Do you have a bad face shape? Maybe you have this bad habit in the past! The earlier you treat it, the less impact it will have.

When looking in the mirror

Everyone's face shape is different

But if you think you have a bad face shape and a short chin

You can't even see the chin.

Think about whether this is the case for you.

- Mandibular retrusion

Mandibular retraction not only affects appearance

It will also bring many adverse effects on health

What is going on with this phenomenon?

From the test:

Place a finger on the tip of your nose, lips, and the front of your chin, and observe the side view in the mirror. If your lips are particularly prominent, your chin is short and positioned far back, you may have mandibular retraction.

Image source: Photo Network

In fact, I usually feel this situation. The retruded mandible makes the teeth look a bit "overhanging", or the lower teeth obviously move backwards . It is visually quite intuitive, and it feels like the face has changed...

Many people feel that their face shape is not so straight, and they always feel like they are stretching their neck forward. This may be related to the receding mandible. If you are a little fat, you will get a particularly conspicuous double chin.

So what exactly is mandibular retraction?

In fact, this is a maxillofacial development problem, which is more common in adolescents and children during their development , but it can also occur in adults. Mandibular retraction not only makes people "chinless", but is often accompanied by buck teeth, protruding mouth, incomplete lip closure, etc., which is a heavy blow to the appearance.

If the situation is particularly serious, it may also cause the airway to become narrow, affecting breathing, and causing snoring, apnea and other symptoms during sleep . Not only will sleep become worse, but it will also cause a lot of trouble for yourself and the people around you.

There are many reasons for mandibular retraction, such as genetic factors, oral development, bad habits, etc.

The focus should be on bad habits, and I would like to mention one bad habit that is particularly likely to affect the development of the mandible - mouth breathing!

Think about it carefully, when we breathe through our nose normally, our lips are naturally closed and there is no change in the facial muscles. But when we breathe through our mouth, we not only have to open our mouth, but also many facial muscles need to cooperate.

In order to adapt to the way of breathing through the mouth, the mandible will actively "widen the airway" and slowly rotate downward and backward , which will cause mandibular retraction over time.

There are two types of mouth breathing: one is habitual mouth breathing , and the other is airway obstruction caused by primary diseases such as sinusitis, nasal polyps, nasal concha hypertrophy, adenoids hypertrophy, etc., which lead to long-term nasal congestion and nasal congestion and the only way to breathe is through the mouth.

Image source: Photo Network

If habits can still be controlled by ourselves, mouth breathing caused by disease is more difficult to deal with.

In order to prevent unconscious mouth breathing while sleeping, many people use some auxiliary stickers to seal their mouths and force themselves to breathe through their noses.

Be careful! Not everyone can improve in this way.

If mouth breathing is caused by habit or oral problems, and nasal breathing is unobstructed, then there is no problem in using this type of product;

However, if you have severe nasal congestion, using products such as sealing patches will cause certain risks and may lead to severe hypoxia.

In addition, these products can only play an auxiliary improvement role and cannot fundamentally solve the problem. Targeted treatment is still required after a clear diagnosis.

Generally speaking, for most adolescents and children in the developmental stage, we can treat them by wearing various corrective devices;

For adults, orthodontic masking treatment, orthognathic surgery, orthodontic-orthognathic combined treatment , etc. are mainly used to improve bite and facial shape. The specific treatment plan should be customized according to each person's different situation.

There is "differential growth" between the upper and lower jaws. The growth of the upper jaw is completed earlier, while the growth of the lower jaw is later and lasts longer. The change of the lower jaw is twice that of the upper jaw. Parents must observe their children's growth and development more often, and have regular checkups at the dental clinic to determine the appropriate time for correction.

Statement: This article is a medical-related educational popular science article. It does not involve specific treatment methods or medical behaviors and cannot replace hospital visits.

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References

[1] Zhang Jing, Liu Quanhui. Observation on the effect of early correction in adolescent mandibular retrusion and its influence on aesthetic effect[J]. Chinese Journal of Medical Engineering, 2024, 32(04): 72-75. DOI: 10.19338/j.issn.1672-2019.2024.04.016.

[2] Kong Lei. Evaluation of the efficacy of invisible anterior correction of mandibular retrusion in adolescents[D]. Qingdao University, 2022. DOI: 10.27262/d.cnki.gqdau.2022.001656.

[3] Chu Mengshi. Study on the changes of odontoskeletal muscles before and after correction of mandibular retraction[D]. Lanzhou University, 2022. DOI: 10.27204/d.cnki.glzhu.2022.001217.

[4] Wei Xiaoxia, Yang Yan, Xiong Guoping, et al. Clinical study on invisible braces MA in the treatment of adolescent patients with mandibular retrusion[J]. Journal of Medical Forum, 2021, 42(13): 102-105.

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Editor: Zhang Fuyao

Map: Eastern Zhou Dynasty