When a patient is interested in an orthodontic treatment, but they have a large, disproportionate ratio between the upper and lower jaws, in addition to the teeth straightening treatment, it is also necessary to adjust the jaws’ positions relative to one another.
When it is a child that is still growing – it is possible to do it by taking advantage of the jaws’ natural growth potential (which you can read about here).
However, if the patient is an adult who has already finished growing, the teeth straightening treatment must be accompanied by the jaws’ surgery (an orthognathic surgery).
Actually, it is a mixed treatment that involves various doctors (an orthodontist, oral and maxillofacial surgeon, and for some cases also prosthodontist and periodontist etc) who plan out the treatment together using digital imaging programs, decide the order of the stages and predict the expected result.
