Impatient newbie – 6-month wait for lower jaw surgery

[Lillers]

Hi everyone, this is my first post, but I’ve been checking out this excellent site since March of 2005, when I got braced in order to correct an extreme (over 100%) overbite. At that time, my ortho guesstimated my treatment would last approximately 14 months, which means that the braces should come off right about now. Suffice it to say, that’s not going to happen.

Not only are the braces not coming off any time soon, but now it turns out I also need lower jaw extension surgery to achieve a proper bite. BTW, because I’ve never had buck teeth or a visibly recessed chin, none of my treatment is about vanity (not that I’m impervious to that – I’m about as vain as the next 43-yr old woman!); it’s more a matter of keeping my somewhat worn-down teeth – pretty good motivation, I find. Well, I had my consult with the OS a couple of days ago and liked him straight away. He has tons of experience and a really nice vibe about him. Yesterday I went to see him again so he could extract a wisdom tooth in prep for the jaw surgery. That went fine – a few T3s, lots of sleep and today I feel great, although I look a bit like a lopsided chipmunk.

Being by nature a somewhat impatient person, I find that now my major frustration is about having to wait 6 months for the jaw surgery. The OS says the wisdom tooth extraction has to heal first, and 6 months is simply how long it takes. Has anyone else had to wait this long? I’ve read some of your posts and noticed that a few people even had wisdom teeth removed during the jaw surgery itself.

Ah well, admittedly I’m wallowing in a bit of self-pity and kind of feeling like by the time I have a nice smile again, it’ll be time for a facelift to go along with it! Joking… I’m not that vain – yet.

Happy weekend, all.

[Lillers]

Thanks for the welcome, Meryaten, and you're absolutely right. I like and trust this OS, so I'll wait it out. (Not that I think he'd be willing to perform the surgery earlier anyway.) As well, I guess when all is said and done, I'd rather spend a couple of weeks couch-potatoing in mid January than in mid summer.

[braces4me]

I was told by my ortho that I would need to get my wisdom teeth removed at least 6 months before my surgery date. He said it takes this long for the bone to heal up. I chose to have them removed before I got braced so I would not have to worry.

[nvcarissa]

Lillers, welcome to the land of orthognathic surgery.

I am the one who had my upper wisdom teeth removed during surgery. Frankly, they didn't need to be removed to do the surgery, but after moving my jaw forward they would no longer had lower molars to rest on and would have needed, at some point in time, to be removed. So the recommendation from both my ortho and OS was to kill two birds with one stone and take them out at surgery. Mine were not impacted or anything, just superfluous once the advancement was completed.

In your case are you talking about wisdom teeth that are both upper and lower? That may have something to do with it.

I am sorry you have to wait, but I am sure your OS knows what he is doing and wants conditions to be optimal for your surgery.

[Lillers]

Thanks for the continued feedback and welcomes!

Braces4me, wise decision re: having the wisdoms out before bracing. Had I known then what I know now, I'd have done the same thing.

NVcarissa, I only had one (bottom left) wisdom tooth removed yesterday, and it was impacted. The bottom right had been removed years ago by a regular dentist – only local freezing and surprisingly not too bad. The OS felt it was unnecessary to remove my remaining upper two WTs.

And yes, I trust he does know what he's doing, and I'm coming around in terms of having to wait. As I say, being out of commission for a week or two in mid-winter is far preferable to losing two weeks of precious summer – I must get out and have a swim this weekend, bunny cheek or not!

[chrisk]

Hi Lillers

Welcome to the orthognathic surgery club, for those of us unlucky enough to have to have jaw surgery to correct our functional problems.

I've had a long, long wait for surgery - I got my braces on in June 2004 and here it is July 2006 and I'm still waiting for surgery (but only 4 weeks to go now). I was initially told that I would have had braces on for 9 months pre-surgery and 9 months post so I am LONG overdue for my braces to have been removed. My wait was due to a molar that was partially erupted that took a long time for my ortho to pull up into place - as firstly my last molar had to be moved back to make space.

Like you, my surgery is in order to keep my own teeth - as I was wearing them down prematurely because my bite was so bad - with a 15mm overjet, recession, and periodontal problems as well. Cosmetically I'm very happy with the 5mm improvement in my overjet (which was as far as my ortho could pull back my top teeth as the support for my top lips would be compromised if he pulled them back any further than 9-10mm), but I went into this for a functional improvement in my bite.

But looking back, the time has gone quite fast, and my surgery is approaching way too quickly.

The 6 months will go very quickly, and before you know it you will have that surgery date. Also the pre-surgery procedures - here in Australia anyway - is quite extensive. I was told in April that I would be okay for surgery in June - but the earliest surgery date I could get was mid-August.

In that time I've had 1 visit to the surgeon, (with 2 more to go), a visit to the periodontist, a visit to the anaesthetist, 1 visit to the dentist with 2 more to go (for a root canal to clear up an infection before my surgery), blood tests and an autologous blood donation (donating my own blood in case they need it during my surgery), plus organizing my husband and 3 children and doing prep for my pre-primary class for the time that I will be away.

So hang in there. It will come round before you know it and you'll be on your countdown too.

Chrisk

[nvcarissa]

Same here, I did not meet my anesthesiologist until the day of surgery. I was offered the opportunity to donate my own blood when I got my surgery date but declined as I would have had to pay for it up front and if it wasn't needed, I would have been out the money AND the blood, but if I did need blood during surgery, my insurance would have taken care of it. I had two visits with my OS pre-op, though I really think it could have been done in one visit. That's just his style.

[anabel]

I'll add to that derailment, Meryaten. I've been meaning to ask everyone about their particular OS's routines are as far as meeting beforehand. I've noticed that mine definitely does things differently. I first saw my OS over a year ago, then after I got my braces in July of '05 I saw him about every 3 months and he was always so awesome about keeping me updated as far as how things were progressing and what had to happen before I could be put on the surgery schedule. Every once in a while I'd get new sets of pics and x-rays and impressions and all. Then when I finally got my date for surgery he saw me much more frequently, including like an hour long appt where he (himself) went over possible complications and everything, did a physical, that kind of stuff. Then a couple of weeks ago I went to this sort of pre-op class/group talk where you get to meet individually with a speech therapist and a psychiatrist (I suppose so they know you're OK with what you're in for--a whole new face). Then a group session where 4 people who had had jaw surgery recently spoke about what it's like and stuff. It's been great, really, all the prep work they've done. I feel totally comfortable with my surgeon. Still knocking on wood though.

[WhiteLurcher]

Hi Lillers

I've just been told my surgery won't be for another six months too!
It's also because of my Wisdom teeth, only I'm getting to keep them. I have an appointment on August 8th to get brackets put on all four which sounds like six months of pure fun

I'm just hoping to get my chin and bite back. I lost my chin three years ago last Monday after surgery on my right jaw joint to stop it growing!!! (Condylar Hyperplasia apparently). Which was the reason at the ripe old age of 28 (now 33)I realised my front teeth no longer touched (the pain and locking was also a good indication)! Well, they definately don't touch now I have an open/overbite.

Looks like we could be going for the chop at around the same
time!

All the best!

[nvcarissa]

Looks like we could be going for the chop at around the same
time!

It's really funny how these things seem to go in cycles...we'll go months without anyone going under the knife and then there will be a flurry of them, a lull, and then another group. Keeps it interesting!!

[Lillers]

You guys are great!

I have let go of all fear and self-pity relating to braces and inevitable surgery, thanks in no small part to the inspiring updates I've read here. My surgery won't be till early January of 2007, so I feel like I might be twiddling my thumbs a bit here, but I'll continue checking in to see how other folks are getting on.

I guess for more partcipatory board fixes, I can go introduce myself on the regular Metal Mouth board to talk about exciting old archwire changes and the like. Speaking of which, I'm due to have my bottom one changed in a couple of days (to the toughest-assed, most industrial strength wire out there), which I hope will still be doable given that I had a wisdom tooth extraction a couple of days ago. It's healing fine though, so adjustment should be no problem.

Hey WhiteLurcher, I'm looking forward to checking in with you as our knife dates get closer and closer! BTW, good luck on your upcoming wisdom tooth bracketing. Let us know how it goes.