a couple of questions about jaw surgery

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#1 Post by **link357** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:51 am

I started with braces for an underbite that has a 9 mm jet (I think that's the terminology) back in April. Back when I did the orthodontic consultation one of the conditions that was outlined was that I have a short midface. I guess that it is cosmetically not difficult to see either because when I consulted with an oral surgeon he briefly stated that he would most likely lengthen the midface to make it so that I can breath better, (I had no idea that I had that problem) on top of fixing the underbite. Since its pretty early in the treatment I really didn't think to ask him about that.

Has anyone else had their midface done while they did the orthognathic surgery? Is the midface another area that is going to affect the outcome cosmetically? If it is, is it different for everyone or is there something somewhat specific thats going to happen? Does having that on top of the jaw surgery add time or change the recovery at all?

Anyways answers are appreciated, and sorry if its been discussed a bunch already I searched but I didn't see anything on this.

#2 Post by **AF104** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 1:25 pm

Are you talking about the entire midface or just the upper jaw? Advancement of the entire mid-face is major craniofacial surgery that advances the nasal bones, floor of the eye sockets, cheek bones, and upper jaw. I've also never heard of an oral surgeon advancing the entire mid-face so it's likely they were referring only to the upper jaw. Here's some information:

http://www.thecraniofacialcenter.org/cr ... dface.html
http://www.maxfac.com/facial/jaw.html

#3 Post by **link357** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 3:45 pm

Thanks so much for the response. It is for the upper jaw. Those links you provided were incredibly helpful.