Contact & consultation

Arranging an assessment

Outpatient appointments are booked through the hospital on the numbers below; international patients can ask for Michael Yu. Bring a note of what you notice and when it started, whether the two sides of your face have always differed, whether you clench or grind your teeth, the date of your last dental examination and whether any treatment is outstanding, and any previous facial surgery. Each of those changes the plan rather than the conversation around it.

What the consultation should establish

Which part of the angle is producing the width, and whether the cortex, the corner or both would be reduced. How thick the bone is along the planned line and where the canal carrying the nerve to the chin runs within it, from imaging rather than from an impression. What the two sides measure separately. Whether the mouth and the gums are healthy enough for an incision inside them. And what the masseter is likely to do once part of its attachment has been removed.

The questions worth asking

Which part of the angle would you reduce, and why that part? What does the imaging show about how much can safely be removed, and what has to be left around the nerve? Where do the vessels that supply the face run in my case, and what would be done if there were bleeding after the operation? How long will the swelling hide the width, and when would you judge the result? And what would you do if it turned out that too little had been taken? A surgeon who can answer the last question is planning conservatively, which is what this operation requires.

Before you commit

No decision needs to be made at the first appointment, and for this operation the imaging and the dental assessment usually have to be seen before a plan means anything. Take the plan away, read it against the guides on this site, and come back with questions. A discount that expires, or pressure to book before imaging has been reviewed, is information about the clinic rather than about your jaw.