Profile correction / Dysgnathia

When will a collaboration of orthodontist and oral surgeon be necessary?

The position of the teeth can be moved for life by the orthodontist alone. In children and adolescents in growth, the jaw position can be influenced by braces aswell. This is only possible to a very limited extent in adult patients. Pronounced jaw malformations can therefore only be treated after completion of growth through cooperation between the orthodontist and the maxillofacial surgeon.

Reasons for a combined therapy from orthodontics and maxillofacial surgery can be for example:

• Negative overbite: If the lower jaw is very prominent compared to the upper jaw.
• Severely enlarged overbite: If the lower jaw is far behind in relation to the upper jaw and there is a large overbite.
• Open bite malocclusion: If only a few teeth are in contact. For example, in a frontal open bite, there is only contact on the back teeth. At the front there is a vertical distance between the upper and lower teeth.
• Crossbite/Nonokklusion: When the teeth bite on each other incorrectly or past each other.
• Facial asymmetry: When the entire face is asymmetrical due to the jaw position.

When is a profile correction recommended?

Mild jaw deformities are not bad and do not necessarily need to be treated. If there are no functional problems, a face can even be particularly interesting and attractive due to slight deviations from the norm. However, pronounced malalignments of the jaw often lead to severe aesthetic and functional impairments (chewing function, lip closure, overloading of teeth or joints). Then a profile correction in the sense of a combined orthodontic-oral-surgical therapy can be considered.

Treatment procedure of the combined orthodontic-oral surgical profile correction

The orthodontist and his surgical colleague work hand in hand with this type of treatment. The respective tasks are clearly distributed. The orthodontist corrects the tooth position. The oral surgeon corrects the jaw position.

In the first phase of the profile correction, the orthodontist with braces adjusts the dental arches so that the upper and lower jaws fit together well in the desired position.

In the second phase, the jaw position is corrected by the oral surgeon. Depending on the malposition is operated only in one or both jaws. The procedure is performed stationary and under general anaesthesia. As a rule, patients are on sick leave for about 1-2 weeks.

Now that the jaws are set in the correct position, it is the job of the orthodontist to fine tune the teeth.

As a rule, such a treatment lasts about 18-36 months.

In our practice for orthodontics in Unterföhring we work together successfully with a network of very experienced surgeons in Munich.

Are there alternatives to surgical profile correction?

In some cases, it is possible to compensate for a skeletal deviation – i.e. a jaw malposition – by targeted tooth movements and thus to avoid a surgical procedure.

For young adults with a backbite (large overbite), there is also the so-called Herbst braces. The Herbst device allows the orthodontist even after completed growth a forward displacement of the lower jaw without surgical intervention. The profile is changed in this purely orthodontic treatment method to a much lesser extent than in the surgical relocation.

In our practice for orthodontics in Unterföhring, our patients are always informed about all possible treatment options.