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Facial injuries are common in car accidents because the face is exposed to the steering wheel, dashboard, airbag, and windshield in a collision. They carry unusual weight in a settlement because they are both functional and personal: a facial fracture or lost teeth can impair eating, speaking, and vision, while permanent changes to the face affect identity in a way juries readily understand. That blend of physical impairment and visible, lasting harm is why facial injuries consistently settle above many comparable injuries elsewhere on the body.
Key facts at a glance
Facial Injury Settlement Values (2026)
Last updated
- Typical claim
- $25,000 to $350,000+ for facial fractures, climbing well past $1,000,000 with permanent disfigurement, dental loss, or an associated brain injury.
- Broken jaw
- Minor jaw (mandible/maxilla) fracture without surgery $25,000 to $65,000; jaw wiring $75,000 to $150,000; complex ORIF with plates and screws $150,000 to $350,000.
- Dental injury
- $25,000 to $150,000 per tooth depending on complexity; knocked-out teeth often require lifetime implants, crowns, or bridges, adding five figures.
- TMJ dysfunction
- $75,000 to $250,000 for a permanent temporomandibular joint injury causing chronic pain, clicking, locking, and difficulty chewing or speaking.
- Orbital & other fractures
- Nasal fractures settle lower; orbital (eye socket) and zygomatic (cheekbone) fractures higher, especially with double vision, numbness, or visible deformity.
- Disfigurement & severe
- Permanent facial disfigurement $300,000 to $750,000+; facial injury with TBI $400,000 to $1.2M+. Real verdicts: $775K (jaw + scarring), $1.5M (jaw + skull + cheekbone), $1M (jaw + TBI).
Source: SetCalc analysis of car accident verdicts and settlement reports, 2025-2026. Get your free facial injury estimate →
Types of Facial and Dental Injuries and Settlement Ranges
The specific facial structures injured, whether surgery is required, and whether permanent effects remain are the biggest factors in your settlement value. The table below breaks down the facial and dental injuries most commonly caused by car accidents and their typical settlement ranges in 2026.
| Injury Type | Settlement Range | Key Details |
|---|---|---|
| Nasal Fracture (Broken Nose) | $15,000 - $50,000 | Most common facial fracture; higher with deviated septum, breathing problems, or surgery |
| Jaw Fracture (No Surgery) | $25,000 - $65,000 | Mandible or maxilla fracture treated without hardware; soft diet and healing time |
| Orbital / Zygomatic Fracture | $50,000 - $200,000 | Eye socket or cheekbone fracture; higher with double vision, numbness, or deformity |
| Jaw Fracture with Surgery (ORIF / Wiring) | $75,000 - $350,000 | Plates and screws or jaw wiring; 3 to 5 times the value of a non-surgical jaw fracture |
| Dental Injury / Tooth Loss | $25,000 - $150,000 / tooth | Lost or shattered teeth; lifetime implants, crowns, or bridges; visible when smiling |
| TMJ Dysfunction (Permanent) | $75,000 - $250,000 | Chronic jaw pain, clicking, locking, headaches, difficulty chewing and talking |
| Permanent Disfigurement / Multiple Trauma | $300,000 - $1,200,000+ | Visible disfigurement, facial nerve damage, or facial fractures with a brain injury |
Source: SetCalc analysis of car accident verdicts and settlement reports, 2025-2026. Ranges reflect national data; your location can shift values significantly. See settlement statistics by state. For the cosmetic value of permanent scars, see our scarring and disfigurement calculator.
Understanding the Range
The wide ranges above reflect the difference between an injury that heals invisibly and one that permanently changes the face. A clean nasal fracture that heals settles near the low end. The same crash that shatters the jaw, knocks out teeth, damages the TMJ, and leaves a visible scar produces a serious-injury claim worth many times more, because the harm is both functional and permanently visible.
Lower End Factors
- • Single nasal or simple fracture
- • No surgery and no hardware
- • No tooth loss or dental damage
- • Heals with no visible change
- • No chewing, speech, or vision effects
Higher End Factors
- • Surgery, plates, screws, or jaw wiring
- • Lost teeth requiring implants
- • TMJ dysfunction or facial nerve damage
- • Visible scarring or disfigurement
- • Young victim or associated brain injury
Facial Injuries Rarely Travel Alone
The Surgery Threshold: How It Changes Everything
Facial injury claims show a clear settlement jump when surgery is involved. Reconstructive facial surgery adds substantial cost, proves the injury was severe, and often leaves permanent hardware, all of which an insurer cannot easily dismiss.
Non-Surgical Cases
A nasal fracture or a nondisplaced jaw fracture treated with rest and a soft diet typically settles for:
$15,000 - $65,000
Insurers treat these as lower-value claims, even when weeks of swelling, soft diet, and pain disrupt daily life.
Surgical Cases
When ORIF, jaw wiring, orbital repair, or dental reconstruction is required, settlements rise sharply:
$75,000 - $1,200,000+
Surgical facial cases settle three to five times higher than non-surgical ones, and permanent hardware proves severity.
Types of Facial Surgery and Their Impact on Settlement Value
Open Reduction Internal Fixation (ORIF)
Plates and screws realign and stabilize a displaced jaw, cheekbone, or orbital fracture. The most common facial fracture surgery, often leaving permanent hardware and some numbness. ORIF typically moves a jaw case into the $150,000 to $350,000 range and proves the fracture was severe.
Maxillomandibular Fixation (Jaw Wiring)
The jaw is wired shut for several weeks to allow a fracture to heal. Beyond the fracture itself, the weeks of a liquid-only diet, weight loss, and disruption to daily life add real pain and suffering value, commonly placing these cases in the $75,000 to $150,000 range.
Orbital Fracture Repair
Surgical repair of the bones around the eye, often with a mesh or plate to rebuild the orbital floor. Value rises when the fracture causes double vision, a sunken eye, or persistent numbness, because these effects can be permanent and affect both function and appearance.
Dental Reconstruction (Implants, Crowns, Bridges)
Replacing knocked-out or shattered teeth with implants, crowns, or bridges. Because dental implants are expensive and frequently need replacement over a lifetime, the future cost of restorative dental work can add five figures per tooth, separate from the bone injury.
Account for Future Treatment Before You Settle
Why Insurance Companies Dispute Facial Injuries
Facial claims are contested because much of their value is in permanent appearance and function effects that insurers try to minimize. Understanding their tactics is essential to protecting your claim.
Calling It "Just Cosmetic"
Adjusters downplay scars and facial changes as merely cosmetic to argue for a low payout. In reality, disfigurement is a recognized, separately compensable harm, and juries award substantial damages for permanent changes to the face. Photographs over time and a plastic surgeon's opinion on permanence counter this tactic.
The Pre-Existing Dental Argument
For dental claims, insurers argue the teeth were already damaged or decayed before the crash. Dental records showing the condition of your teeth before the accident, plus a treating dentist's opinion tying the loss to the trauma, defeat this defense. Under the eggshell plaintiff doctrine you can still recover for aggravation of a pre-existing dental condition.
Minimizing TMJ Injuries
Because TMJ dysfunction is partly based on symptoms like pain and clicking, insurers argue it is exaggerated or unrelated. A diagnosis from an oral surgeon or TMJ specialist, imaging, and documentation of difficulty chewing and chronic headaches establish the injury as real and permanent.
Lowballing Future Dental and Scar Costs
Insurers offer to cover only the immediate dental work, ignoring that implants and restorations need replacement over a lifetime and that scar revision may take multiple procedures. Written estimates for the full future cost, ideally in a life care plan, force the insurer to value the lifetime expense.
Don't Accept the First Offer on a Facial Injury
How to Document and Prove Your Facial Injury
Because facial injury value rests on visible, permanent, and future effects, documentation quality often decides whether you receive fair compensation. Follow these steps to build the strongest possible case.
Get a Maxillofacial CT Scan
A CT scan of the facial bones is the gold standard for documenting jaw, orbital, cheekbone, and nasal fractures that plain X-rays miss or underestimate. Accurate imaging establishes the exact fracture pattern and supports the higher value these injuries deserve.
Key point: A subtle orbital or maxilla fracture called minor on X-ray can be worth far more once a CT proves the true extent.
See an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and a Dentist
Treatment from an oral and maxillofacial surgeon for fractures and a dentist or prosthodontist for tooth damage produces detailed records and a clear plan for surgery, implants, crowns, and future work. Specialist documentation carries far more weight than an emergency-room note.
Photograph the Injury Over Time
Take dated photographs from the day of the accident through each stage of healing. Photos of swelling, bruising, lacerations, surgery, and any residual scarring or asymmetry are some of the most persuasive evidence in a facial injury claim, because the harm is visible and easy for an adjuster or jury to grasp.
Document Functional Effects on Chewing, Speech, and Vision
Record difficulty eating, chewing, or speaking, jaw clicking or locking, numbness from nerve damage, headaches, and any double or blurred vision from an orbital injury. A specific entry such as "cannot chew on the right side; jaw locks when yawning; numbness in the lower lip" documents the lasting harm that drives value.
Capture the Full Lifetime Cost of Dental and Scar Work
Get written estimates for the lifetime cost of dental implants, crowns, bridges, and any scar revision, since these often need replacement over the years. A life care plan or treating-provider estimate ensures the settlement covers future treatment, not just the bills you have already paid.
Keep Your Pre-Accident Photos and Dental Records
Calculate Your Facial Injury Settlement Value
Factors That Increase or Decrease Facial Injury Settlement Value
Beyond the type of facial injury, specific case factors can push your settlement significantly higher or lower within the range. These are the factors that attorneys, adjusters, and juries weigh most heavily.
Factors That Increase Value
- ✓Permanent, visible disfigurement: A lasting scar, asymmetry, or deformity on the face is among the highest-value harms, separately compensable and persuasive to juries.
- ✓Surgery and permanent hardware: ORIF, jaw wiring, and orbital repair settle three to five times higher than non-surgical cases and prove severity.
- ✓Tooth loss requiring implants: Each lost tooth can add five figures for lifetime restorative work, especially when visible when smiling.
- ✓TMJ dysfunction or facial nerve damage: Permanent chewing, speech, or sensation problems add substantial, lasting value.
- ✓Younger victim: A younger person lives with a facial change for decades, and juries award more for disfigurement to a young face.
- ✓Associated brain injury: A concussion or TBI from the same impact stacks substantial value on top of the facial trauma.
Factors That Decrease Value
- ✗Full recovery with no visible change: A fracture that heals with no scar, dental loss, or functional effect settles near the low end.
- ✗Scar easily corrected by a plastic surgeon: If a scar can be revised cleanly, insurers argue for a lower value than a permanent, hard-to-treat scar.
- ✗Pre-existing dental damage: Decay or prior tooth loss gives insurers a causation defense, especially without prior dental records.
- ✗Incomplete documentation or photos: Without dated photographs and specialist records, the visible and functional harm is hard to prove and easy to discount.
- ✗Comparative fault: If you were partly at fault, your settlement is reduced by your share of blame, and in a few states any fault can bar recovery entirely.
The Disfigurement Premium and Where to Value It
Realistic Facial Injury Settlement Examples
Here is what real facial injury settlements look like when you account for the fractures, dental damage, surgery, and location. These examples are grounded in SetCalc's analysis of actual car accident verdicts and settlements. See 25+ more settlement examples across all injury types.
Example 1: Broken Nose in Texas (No Surgery)
Case Details:
- Rear-end collision in Austin, TX
- Nasal fracture from airbag impact
- Closed reduction, no surgery
- Healed with mild residual bump
- Medical bills: $7,200
- Lost wages: $2,000
Settlement Breakdown:
- Economic damages: $9,200
- Pain & suffering (2.5x): $23,000
Settlement Range:
$20,000 - $40,000
TX modified comparative fault, clear liability, single facial fracture with minor residual change
Example 2: Jaw Fracture with ORIF and Lost Teeth in Florida
Case Details:
- T-bone collision in Tampa, FL
- Mandible fracture, face hit the wheel
- ORIF with plates and screws
- Two front teeth lost, implants needed
- Medical and dental bills: $62,000
- Lost wages: $14,000
Settlement Breakdown:
- Economic damages: $76,000
- Pain & suffering (3x): $228,000
- Future dental (implants): $30,000+
Settlement Range:
$200,000 - $325,000
FL modified comparative fault, surgical jaw fracture plus visible tooth loss with lifetime implant costs
Example 3: Orbital Fracture with TMJ Dysfunction in Illinois
Case Details:
- Head-on collision in Cook County, IL
- Orbital floor fracture with double vision
- Orbital repair surgery, residual numbness
- Permanent TMJ dysfunction, chewing pain
- Medical bills: $74,000
- Lost wages: $20,000
Settlement Breakdown:
- Economic damages: $94,000
- Pain & suffering (3.5x): $329,000+
- Future medical (TMJ): $25,000+
Settlement Range:
$300,000 - $450,000
IL plaintiff-friendly, Cook County premium, orbital surgery plus permanent vision change and TMJ dysfunction
Example 4: Severe Facial Trauma with Disfigurement in California
Case Details:
- Drunk-driver collision in Los Angeles, CA
- Multiple facial fractures and laceration
- Reconstructive surgery, permanent scarring
- Concussion and facial nerve damage
- Young adult plaintiff
- Medical bills: $185,000
Settlement Breakdown:
- Economic damages: $215,000+
- Pain & suffering and disfigurement: $600,000+
- Future surgery and dental: $90,000+
Settlement Range:
$750,000 - $1,200,000+
CA pure comparative negligence, no caps; permanent disfigurement to a young face plus nerve damage and concussion. Comparable to reported $775K and $1.5M facial-trauma outcomes
Calculate Your Facial Injury Settlement Value
Every facial injury case is different. The ranges and examples above give you a starting point, but your specific settlement value depends on the unique combination of your fractures, dental damage, surgery, scarring, location, and case circumstances.
SetCalc's AI-powered facial injury settlement calculator analyzes your specific details against real settlement data from your state to generate a personalized estimate. Unlike generic "multiply by 3" calculators, we factor in:
Injury-Specific Analysis
- • Nasal vs. jaw vs. orbital vs. dental injury
- • Surgery, hardware, and jaw wiring
- • Tooth loss and lifetime implant costs
- • TMJ dysfunction, nerve damage, disfigurement
Location-Specific Data
- • Your state's comparative fault rules
- • Local jury verdict tendencies
- • Regional cost of living adjustments
- • State-specific damage caps
What Is Your Facial Injury Really Worth?
Stop guessing with generic formulas. Get a location-specific, injury-specific estimate based on real settlement data for your type of facial injury, reviewed by a licensed personal injury attorney.
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Related Resources
Scarring & Disfigurement Calculator
Value the permanent cosmetic-scar component of a facial injury, including the disfigurement premium
Concussion Settlement Calculator
Facial impacts often cause a concussion, which stacks value on top of the facial trauma
Pain and Suffering Calculator
Learn the multiplier and per diem methods for valuing the non-economic harm of a facial injury
Settlement Statistics by State
See average facial injury and car accident settlements across all 50 states
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