Metal Mouth Message Board

ask everything during your consult. it's three hours long. right a list. i asked probably 50 questions and i still realized i had other questions to ask.

CaliforniaKid wrote:ask everything during your consult. it's three hours long. right a list. i asked probably 50 questions and i still realized i had other questions to ask.

Yeah i plan to make a list.
Did you complete your surgery with them? If so, how did it turn out?

maxhammer wrote:

CaliforniaKid wrote:ask everything during your consult. it's three hours long. right a list. i asked probably 50 questions and i still realized i had other questions to ask.

Yeah i plan to make a list.
Did you complete your surgery with them? If so, how did it turn out?

i have not. surgery is scheduled for july. 3 years of waiting..

maxhammer wrote:has anyone had a bad experience with these guys? I see gunson for a consult on the 20th.

the one thing i notice in many after photos is how the nose changes. it's my biggest fear...more than the surgery. do they go over why this happens and the probability of it in your case during the consult? thanks.

Please update us with your consult, would love to hear the details, I hope all goes well !

Summertimeolive wrote:

maxhammer wrote:has anyone had a bad experience with these guys? I see gunson for a consult on the 20th.

the one thing i notice in many after photos is how the nose changes. it's my biggest fear...more than the surgery. do they go over why this happens and the probability of it in your case during the consult? thanks.

Please update us with your consult, would love to hear the details, I hope all goes well !

Will do.

My nose changed, even with the nasal alar cinch suture done. When Im static, it looks better than before. When I smile, its wider than before :/ that I don't like at all, I don't smile much on pictures, makes my middle face look wider, I really liked my narrow nose. Maybe Arnett / Gunson have another technique to prevent it, I don't know. This is something I came across the other day:
http://www.eplasty.com/index.php?option ... Itemid=121
but they don't show the results while SMILING

Another thing I don't like is that I don't have much of mandibular angle. The shape of my face is very sharp. Can they make it look more squared or round with my own bone? I don't want implants. Do you know if they do cheek advancement, just by reshaping your own bone?

@crs

they do cheek augmentations. I found this:

But what I want is to have a significant aesthetic outcome. I definitely want cheekbone enhancement and Gunson/Arnett use hydroxyapatite paste for cheekbones ALSO they use something called vitoss which helps bone osteoinduction(i.e. growth at the site of a graft or to grow new bone in places). In addition, they use PRP and stem cells to expedite healing and nerve regeneration. They also have state of the art imaging software. My only fear is, I don't think they take insurance so you have to pay like 60 000 for your surgery, not sure though which is why i'm asking here.

http://www.jawsurgeryblog.com/forums/to ... -or-arnett

They told me it was possible to do the cheek grafts without surgery. Since my main cosmetic issue is in that area, I'm considering it. Has anyone had only the cheeks done? Do you see any risk in it? They said it might make my lower jaw look more narrow.

Summertimeolive wrote:

maxhammer wrote:has anyone had a bad experience with these guys? I see gunson for a consult on the 20th.

the one thing i notice in many after photos is how the nose changes. it's my biggest fear...more than the surgery. do they go over why this happens and the probability of it in your case during the consult? thanks.

Please update us with your consult, would love to hear the details, I hope all goes well !

It was about 2.5hrs. The only complain is that only about 1hr of that was with the doctor, and I only had 30 minutes to ask questions after his presentation. The good thing is they are allowing me a 1hr follow up consult to ask all remaining questions at no charge.

It was very informative. I really can't complain. Very thorough, and I feel if I go with Gunson I'm in great hands. Though, at this point I'm not even sure I'll get the surgery--still contemplating my options.

maxhammer, thanks for the update. Did they suggest you only do the cheeks? Or they gave you both options, jaw surgery + cheeks? How would they do cheeks without surgery? Do you know the price if you only get the cheeks done? One of my complains is the area under my eyes, its a bit flat. Did you see Arnett too? I wish I had booked with Gunson

Californiakid, thanksk for that, I will look into these materials they mentioned. If they say my bite is Ok and can be fixed with braces only, I want them to remove all the screws and plates, so maybe during this procedure they can improve the area bellow my eyes with grafts.

sorry for asking, but what is wrong your eyes? do you have bags?

the reality is this...any kind of meddling with your jaw area affects all regions of your face. nose, eyes, necklines, chins, etc.

when i went to arnett, he really made it clear what to expect.

but for most people the consult is 1-2 years before an actual surgery. between that time you have braces, and during braces you have lots of movement. arnett/gunson might change their approach entirely. they take aesthetics VERY seriously. extremely. from what i understand they designed several surgical techniques to address surgeries where the bite is corrected at the expense of aesthetics.

from what i know, gunson and arnett dont do surgeries on people who aren't in braces. that is what i was told. not all surgeries are like that. it seems arnett and gunson have done away with the jaw wiring and instead opt for banding, which IMO is more comfortable.

i guarantee you, meet with 2 or 3 different plastic surgeons and they'll all give you different approaches. the first orthognathic surgeon i met with said i should get a jaw implant in addition to jaw surgery. didn't explain why. another surgeon said i needed a double jaw procedure, no implant. another said there was nothing wrong and directed me to a pain specialist.

not all doctors are created equal. good luck finding someone who had a bad experience with arnett/gunson. i spent so many years knowing something was wrong but no one gave me an honest answer.

so i suggest you take your time and seriously consider this plastic surgery option.

In my case, my bite is not 100%. I would say its 90%. So either they will say my previous surgery (done by another doctor, not them) was totally crap and tell me do to it all again to fix my bite 100%, or they will say its not bad and braces can fix the rest of it easily. Im seeing them in April. I had braces removed when my bite was not 100% yet very early after 4 months of the surgery done, which I think was the problem (that was almost 5 years ago), my ortho didn't take care of me until the end of treatment because he said he had done all he could. Apart from my bite, I was also left with some flat area bellow my eyes which I didn't have before. But thats because my upper jaw was advanced. So the area bellow my nose was advanced and also my chin was advanced. So then proportionally I feel the area bellow the eyes was left back literally Hope you understand, my bad english, Im italian .
Other issues I have, TMJ pain on my right side, mild, which I already had before surgery. My jaw line, where the bone was cut and in the areas where I have the pins + screws, Is crocked because some pins are coming out. If that could be softened by removing the hardware and doing some grafts where there is missing bone. I waited 5 years to get someone to look into it, I was really scared to have anyone touching my face again (my post surgery was hell, even though I was not wired, I just had elastics holding which I could remove to clean and eat). Im seeing Arnett / Gunson and if anyone is to touch my face again it will probably be them, even if just to remove my plates and screws to make my jaw line more smooth. Its good to know that they won't push another surgery unless they really feel its needed. I really hope I don't need another one.

Hi everyone,

I got spacers in preperation for braces, which will go on next week. There's no turning back now. I will be in braces for 9 months before surgery with Gunson. I will periodically update this thread.

Hi Ryan,

I hope your teeth move fast, I've been in braces for 4 months and my teeth are moving slowly, I was supposed to be ready by late summer but now its probably not the case between insurance and natural teeth movement. What Im learning about this process is to keep cool, and hope for the best !

crislopes wrote:maxhammer, thanks for the update. Did they suggest you only do the cheeks? Or they gave you both options, jaw surgery + cheeks? How would they do cheeks without surgery? Do you know the price if you only get the cheeks done? One of my complains is the area under my eyes, its a bit flat. Did you see Arnett too? I wish I had booked with Gunson.

I only saw Gunson.

The cheek graft is $500 per side, and I was told it can be done as part of the surgery or without surgery. They use a material called hydroxiappetite. I don't know exactly how it's done (i.e. where the incision takes place, etc). I planned to have a second visit and ask follow up questions.

If anyone has had just the cheek graft done I'd be really curious to hear about it.