Can Braces Be Used Intentionally to Change Facial Bone Structure?

GREAT question! I wish more patients paid attention to  facial aesthetics before considering orthodontic treatment. As you described, moving teeth can make changes in facial aesthetics. Simply moving teeth (orthodontics) will have little effect on bony changes to the face. Moving teeth can give added lip support or diminish lip support, depending on which direction teeth are moved. Hence, the movement of anterior teeth greatly affects a patient's profile because a face overlays teeth; therefore moving teeth will also move that part of the face overlaying the teeth. All teeth movements have the potential to cause facial changes and those potential changes should be well-understood by both the doctor and the patient before any teeth are ever moved.

The way we can make intended bony changes to the face is with orthopedics. Upper and lower jaws can be developed in three dimensions using orthopedic appliances. Because a face overlays the upper and lower jaws then the face is also developed in the same three dimensions. 

Since the upper jaw is the floor of the nasal cavity then developing the upper jaw will also increase the volume of the nasal airway thus improving nasal airflow which is critical to overall health and well-being.

A lower jaw can be moved forward using orthopedic appliances. This causes marked changes in the bony face by completely changing a patient's profile. 

Seek out a doctor trained in functional jaw orthopedics or orthotropics for help in making intended bony changes to your face or to actually guide facial growth and development in a child.

Good luck!