The only ting that scares me is the risk of numbness?

[oimysizex]

Hello, So I am meant to be having lower jaw surgery and chin surgery (for a class 3 cross bite) . I am aware that my risk of numbness is heightened because of the added chin surgery but how much of a risk is it actually? Is it more than likely it will be permanent??

[bmueller]

I can't speak for the lower jaw, but I had upper jaw surgery and within 4 months all of my numbness went away. It is possible you will have some residual numbness especially if you're having the lower jaw done. I asked my surgeon about the risk of numbness and he made it seem like it's the minority of people. In general its nothing debilitating or something that will impact your ability to eat or speak.

I'll warn you that most of the people on blogs/forums have had abnormally bad experiences and tend to freak the rest of us out about all sorts of crazy side effects and horror recovery stories.

I put together a blog myself (I had a pretty normal experience) to help others realize that it's not always super scary and permanent side effects.

[windycitycassie]

The highest risk of lasting numbness is going to be if you have a genioplasty due to where they have to cut the bone. I had one seven years ago and all of the soft tissue feels fine but my lower teeth feel strange still, so there is a bit of numbness there.

[oimysizex]

Thank you for your replies.
I am having lower jaw surgey with genioplasty. I just hope its not the sorta numb you get when the dentist numbs you!

[LyraM45]

My ortho has gone back and forth over the issue of whether I need just my upper or both my upper and lower jaws done. The thought of the lower jaw scares me because of the increased risk of numbness. And then they mentioned genio in this last appointment (for the first time-- nobody has ever mentioned that to me before), and now that has me REALLY frightened. Honestly, from all the research and blog reading I've done, I get the feeling that if you do have numbness, it's not debilitating and the kind of tinglyness that you eventually get used to. I think the people who have very serious problems (tinglyness that causes pain, or maybe even the kind of numbness that impacts other areas like the tongue) are very much in the minority.

You have to decide if you want to roll the dice or not. I thought long and hard about it the last 4-6 months, and I've decided to roll the dice. Take your time making your decision. It is a big one!

[windycitycassie]

Yeah the numbness from my genioplasty isn't like the dentist numbness. It did start out almost that bad, but the soft tissue numbness (lips) went away very very very quickly, if they were numb at all. I don't even remember if my bottom lip was ever numb. Mainly it is just that my teeth feel a bit strange? There is sensation on them but they just feel somehow different from my upper teeth - you do get used to it though.