Newbie with Underbite (Class III)

[Spooky]

Hi all, I'm new to this message board, and it seems like I have the same problem as everyone else. I'm 30 years old and have a bad case of underbite, and yeah I will have to agree with Nahky, if you look at me in the front, it's not that noticeable. In fact, majority of the times, I smile with my teeth exposed. But when it gets to the profile, YUCK! My lower jaw protrudes outward by a lot!

My doctors tell me that I need a jaw surgery no matter what. In my situation, it's both for function and cosmetic. I just got braces a couple of weeks ago. I will need to have the braces on for 1 year to straighten my teeth and then I will be able to get jaw surgery and then braces for another 6-8 months. My orthro tells me I shouldn't have to wear braces more than 2 years so I'm hopeful. My teeth are not that bad...but the lower teeth are bent inwards because they were trying to grow to "meet" my upper teeth.

I live in California and have Kaiser Permanente medical plan. They cover for the jaw surgery 100%. Hospital stay + surgeon fees. Braces I am on my own, but no complaints. I'd rather fork out the orthro fees than the surgery fees!!

[chitato_80]

BTW, will they be operating on BOTH jaws or just the lower one?

In my case... it's not as clear-cut (pardon the pun )
i'm gonna report on the results of my appointment tomorrow

The final decision has been to operate on both jaws. In order to balance my face, the upper jaw needs to be brought forward and moved up a little; the bottom jaw rotated to center and pulled back. He also said they'll be fixing my asymmetry by removing some bone from one side and possibly grafting it to the other side.

I left a big description of what he said over on the Yahoo group, so I won't waste space here with all that.

I'll be interested to hear what the OD tells you.

~ Tiffany

Tiffany,

I went to the Yahoo Group to look for your message about your doctor's description, but I couldn't find it. There are too many messages. Could you provide a link to it ?

I think my situation is the same as yours. I have an underbite, and always thought that I only need my lower jaw moved back, but when I talked to the oral surgeon for the first time 2 weeks ago, he told me he would need to operate on both jaws. :'( Right now I'm still waiting on the quote on the cost, insurance coverage, etc.

How did your surgery go ?

-Vera

[chitato_80]

Nevermind - I finally found the message I was looking for

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/or ... sage/97223

[pvnguyen1]

gene, which orthodontist did you go to? Can I have his/her phone number?

[amd]

I am 8 weeks post op from surgery. I also had an underbite and you can see photos under my thread "July Surgery Update..." Photos are on page 2.

Surgery was the only way to fix my bite and save my teeth from falling out, sooner than later.