Every year, people across Georgia suffer a broken jaw in car crashes, slip and fall incidents, and other preventable accidents. These injuries rank among the most common facial fractures that emergency rooms treat, but they’re also one of the most painful and distressing. It’s easy to see why: a broken jaw usually requires extensive medical care and can affect your ability to eat and speak, as well as your appearance.
Georgia law allows you to recover compensation when another person's negligence causes your jaw injury. You can pursue damages for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other losses that stem from the accident. However, the size of your settlement will depend on the severity of your injury, its impact on your life, and the ability to prove that someone else was responsible.
In this article, we’ll go over what compensation you can pursue after a broken jaw injury and how a personal injury lawyer can help you get the best results.
Common Types of Broken Jaw Injuries
The mandible (lower jaw) and maxilla (upper jaw) can break in several different locations and patterns depending on how the injury occurred. Medical professionals classify jaw fractures by their location along the bone, the number of break points, and the severity of displacement. Common types of jaw injuries include:
- Mandibular Fractures: The angle of the mandible breaks frequently because the bone is thinner there, and the third molars (wisdom teeth) can weaken the structure.
- Condylar Fractures: The condyle is the rounded part at the top of your mandible that connects to your skull and forms your jaw joint. Fractures in this area result from direct blows to the chin or side of the face.
- Symphysis and Parasymphysis Fractures: The symphysis is the midline of your chin, where the two halves of your mandible fuse together during childhood. Parasymphysis fractures occur just to the left or right of this midline area.
- Mandible Body Fractures: The body of the mandible is the horizontal portion of your lower jaw that extends from your chin to the angle on each side. These fractures can occur anywhere along this span and may involve the roots of your teeth.
- Simple Versus Compound Fractures: A simple (closed) fracture means the broken bone didn't pierce through your skin or gum tissue. A compound (open) fracture occurs when bone fragments penetrate through tissue and expose the fracture to the outside environment.
The location and type of your jaw fracture determines what treatment you receive, how long recovery takes, and what complications you might face. Your medical records should clearly identify what type of fracture you suffered, which helps prove the severity of your injury when pursuing compensation.
How Broken Jaw Injuries Happen
Certain types of accidents involve forces violent enough to cause a broken jaw. They include:
- Motor Vehicle Accidents: Car and truck accidents account for most serious jaw fractures because the force of impact can slam your face into the steering wheel, dashboard, or window. Airbag deployment during a car accident can also break your jaw, despite being a safety feature. Side-impact crashes pose particular danger because your head has less protection when another vehicle strikes your door.
- Slip and Fall Accidents: Property owners who fail to maintain safe premises can be held liable when you fall and strike your face on a hard surface. Wet floors, broken stairs, uneven pavement, and poor lighting create hazards that lead to jaw fractures. These premises liability cases require you to prove the owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition.
- Assault and Battery: Intentional strikes to your face can fracture your jaw and give you grounds for both criminal and civil legal action. You can file a civil lawsuit against your attacker to recover monetary compensation even while criminal charges proceed separately. The criminal case punishes the offender, while your civil case seeks payment for your medical bills and other losses.
- Medical Malpractice: Dental procedures, facial surgeries, and other medical treatments can fracture your jaw when providers fail to meet accepted standards of care. These broken jaw cases require expert testimony to prove the provider's actions fell below what a reasonable medical professional would do. Surgical complications and improper technique during tooth extractions are common examples.
- Workplace Accidents: Construction sites and industrial facilities carry risks of falling objects, equipment malfunctions, and other hazards that can cause a broken jaw. While workers' compensation typically covers on-the-job injuries, you may also have a third-party claim against equipment manufacturers or other contractors whose negligence contributed to your accident.
Medical Treatment and Long-Term Effects of a Broken Jaw
A broken jaw needs immediate medical attention to prevent complications and begin the healing process. The treatment you receive and the long-term effects you experience will directly impact the compensation you can recover in your personal injury claim.
- Initial Emergency Treatment: Your doctors must stabilize your broken jaw and assess the damage before determining the best course of treatment. X-rays and CT scans reveal whether you have a simple fracture with a clean break or a compound fracture where bone pierces through tissue. Pain management begins immediately, and you’ll likely be placed on a soft or liquid diet to prevent further damage while your fractured jaw heals.
- Surgical Intervention: Many jaw fractures require maxillofacial surgery to heal correctly and restore proper alignment. Closed reduction involves wiring your jaw shut, which forces you to consume only liquids through a straw for six to eight weeks. Open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) surgery involves cutting into your gums and jaw to insert metal plates and screws that hold broken bones in place, leaving permanent hardware in your face and creating visible scars.
- Chronic Pain and Limited Mobility: Recovery extends well beyond the initial healing period, and many patients never regain full jaw function. Your jaw joint may ache when you eat or talk, limiting the foods you can chew and how long you can speak comfortably. Some people develop temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders when the fracture damages the hinge connecting the jaw to the skull, causing clicking, popping, and pain that persists for years.
- Nerve Damage and Numbness: The broken jaw itself or the surgery to repair it can sever or damage facial nerves. Parts of your face may remain permanently numb, or you might experience constant tingling sensations. This nerve damage can affect your ability to feel temperature in your lips and chin, creating safety risks when eating hot foods or drinks.
- Dental Complications: Jaw fractures often knock out teeth or damage them beyond repair, requiring expensive implants, crowns, or bridges to restore function and appearance. Your bite may not align properly after healing, which creates problems with chewing and can involve additional orthodontic treatment. Root canals, extractions, and ongoing dental work become necessary to address teeth that were damaged but not immediately lost.
- Facial Disfigurement: Some broken jaw injuries heal with visible asymmetry that permanently changes your appearance. One side of your jaw may sit higher than the other, or your chin may shift to one side. Scars from surgery or from the initial injury can be disfiguring, particularly when they're on visible areas of your face or don't fade over time.
- Speech and Communication Problems: Your fractured jaw might not move correctly after healing, or nerve damage may affect your facial muscles, making it difficult to speak clearly. Words become slurred or hard to pronounce, and your mouth may tire quickly during conversations. This limitation poses particular problems if your job requires verbal communication, presentations, or customer interaction with clients and customers.
- Psychological Impact: The combination of chronic pain, appearance changes, and functional limitations can trigger anxiety, depression, and self-consciousness. You may avoid social situations where others might notice your broken jaw or its effects. Relationships suffer when you can't enjoy meals with family and friends or when you feel embarrassed about your appearance or speech difficulties.
Types of Compensation Available in Georgia
Georgia law divides personal injury damages into three categories: economic damages, non-economic damages, and punitive damages. Economic damages cover your measurable financial losses with clear dollar amounts backed by receipts and bills. Non-economic damages compensate you for intangible harms like pain and disfigurement that don't come with price tags. Punitive damages punish defendants who acted with malice or reckless disregard for safety, though courts award these only in extreme cases.
- Medical Expenses: You can recover every dollar you spent on medical treatment related to your jaw injury. Emergency room visits, ambulance transport, hospital stays, surgical procedures, medications, and medical equipment all qualify as compensable damages. Your personal injury claim should also include future medical care costs if doctors testify that you'll need additional surgeries, physical therapy, ongoing pain management, dental work, or other treatment down the road.
- Lost Wages: Georgia law compensates you for time you missed from work during recovery and for any reduction in your earning capacity going forward. If you earn $1,000 per week and missed eight weeks of work, you can claim $8,000 in past lost wages. Future lost wages become harder to calculate, but can be substantial if your injury prevents you from returning to your previous job or limits your ability to advance in your career.
- Pain and Suffering: This category covers the physical pain you endured from the moment of injury through your current condition and any pain you'll experience in the future. Courts don't use a fixed formula, but attorneys typically multiply your economic damages by a number between 1.5 and 5, depending on your injury's severity. A jaw fracture requiring multiple surgeries with permanent complications would justify a higher multiplier than a simple break that healed well.
- Mental Anguish and Emotional Distress: The fear, anxiety, and depression that stem from your jaw injury warrant separate compensation beyond physical pain. Trauma from the accident itself, stress about your appearance, worry about mounting medical bills, and frustration with your limitations all fall into this category. If you required counseling or psychiatric treatment to cope with the emotional effects, those therapy records strengthen your accident claim for mental anguish damages.
- Disfigurement and Scarring: Permanent changes to your appearance are also compensable. Facial asymmetry, visible surgical scars, and changes to your jawline that make you self-conscious in social and work settings justify substantial damages. Courts consider the size and location of scars, your age, your occupation, and how the disfigurement affects your daily interactions with others.
- Loss of Enjoyment of Life: When your broken jaw prevents you from participating in activities you previously enjoyed, you've lost something valuable. You might not be able to eat your favorite foods anymore, play wind instruments, sing, or engage in sports that risk re-injury. Social activities become less enjoyable when eating in public is difficult or when you feel embarrassed about your appearance.
- Loss of Consortium: Your spouse can file a separate claim for the negative impact your jaw injury had on your marriage. Loss of companionship, affection, and intimacy all qualify for compensation. Georgia gives spouses four years from the date of your injury to file this claim, which is two years longer than your own two-year deadline for personal injury damages.
- Punitive Damages: Courts award these damages to punish defendants and deter others from similar conduct, but only when the defendant's actions showed willful misconduct, malice, fraud, or wanton disregard for your safety. A drunk driver who caused your accident or a property owner who ignored obvious hazards despite multiple complaints might face punitive damages. Georgia caps these damages at $250,000 in most cases, but the cap doesn't apply if the defendant specifically intended to harm you or was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Georgia law doesn't cap economic or non-economic damages in personal injury cases. The Georgia Supreme Court struck down previous caps as unconstitutional in 2010, which means you can recover the full value of your losses regardless of how high they climb.
Get a Free Consultation From an Atlanta Broken Jaw Attorney
A broken jaw is one of the most painful injuries you can experience, but you can count on insurance companies and their attorneys fighting to minimize your compensation. That’s why experienced legal representation is so critical.
Personal injury lawyers in Georgia work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay nothing unless you win, and experienced attorneys know how to prove both liability and the full extent of your damages.
If you or a family member suffered a jaw injury due to someone else's negligence, contact The Champion Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.C., for a free consultation with an Atlanta broken jaw attorney. We've recovered over $150 million for injured Georgians and serve clients throughout Cobb County and all of Georgia. For more information, please call our personal injury law firm today at 404-596-8044.