Jaw surgery is performed entirely inside the mouth in most cases, so the procedure itself leaves no visible scars on the face. What you actually see, both during recovery and in the final result, changes dramatically over the course of about a year. In the first days, your face will look swollen and bruised with rubber bands holding your teeth together. By the end, your facial profile, bite, and proportions will have shifted noticeably.
The Three Types of Jaw Surgery
Surgeons categorize the procedure based on which jaw needs repositioning. Upper jaw surgery moves the top jaw forward or backward to correct an overbite or underbite. Lower jaw surgery does the same for the bottom jaw. Double jaw surgery addresses both at once, which is common when the misalignment is severe or involves asymmetry. In all three types, the surgeon cuts through the bone, repositions it to the planned location, and secures it with small titanium plates and screws.
Because the incisions are made along the gumline inside your mouth, there are no external cuts or stitches on your face. The titanium hardware sits beneath your skin and tissue permanently in many cases, though some surgeons prefer to remove the plates after the bone has fully healed, typically around one year post-surgery.
What Happens Before Surgery
Most people spend a significant stretch in braces before the operation even takes place. The median duration of this pre-surgical orthodontic phase is about 17 months, though it can range from 7 months to nearly 4 years depending on how much tooth alignment is needed. During this phase, your orthodontist is positioning your teeth so they’ll fit together correctly once the bones are moved. Your bite may actually feel worse during this time, which is expected.
In the weeks leading up to surgery, your surgical team will take 3D scans and models of your skull to plan exactly how many millimeters each bone segment needs to shift. This planning stage is what determines the final look of your face.
What You Look Like Right After Surgery
The first thing most people notice when they wake up is how swollen their face is. Your cheeks, chin, and sometimes your neck will puff up significantly, and bruising in shades of purple and yellow is common. Rubber bands are placed on your braces to hold your jaws in position during healing, and you’ll wear them 24 hours a day for a period your surgeon specifies. Some patients also have a plastic splint wired between their upper and lower teeth to guide the new bite into place.
Your lips may appear stretched or tight because the underlying bone has shifted. Drool is common since swallowing feels different with the bands in place. Many people describe their face as nearly unrecognizable for the first week or two, which can be jarring but is completely typical.
How Swelling Changes Over Time
Swelling follows a predictable arc. It peaks around days two through four, then begins a slow decline. A volumetric study of patients after jaw surgery found that about 60% of swelling resolves within the first month. By six months, roughly 84% has faded. At the one-year mark, approximately 93% is gone, leaving only a subtle amount of residual fullness that most people can’t detect.
This means you’ll look noticeably different at each stage. At one week, you still look very swollen. At one month, friends might notice your face looks puffy but improved. By three to six months, the changes to your profile start becoming visible beneath the remaining swelling. The final result doesn’t truly settle until around a year out, which is why surgeons caution against judging your appearance too early.
How Your Face Changes Long-Term
The permanent changes depend on which surgery you had and how far the bones moved. In lower jaw setback surgery, for example, the chin point is moved backward by an average of nearly 12 millimeters. The soft tissue of your face follows the bone almost one-to-one: studies show the lower lip and chin skin move about 95% to 99% as far as the bone underneath. This means the external changes closely mirror the skeletal correction.
For someone with a protruding lower jaw, the result is a straighter profile, a more defined crease between the lower lip and chin, and a less prominent chin. The upper lip often looks fuller or more relaxed after upper jaw surgery because advancing the bone gives it more support. Some people notice changes to their nose as well, particularly a slight widening or upward tip rotation after upper jaw procedures, since the base of the nose sits directly on top of the upper jawbone.
Overall, the face typically moves from a concave or convex profile toward a straighter one. People who had a “long face” appearance may find their face looks shorter and more balanced. Those with a receding chin will see it brought forward. The changes are structural, not cosmetic in the traditional sense, so the result tends to look natural rather than “done.”
Numbness and Sensation Changes
One of the less visible but very noticeable aspects of jaw surgery is altered sensation. Numbness in the lower lip, chin, or gums is common because the nerve running through the lower jaw sits close to the surgical cuts. Somewhere between 0.35% and 8.4% of patients experience significant numbness, and it can last anywhere from a few days to several months. Most people recover sensation within the first six months. Permanent numbness occurs in about 0.12% of cases.
The numbness feels similar to the lingering effect of dental anesthesia. You might not feel temperature well on parts of your lip, or you might experience tingling as the nerve regenerates. This doesn’t change how your face looks, but it changes how it feels to you, which many patients find more disorienting than the visual swelling.
What Eating Looks Like During Recovery
Your diet goes through distinct phases that shape daily life for weeks. For the first three days, you’re limited to clear liquids: water, broth, juice, popsicles, and gelatin. Starting around day three, you move to a blenderized diet where anything that can go through a blender is fair game. Think smoothies, pureed soups, and protein shakes consumed through a syringe or straw depending on your surgeon’s preference.
After your first follow-up appointment, typically one to two weeks out, you may be cleared for a no-chew diet. This includes soft foods you can swallow without biting down: mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, pasta cooked until very soft, yogurt. The transition back to normal chewing usually happens gradually over six to eight weeks, though timelines vary. Weight loss of 5 to 10 pounds during the liquid phase is common, and many patients find the dietary restrictions more challenging than the pain itself.
The Hardware Inside Your Face
The titanium plates and screws used to hold the bone in its new position are small, typically just a few millimeters wide. You can sometimes feel them if you press firmly along your jawline or upper gum area, but they’re not visible from the outside. Titanium is the standard material because it’s strong, resistant to corrosion, and generally well tolerated by the body.
Whether the hardware stays in permanently is a matter of some debate. Many surgeons leave the plates in place indefinitely with no issues. Others prefer removal after the bone has fully healed, around one year post-surgery, citing the possibility of tissue irritation or hardware loosening over time. If removal is recommended, it’s a much smaller procedure than the original surgery. For most patients, the plates are never something they think about after the first year.