Q.  I have a malocclusion caused by protruded mandibular teeth. They say that I should take a surgery. I also have difficulty in chewing and pronunciation. What can I do?
 

A. Mandibular prognathism is the condition that mandible is hyperplastic and protruded compared with the maxilla. In this case, occlusion is disturbed and tooth eruption is found irregular. Elongated mandible without malocclusion is called ‘long face’. In Asian population, mandibular prognathism is often, however in Caucasian, hypoplastic mandible is more frequent. There is no peculiar discomfort in daily activity. The main purpose of the correction of this condition is to restore the facial symmetry, balance and normal occlusion. Treatment consists of 3 stages; 1st stage is preoperative orthodontic treatment, 2nd step is orthognathic surgery on the mandible, and the 3rd stage is postoperative orthodontic treatment. Preoperative orthodontic treatment is preparation for the orthognathic surgery. This takes about 6 months in average and allows the patient having close to the class II occlusion. Orthognathic surgery needs 3 to 7 days’ hospitalization period. Finally, postoperative orthodontic treatment places the newly positioned maxilla and mandible in neutral occlusion state. Orthoganthic surgery has best outcome in case of well-organized cooperation between the orthodontic specialist and orthognathic plastic surgeon.