Orthognathic surgery

Complaints related to the position of the teeth and jaws like very protrusive upper teeth, gummy smile, excessive tooth display while smiling, flared teeth, an uneven plane of the teeth, open bite between the front teeth and so on are frequent among patients.

Not all of these can be corrected by orthodontics as often the disorder lies not at the level of the teeth but at the level of the skeleton(upper and lower jaws). This requires orthognathic surgery which repositions the jaws in a more harmonic way.

Priya came to Richardsons Dental and Craniofacial Hospital saying that when she smiled, too much of her gums were visible and her upper teeth were forwardly placed. A CBCT scan was done for her which allowed a 3-d analysis of her problem. It was found that she needed an upward movement of her upper jaw and reshaping of her chin.

The required blood investigations were done and she was wheeled into the OT. The orthognathic team was headed by Dr. Sunil Richardson who was assisted by Orthognathic surgery fellow Dr. Shreya Krishna. The procedure took about two hours and she recovered uneventfully.

There was very minimal swelling post-operatively. She was maintained on a soft diet for a few days. After 3 days of hospital stay, she was discharged.