What you need to know about Jaw surgery.

Jaw surgery (also called orthognathic surgery) is the surgical correction of the shape, size or position of the lower jaws, both upper and lower. If a person has a serious problem with their jaws that regular orthodontics can’t fix, then corrective jaw surgery can help.

Some of the more serious problems that may require corrective jaw surgery may include:

Mandibular retrognothia (lower jaw too short) – This results in the lower teeth being too far behind the upper teeth.
Mandibular prognothia (lower jaw too low) – This results in the lower teeth being too far forward of the upper teeth.
Maxillary retrognothia (upper jaw too far back).
Maxillary prognothia (upper jaw too far forward).
Vertical maxillary excess (upper jaw too tall vertically with excessive display of upper tooth and gum below the upper lip).
Vertical maxillary deficiency (upper jaw too short vertically with little upper tooth displayed below the upper lip).
Transverse maxillary deficiency (upper jaw too narrow, leading to dental cross-bite).
Transverse maxillary excess (upper jaw too wide, leading to dental scissors-bite).
Anterior open bite (vertical open bite between the upper and lower front teeth, making incising food and chewing difficult or impossible).
Posterior open bite (vertical open bite between the upper and lower back teeth, making chewing in this region impossible).
Facial and jaw asymmetry, including deviation of the dental and jaw midlines to one side and/or tilting of the occlusal (bite) plane up or down on one side.
Jaw surgery is also an effective treatment for snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea, by moving the lower and/or the upper jaw forward to improve the pharyngeal (throat) airway.

If any of these conditions above look familiar, then give us a call today. Dr Lance West has the skill, experience and expertise to help with any problems you may have. If regular dentistry has taken you as far as it can, then call us. If you have any questions about corrective jaw surgery our friendly and helpful staff will be happy have an informal chat with you.