Mandible Augmentation
Since orientals mostly have a congenitally wide and square face, the mandible shape generally needs to be reduced rather than reinforced. However, for few patients who demand subjective mandible enhancement or repair of bone defect due to a previously excessive resection of mandible angle, a mandible implant should be emplaced to increase the face width or reconstruct the mandible contour. Similar to mandible reduction, this surgery needs to make a 3–4-cm incision at the lower gum inside the mouth, detach the subperiosteal space, and then emplace pre-modified mandible implants. Bone screwing may be necessary for fixation in light of the stability of implant attachment to the bones. At present, Dr. Chuang offers the following two types of mandible implants:
Medpor Mandible Implant
Silicone Mandible Implant
Comparison of mandible implants
| Medpor | Silicone | |
|---|---|---|
| Ideal candidates | Male patients who want to undergo reconstruction of severe mandible defects and reinforce the mandible angle or extended the lower facial contour and width | Patients who want to retain female soft jaw lines and only reinforce mild degree of mandible width but not enhance the bone angle |
| Surgical objective | Reinforce masculine lower face | Improve the sharp face and retain the grace of females |
| Model options | Numerous | Limited |
| Material characteristics | As tough as human bone | As soft as muscles |
| Anesthesia method | General anesthesia | General anesthesia |
| Surgical incision | 4 cm at the intraoral lower gum | 3 cm at the intraoral lower gum |
| Bone angle enhancement | Obvious | Unobvious |
| Bone screw fixation | Probable | No |
| Biocompatibility | High | Relatively low |
| Customization degree | High | Relatively low |
| Foreign body reaction | Extremely low | Probable |
| Future removal | Difficult | Easy |