thickness of the overlying soft tissues. Some mem will never be able to have highly defined jaw angles if their tissues are too thick.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana