Jason came to our office looking for help to correct his large under bite. As a child he had Herpetic Encephalitis and as a result, his midface did not develop properly.

He has an identical twin brother that does not have this problem and Jason simply wanted to look like his twin.

He underwent about a year of orthodontic treatment to get ready for the surgery. While an orthodontist can move teeth in the jaw bone, if the bones are not in their proper position, moving teeth alone cannot correct the bite and facial disharmony.

Jason underwent a procedure called Orthognathic surgery. Ortho means straight and Gnathic means related to jaws. So essentially orthognathic means straight jaws. The particular procedure was Le Fort I Osteotomy.

Through a very delicate procedure, the upper jaw is separated from the midface and base of the skull, and then moved forward into its proper position. It is then stabilized with plates and screws to its new position. The entire procedure is about two hours and usually does not require an overnight stay at the hospital. There is also no need for the jaws being wired together as it was done years ago and the recovery is usually about 3-5 days.

While there will be a need for some final orthodontic tweaking after about a month, the results are very dramatic with significant changes is facial appearance and function.

And the changes are not only limited to the facial appearance as a significant percentage of patients report improvement in their quality of life.

As you can see, Jason is very happy with the results and finally looks exactly like his twin brother!

Tags: Herpetic Encephalitis, Orthodontic Treatment