Surgical Orthodontics

Surgical orthodontics, also called orthognathic treatment, addresses cases where the underlying jaw structure, rather than tooth position alone, is the source of the bite or alignment problem. These cases typically involve significant skeletal discrepancies that cannot be corrected by moving teeth within the existing jaw position, including severe overbites or underbites, open bites, asymmetries, or jaws that are positioned too far forward, too far back, or rotated relative to one another. The corrective surgery itself is performed by an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in a hospital or surgical center setting.

Treatment at Garrison Orthodontics covers the orthodontic portion of the combined surgical-orthodontic plan, working in coordination with the patient's oral surgeon throughout the case. The process generally begins with a period of pre-surgical orthodontic treatment in which Dr. Copeland aligns the teeth into the position they will need to occupy after the jaws are repositioned, which often appears to make the bite look worse temporarily because the teeth are being prepared to fit a corrected jaw relationship rather than the existing one. The surgical procedure follows once this pre-surgical alignment is complete, with the surgeon repositioning the upper jaw, lower jaw, or both into their planned positions.

After surgery, the patient returns to Garrison Orthodontics for the post-surgical finishing phase, during which Dr. Copeland uses the appliance to fine-tune the bite and tooth position now that the underlying skeletal structure has been corrected. The full combined treatment typically takes between eighteen months and three years from start to finish, depending on the complexity of the case, the patient's healing, and the specific procedures involved. At the conclusion of active treatment, retention is managed through custom retainers to maintain both the dental and skeletal correction long-term.