Surgical consult soon; what questions should I be asking?

[Nozzelnut]

Surgical consult soon; what questions should I be asking?

I've got some basics covered; what type of jaw surgery (upper/lower/both,) length of time on the table, hospital stay, recovery, possible side effects; numbness, revisions, outcomes of similar patients...

Any questions you wished you asked when you were in the consulting phase?

[dnbull]

Insurance coverage.
Ask how many patients they have done with the type of surgery you are getting.
Average age.
Orthodontist and Surgeon should be on agreeance with the surgery.

Get second opinions!

Hope this helps!

[Nozzelnut]

Thanks added to the list.

[jaime]

Hopefully the surgeon will cover a lot of this with you. My consult was pretty long and my surgeon went through pretty much everything.

Another thing you should ask about is facial changes, especially for your nose and lips, what the surgeon's prediction of outcome will be. Maybe have him/her show you photos of patients who had exactly the surgery you're having. Again, my surgeon had a binder at the ready for the questions like this.

I had asked mine about possible breathing changes as well. Since my mandible will be advanced, apparently that opens up the airway quite a bit.

[Nozzelnut]

The preliminary consult went well enough. Sat down and we talked a couple minutes about the "what brought you here" sort of thing. (My orthodontist said he could get me close without surgery, but with it we could potentially fix everything.) I talked about my clenching/grinding that originally brought my to my ortho, obstructive sleep apnea that I've been dealing with for 2 years after diagnosis, poor breathing through my nose forever, hypothyroid issues and enlarged tongue that have been present for the last 10 years, the jaw cant I have from the clenching...

He took a look at my bite, a brief look at my nose and we chatted some more. He showed me a skull model with the plates and screws in it. He was recommending double jaw surgery with possible sliding genioplasty to really move my tongue forward. I was kind of expecting this; based on what I've read here and online. Explained how it would effect my breathing for the better and give my tongue more room. He said it was usually just an over night stay in the hospital for most patients. Talked about facial profile and possible changes, side effects, swelling and that sort of thing.

He said we'd have at least 2 more visits; one to take measurements and the second to confirm everything. He also said recovery would take 5 weeks for the bones to heal and maybe another couple to get back to work because of the physical nature of my job.

It was a pretty easy appointment. The Dr was easy to talk to and explained everything well enough. I am extremely happy about finding this website last year. Without it I would have been going in completely blind; without knowing anything. I am very comfortable with this surgeon and I probably won't seek a second opinion because of the great recommendations and speaking with folks outside the normal scope. We covered most of the stuff on my list without me looking at it, but I did pull it out at the end just to make sure.

So my next move is to contact my ortho to see when my teeth will be in the right position for the surgery and then make plans from there.