Patients often seek advice about chin or jaw surgery. The upper and lower jaws define the bone structure for a large part of the face. The face might appear too flat or the chin too big.

When there is an obvious discrepancy in size between the upper and lower jaw it may be necessary to carry our an osteotomy of one or both jaws and move the two jaws into a better relationship to each other.

Quite often it is necessary to have orthodontic treatment to align the teeth before the surgery is done. This can have enormous benefit for the appearance of an individual. It needs the expertise of a maxillofacial surgeon and an orthodontist who can work together to achieve the optimum outcome.

The most important issue for the patient is to understand the anatomy of their facial appearance and the surgeon can explain this after a detailed computer analysis. The analysis will enable computer predictions to guide the surgeon and the patient on the best treatment options.

Before and after of a patient who had his upper jaw brought forwards and his lower jaw moved back to correct a jaw disproportion.

An X-ray of the face has been fed into a computer for surgical planning and enables the patient to see a prediction of the result following the planned surgical movement of the jaws.

Orthognathic treatment

Orthognathic treatment is undertaken to correct severe jaw discrepancies and involves a combination of orthodontics and surgery. It can greatly improve oral function, facial and dental appearance and the patient’s quality of life.