Corrective Jaw Surgery to Restore Your Bite

Description

Corrective jaw surgery is sometimes required for patients with severe under or overbites, or who suffer with sleep apnea. This procedure involves moving the jaws to a predetermined position to help alleviate symptoms. Corrective jaw surgery is usually performed within a few hours, and some patients can return to work or school the following day.

Corrective jaw surgery is, very simply, the surgical repositioning of the jaws. Some patients have an overbite where the upper jaw is in front of the lower jaw. An underbite is the opposite of that. And a third class of patients that we're seeing more and more often are patients who need both jaws moved forward due to airway insufficiency, patients with sleep apnea. It involves separating the upper or lower jaw, or both jaws, separating them from the rest of the facial skeleton, moving them to a predetermined point in space, and then fixating them there via a variety of techniques. Typically, the procedure is done in a single setting. A single jaw surgery can last anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes. And a more complicated case can last anywhere from three to four hours. The recovery process is quite dependent upon the amount of surgery that's being done. We see patients return to work and school the next day. In certain situations that's the quickest. And I think the longest recovery would border on two weeks. Follow up will range from several weeks to upwards of six months to a year, both with our office and the patient's orthodontist.

About the Practice