Facial Aesthetics Achieved Through Jawand Dental Surgery

Today, in many areas of both medicine and dentistry, attempts are made to make medical interventions attractive by using the word AESTHETIC. Although procedures for oral and dental health such as correcting tooth alignment, cleaning tartar, whitening teeth or correcting the size and shape of teeth with crowns increase oral hygiene and improve the appearance of the teeth when smiling, they make no or very little contribution to changing facial proportions and achieving aesthetic harmony in the face.

Although it is not an absolute rule, the more harmonious certain proportions in the human face (such as the distance between the eyes, the ratio of the forehead to the whole face, the width and height of the nose, and the position of the upper and lower teeth relative to the forehead) and angles are with one another, the more that face is perceived as beautiful by everyone who looks at it. In other words, in aesthetic procedures on the face the goal should not be to correct a single angle or proportion, but to achieve or preserve the whole harmony of the face.

With orthognathic surgery (operations on the jaw and facial bones) performed by plastic surgeons, while bite problems between the upper and lower teeth are corrected, at the same time an attempt is made to achieve the aesthetic proportions of the face through changes made to the skeletal framework of the face. With the operations we perform, it is possible to bring teeth positioned excessively forward or backward into harmony with each other, adjust the projection of the chin, treat a significant proportion of jaw joint problems, correct any asymmetries in the face, and, by adjusting the positioning of the teeth, prevent the gums from showing when smiling or enable teeth that are not visible at all to attain an aesthetic appearance between the lips.

In my previous articles 1, 2 I tried to explain who needs orthognathic surgery and who can make do with orthodontic treatment alone. It will be more appropriate for patients, before starting their treatment, also to obtain information from their doctors about alternatives to the treatment options offered to them, and also to prefer multidisciplinary treatment options offered by more than one doctor working together. It should not be forgotten that facial aesthetics is a subject requiring a very broad and detailed evaluation and treatment process, in which perfection may not be achievable with the knowledge and skill of a single doctor alone.