Jaw Surgery - Pregnant

[cognitiveghost]

Hi all,

I've had my braces for 18 months now in preparation for orthognatic surgery to bring my lower jaw forward. It's been a bit of a trial, being in my 30s and feeling very ugly! I got the strongest wires put on recently so was hoping I was approaching surgery dates (am in the UK and it's on the NHS).

However, life always throws the unexpected, and I found out last month I'm pregnant. Our plan was to wait till after the surgery, but we're really happy now. Not sure, however, how this will affect things. I'm sure surgery is out of the question while I'm pregnant, but could I keep my braces on and keep teeth steady until about 3 months after the birth and have the surgery then? I just don't want the whole thing to have to be cancelled, feel like I've come so far.

Have an appointment with the orthodontist this afternoon but not sure whether to say anything - it feels like such early days pregnancy wise, I haven't even told my family yet...

Has anyone gone through similar?

[Anna5]

Congratulations on your pregancy!!!! I am very happy for you!
I think it must be possible to keep the braces and delay the surgery. Definitely talk to your ortho about it. If I were you, I would already tell your ortho this afternoon because it may reassure you to know what solutions there are.
Enjoy your pregnancy!

Greetings from Anna

[cognitiveghost]

Ah thanks!

Just got back, and I told the orthodontist. He said that things are moving slowly anyway, so the operation wouldn't have been till November anyway so it'll just be a delay of a few months. He said the only thing to consider was that jaw surgery is pretty major, and would I be able to cope with that and a baby. Something to think about. Anyway, I'll be giving birth with a brace on. Hilarious!

[Anna5]

Good that you told your ortho! The combination of a baby and jaw surgery is indeed something to think about....Especially if you are planning to breastfeed your baby, that might be hard to combine with jaw surgery after which you can't eat properly for about 6 weeks .... But also just caring for a baby is quite a hard job ( I know because I had one!), and it may be a bit too hard to have jaw surgery when your baby is very young. But why not just wait and see how things are going. Can't you delay the surgery till the moment you feel you are up to it, and that moment might be there when your baby is 3, 6 months or maybe even 1 year old, who cares? Once the baby is there, you are far too busy to bother about those extra months in braces For now, I really hope you won't bother too much about the braces and jaw surgery, but enjoy your pregnancy and the wonder of new life growing in you!

Greetings from Anna

[Stargirlxx]

This is why I had to call off jaw surgery... Twice! You will have to stop breastfeeding for at least a few weeks so for that reason my surgeon did not want me to have the surgery until the baby was at least a year old. Now my youngest is 17 months old so I am considering surgery again.

[newyorkjackie]

I will be curious to see how this all shakes out, as I may find myself in a similar situation with the timing of surgery. Is there any drawback to having the braces on longer than you need due to postponing the surgery?

[freakyteeth]

THis has happened to me twice (two surprise pregnancies) and I've had the braces for 5 years during four surgeries. (I need two more). The only thing is long time in braces + pregnancy = rampant decay for me. They need to watch this carefully. They didn't for me and I ended up with fillings and root canals. UGH.