4.2 The “Less-Invasive” Fallacy
This is Chapter 4.2 of the JawHacks ebook. See the full Table of Contents here.
“Nasomaxillary Expanders and Jaw Surgery are Too Invasive”
The “Less Invasive” fallacy is a pernicious idea that dominated the adult jaw expansion space from 2017 through 2021, when MARPE finally became more popular.
It is such a seductive idea that to a large degree it still dominates at the time of this writing (July 2024), even after nationally syndicated publicity around the class action lawsuit against AGGA.
The “Less Invasive” fallacy states that orthognathic surgery and bone-borne expanders like MARPE should be avoided at all costs because they are too invasive, and that adults should use “more gentle, natural, biologically-friendly” tooth-borne expanders instead.
The irony is that the exact opposite is true. It is bone-borne expansion that is safe and natural. Distraction osteogenesis is an almost totally reliable mechanism that was evolved to heal the inevitable bone fractures our ancestors suffered.
It is tooth-borne expansion that is invasive. Applying constant expansive force to teeth for many months and years via a metal wire or acrylic expander is wholly unnatural and destructive to the teeth and periodontium.