just spoke to the plastic surgeon about reshaping one side of the jaw just to even it out with the other, he said he'll charge me 5thousand. I asked him if anyone died or became paralyzed from it and he said no, all he's worried about is infection.
just to let u know reshaping means shaving down the jaw bone which is a serious PROCEDURE and i am pretty scared, i just hope that i can move my mouth and face after the surgery but it's a risk i want to take because i feel so insecure and ugly about myself how i can never tie up my hair, it's a risk for happiness.
Has any one know anything about someone going through this surgery and became paralyzed? right now i'm planning to go through the procedure first i have to save up some money, i'm playing to get it done next year '09 around autom, so i'll update for u guys,before and after o.k(*_*)

Paralysis seems like it would be a pretty unlikely side effect. Complete paralysis would only result from damage to your central nervous system (brain, spine), which is probably impossible from jaw surgery.

Partial numbness might occur if part of the peripheral nervous system is damaged, like a nerve, but it's not necessarily permanent.

Your doctor is a specialist though, he would know the risks. If he says his only concern is infection, then that's probably all you should be worried about.

my face is uneven, 1 side is wider than the other this happened because of very poor dental hygiene at a young age and life style. i had a lot of candies n my mom did not feed me enough healthy food because we were poor plus at the age of 3/4 i remebered when i had a very tooth ACHE i think it was a cavity or something worse my mom did no take me to the dentist she just gave me medicine and when i was young my grandma told me to sleep on the right side because she thought that by sleeping on the left will cause heart attacks or something harmful to the heart, i'm soooo sad i wished that i nevered listen! and the shape of my head is FLAT, the back of my head is REALLY FLAT, boo hoo, my mom or caregiver did not take care of me i bet you that they just left me laying flat on the bed and back then the bed was solid HARD wooden or so.

as well as i always slept on one side for many many years till now, when my grown up teeth start growing in no one took me to the dentist to remove one baby tooth on the top right of the 2front teeth the one right beside it so it grew under/behind the baby tooth which made my face to become undeveloped. The way your face looks all depends on the linning of your teeth i did some studies on it. So it is always best to have braces.

(when your teeth do not close together evenly the face will change like if u are crassbite then your face is croocked/slanted, if you have over bite then your lip will look like a bird, and if the top teeth is smaller and the bottom is wider then the face will look unbalance, etc... so my jaw became uneven which made my face ugly)
*my left side of face is wider than right side, JAW lin is very uneven and the corner angle of the jaw on the left is bigger/huge than the right side plus the muscle is bigger as well.


results:
1- no one picked me up when i was a BABY and left me sleeping on a flat hard surface, so my head is FLAT like a WALL! so my head is flat at the back and i slept on the 1 side which put pressure on it gave me a flat side surface.
2-very poor dental hygiene every since i was young, all my baby teeth was black filled with cavity, no one took me to the dentist until my older teeth started growing in.
3-slept on 1 side of my face for many many yearsss untill now
4-uneven teeth closing together, 1 tooth(right side) grew behind the other which the bone did not expand normally like the other side.
5-when u have a cavity or sore gumm you need to get it fixed right away by going to the dentist otherwise the infection will go under the gumm to detoriate your bone. Plus brushing,flossing, and mouth wash is the key to good oral hygiene as well as going to the dentist regularly, now i go to the dentist almost every 3-4 months to get my teeth cleaned.
6-I got a hard nock out by someone very close, to the left side near the cheek and temple area which might've caused me to have TMJ
7-GENES
8-The widen/abnormal side will always have something wrong with it,studies said.. it's so true beause on that side of my face it seems to have more acne then other.
9-FACIAL Bone structure will stop growing by the age of 25, so get braces as young as POSSIBLE!
10- The head shape will determine on how the face shape will become as well, for instint: uneven head (ROUND head is the ideal shape) will result to uneven face, flat head will give you a wider face.


***HEY EvERYONE*** if any of these u have incommon/ related to, i think i know how to prevent it from happenning to your children when you have them.

CURES:
1- do the opposite of what i wrote at the top.
#1 KEY- hold your baby and try not to leave it laying for a long time, the goal is to achieve a ROUND OVAL head not flat or uneven, you should turn the head side to side it will put pressure on the sides not back and the result will give you more of an oval look. Adult's heaf usually weigh's 10pounds.
2- do not give infant or kids under 5 gumm or candies, by chewing gumm will make the muscle on the jaw bone bigger plus kids don't know how to take care of their teeth properly unless you teach them.
3- ORAL hygiene is VERY important! THE LOOKS of the face will detemine on the teeth inside of the mouth. if anything is wrong with your mouth like infection at a young age it's best if u get a surgery done. My b/f told me that he ate a lot of candies and had black cavities all over and had a surgery at the age of 5/6 and his face is very SYMMETRIC but the thing is i think that he has TMJ because whenever he opens his mouth i hear a clicking sound but i didn't mention it to him because i don't want him to stress out.
*The 4 frontal teeth is very important make sure that they grow evenly plus the back of the mouth/teeth should close,alined together it will help to balance out the face and* ***removing the WISDOM teeth you don't need it at ALL, most cases it will expand the jaw line and give it a bigger bone angled, best solution remove it once you feel or see it coming out, best ages would be 16yrs-20.
4-get BRACESSSSSS at a very young age is the best becuase at that time the bone structure is growing and by having braces it will help the face appear my symmetric.

I've notice that who ever has even teeth at the top and with the bottom closing together evenly looks more attractive then crooked teeth. people and kids who had braces looks more attractive then others.


Now i am going through braces and loving it so far it has been a yr and a qrtr, my teeth looks a lot better but i still notice that my jawline is still very uneven especailly when i ly down and that left side jaw corner the big bone is still there, i guess my bone feature facial stopped growing. BOO HOO
p.s. My Face looks abite more attractive now that i have braces.

learn more about your mounth, teeth and causes.


http: //www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article /001058.htm

Guys i could relate to you, all of you!..
Btw Has any of you tried looking at themselves from a distance? like standing infront of a mirror and looking from a good distance? God are the asymmetries obvious! :/ It's weird cause.. when i get close to the mirror not top close but looking from a reasonable distance it's kind of better... lol

Umm.. also for people who are considering surgey, I don't know how bad your asymmetries are.. but how can you be sure you'll be happy with the result? sometimes i wonder if i decided to go through surgery.. And if i eneded up with a symmetrical face which i doubt, Will i be happy with my new face? I know i love my current one! lol.. Sometimes i hate it like all of you and it's hard.. other times I love it!.. If we were born with symmetrical faces will they actually look better? or just normal.. but ugly? cause I'm beginning to believe that those asymmetries do not necesserily turn you to an 'ugly' person.. they might make you look a bit different, true.. but Is it really a bad thing? I still face problems accepting how i look somtimes, I try so hard not to obsess over it but I am a natural perfectionist And It kills me lol. Sometimes it's hard to get through the day.. especially if you receive a comment from someone about your face.. I don't know..but i think to fix this problem we'd probably need a 'psychological' solution.. not a a surgical one;) Dealing with how you feel, gaining self-confidence, learning how to accept yourself the way you are and LOVE It might be the answer.. And I'm still trying to learn that..

noticing my asymmetries made me a better person in a way and I'm proud of that! now when i see people and notice that there's something off about them it never bothers me or draws me away i can STILL see the beautiful things in that person, his personality... even beautiful things in their facial features, because that's how I'd like to be seen! Aaand thanks all for sharing your stories hehe;p

i think the same way.

i dont know if this asymmetry makes my face look ugly, but it just looks weird. i mean, seeing everybody else with normal symmetric faces, and then looking mine at the mirror just makes me feel like a freak.

the truth is i've been trying to get over this issue but i can't and i don't know what to do about it.

there are days in which i forget about my asymmetry, but other days like today i get really depressed and spend the whole day thinking that this isn't fair and that my life would be better with a symmetric face.

i guess i'm pretty messed up :p

Why not go to a facial surgeon?

I feel exactly the same, so I know just what you're going through.

There is no easy way to deal with it. I refuse to let it stop me doing things in my life that I want though.

ts funny and encouraging that there are so many people like me out there!
I have been studying this phenomenom for quite some time because I found very weird how I seemed like a totally different and uglier person in pictures and between two mirrors than what I looked like in a normal mirror.

I want to share what I have found in my "experiments".

One day I took a video camera and recorded a close up of my face, then, I recorded a close up of myself through a mirror. When I looked at the recording, the image I took through the mirror looked very similar to what Im used to see everyday... that could sound obvious because its the reversed image, but I wanted an opinion of someone else, so I showed the recording to my cousin, who laughed histerically at the recording and told me that I looked nothing like the first image (the one I recorded normally) and that my real looks (to her) were the ones recorded through the mirror (to my relief!). That proved that people perceive us just the same way we look in the mirror normally, not between the two mirrors.

I also took a regular pic.. the usual pic that I hate... in which I look horrible, asymmetrical and such and mirrored it in Photoshop, AND! I still looked horrible and asymmetrical.
I took myself pictures through the mirror and I looked more similar in them than what I look like through the mirror. I also mirrored those images in Photoshop, and I don't look horrible and asymmetrical.

Something else happened one day... I was washing my face in the bathroom and my dad came in, I happened to look at him through the mirror and was surprised to see his face was totally deformed! his nose was absolutely crooked to one side and his jaw and lips also. I asked him to look at himself through two mirrors opposing each other and asked him how he perceived himself... he told me his face was totally crooked, specially his nose, but he didnt see himself like that in real life. I don't see him that way either... only when i look at him through the mirror.

I asked him to look at me through the mirror. He laughed and told me I looked kinda crooked also, but that I didn't look like that in real life!!

I guess that those experiments prove to me that it doesnt depend on what has been discussed before... that we dont perceive our assymetry because we see an inverted image of ourselves through the mirror and we are used to it and blah blah. If that was the case, the moment we inverted the images in Photoshop, we would notice the differences, but that was not the case. It is about something else I still don't understand, but I want to assure you all, that what you see in the mirror everyday is what is real. Not the inverted version of you through the two mirrors, that only accentuates the assymetry, but its not what people see at all!!!

I want to suggest you do with someone the excercise i did with my dad. Look at someone through the mirror. They wont look the same way they look to you in real life (unless they are very very symmetrical). Ask them to see you through the mirror... they will tell you you look crooked (just as some of you here have shared) but they will also assure you that you don't look like that in real life.

We are beautiful people!!! we really are!!!

i too have what would be described as an asymmetrical face, its my right hand side. i have come to the conclusion that it has occured to due having a tooth pulled out before i had braces put on, supposedly becuase there was not enough room in my mouth. i only had one tooth removed at the back of my mouth, i believe it was one of the smaller ones (not the molars). why only one tooth was removed doesn't really make sense to me.

have any of the rest of you had a tooth or more removed in the upper jaw when you were younger?

I had just one removed in my upper jaw before braces too. I think it's called a premolar?
I think that had to do a lot with accentuating my asymmetry. In fact, i remember when my dentist took the braces off, she asked me to bite down, and when i did, i had to slide my lower jaw to my left just so i could make my upper and lower molars touch. I didn't think much of it back then, now i realize that can't be good!

Wow, i can't believe there was a forum including people with the same problems with me! And i thought i was the ONLY ONE. LOL.. btw i saw some of the earlier posts with pics and they all seemed pretty normal. I wasn't sure if your faces were asymmetrical at all! The left side of my face is fatter and seems like it has developed more muscles. I've had problems with my teeth and couldnt chew for months a long time ago, so i only chewed on one side. Then a couple years later, i checked my face out with 2 MIRRORS and it was hideous! One side was a bit bigger and a lil uplifted. It made my nose a bit curved to the other side...I kept getting compliments though! about how i look and that im very handsome -_-... During school a friend of mine that i practice bboying with saw my face through the huge dance practice mirrors on the wall, and he was like, " Wth, is that u? u look different.." then i stopped and went out and got a drink -_-... ive also had a gf a while ago, but broke up cuz of problems with my parents and grades and stuff -_-... anyways i heard that doing face exercise helps even ur face out a bit...ive tried for a bit, but dont no if its helping...so dont try it until ur sure it helps. ^^ and sorry for the long post. DONT FEEL BAD! i felt bad my whole life.. but i never gave up. I just got angry and kept up with everything else and just danced it off and chilled with friends! u have to accept urself for who u are and dont let ur life go to waste just cuz of a stupid thing like this. You've got more important things to care about than just physical appearances.

lol Meli.. I completely get you. I, myself have done the same thing with my sister.. I showed her my reversed and non-reversed image with the webcam and asked her which one looked more like me.. and to my surprise she said that my reversed image looks more like me :/ she said my nose looked weird in my non-reversed image which is supposed to be the real image of me lol. i was relieved but SURPRISED! lol.. There's something I don't quite understand.. but people DO see you kind of like the way you see yourself in the mirror.. BUT I've looked at some people in the mirror and yes! some do look different a bit.. it's weird lol.. And it's true if you flip a picture horizontally you're bound to see the difference as you're seeing the two pictures Instantly after each other. I still wish my face was the one in the mirror thoughhh lol

My lower jaw is slightly lower and bulkier on the right side.

I never even noticed until my partner said something and it took him a year to notice himself. Nobody says anything, even my boyfriend said most people would never notice.

Instead of the complicated mirror thing just take a picture of your face and hold the picture to the mirror. Ever since I did that I feel totally self-concious and am now comtemplating surgery that involves "shaving down the bone" on the right lower jaw.

I've noticed a pattern in this forum; alot of you have had braces and TMJ complications/teeth removed. I had all of that and jaw surgery to correct my TMJ. I wonder if it's connected somehow!!

Remember that most people will not scrutinize your face that much, alot of us seem to be consiidered attractive to the outside world, so who cares?!

If it still bothers you, get a 3-dimensional x-ray of your jaw and talk about surgery with an ortho surgeon *It CAN be fixed*, and BTW it is free in Canada.

Good luck, and don't fret about it.

As title states; has anyone successfully had their jaw re-shaped. I would like to hear from minor to major re-developments please.

I agree with the getting it sorted approach, i completely disagree with ignoring it. It is there, asymmetries and disproportions are ugly not matter what you tell your self.

It's generally a unfortunate situation to be in; i can relate to alot of what has been previously posted. I seemed alright untill i got into bodybuilding and over ate .. etc

Socio-economic strucuture and 'life-style' have a big part in these genome malfunctions: Pollu-Mutant chemicles everywhere... world has been turned into a piece of s***.

Just read through all 15 pages of this thread and I have to say thank you. Reading your posts, I also felt like I could have been the one writing any one of them and I can completely relate to the self-consciousness that comes from wondering if someone is scrutinizing your asymmetry. The conclusion I've come to is that they certainly are but, chances are, they aren't doing it consciously. The reason our faces look so weird doubly-reflected is because our asymmetries are precisely what make us unique. Reversing our 'facial fingerprint' of sorts is bound to throw you off for a moment.

I noticed how a lot of you mentioned that you would get compliments on your looks and be told that 'you could be a model' and that all makes sense the more I think about it. A lot of the celebrities have noticeable asymmetry in their faces but we don't really think about it because we immediately recognize who they are (in part because of their peculiar asymmetries).

Now I don't mean to bash on symmetrical people but, really, what's so good about that? I've read articles that claim facial symmetry has been selected for evolutionarily as a trait reflecting genetic quality. But where is the evidence? It all seems like popular evolutionary psychology speculation to me. Granted, I can see how symmetry might be an important attribute physically (think structural integrity) but we don't live in a time where we have to chase our dinner down and smash its [possibly symmetrical] skull with a rock. In fact, if you look up your favorite musicians, artists, scientists, etc. it would seem that a great deal of them have asymmetrical features. They were probably just too absorbed in their passions to give a flying caca about whether or not someone was drawing mental lines through their jawbone.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, people will like you for who you are and there really isn't any reason to think the quality of your life will be affected by asymmetry (aside from the self-loathing you'll develop if you spend too much time in front of the mirror). So why worry? Yeah, I know, I just read 15 pages of this thread, I should be answering the questions here. And I think I kind of get it now. There is a huuuuuge amount of money in 'fixing' things that weren't really broken (I mean tens of thousands of dollars?!? Think about how many lives that could change in Sub-Saharan Africa). I don't know if this is an appropriate model but, if you think of symmetry as some sort of statistical distribution, most people will be asymmetrical to one side or the other. Sure, some people will fall right in the dead center of the distribution but, guess what, they're the minority.

What this looks like to me is an induced complex; an attempt at making the majority feel like a minority. Kind of reminds me of psychiatry..Nomadic tendencies and curiosity have naturally been selected for in the human population, otherwise we'd still be living in one region and doing the same things we were doing 100,000 years ago. But, if you look at today's kids, every other one apparently has an attention deficit disorder. Instead of embracing this as a desirable trait and teaching the kids how to reign it in when necessary, we get them hooked on speed. I mean, seriously, we look at asymmetry as being 'imperfect' but would we be happy with complete symmetry? How boring would that be? I kind of like looking a little different depending on what angle you look at me from and, if you check out the actors and models, you'll notice that they have a certain asymmetry about them as well. The fact is, asymmetry makes us who we are and everyone who has posted their pictures is beautiful in their own unique way. I'm not just trying to wrap this up all Disney-like, you guys seriously changed the way I look at myself.

If we think the proportion of our faces makes us more or less worthwhile than the next bloke, we don't have enough to worry about. And, considering the fact that we're all tumbling through space on an increasingly warm and crowded rock with no good alternatives, there's plenty to be worried about. Sorry this post came way after the thread died and sorry to those who actually like they should read the whole thing but, seriously, what we need is more discussion like this. Thanks again. We're all in it together.

Meli777 waaaaah! your trick totally backfired on me! lol. I look odd already when I'm filmed normally, but when I filmed myself in a mirror it was even worse!! That pretty much solidified my desire to see a maxillofacial surgeon in the new year. I'm going to speak to my orthodontist about it before my braces come off in February. That should put this matter to bed once and for all. I actually hadn't thought about it much in the past few months, but now, with the holidays, I'm less busy and it's creeped back on my mind, largely owing to someone I know who keeps making underhanded comments about my crooked face.

spacecat - if they took out a tooth on one side it could be because there was some sort of asymmetry already present which they were trying to correct. Usually what they do to one side they do to the other, unless they're trying to correct your midline or something. I'd read previously on other sites that crossbites can cause asymmetries to develop in the jaw. It could be that it was already there, but you didn't notice until it became more obvious with maturation of your face...maybe?

anon who said orthognatic surgery is free in Canada: it's relatively cheap, but not quite free. Your surgeon still has to establish that there is medical necessity for such a procedure to be covered, and once that's done, you still have to pay the surgeon's fees. The provincial government will cover the cost of hospital stay, supplies and the rest of it, but surgeon's fees are yours to pay. They're a few thousand. In the US, with insurance, you'll pay about the same, although it's probably harder to get it covered. Without insurance it's anywhere between 20K and 100K.

1Question:
Shifted Jaw: I have a shifted jaw. I don't know exactly when it happened.

I don't have any pain nor any stress in jaw right now. I have visited dentists but they say in our country there is no treatment.

So what is it am I gonna have this shifted thing for whole of my life? Right now my age is 18 and due to this shift my face looks little long.

My front teeth do not come in contact. Even when I smile it looks really weird. Please will you guide me to the way out of this? .... Visitor from Naxal, Nepal

Answer:
This is a very difficult situation for anyone to comment on without an examination, proper x-rays, etc.

As you didn't put the cause down to an injury, I suspect that the condition was present from birth, and has become more apparent as you have grown.

This problem requires you to be seen by a highly trained specialist.

I highly recommend that you take special care of your teeth and gums by thorough brushing and flossing on a daily basis. Any neglect of looking after your teeth will lead to serious complications should the treatment to the above be available any time in the future.
---------------

2Question:
Uneven Jaw: I have a asymmetrical face and until recently have had issues eating food.

I have been told I chew like a cow and wanted to know if my jaw can be fixed to add a more even look to my face .... Visitor from Ontario, Canada

Answer:
The generic answer to your question is .... "probably."

The specific answer is ... you need x-rays, an evaluation of your bite, esthetics and speech patterns to determine what ways we have to treat you.

Your treatment may involve braces, orthognathic or jaw surgery, crowns or full mouth reconstruction. To get started, schedule an appointment with your local dentist and orthodontist.
----------



3 Question:
Uneven Jawbone Growth: My twelve year old son's bottom jaw is not growing at the same rate as his upper jaw.

Therefore, his chin is regressed somewhat. We have had x-rays done that also confirm this.

Is this something that can be corrected with a dental appliance in both the upper and lower teeth? .... Visitor from IN

Answer:
Yes. There are several ways to try and correct this discrepancy.

Appliance therapy can bring the jaw forward with the hope of stimulating growth of the lower jaw. You need to visit one or more Orthodontists for opinions. They can assess the growth pattern of your son's jaw development with a Cephalometric x-ray and a tracing to compare his growth to others of his age.

They can discuss options and costs, risks, benefits, etc. They can try to stop Maxillary forward movement at the same time and create tipping or expansion to correct issues simultaneously. They will also let you know if surgery may be needed to correct this problem.

Skeletal problems can't be fixed with just teeth movements. Feel free to get a couple opinions and I hope you get a great result for your son. Good luck.
-------------------


4Question:
Wisdom teeth extracted, jaw is misaligned now: I had all 4 wisdom teeth extracted 6 months ago.

Before then, my top and bottom jaw were slightly misaligned, and I had a slight overbite. Now that my wisdom teeth are out, that position no longer feels comfortable. I haven't found where my teeth can sit together comfortably without hurting my jaw and head.

The overbite makes my jaw feel like it is stretching, though without it, nothing but the 4 front teeth touch together. How can I find a natural position back? .... Visitor from Alberta Canada

Answer:
First you should go to your dentist or oral surgeon to have a thorough examination of your bite, jaws and TMJ joints.

Then you should discuss your concerns with the dentist or oral surgeon. You could have had some stretching of the posterior attachment of your cartilage of your temperomandibular joint, swelling in the joint or displacement of the discs.

Any of these problems should be diagnosed, treated and followed up closely. I am sorry for your problems but feel confident you can get resolution once you pursue treatment!

check out this page go to google and type in "Dr. Joseph Wong",,, He is the surgeon who performs these types of procedure and i am planing to get it done from him, it will cost 5 thousand to do one side and 8 thousand for both sides. He told me that i only need to fix one side of my face but from what I have analyzed I am planning to do both sides. This is what i'm looking forward to get done even though the result will not be 100% accurate.

1st- shave down the angle of the jaw, my jawline extend's abit further than my ears due from wisdom teeth growing in. One side is bulkier than the other so the surgeon might remove some of the muscles but if not then in the furture i'm going to use Botox injection.
2nd- shave down the chin-jawline of the one face that is abit longer than the other so then it can become more even with the other side and since this side is abit shorter i'm planning to use SILICONE model that the surgeon will cut out during the procedure and inplant it so it will give me more of an even jawline. The silicone model is like a chin implant.

right now i am trying my best to save some money so when the day comes i will announce it n show u peeps my pictures and u can do wahtever u wish to it.

you all think your so bad with asymetric face i have asymetric body my entire right side is bigger and stronger than my left weird even my hair is thicker on the right then the left and my testickles big on right small on left everything my face to toes even my teeth and my nose is just somthing else i hate it when i smile which i dont its up and down i dont know any 1 like me before is ther any 1 there have this am just 24 and i know its going get lot worse am worried for my life maybe no 1 will ever accept me and am to paranoid anyways to be with people i guess ill never be fixed grrr