﻿The basics series/ Gonial angle [In this episode…]
On this channel, I’ve noticed that a lot of the newer viewers don’t really know what
I’m talking about when I use anatomical terms like jaw ramus, zygomatic bone or mandible body
and partially this is because I’ve taken for granted what I expect people to already know
since we’ve covered it on the channel in the past. In this new series, we’re going to bring back an
old series called defining beauty, but in a more newbie friendly format, so that you can revise
what you already know or learn a thing or two and see how certain anatomical features on your face
affect your facial appeal greatly. Today’s episode will be focusing on the Gonial Angle
and how it can completely change the look of the face. Hopefully incorporating photoshop as we go
can better illuminate how this feature works. What is the Gonial angle?
To understand what this angle is and how it contributes to the ‘look’ of the whole face,
we have to super quickly go over 3 terms. That is it; remember these terms and you will be good for
the whole video. To better brush up on these terms, going back to the Ramus 101 video may
be helpful. The Ramus is that back part of the jaw that grows in a more downward direction,
as shown here on Brian Whittaker with the red line. The mandible body is the blue line and
the lower part of the jaw. It typically grows more forward than down. The joining of these two lines
occurs at the Gonion: that circled, lowest part of the back jaw. And so, the angle formed between
these lines is called the ‘Gonial Angle’. Simple enough, right. That is all you really have to
know to understand the Gonial angle. The Gonial Angle is a sexually dimorphic trait, with men
typicaly having lower angles than women. The main reason for this is the Ramus Length, which is also
a sexually dimorphic trait. Balaji et al. discuss this gender influence. When the ramus grows
further down on the face, the angle formed between it and the mandible ends up being more acute.
Women will commonly have higher angles and more rounded jaw shapes. This does not mean that women
cannot have a low Gonial Angle, and we will look at examples of this in the video. We have already
touched on the Ramus’ importance to generating leverage and Bite force in the Jaw. Men will
have stronger Bite force on average due to both a Longer Ramus and thus lower jaw angle. The ramus
acts as a lever arm with the Temporomandibular joint at the mid ear acting as the fulcrum. The
most advantageous inclination is a ever so slightly forward one, and physics comes into
play with stuff like the masseter muscles acting as a moment arm. So all else equal, lower gonial
angles within reason (110-125 degrees) produce more bite force, and are the most attractive.
Said et al.’s findings in 2017 would confirm this, with strong negative correlation shown between
Mandibular Bite Force and Gonial Angle. The lower the Angle, the more bite force, and vice versa.
Even the jaw muscles gain size depending on the Gonial Angle; The lower the angle, the more work
the masseter muscles do and grow. Again, if this sounds confusing, the Ramus 101 video
should help. To accurately measure this angle, usually the individual should be facing completely
to the side, because even slight turning makes the angle higher than it actually is.
How does the Gonial Angle affect our facial aesthetic?
Still, in Brian’s case we can see how his jaw aesthetic changes as we mess around with
some of the bones in his jaw. Reducing his Ramus length and verticality, or rounding out his jaw,
brings that angle upwards of 130 degrees, taking away from some of his masculinity. Timothee
Chalamet is an example of a Gonial Angle that is not incredibly masculinized. His Gonial Angle
of 126 degrees is in an aesthetic range, but he does not have a lot of Ramus Length. Squaring
off his jaw by increasing his ramus length gives him a lower Gonial angle. It does not mesh that
well with his facial aesthetic, and would likely make his jaw appear too flat in the frontal view.
There is no doubt, though, that it heavily masculinizes his face. In this morph,
we can see how reducing the angle by only about 5 degrees really masculinizes the face. Of course,
there are other things changed in this photo too, but the jaw just looks better. Model Malaika Firth
also has a lower Gonial angle. She has a little upward motion of the jaw towards the chin,
which throws off the straightness of the mandible. This just shows how there are so many different
variations of Ramus shape, inclination, and length, combined with mandible inclination
and shape that can make the same Gonial Angle look different. Altering her jaw shape to have a more
vertical ramus, and straighter mandible, gives her a masculinized Gonial Angle. Changing her ramus
to incline heavily has an opposite effect. No two jaws are alike because there are so many different
moving pieces. Further rounding out her jaw makes it kind of vague where her Gonion is and where her
Ramus begins. We’ve established that a visible ramus is an attractive trait, so a super rounded
jaw shape just blurs the line between ramus and mandible. An example of a hyper-masculinized
morphology of the ramus and Gonial angle is model and previously convicted Felon Jeremey Meeks.
After we round out his jaw, he might as well be back in prison. Obviously these edits will not
look entirely realistic. The forward growth of the cheekbones, brow bone, chin, and overall midface
region are at least somewhat connected to the growth of the jaw and Gonial Angle. Changing only
the Gonial angle can look out of place because those other traits would not develop in isolation.
Why would genetics and environment get everything else right, but arguably the most important part
wrong. It can happen, but it is rare. Taylor Hill is in a similar boat, with a
long ramus and low Gonial Angle. Going back to some old celebrities we have
analyzed here on Qoves, Ryan has a surprisingly good Gonial Angle. His ramus is near vertical,
so despite a downward grown jaw, the angle between his ramus and mandible remains harmonious. His jaw
morphology is that low-bite force one we described earlier. Completely changing his jaw morphology
by nearly doubling his Ramus length makes his Jaw Akin to a Chris hemsworth. That lowering of
the Ramus meets with the mandible to completely remove the look of his downward grown jaw. Ramus
length plays a huge role in the overall aesthetic of the jaw; it is not an isolated cephalometric
feature. Real jaws won’t be quite as straight though, the ramus usually has some slight natural
curvature to it. Zoe has that type of Jaw shape, and a low Gonial angle of about 120 degrees.
Some jaws will have no discernable Gonial Angle, as we cannot even see that separation between
the Mandible body and Ramus. This can apply to those with thick beards too. Especially with
lots of submental and hyoid fat, the jaw can be so obscured and rounded it basically gives the look
of a super high Gonial Angle. When we actually calculate Benedict’s angle, it is very good. We
will come to see, though, that the Gonial Angle is not everything when it comes to the attractiveness
of the jaw. Like in Benedict's case, his jaw is poorly forward and downward grown.
A term called the ‘Mandibular Plane angle’ is used to show a downwards grown or flat jaw (we might do
a 101 video on this too). Benedict's mandible downward inclines 35 degrees, which is a clear
sign of poor dentofacial development. This makes itself apparent even in the front view. So a quick
recap of terms, Benedict’s jaw could be summed up as having a high set gonion with a vertical ramus
and downward grown mandible. Asian Supermodel Sui He has probably the lowest Gonial angle so far.
Simply changing the shape of her gonion region takes away from the Robust nature of her jaw.
When her exceptional dentofacial growth gets taken away, her overall attractiveness takes a hit by
Western standards. Theo James is an example of an extremely long Ramus that inclines a bit to make a
125 degree Gonial Angle. Changing the jaw of Cindy Bruna completely alters her look to be softer,
feminized, and confirmative of eastern beauty standards. Her powerful jaw and low Gonial
angle makes her a perfect fit for Western beauty high fashion modeling, like Sui.
I get the side, but how does changing this angle change how we actually look front on?
We can see the ramus extending from the ear to the lowest part of the back jaw,
even in the front view. So the same concept applies here. Theoretically, shaving off some
gonion and rounding out the ramus would soften and feminize the jaw shape when viewed from the front.
Sui He goes from Western beauty standard supermodel with a diamond/square face,
to an Eastern beauty k-pop star with a more oval facial shape. Jeremy also loses a lot of his
facial strikingness and jaw contours. The overall dentofacial development looks more downward grown,
with less jaw prominence, depth, and angularity. Without even changing his chin forward projection,
his jaw just looks more recessed and melted. He is still attractive, but notably less so. If we take
someone with a relatively higher Gonial angle like RDJ, and lower his gonion(remember, that lowest
point in the back part of the jaw), in effect lengthening the ramus and lowering the gonial
angle, his face just becomes more masculine. Further lowering Brian’s Gonion gives him a
minecraft steve look, so there is a happy balance. Basically, Gonial angles below 110 degrees equals
square. Angles above 135-140 degrees equals oval and round. Even subtly editing Ian
Somerhalder’s Gonial angle from the front weakens his dentofacial structure. He is still attractive
because it is nothing extreme, but it shows the significance of the jaw angle. Sometimes this can
work to an advantage in women with a flatter jaw shape. In eastern beauty culture, or in extreme
cases, Gonial Angle reduction surgery will be sought after to replicate the look we demonstrated
earlier. Balaji et al. note that desire for correction in extreme square faces. Hsu et al.
show the result of such an operation being almost exactly like we showed earlier. Generally though,
lower angles will be more attractive than higher ones because they produce sharper jaws as we have
seen. A forward, rather than downward grown jaw is also associated with propper dentofacial growth
around the whole face. So a good gonial angle can be a clue into proper facial development,
but not in all cases like we have seen with Ryan Gosling or Benedict.
If you would like to get your face assessed, to learn about whether you have a masculine
or feminine ramus, your jaw angles and how they affect your face or just get an
indepth look into your face order a QOVES facial evaluation over at our website,
performed by our in-house team of doctors and dentists to help you achieve
that next big glow-up. As always follow us on Instagram for bite-sized content and subscribe on
youtube.