In addition, good candidates are willing to tolerate unavoidable inconveniences such as healing time, possible numbness of the lips, chin, gum and cheeks, also to temporarily refrain from smoking and some medications that impede healing. Orthognathic surgery has become very common as patients have discovered the benefits of corrective jaw surgery as it pertains to their ability to chew and function. In addition, orthodontists realize the advantage of orthognathic surgery from a stability standpoint. Orthodontics is much more stable if any jaw deformity can be surgically corrected. Correcting the position of the bones allows the orthodontist to place the teeth in an ideal alignment.
Ideal alignment insures proper forces on the teeth and helps to eliminate orthodontic relapse.
Additionally, alignment of the jaws will many times improve a patient's esthetics and at the same time may reduce the orthodontic treatment time. For these reasons, orthognathic surgery is beneficial. Advances in orthognathic surgery have greatly reduced complications. In most cases, hospital stays have been reduced to overnight admissions. All procedures are performed inside the mouth without facial scarring.