Metal Mouth Message Board

I have seen some pictures of people who went thru Le Fort 1 to shorten their face and in my opinion, their face still looks long

I dont want to go thru that surgery if it doesnt shorten the face

Is anyone happy with their outcome? Did it shorten your face enough?

thanks!

The length of the face has more to do than just the jaw. Every case is different.
In my case, I had a 6mm impaction, and my jaw is now considerably shorter.
Even if the jaw is shortened, there's not much you can do to change the length of the rest of your face. The main focus of orthognathic surgery is to "balance" your face.....especially if your jaw is overgrown and throws your face off balance making it look longer. So yes, your face could still be long....but it will be balanced.

The best thing you can do is see a surgeon and have a work-up done as they are the only ones who can give you that kind of info.

An orthognathic surgeon can only do so much with a face and some people don't have realistic expectations of results and are never happy.

i had a long face before surgery and came out of surgery with a significantly shorter face. The genio is what did it in the end, but I also had impaction which will affect the length. My genio was done to get rid of my lip incompetence but it also resulted in a much better look IMO.

what exactly is an impaction?

thank you

Shortening the maxilla is also known as an impaction.

Three questions on this subject:

1. If you have a long face, can you do maxillary impaction even if you don't have a gummy smile ?, if you don't have a gummy smile, than after maxillary impaction you'll show less of your upper teeth when smiling...

2. If you have a long face, will advancement of the Maxilla (without impcation) can lead to a perception of a shorter face ?

3. I read that people with an underbite usually have a "long face". Why is that ?, the thing common to all people with an underbite is that their lower jaw is protruding in comparison to their upper jaw, so I don't see what maxillary impaction has anything to do with it, since maxillary impaction will not correct the underbite...

1. If you have a long face, can you do maxillary impaction even if you don't have a gummy smile ?, if you don't have a gummy smile, than after maxillary impaction you'll show less of your upper teeth when smiling...

A: It all depends on the measurements of your face, that is how they decide what goes where and how much. There are normal ranges based on skeletal measurements for how much of your teeth should be showing when smiling depending on your gender. If you don't have a gummy smile then you may not need impaction and your surgeon will know if you need it or not so you won't have to worry about showing less teeth.

2. If you have a long face, will advancement of the Maxilla (without impcation) can lead to a perception of a shorter face ?

A: I think you're getting two things mixed up. From what I understand, advancement of the maxilla generally means moving it forward (outward) from the face. While impaction is taking bone away from the maxilla thus shortening it's over all vertical length. I could be wrong though and every case is different, that's what you have to understand.


3. I read that people with an underbite usually have a "long face". Why is that ?, the thing common to all people with an underbite is that their lower jaw is protruding in comparison to their upper jaw, so I don't see what maxillary impaction has anything to do with it, since maxillary impaction will not correct the underbite...

A: I can't really answer this question. I did not have an underbite before, or after for that matter, I started treatment but did have a long face. For what it's worth, my bit always got better all the way up until surgery unlike many others who's bit got much worse.

I had a long face before surgery and it is now shorter, at least to me. I had an open/over bite though. I think my face looks shorter in the cheeks. I think it looked "horsey" before.

HI There,

Do you have pictures you would be willing to send me?

thanks!

Yes, I recently added more pictures. Here is a link: http://picasaweb.google.com/007HokieTay ... hicSurgery#

There are A LOT! I would focus on the first 25 or so (pre surgery) and the last 25 or so. Throughout the middle I am still swollen and then later still have my braces on. For your reference, I am 5 months post op.

thanks Hokie!
I really like your pics
The thing is it didnt seem to me that you had a long face before surgery
Were you able to close your mouth before surgery? In other words, did you have an open bite?
I was just wondering the reason for your surgery?
Also, could I email you my pics for your opinion?
The thing is, I dont have an open bite or gummy smile but I look horsey anyway so I might be doomed

Thanks Hope. I didn't have a long face like underbiters do, but I think my face was longer b/w my eyes and my mouth. Basically, my cheeks were longer.
No, I was not able to close my mouth before surgery. Well I could close it, but it was very uncomfortable and I would have to tell myself to do it. I would also usually "forget" to keep it closed. In some of the ortho pics from the beginning, I am biting down and relaxed, but my mouth is open. That was natural for me. Now, I can sit with my bite closed, mouth relaxed, and my lips fit together. I may have the slightest bit of lip incompetence still, but nothing like it was before.
The reasons for my surgery were lip incompetence, open bite, over bite, long face, mentalis strain, and couldn't breathe through my nose.
Sure, PM your pics, but keep in mind I am just a patient and observer. I can't really give you the opinions you need.

See my before & afters in the Photos section of this site:
http://thisisjustwrong.com

You can check out the x-rays to see what exactly I had done. I clearly have a shorter face, mostly due to the closing of the open bite combined with the genio. It's a dramatic difference IMO.

Thats a great result Karl!!
It seems to me the genio had the most impact
That is what I definitely need
My chin is terrible

So I'm one of those with an underbite and a long face, because of an excessively long chin, but that is because my jaw kind of 'drops'. I'm proposed to have lower jaw surgery (5-6mm backwards) and that is all. The difference in jaw shape will be noticeable, yet subtle, however my surgeon has said it will bring my face up quite nicely, because of the shape of my lower jaw.

Even though, I am quite sceptical about this and I really want a vertical reduction genioplasty on the top of my chin!! My surgeon has said he can do the genio, but he doesn't want to over-do it so that I go from 1 extreme to the other. I'm having surgery hopefully later this year and in my final joint-clinic I will have the simulation photos of my lower jaw only done, and another with my lower jaw with genio.

I could also get them done separately (the obvious safest route), but I really don't want to go through the whole surgery ordeal twice...