Sharmila Chakraborty, a 23-year-old engineer could not close her lips properly till recently, thanks to proclination of upper anterior teeth. She can do that now with ease. She has been treated by dint of segmental osteotomy of upper jaw.

“Due to jutting out of the upper jaw my upper set of teeth was always visible and I could not close my lips naturally. The operation took around three and half hours and I resumed normal lifestyle within a week. My face has changed completely and I have re-discovered myself. I am extremely happy with my new look,” Sharmila told Financial Chronicle.

Saikat Pal, 18, of Chandannagore had an overbite of 50 mm. A team of doctors from Kolkata had done an operation for four hours to reduce the gap and they succeeded. Twenty-five year old Sahana Chakraborty of Naihati had an ovoid shaped face with open bite. The same team of doctors had done segmental osteotomy surgery for more than five hours to bring back normalcy to her face.

Sharmila, Saikat amd Sahana are not stray cases. Dr Anirban Sengupta of Salt Lake Dental Foundation and Research Centre (SDFRC) has so far done more than 1,760 jaw reconstruction surgeries with his team. International Orofacial Cosmetic Conference at Adelaide, Australia, has also recognised and rewarded two of Sengupta’s case studies (Saikat and Sahana’s) from more than 1,000 case studies from across the world.

“When I first meet my patients — either with an ape like face or overbite or facial oddities, they are more often than not depressed and lack confidence. And that’s understandable for any young boy or girl. But after the surgery, they come up as a completely different person-with a different and better look, different personality and much more confident,” said Sengupta.

He said: “People of all ages, although mostly teenagers, want to look more attractive by dint of cosmetic surgery. And more so, with the treatment procedure becoming totally painless, with less bleeding and free of side-effects with the advent of new technologies”.

The Indian Medical Association Publication (Vol-55) states: “Orofacial reconstructive cosmetic surgery now covers a huge number of patients of different age groups. By the application of modern scientific knowledge and devices all developmental anomalies of orofacial region like Bimaxillary prognathism, skeletal C I-III position of mandible, deformities of any part of face can be corrected. Fracture of facial bones due to road traffic accident can be corrected by this modern surgical technique.” The same issue of the IMA publication mentioned two of Sengupta’s “brilliant case studies” in this regard and branded them as “trend-setters”.

“With this techniques in place, the total facial profile is changed and corrected within 24 hours. And patient can join his regular life within 48 hours after treatment. This cosmetic science has come up as a solution for many matrimonial deadlocks also. Besides, many psychological disorders due to facial deformities are taken care of automatically once the deformity is corrected,” Sengupta said.

This new form of treatment of facial deformity is fast replacing traditional plastic surgery not only in Kolkata but elsewhere in the country, particularly in places like Lucknow, Mumbai, Tripura.

“Earlier people did not have any awareness about this new technique. Often patients were scared of going through such methods for correcting deformity thinking it would be extremely painful. But now we are getting regular patients. We are bringing Sengupta from Kolkata and on an average 12 to 14 such surgeries take place in a month. Being a doctor myself, I also often wonder how people with facial deformity are getting benefitted by this new new technique and that too absolutely without any pain,” said Dr Afsar Siddique, Head Career Dental College, Lucknow.

Sengupta also visits a number of hospitals and nursing homes in Mumbai and Tripura almost on a regular basis. “I am also keen on either opening a clinic of my own or getting associated with some clinics, hospitals or nursing homes in southern parts of the country. I feel patients from that part of the country should also avail of this new surgical technique,” says Sengupta. Until that happens, patients with some kind oral or facial deformity from different parts of the country are coming all the way to Kolkata to get these deformities corrected.

Dr Sumana Paul, a young medical practitioner, confessed: “In my initial days of medical practice, I was lacking something — I guess it was my confidence. And that’s because of my facial deformity. When I read about this new treatment on IMA journal and elsewhere, I thought of undergoing this surgery. And after the surgery there has been a sudden and drastic change in my look and appearance. My confidence level has gone up substantially.”

And Sumana Paul’s case study has been recognized at the International Orofacial Cosmetic Surgery Conference in Armenia.

Dr Sailen Bhattacharya, a leading orthopaedic surgeon in the country, says he was “intrigued by the research work and case studies of Dr Sengupta on Facio Maxillary Surgery”. This new branch of surgery will open new vistas in the area of deformity correction, he felt.