In addition to improved oral health and function, many people are motivated to undergo orthognathic surgery to improve their facial aesthetics and overall psychological well-being (daily affect and satisfaction with life). This article explains the phenomenon of hedonic adaptation, which challenges the notion that patients treated with orthognathic surgery can expect to experience improvements in psychological well-being following surgery. We review evidence for hedonic adaptation across a variety of life circumstances and explain the psychological processes which account for the relative stability of people's well-being over their life course despite significant positive (and negative) changes in their circumstances. We examine the conditions that assist and inhibit hedonic adaptation to positive life events, and argue that if patients are made aware of these processes, they are more likely to achieve sustained improvements in psychological well-being following orthognathic surgery. Based on our narrative review of evidence for hedonic adaptation, we conclude that orthognathic surgery should not be expected to improve patients' psychological well-being in the long term and suggest that patients be advised to take intentional steps to preserve any improvements in their day-to-day affect and satisfaction with life that arise as a result of their surgery.
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Ashton‐James et al. (2019) studied this question.