Sunken Mouth Surgery

 

637. <Sunken Mouth Surgery>

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If a protruding mouth pushes outward, a sunken mouth pulls inward.
Sunken mouth surgery aims to restore harmony to the face by addressing the recessed appearance around the mouth.
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Why does the mouth become sunken?
There are many reasons. Naturally, with age, the upper and lower jaws lose volume, teeth may fall out, and the dental arch recedes. This leads to a collapse in lip support. In such cases, dental prosthetics or implants are used to reinforce the lips. If poor-fitting dentures or implants are the cause, they must be corrected.
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In younger individuals, this condition is often referred to as reverse protrusion, where the front teeth tilt backward (retroclined incisors), giving the profile a withdrawn look.
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This can result from childhood habits: Sleeping face-down on the arm, Lip biting or thumb sucking, Candy holding or creating negative oral pressure, Pushing on the front teeth with the tongue
All of these may exert chronic pressure, pushing the teeth inward.
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Even when the lips themselves are recessed, the appearance worsens if the area around the nose is also sunken. This is often due to overuse of the levator labii superioris alaeque nasi (LLSAN) — a muscle that lifts the upper lip and nasal wing. Expressing stress or displeasure by flaring the nostrils and lifting the lip repeatedly can overdevelop this muscle, hollowing the mid-face and exaggerating the sunken mouth.
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So, what can be done?
For mild cases, fillers or fat grafts can restore volume to the lips and surrounding areas.
If the sunken appearance extends near the nose, costal cartilage grafting can help create contour.
If due to dental angles, orthodontic correction is needed.

In cases of bone resorption, dental implants or prosthetics must be considered.

For more severe mid-face retrusion, orthognathic surgery such as Le Fort I advancement combined with SSRO (sagittal split osteotomy) may be required
the solution lies in detailed analysis:
Should we adjust the soft tissue, the teeth, or the bone?Only then can we truly restore balance.
⠀[Sunken Mouth Surgery is a procedure that corrects facial balance by addressing inward lips]
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