The Team has been selected - I'm going to do it - yikes!

[MeyerLemon]

Hi there, gang!

I've only posted a few times, but I've decided to go through with getting this bite / airway fixed. I've got a Class II with open bite, and recently consulted with Dr. Arnett in Santa Barbara. Looks like we need about 11mm of movement, and we'll be doing the upper / lower jaws. Lucky for me, my joints are perfect, so we don't have that battle to fight.
I had braces in middle / high school, and that straightened my teeth but couldn’t really fix the bite. Also, apparently my airway is 1/5 the size of a normal airway. I’m thinking that alone will be a big improvement!
So the team will be Dr. Arnett, Dr. H. Dougherty (ortho), and Dr. Isaac Comfortes (dentist). It’s going to cost me a whole heap of money, but since it is my face and a pretty big surgery, I think it will be worth it. My teeth are a mess, due to a combination of my mom not taking care of my nutrition / teeth when I was a kid (so the enamel didn’t grow in great), and later me having major acid reflux due to ulcerative colitis diagnosed when I was 31 which finished off the enamel. Sad!
By the time I’m done with braces, surgery, and the veneers / ½ crowns my teeth need, I’ll be in about $124k (oh my…am I really doing this?). My insurance sounds like they will pick up about $20k of the jaw surgery, and all of the hospital start. My dental does not cover ortho, so no help there. It only covers $2k / year for dental, so not much help there. It’s going to be ugly, but hopefully it is worth it!

[surgerybound]

Sounds like we have similar situations. I have an openbite and 1/5 of a normal airway as well. I just decided to go ahead with Arnett as well and just got my braces on last week. I too speak a lot for work and am concerned about how much time I will need to take off. Would love to share notes if you are open to that! Please PM me if so

[MeyerLemon]

You bet - I'll send you a PM. Scary stuff.

[MeyerLemon]

Whoops - looks like I can't use the PM feature on the board yet. Too new, I guess? My twitter is @15handstough if you want to DM me there.