Nagpur: Anyone who sees young lad Rupesh Dhoble now, won’t recognize that his jaw was asymmetrically located to one side until a year ago. A native of Parseoni, Dhoble underwent orthognathic surgery (surgery performed on a jaw bone after the jaws stop growing) at the oral and maxillofacial surgery department of Government Dental College.The surgery is done to establish harmony between a person’s upper and lower jaws. “No scars remain after this cosmetic plastic surgery,” said Dr Abhay Datarkar, adding that out of the 80 oral surgery cases reported at the college daily, at least 15 patients need jaw surgery. But many people are unaware about it, he said.The orthognathic surgery facility was started at the college only three years ago. The hospital has carried out 112 such surgeries since then.Revati Pillai, an intern at the college, underwent the surgery over 10 months ago. “My jaw was forward and my teeth were malaligned. My side profile seemed problematic, but it looks much better now,” she said.Before a patient is operated, the discrepancies between the upper and lower jaw is calculated through a software, and pre-operative planning is done. A patient opting for this surgery first undergoes pre-surgery phase where an orthodontist fixes braces on the teeth. Orthognathic surgery is performed by an oral surgeon within two hours, post which the patient is again made to wear braces for a year.“We have seen many patients with jaw deformities retract from society and under-develop. This surgery boosts their confidence. It is only suggested to those with severe deformity. Patient under 14 years old are instead given growth modification treatment,” said Dr Vasundhara Bhade, head of department of orthodontia.Earlier, orthognathic surgery would be done only at government hospital in Mumbai or Pune. “Here, we also have patients from Chhattisgarh and Odisha,” said dean Sindhu Ganvir adding that the hospital used to charge Rs500 earlier, but the fees has been increased to Rs2,200 since January. It is still an inexpensive as this aesthetic surgery can cost lakhs in private medical set-ups,” said Ganvir.

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