My Dr's have been coordinating the insurance - however not all insurance covers this sort of thing. I'm paying for the braces out-of-pocket, but the SARPE & lower jaw surgery will be covered - under medical rather than dental. I expect facial features to change somewhat; mostly I'll be getting a chin! I am 55, soon to be 56 and while I am in the minority in both ortho & surgeons office, neither of them think I'm too old. Costs differ so wildly that I don't think anyone but your orthodontist & surgeon will be able to give you anything close to a good quote. I checked out a couple of orthodontists before choosing one that I liked. They took a team approach, and after they decided what they wanted to do, my guy had lunch with the surgeon to map out a plan. I picked the surgeon because my insurance plan covered him. I asked him a lot of questions before I decided to go with him. Then I had to wait for insurance to decide if they were going to cover it. Evidently my mouth was bad enough that it didn't take them long to decide it was medically necessary. I guess, in a way, I'm lucky. However, you bring up an interesting subject - that of the "turkey wattle". I'm gonna ask about that.[/quote]

I wouldn't call what I had "turkey wattle," more like a fat neck with no definition, bordering on a double chin. Altho my surgeon believes the neck procedure helps with widening the airway and the whole package, the insurance company does not concur. So, I paid for that out-of-pocket ($3K).

I just turned 51 last week, have had braces for 18 months and have surgery scheduled for September 28th! Now for the real twist in this story.... I had the same situation 25 years ago - braces for 4 1/2 years and upper ands lower jaw surgery to correct "long-face syndrome". Narrow top jaw, short lower, and open bite...BIG open bite!! Now it appears that the open bite has come back, contact is only on the back molars - resulting in several crowns!! After meeting with my OS and OD the surgery and treatment is less traumatizing than the first round!! Have any of you gone through this twice???

Sherrylee - I am so sorry to hear you're doing this for the 2nd time! I'm just getting started on the 1st time and am excited and terrified at the same time. I have been told that after I finish treatment, I will be wearing a retainer for the rest of my life. Perhaps that's why?

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I don't know if it's terribly relevant and I saw that it was covered in a post on this forum a long time ago but be very careful if you're taking or have taken Bisphosphonates like Boniva or other osteoporosis drugs. I'm not but I asked why that question was asked and got the gory details on how they constrict blood flow to your lower jaw, or something like that. I think I repressed that conversation a little. I'm sure everybody has a nice, responsible ortho and they've already been asked about it but just in case, you know?

I was never told to wear the retainer "forever" the first time around, I recall it was for a couple of years! This time I will have a permanent retainer on lower, and Hawley (?) on the top -to be worn forever!

My journey as a 52 year will lower jaw surgery. Would love to continue to comapre notes with other older patients. I am in the US. Never had problems until the Fall of 2010 when I lost a tooth. It had cracked to the root and needed extracted. My wife is a Hygienist and her boss (my dentist) looked at several other molars with intense light and found more cracks. He thought my overbite was causing the issue. I have always had pops and cracks in my jaw (TMJ I suppose) but it never bothered me much. I went to an orthodontist and he said he could help me but I would need lower jaw surgery. So I went back to oral surgeon (and had an implant post inserted) and he explained the lower jaw surgery. With my wife’s support and my daughter's support (who just graduated from Dental School) I decided to go for it. So I had braces put on in November 2010. In early June 2012 I was told I was ready for the surgery and had it scheduled for July 11 as we had a planned family vacation in the middle of June. At that point I freaked out with stress and ended up not being able to sleep, eat or relax. I eventually called my surgeon on our family vacation and we came home early so I could move the surgery up to June 27, my D Day. I am not proud of how I stressed befoerhand and owe my family big time. But the wait was driving me insane. My surgery was nearly 7 weeks ago. Needless to say, the stress I had beforehand was far worse than the surgery and the week after. I had my lower jaw moved forward 9 millimeters. I was wired shut for a week. I had a one night stay in the hospital and don’t remember much of the first day. I slept on average 16 hours a day for the first 5 days. I took pain meds (Loritab) but really did not need it. I thought it would help me sleep. When I got my wires cut off, that was a huge mental boost. I am a mouth breather and between worried about breathing and nausea; I had very high anxiety about being wired shut.
I spent 24x7 on a recliner the first week. My son was home from college and helped me tremendously. And between he and my wife, I had excellent care. I iced regularly and I drank Boost and beef broth on a regular basis to get the calories and nutrition that I needed to heal. I was very good about that. Once I got the wires off I was put in tight bands and could open enough to get apple sauce and mashed potatoes in. Since that time, I am gaining more movement in terms of being able to open my mouth and no one can tell and impact on my speech.
Once I moved from liquid to soft, I became very good with a food processor. I went back to work on Day 12 Post Op. My biggest issue at this point is the numbness. I am also numb in the right side of my tongue and was not expecting that. I asked my surgeon and he checked to see if a screw was perhaps coming through so I could tell a numb tongue is not normal, but he told me to give it time. I am losing the numbness in the right side of my chin and right side of lower lip. But I am still very numb on the left side of lower lip, my chin and my lower gums. And of course that darn tongue. I also still have some slight swelling after 7 weeks.
Sleep has been a continuing problem. I sleep on my side and have a hard time gettign comfortable with the unusual sensations of the the numbenss. The first sensation when I wake up is so strange. To reacquaint my mind with a numb face is very awkward and disappointing as I always hope for daiy progress.
I think I am feeling some tingling in my left lower lip and into my chin, but it is hard to compare to others. I trust these are all good sign of the nerve re-generating. I am concerned aobut my age and the nerve fully recovering. Is anyone else having the sames concerns?
At this point, I count the weeks. I have my next appointment with surgeon and Ortha in 4 weeks. September 17. The surgeons said they really are done at this point, this is just a final Post Op check more for their learning. My ortho saw me last week and told me tome pcme back in a monmth and take more time to heal before he strats back up. I am glad the surgery is over and I am moving forward. But of course, I wish for the day of total recovery, no numbness (I of course, knew there was slight risk of some minimal permanent damage but hoping and praying for the best), having my braces removed and my implant tooth put in place.
Thanks for letting me share my journey and if anyone has any advice, thoughts or similarities, please let me know.

Hi Bomb,
I'm 59 and had upper and lower jaw surgery on April 3 of this year. Also had genioglossus advancement which is cutting a piece of your chin bone and moving it (with tongue attached) forward. Recovery has been as well as can be expected with no pain. I spent 3 nights in the hospital and a month off from work. Swelling has mostly subsided and I'm very pleased with the results. However, the right half of my lower lip and chin are totally tingly-numb. It hasn't changed much, if at all, in a couple months, so I'm a little pessimistic as to whether it will get better. Ortho tells me tingling is a good sign, so I hope....

Hi Scout,

Wow - 3 months and still numb. I was hoping it would all be back by then. My right side is doing so well. The left side nothing. Still totally numb. Is that common that one side could be doing so well and the other not a bit pf progress? Also, did or do you have any numbness in the tongue?

Hi Bomb,

No numbness in my tongue. I think it's understandable that one side could be different from the other because it would depend on what happened to the nerves on each side as the surgery was being done. And I think it can take up to a year for the nerves to heal.

Hi Scout,

You seem to be adjusting well. How do you cope? SImply by knowing nothing that can be done? I am very concerned about the permanent numbness and the impact it is having on my quality of life. I cannot talk correctly, eat without biting my lip, and the numb tongue even hinders taste. How are you so upbeat?

I work hard to stay postive, patient and hopeful....but it's worrisome. You?

Hi Bomb,

Actually, the tingling/numbness in the right half of my lower lip and chin is a larger area than I anticipated when I was told before surgery that numbness could be permanent. Sometimes my lip actually feels as if it's been burned. (Does yours ever feel like that?) I actually like when it gets uncomfortable because I think that "something's happening," if you know what I mean. It is annoying, but even if it never gets better, I can live with it.

I hadn't heard of numbness in the tongue, altho I will tell you that I did have a hard time figuring out where my teeth and tongue were during the first couple months (it's been 4 months since surgery). So, altho I can understand how the numbness would bother you, the feeling of having to get acquainted with where things are, I think is normal. My tongue is a problem in other ways. The reason I needed the braces (still on since Feb. 2009!) and surgery is because I have acromegaly which is an excess of growth hormone. So my jaw grew, creating spaces and loosening of teeth, and tongue enlarged, pushing on teeth. So my big tongue is something that I'm learning to live with. Since surgery, altho lower jaw was moved forward 10mm, widening my airway, I feel as if my tongue is taking up more space in the back of my throat.

Since you're only, what, 2 months post-surgery, I wouldn't rush to conclusions about the numbness. Are you able to eat just about anything yet?

hi scout,

thanks for blogging with me. this blogging helps me so much to be able to converse with others that have personally experienced this. my surgeon and ortho have done many procedures but unless you personally experiece this i do not feel like you have a true sense of what we are going through. and i really like and trust my doctors it just that if you do not go through it you cannot personally relate. so thanks for sharing.

I had very quick recovery of the feeling on my right side of my chin and lower lip. i would say i have 90% of my feeling back on that side. i do have the numbness on the right side of my tongue and it is very frustrating. it creates a weird taste in my mouth all the time and so it not only impacts me due to the numb sensation but it effects my taste. i hope this is not permanent. the left side of my chin, lower lip and gums have made no progress at all. strange! it is driving me crazy. it impacts my speech and i cannot chew as i constantly am biting my lip. I was released back to my Ortho last week. My surgeon said he is done (although I do have a fnal checkup in 4 weeks more for his learning than anything he can do to help me further) and that i can start to eat solid foods. but i can't since the lip biting is a bad thing. i think i have hit a wall. at 7 weeks i really thought i would be a lot further along and so i am having a down time. at 4 months are you upbeat?

I get a few tingly sensations when i comb my hair, scratch my head or rub across my chin so i tend to do that a lot thinking those feelings are signs of nerve healing.

my journey started in the Fall 2010 when i began cracking teeth. Implants and on to the Ortho who said he could help but surgery was necessary as well. so here i am. I had my lower jaw extended 9 millimeters. the first 6 weeks i was very patient and simply counting the days. i honestly thought at 6 weeks the majority of the recovery would be over and my life would be back to near normal. not so.

at 4 months how far along would you say you are to being back to normal? what are you eating now? Can you eat chips, steak, peanuts???? Woudl you do it again? did you have a choice? are you still optimistic? what do you do to stay postive?

I am working constantly to stay postiive, patient and hopeful. May you recover fully. my thoughts are with you and all others who are going through this. stay in touch

at 4 months how far along would you say you are to being back to normal? what are you eating now? Can you eat chips, steak, peanuts???? Woudl you do it again? did you have a choice? are you still optimistic? what do you do to stay postive?

I am working constantly to stay postiive, patient and hopeful. May you recover fully. my thoughts are with you and all others who are going through this. stay in touch

Hi Bomb,

I think the nerves take a really long time to heal. I don't know if it's just wishful thinking, but I think that maybe the area of my tingly lip and chin is very slowly shrinking. Sometimes my lip evens feels as if it's been burned and a while ago the surgeon gave me a prescription for it. It was actually an antidepressant, if you can believe that. He explained the science behind it but I wasn't really listening. It helped but also made me sleepy, so I didn't use it much. Anyway, that was probably 2 months ago and I still have the burning sensation sometimes which I like because I think something must be happening.

I don't know what to tell you about your tongue. I haven't had anything like that. Have you googled it on jaw surgery blogs?

In answer to your questions, at 4+ months, I'd say I'm totally back to normal except for the tingly lip and tongue (right side only). I can eat anything. If I knew then what I know now, I don't know if I would have had the nerve to go thru all this (I've had braces for 3.5 years and still do), but I'm glad I did. Mostly because I'm so happy with the improvement in my appearance. My teeth always looked straight and even on the outside, but I may have faced the possibility of implants due to tooth loss if I hadn't done this, so I'm happy for that, too.

Hang in there. The nerve thing takes a long time.