platinum - I think you might have just been thinking aloud and decided to post it anyway whether it came to a conclusion or not. I don't know if this is being blown all out of proportion or not but point blank - if you're happy with your face then you should be proud.
If you had had the jaw advancement, then who knows how your face might've changed. You might have liked it considering surgeons only work to improve what's there so I doubt jaw advancements are considered a drawback compared to teeth extraction or even comparable. I don't think you were told about facial changes because he was only going over the different options to fix your bite and had you actually chosen that route, THEN he would have explained in more detail.
Different orthos have varying opinions. Your first ortho might have thought that needed work while the second ortho thought you didn't. EIther way, you seem content with your decision.
I think if you had the surgery your face would look a bit more narrow and the size of your jaw would be similar to the size of your forehead.
I doubt you would have looked like a crescent moon.
Mega chin
Moderator: bbsadmin
Before we jump on Platinum for starting a 'pointless thread' let's take a minute to remember how many of us vacillated while making our surgery decisions. This could be part of Platinums decision making process.
Platinum, perhaps you should speak to your OS again and get some clear answers. If jaw surgery is indicated in your case you should not discount it out of hand because you *think* it will make you look bad. Case in point, a mom in my dd's school had lower surgery a year ago. Her chin was already in balance with her face and the surgeon was able to advance her lower, remove her overbite and her chin looks just the same. She did not have genio as far as I know. I do not claim to know how the OS did this.
I think what surprised everyone reading this is that you did not realize that there may be some kind of facial change as a result of jaw surgery. I know that my fisrt question to my OS was 'what the heck is this going to do to my apperance?'. I wish you the best of luck and would love to see a profile picture if you are willing to post one.
Platinum, perhaps you should speak to your OS again and get some clear answers. If jaw surgery is indicated in your case you should not discount it out of hand because you *think* it will make you look bad. Case in point, a mom in my dd's school had lower surgery a year ago. Her chin was already in balance with her face and the surgeon was able to advance her lower, remove her overbite and her chin looks just the same. She did not have genio as far as I know. I do not claim to know how the OS did this.
I think what surprised everyone reading this is that you did not realize that there may be some kind of facial change as a result of jaw surgery. I know that my fisrt question to my OS was 'what the heck is this going to do to my apperance?'. I wish you the best of luck and would love to see a profile picture if you are willing to post one.
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thenumber12
- Posts: 111
- Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:17 am
- Location: Los Angeles
Were you told that they would be lengthening your jaw or "widening" it? There is a huge difference between the two. Lengthening the jaw would not necessarily make it look bigger as they are not moving the ENTIRE thing forward, only cutting it and sliding the front half forward. If you feel that having such an operation would make you look "masculine" then, by all means, don't have it. This is hardly the most common outcome (a widening of the face) among women, and providing a link to a site that explains the difference between masculine and feminine features has nothing to do with orthognathic surgery as a good surgeon would know who, and what sex, they are dealing with and would not do anything to make their patient’s appearance "bad." You have nothing to lose by asking questions, ask for a projected model of your face post-op and make a more informed decision.
Nope, no even close in my present mood.You're a sweetheart, Delag Rose
I find this akin to saying 'I drank 3 huge glasses of water. I am suprised no one told me I would have to pee'. It is really a bit obvious that if you move any part of your face it will change the way you look.Well I put it again. I am suprised why I was not mentioned about possible face changes
Then what the heck are we talking about here. You don't like what you have, but you are sure that surgery will make you look like a man. I do not understand what you want from us. Do you want us to tell you - oh yes, you are right....we never realized that we are all going to look like our fathers? How about, 'you have a horrible OS, he should have told you everything in your first consult'. In the course of 2 years of research I have yet to see the result you claim will be your fate. Either go back an do your own research (see your OS again) or live happy with your decision to not have surgery. There is no wrong choice here.I think I have a weak jaw, because my lower teeth are 6mm far too back.
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iheartmypanda
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Wed May 23, 2007 4:22 pm
Ok listen.
Jaw surgery is complex!
I say this as nicely as possible: you have no clue what you would have looked like! Only a professional can really speculate!
I can tell you from firsthand expirience that unless an OS draws some prediction pictuers and such that you can't know what the results of jaw surgery would look like on you.
It's soo much more than moving your bottom jaw foward.
I had the works done and I by no means look more mascular. You obviously don't understand that part of an OS' goal is to improve your appearance.. not make it worse!
Jaw surgery would by no means have given you a mega chin. Medicine has advanced a lot over the years.
I get the vibe that you're really regretting your descision to not get jaw surgery.....
It's never too late you know...
If it was recommended then please do think about it.
I say that because Jaw problems only get worse with time not better!
If you honestly and truly do not regret your descision then what are you doing here?
Jaw surgery is not some evil medical conspiracy that you need to come on here and save people from. It's a very serious surgery.
I get that your surgeon didn't mention possible aesthetic changes. That was bad of him. Maybe he assumed you knew or maybe he would have mentioned it at a later appointment.
Either way I agree it was horrible of him not to say. If you do change your mind, find a different one.
Don't worry, most oral surgeons inform prospective patients of all of the possible side effects, risks, etc. right from the get go.
I'm not sure what is going on here but this is a wonderful community.
If you are considering this then we're all here for you and would love to help.
If you firmly decided no then it's probably best for you to not dwell on it so much.
I ask though, please do not come on here making uninformed claims about a surgery you have decided you don't want because someone could read it and think it's fact!
Hope you manage to figure things out.
Mariana
Jaw surgery is complex!
I say this as nicely as possible: you have no clue what you would have looked like! Only a professional can really speculate!
I can tell you from firsthand expirience that unless an OS draws some prediction pictuers and such that you can't know what the results of jaw surgery would look like on you.
It's soo much more than moving your bottom jaw foward.
I had the works done and I by no means look more mascular. You obviously don't understand that part of an OS' goal is to improve your appearance.. not make it worse!
Jaw surgery would by no means have given you a mega chin. Medicine has advanced a lot over the years.
I get the vibe that you're really regretting your descision to not get jaw surgery.....
It's never too late you know...
If it was recommended then please do think about it.
I say that because Jaw problems only get worse with time not better!
If you honestly and truly do not regret your descision then what are you doing here?
Jaw surgery is not some evil medical conspiracy that you need to come on here and save people from. It's a very serious surgery.
I get that your surgeon didn't mention possible aesthetic changes. That was bad of him. Maybe he assumed you knew or maybe he would have mentioned it at a later appointment.
Either way I agree it was horrible of him not to say. If you do change your mind, find a different one.
Don't worry, most oral surgeons inform prospective patients of all of the possible side effects, risks, etc. right from the get go.
I'm not sure what is going on here but this is a wonderful community.
If you are considering this then we're all here for you and would love to help.
If you firmly decided no then it's probably best for you to not dwell on it so much.
I ask though, please do not come on here making uninformed claims about a surgery you have decided you don't want because someone could read it and think it's fact!
Hope you manage to figure things out.
Mariana
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thenumber12
- Posts: 111
- Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:17 am
- Location: Los Angeles
How about........ we all just give up.
Piece of dog wood barking? huh!?
I think when someones facial bone is getting cut or broken and relocated, obviously there are bound to be changes. The very fact that you knew and were wondering about facial changes tells me you knew atleast that much. A lot of people know that much so I guess your ortho thought of it as common sense whereas it's a bit different with extractions considering opinions vary on that topic alone between different othodontists.
I think that's the main question you're trying to ask simply because OBVIOUSLY the changes due to surgery is MUCH MORE drastic than just having a couple of teeth pulled and teeth slanting inwards so you're a bit confused as to why something that sounds minimal was explained but not jaw SURGERY. No one here knows why your ortho didn't give you detailed info on jaw surgery. Go ask your previous ortho why he told you about the horror stories on extractions but not on the possible changes with jaw surgery.
So ask and while you're there, ask about the masculinity topic which I think varies depending on the natural facial structure.
There you have it.
I give up.
Piece of dog wood barking? huh!?
I think when someones facial bone is getting cut or broken and relocated, obviously there are bound to be changes. The very fact that you knew and were wondering about facial changes tells me you knew atleast that much. A lot of people know that much so I guess your ortho thought of it as common sense whereas it's a bit different with extractions considering opinions vary on that topic alone between different othodontists.
I think that's the main question you're trying to ask simply because OBVIOUSLY the changes due to surgery is MUCH MORE drastic than just having a couple of teeth pulled and teeth slanting inwards so you're a bit confused as to why something that sounds minimal was explained but not jaw SURGERY. No one here knows why your ortho didn't give you detailed info on jaw surgery. Go ask your previous ortho why he told you about the horror stories on extractions but not on the possible changes with jaw surgery.
So ask and while you're there, ask about the masculinity topic which I think varies depending on the natural facial structure.
There you have it.
I give up.
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crazybeautiful
- Posts: 745
- Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 2:20 am
- Location: Yorkshire, England
I'm far too new here to be insulting anyone (apparantly once you get into 500 posts it's ok, however), and far too uneducated on the subject to really have a beneficial imput- but if you need surgery then surely the aim is to give you a 'normal' jaw placement, like everyone else. So does every 'normal' (that is, who needs no surgery) woman look like a man, then? Your chin is not going to change dramatically and turn into underbite-type proportions; and praise the Lord that you don't haveone of those, love. Explaining to everyone that I'm really a woman is so tiresome 
And I don't understand how you don't want the surgery. Or maybe class II is the new class I. Silver is still the new gold though, right?
And I don't understand how you don't want the surgery. Or maybe class II is the new class I. Silver is still the new gold though, right?
CLASS III!
From the Class III Camp (which is not the new ANYTHING!)...
Quite honestly, I care very little how big or how little my chin appears after my surgery next week, as long as I still have one (and my OS assures me that I will). I don't think that he would have given me a genio, even if I insisted. A variety of faces appear among the human race, all of them beautiful and varied. I have accepted that mine is going to look different than it currently does, but I think my friends will still recognize me. As long as my teeth come together in a healthy bite, I will be satisfied.
Strong chins, weak chins, who cares? Let's all care about our health, shall we! Get those teeth in right relationship, and the rest is icing on the cake. Don't get me wrong, I am hoping that my appearance improves, but I'm much more interested in my BITE improving!
Quite honestly, I care very little how big or how little my chin appears after my surgery next week, as long as I still have one (and my OS assures me that I will). I don't think that he would have given me a genio, even if I insisted. A variety of faces appear among the human race, all of them beautiful and varied. I have accepted that mine is going to look different than it currently does, but I think my friends will still recognize me. As long as my teeth come together in a healthy bite, I will be satisfied.
Strong chins, weak chins, who cares? Let's all care about our health, shall we! Get those teeth in right relationship, and the rest is icing on the cake. Don't get me wrong, I am hoping that my appearance improves, but I'm much more interested in my BITE improving!
Just a couple things to add. 1) Of course any kind of orthognathic surgery will change the appearance of your face. No one on this board has claimed otherwise or shied away from that fact. Your oral surgeon absolutely should have mentioned this, but either he or she assumed you knew this or he or she wasn't very thorough in the consult. You may want to have another consultation and bring up these concerns with said surgeon or find another surgeon who will be more thorough the first time 'round. 2) I have never corresponded with anyone on the Internet who wasn't pleased with the changes their face endured as a consequence of orthognathic surgery. The reason many choose the long, hard road of orthognathic surgery is that their problems are systemic and are caused by dentofacial malformations. The correction of these malformations create results that are far more important to the appearance of the face overall, than simply fixing a "weak chin," protruding mandible or recessed maxilla. Also, stopping further tooth degradation, exacerbation of TMJ disorders, etc., is usually of more concern to orthognathic patients than slight changes in their appearance. Otherwise, we'd all get silicone chin implants, porcelain veneers to close our open-bites or simple reduction genioplasties...all for about $3,000 to $5,000. That's a lot less than the $30,000 for jaw surgery and the insurance nightmare that comes with it. If your overjet of 6mm doesn't cause occlusion problems such as uneven wear on teeth or pain/soreness in your jaw and you're happy with the way you look, I see no reason to have orthognathic surgery (unless you just want to be able to bite through spaghetti easier, but is that worth it?). 3) Facial symmetry is the ultimate deciding factor as to what we as humans find attractive. It's written in our genes, in our biology. I think there's been several programs about this on the Discovery Channel. Surgeons know this as well, that's why they'll strive to create the most symmetrical features for their patients. That said, you may think a stronger, more angular jaw will make you look more "masculine," but maybe that more angular jaw would balance out something else and create a more symmetrical face that a vast majority of people find attractive. You'll never really know if you'll like what the changes are until you receive some prediction simulation photographs from either your orthodontist or surgeon. If you're ever seriously considering surgery, you should definitely have these prior to making your final decision. I got mine from my orthodontist. And there are plenty of beautiful women with strong, angular features that aren't in the least bit masculine...Angelina Jolie, Rhona Mitra, Jamie Lee Curtis (okay, maybe Jamie Lee Curtis was a bad choice).
