April 2011 surgery buddies!!!!!

[twinmom]

Question - I had a Lefort 1 and IVRO. I see some folks refer to 2-peice or 3 peice Lefort procedures. What makes the difference? I had 4 cuts in my upper jaw with 4 plates put in, does that make it a 4-piece Lefort I?

[rayray]

twinmom wrote:
> Question - I had a Lefort 1 and IVRO. I see some folks refer to 2-peice or 3 peice
> Lefort procedures. What makes the difference? I had 4 cuts in my upper jaw with
> 4 plates put in, does that make it a 4-piece Lefort I?

When people refer to 1/2/3/4 piece LeFort I, they should be referring to the actual pieces produced from the maxilla, to fix the bite angle, not the number of cuts. i.e. if you had a symmetrical maxilla that need to be receded, several cuts may have been made and it still be only one piece moved in whole. Multiple piece are results in more refining the bite angle need due to non-symmetry, associated mandible surgical positioning, surgeon techniques, etc.

[twinmom]

Great news! My 3-week appointment was moved up to today, and I can now take elastics off to eat and brush my teeth! Wooo-hoooo!!! Headed out for some mashed potatoes right now!

[ramirezmu8]

surgery in less than 24 hours! 3 piece lefort and moving lower jack back to correct my underbite. Im excited, nervous, anxious, and scared!

[rayray]

ramirezmu8 wrote:
> surgery in less than 24 hours! 3 piece lefort and moving lower jack back to correct
> my underbite. Im excited, nervous, anxious, and scared!

Awesome and good luck! Make sure to pamper yourself with your favorite foods tonight!

[happy teeth]

surgery in less than 24 hours! 3 piece lefort and moving lower jack back to correct my underbite. Im excited, nervous, anxious, and scared!

good luck my man. I'm sure you'll do great. Let us know how it went as soon as you feel up to it. I'm going in on Thursday so I'm right there with you.

[ramirezmu8]

surgery in less than 24 hours! 3 piece lefort and moving lower jack back to correct my underbite. Im excited, nervous, anxious, and scared!

good luck my man. I'm sure you'll do great. Let us know how it went as soon as you feel up to it. I'm going in on Thursday so I'm right there with you.

thanks bro. we're going to be on the same boat! hope everything goes well with you.

ill keep you guys updated

[rayray]

[quote="happy teeth"][quote="ramirezmu8"]surgery in less than 24 hours! 3 piece lefort and moving lower jack back to correct my underbite. Im excited, nervous, anxious, and scared! [/quote]


good luck my man. I'm sure you'll do great. Let us know how it went as soon as you feel up to it. I'm going in on Thursday so I'm right there with you.[/quote]

GOOD LUCK! Gorge now!

[LAJaw]

Good luck guys, we're all here for you.

[ramirezmu8]

BAD NEWS!! my surgery has been postponed till May 5th
arrived at the hospital, checked in, changed into the robe, got the IV put in me and then the surgeon walks in and his first words are "we got a problem". he then explained to me how there was a misunderstanding between the orthodontist and him. the orthodontist had planned for a 3 piece lefort while the surgeon planned for a 1 piece lefort. he basically said he wouldnt feel comfortable going on with the surgery and re-planning it would be the best thing to do to obtain the best possible results. just my luck guys

[rayray]

Sorry to hear the bad news. It's really messed up that you got all ready in pre-surg to get a bomber like that. Well, best of luck to you in May and that the conflicting procedure is resolves.

[happy teeth]

BAD NEWS!! my surgery has been postponed till May 5th
arrived at the hospital, checked in, changed into the robe, got the IV put in me and then the surgeon walks in and his first words are "we got a problem". he then explained to me how there was a misunderstanding between the orthodontist and him. the orthodontist had planned for a 3 piece lefort while the surgeon planned for a 1 piece lefort. he basically said he wouldnt feel comfortable going on with the surgery and re-planning it would be the best thing to do to obtain the best possible results. just my luck guys

That sucks man!!

[LAJaw]

Today was day 7 post-op for me and things have finally turned the corner, like that I'm going to make it out of this thing. I've been having trouble sleeping this past week, probably only getting 1-2 hours a night. I've always been more of a mouth breather and now I had to breath with my teeth banded together and my sinuses constantly partially congested. It made breathing so uncomfortable I would just lie there all night concentrating on breathing and not getting a second of sleep. If I finally got myself relaxed to the point where I could breathe normally and try to fall alseep, after a few minutes my nose would partially clog up and I'd wake up suddenly snoring and choking.

But knock on wood I think it's finally over now. I was debanded this morning and can return to my mouthbreathing ways. I was hoping the surgery would improve upon my sinuses to the point where I wouldn't have to mouthbreathe at night anymore, but I can't really tell at this point since my sinuses are still congested half the time. But got back from the doctor's and managed a full 2-hour nap right away - which is *way* more than anything I've gotten so far this week. If I manage to sleep normally again tonight I'll have to do a little jig because I'll be the happiest person alive.

Best of luck to everyone else, this board has been a lifesaver this week.

[twinmom]

LAJaw - glad you are feeling better! I am totally jealous that you got de-banded after week 1, but I guess my IVRO procedure (lower jaw was completely separated and then put in the proper position, so I understand) dictates that I stay in bands for a while!

On the plus side for me, I just talked to my surgeon b/c a piece of glue or something broke off my splint (wanted to be sure that wasn't a problem) and he mentioned that if everything looks good, my splint may come off on Monday! Yay!

I still have problems with breathing & sleeping, too. Most nights I can get a good nights sleep, but I do sometimes still jolt awake because both nostrils decided to stop up. I never thought I'd appreciate times of breathing out of two nostrils so much. While I'm banded, there is no room to breath out of my mouth without forcibly holding my lips open, so I have spent many hours awake in with a wierd expression on my face trying to breath out of my mouth.

Try to get more sleep now, my surgeon said it is one of the #1 things you can do to aid recovery!

[happy teeth]

Hey guys!

I just got back from the hospital. So far, so good. I've had virtually no pain and the swelling isn't too bad. I know that my swelling is going to get worse before it gets better but I really don't have much to complain about. I didn't sleep well last night but I was expecting that. So far this procedure hasn't been any worse than the SARPE surgery I had a couple of years back. Hopefully it stays that way!