Orthognathic Surgery for Facial Attractiveness
In the previous blog, we talked about Obstructive Sleep Apnea (link to March #1), and how corrective jaw surgery, otherwise known as orthognathic surgery, has been proven to be one of the most effective treatments right now for restoring your oral functions and quality sleep.
Orthognathic, stemming from the Greek word “orthos,” which means straight, and “gnathos,” which means jaw, is an amazing surgical treatment that helps with more than just the snores. By correcting skeletal irregularities on your gonion-to-gonion (those two corners of your lower jaw near the bottom of your ears), studies suggest that you are actually also making yourself more conventionally attractive. So, what does it mean to be attractive?
Talks of universal beauty standards have often been explored but never concluded due to the lack of a comprehensive consensus. While there is already a considerable number of scientific papers that discuss the subject, ideal parameters on facial structure remain difficult to set in stone. This is due to the research requisite to factor in large variations on geography, ethnicity, and gender. In this article, we’ll take a sneak peek into the study and delve into matters of the jaw.
What is the ideal jaw?
Orthognathic and orthodontic surgeries for aesthetic purposes are done with an agreement between you and your PAPRAS surgeon. You will be asked to describe what you consider to be an aesthetically attractive jaw, after which your surgeon will determine if it’s aligned with their opinion based on their years of studies and analysis of your facial proportions. In most cases, people tend to believe that if they had Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt’s jaw shape then they, too, will look as attractive as them. This is where the dissatisfaction post-surgery comes in — when an uninformed patient disregards their surgeon’s opinion.
Source: QOVES Studio
Being exposed to and enamored by the subconscious standards set by Hollywood, it’s not surprising if most people believe that there is a single go-to standard for their jawline. Patients would come in asking for their jaw to be operated on according to their favorite celebrity’s picture. It makes sense, but it’s hardly that simple. As also explained in the video above, there are many dimensions that are looked at before your surgeon recommends what jaw shape is most apt for your face.
Malocclusions
Part of the journey to making an attractive face is to resolve firstly any malocclusion. This is the condition in which there is a deflection from the normal relation of the teeth to other teeth in the same arch and/or to teeth in the opposing arch. There are three classes of malocclusions: class 1 (considered healthy but could have overcrowding), class 2 (could have an overbite or overjet due to an underdeveloped lower jaw), and class 3 (the lower jaw is larger than the upper jaw). Our goal is to bring your alignment back to a class 1 before making further adjustments.
Jaw Angle and Attractiveness
Depending on how the rest of your facial structure looks, your PAPRAS surgeon may come to an opinion that an obtuse angle jawline with a contoured mandible (like Angelina Jolie’s) would be most fitting for complementing your face shape so it looks more attractive overall. For another patient, it may be recommended that a narrow-angle jawline can turn out to be more attractive, especially if they also have a narrow-angle mandible, which would result to the coveted V-shaped face.
In a 2019 study, both men and women were reported to prefer a slimmer jawline than a square jawline. A separate study in 2015 compared the facial dimensions of women who had won beauty pageants with average women, and reportedly found that the women from the beauty group to be with a narrower angle jawline of 113° versus the wider angle jawline of 131° in the control average group. For easier visualization, Kareena Kapoor’s jawline angle is 113°. Although widely considered as attractive, there is still much debate whether 113° is the ideal angle for beauty.
Lateral View of the Jawline
Beyond the frontal view, another factor considered is how your jawline looks from the side. This refers to your jaw protrusion (forward) and retrusion (backward). On a numerical basis, a 2012 study reported a 4 mm jaw protrusion or retrusion didn’t impact how the subject was perceived for attractiveness. Any figure above that negatively impaired the aesthetic particularly for female subjects. In that study, it was concluded that a 6 mm jaw protrusion or a 10 mm jaw retrusion may be considered as highly unattractive, making these subjects the perfect candidates for cosmetic orthognathic surgery.
Gonial Angle
As mentioned previously, the gonion is the medical term to refer to the apex of your mandible (your jawline) and lower jaw. This angle has a range of 90° to 140° and on average, the population has a gonial angle within 128° +/- 2.36° for males and 126° +/-2.41° for females. What this means is, those with a “lower figure (nearer 90°)” or more acute gonial angles will have a square, masculine face, while those with a “higher figure (nearer 140°)” will have a rounder, feminine appearance.
Bigonial Width
This is how we refer to the measure of your jaw width from your gonion to the other gonion. Men typically have larger bigonial widths (hence, the square facial shape), while women have smaller ones (hence, the round facial shape). This is strictly about your bone structure which means your muscles and facial fat are not factored into the measurement.
In closing
We were able to have a surface overview on what goes on and what are typically looked at and considered in corrective jaw surgeries for aesthetic reasons. While we only covered some parts of the process, we hope it’s clearer now how meticulous of a process this is.
The standards of beauty remain subjective up to today, and while studies above suggested certain figures, we at PAPRAS believe that these are ever-changing firstly and preferential secondly. We approach this by first ensuring the normal, healthy, optimal function of your jaw before we start deliberating with you about making your jawline and overall face more attractive based on the current standards and trends, and your honest input.
Finally, we would like you to feel welcome, regardless of gender and sex, as far as your preferences and standards go. Want to go for the old but tried trends set by Hollywood? Sure. Are you more about the KPop V-shaped face? Okay. Do you care less about popular culture and just want a facial shape you’re satisfied with? That’s fine. You can count on our respectful honesty in determining if what you want will look good on you. We’ll be happy to talk with you about these.
References:
Afzal, Sapeedeh. “Classification of Malocclusion.” 4 December 2013, https://www.slideshare.net/seepmaano/classification-of-malocclusion-28891829. Accessed 8 March 2021.
QOVES Studio. “Male Facial Attractiveness: What Is The Ideal Male Jaw?” https://www.qoves.com/what-makes-an-attractive-jaw/. Accessed 5 March 2021.
Sony MD, Dr. Mingma. “Female Facial Attractiveness: What Is The Ideal Female Jaw?” QOVES Studio, https://www.qoves.com/female-facial-attractiveness-what-is-the-ideal-female-jaw/. Accessed 4 March 2021.
Woodlief, DMD, Victor D. “Types of Malocclusion and Correction.” Winchester Dental, 30 January 2017, https://wincdental.com/news/types-malocclusion-correction/. Accessed 8 March 2021.