Overview

Oral and Maxillofacial surgery specializes in surgery of the face, mouth and jaws. Surgeons in this field are dental specialists who treat conditions, defects, injuries and esthetic aspects of the mouth, teeth, jaws and face. This field consists of many different procedures such as, Dentoalveolar surgery which involves the extraction of diseased or impacted teeth. Second, dental implants, which is the process of replacing missing teeth. Surgical Correction of Maxillofacial Skeletal Deformities is a reconstructive procedure that corrects deformities of the jaws, facial skeleton, and associated soft tissues. There are numerous numbers of procedures. For jaw surgery orthodontics is required in planning these procedures in order to make sure the teeth are perfectly aligned.

Benefits of Jaw Surgery

1. Pain Relief: There are a few reasons a person may experience pain. They may have inflammation because of excessive wear and tear in the joints. Misaligned jaws causes strain on the muscles that is around the jaw area. By correcting the alignment of the jaw through surgery put the jaw back in place which reduces strain and inflammation. Another reason is injury to the jaw caused by car accidents, sports, and fights. During these situations orthognathic surgery far outweighs the risks.

2. Chewing: Malocclusions can make it hard to chew and bite. Patients don’t even know realize that they are working harder to chew. Jaw surgery realigns the jaw which allows the teeth to have correct bite function. Patients become pleased to see a significant enhancement in their quality of life. Correcting the chewing function will show an improvement in digestion.

3. Tooth Wear: Misaligned jaws causes the teeth to be in the wrong position. As you bite down it can wear off the surface of the teeth which causes the teeth to weaken overtime. Once the jaw is correctly aligned, the teeth will have overall better wear and tear because the pressure of the bite will be spread evenly around the jaw.

4. Speech: When we speak, we use our teeth, lips, and tongue. When these features are not in place your speech is going to be altered. The alignment of your teeth plays a role in pronouncing consonants and controls airflow for many sounds. Malocclusions lead to lisps and mispronunciation. When patients have a hard time with pronunciation it leads to embarrassment and low socializing skills. The correction of misaligned jaw has a positive effect on speech capabilities.

5. Appearance: Patients with Malocclusions do have an uneven smile and facial structure. This leads to a low self-esteem and insecurities. The correction of the jaw often will result in an improved facial appearance by restoring balance to facial features. After surgery patients gain confidence about themselves which leads to less depression and better quality of life.