Under-Developed Jaw - Symptoms, Causes and Prevention

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Doctors For Under-Developed Jaw

Summary about Under-Developed Jaw

An underdeveloped jaw or Micrognathia means the lower jaw is significantly smaller than it should be. It is also called mandibular hypoplasia. People who have an underdeveloped jaw are generally born with it. It can cause kids to have breathing and feeding problems. Sometimes underdeveloped jaw corrects itself as the baby grows.

Symptoms of Under-Developed Jaw

Children with underdeveloped jaws frequently exhibit signs of failure to thrive, a term used by doctors to describe when a child's growth curve begins to fall off.

Symptoms of underdeveloped jaw vary from child to child, but they may include:

• Noisy breathing
• Feeding difficulties include the inability to feed, prolonged feeding, and poor weight gain
• Apneic spells, which is a temporary stop in breathing
• Poor ability to sleep

Due to breathing difficulties, parents may notice their child turning blue (cyanosis) while feeding or sleeping.

Causes of Under-Developed Jaw

Causes of an underdeveloped jaw are as under:

• The majority of cases of micrognathia are congenital, meaning the babies are born with it. 
• Inherited disorders cause some cases of underdeveloped jaw.
• Others are caused by spontaneous genetic mutations that do not pass down through families.

Treatment

• During puberty, your child's lower jaw may grow long enough on its own. There is no need for treatment in this case.
• If your child has difficulty eating, treatment for micrognathia may include modified eating methods and special equipment. Your doctor can direct you to a local hospital that offers these classes.
• Your child might need corrective surgery by an oral surgeon in which the surgeon will either add or move pieces of the bone to extend your baby’s lower jaw.
• Corrective devices like orthodontic braces can be helpful to fix the misaligned teeth caused by having a short jaw.
• Treatment options for your child's underlying condition are determined by the nature of the condition, the symptoms it causes, and the severity of the condition. Medication and close monitoring to the major surgery and supportive care are all options for treatment.

Preventive Measures of Under-Developed Jaw

There's no direct way to prevent an underdeveloped jaw, and the many underlying conditions that cause it can not be prevented either. If it is an inherited disorder, a genetic counselor will tell you how likely you will pass it on to your child.