Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello everyone. I've been a long time lurker on this message board and I'd first like to thank everyone who has had oral surgery and taken the time to post their stories and offer advice to those of us who are not quite there yet. You guys and gals have been a big inspiration and source of comfort and you're much appreciated.

I started my braces and surgery journey back in 2004 and, if you like, you can read about by clicking the link in my signature.

I'm scheduled for surgery on Tuesday, 13 March and, until a couple of days ago, I was supposed to have both upper and lower surgery with the possibility of a genioplasty. My lower jaw is rotated to the left approximately 5 mm and my teeth meet "end-on-end" with a cross-bite on the left. My upper jaw also has a slight (approximately 2 mm) cant on the right side. The original plan was a Lefort I 3-piece to widen my upper jaw and correct the cant and a Bilateral Sagittal Split Osteotomy (BSSO) to de-rotate the lower jaw and move it back into a normal bite pattern.

I went to my pre-surgical appointment this past Tuesday (20 February) and everything was good-to-go. One of the surgeons took some x-rays of the upper jaw and I completed all of the pre-admission paperwork. At that time I was still a go for both the upper and lower jaw surgeries. I took the paperwork to the Hospital Admissions Unit and had an EKG and some blood work and that was it.

And this is where things get a little ... odd. The surgeon called me Wednesday evening and asked me to come in for additional measurements on Thursday (22 February). I get there and the Chief Resident Surgeon asks me why I'm having upper jaw surgery. I told him that the plan from the beginning had been to use the Lefort I 3-piece to widen my upper jaw and correct the cant. He then showed me the last set of molds I had taken (November 2006) and said that the upper archwires had done their job and that they could correct all of my bite problems ... except the cant ... with only the BSSO. He also said that I would definitely need the genioplasty due to the lower jaw being moved backwards.

Now, I have no burning desire to have upper jaw surgery ... or any surgery for that matter. But I have two concerns with *not* having the upper jaw surgery. 1) Can they guarantee that this 2 mm cant (less than 1/8 inch) won't cause bite problems in the future; and 2) After two plus years in braces and going through surgery, is it too much to ask for a PERFECT outcome?!? I'm not vain enough to think that 2 mm will make much of a difference - it just feels a bit like I'm settling (and I don't like to settle).

The two surgeons I was speaking with both assured me that the 2 mm cant would not cause problems down the road and that, in their personal and professional opinions, they recommended against the upper jaw surgery. In the end I decided that, if the original reason to have the upper jaw surgery was no longer an issue (widening of the upper jaw), I could live with the 2 mm cant. After all, I really liked the outcome I saw using the molds and, who knows, maybe the 2 mm cant will add a bit of character to my face.

The surgeons did say they would take my case back to the review board this next week to determine whether or not I'd need the upper jaw surgery. So, I'm continuing to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.

-Bill
viewtopic.php?t=17236

Actually I think this change may not be as crazy as you think. I would definitley talk to my doctor(s) about it, however, usually about a week or two before surgery your doctor will make bunch of copies of your impressions. They will then use your cephlometric Xray, computer images, and the models to do practice surgeries. Once they get in there playing around they often find that they can make things happen that they had not known they could until the practice. This recently happened with my friend Amy. She was supposed to have upper and lower, and 2 days before the big day they told her that they were going to be able to fix everything with a segmented Lefort 1, and that they would no longer need to do the BSSO.

Even my surgeon has said that things could change once he gets in there with the models and does his practice surgery. He said he would let me know for certain sure about 1 week before surgery. So...really it sounds like things are pretty much up in the air until then.

Brandy

Thanks Meryaten and Brandyleigh. I'm okay with just the lower jaw surgery and genioplasty ... just caught me by surprise when the surgeons told me less than 3 weeks before the surgery date.

By the way, thanks to you both for your journals. I've enjoyed reading them and I look forward to continuing with mine after my surgery is complete.

-Bill

Hi BillN

im having lower jaw surgery on Tuesday! going into hospital tomorrow,
i have been wearing braces for 2 years now, and i was told that i needed lower and upper jaw surgery. after visiting the hospital in december they told me that the braces had done such a good job that i no longer needed my upper jaw done. Like you i was part happy... (who likes surgery?) but at the same time, after 2 years of wearing braces as an adult, i havent come this far not to go the whole hog ( its all or nothing!)

anyway as i say im only 36 hours away from surgery, and im quite nervous now, (never stayed in hospital before) but im glad im not having both surgerys, ive read other peoples stories and it seems its gonna be bad enough recoving from one jaw healing let alone two!

i asked why they changed there minds at such a late stage and my doc told me that they always knew that i might not need upper jaw surgery, but you can never tell how well the braces will perform untill you are quite far down the line, and also, its better to tell you the worst case scenario at the beginning rather than telling you at the end you need even more surgery than you were anticipating.

im keeping my story updated in the Our Braces Stories section if you want to see my progress over the next few weeks.

i think you should be happy about what they have said, and also its true we all need to look a little bit different, with a bit of character, it would be boring if we all looked the same.
and im sure your end result will still be amazing

I had upper and lower jaw surgery four weeks ago. My entire braces/jaw surgery/recovery experience is documented at http://bracemyself.blogspot.com/. Maybe you'd find it helpful to check it out.

Good luck, and take care!

Kristen
http://bracemyself.blogspot.com/

Kristen,

Thanks much for the link to your Blog. After reading it (and many of the others you've linked to) I decided to try my hand at it because it seems like such a great way to keep in touch with family and friends as well as documenting the entire journey.

If anyone's interested you can check out my newly created Blog at http://semper-braces.blogspot.com/. Not a lot there at this point but I fully expect to be updating like crazy once the surgery is over.

-Bill
http://semper-braces.blogspot.com/

Yesterday I went to the Orthodontist to have the surgical hooks installed on my archwires. I had this idea that I'd get a couple of them on each side of the upper and lower jaws ... maybe eight in total.

Boy was I wrong!

I've got 18 of those things (nine on top and nine on the bottom) ... basically, one in the middle of each of the brackets. The good thing is that, at lease so far, they aren't bothering me in the slightest. Not even when I eat - a very nice surprise. In fact, my mouth doesn't feel any different at all with these things installed.

I did manage to get my shirt caught on the upper surgical hooks (don't ask me how). Had to go get a mirror to get it loose.

Yeah, I'm talented like that.

-Bill
http://semper-braces.blogspot.com/

That is funny!

Mine don't bother me either. I have four on top and two on bottom. Still have them on... though it's now five weeks post op. They're just hanging there, completely useless - but I won't get a chance to get them off until my next ortho appointment - the first since the surgery - in the first week of April.

Kristen
http://bracemyself.blogspot.com/

cool! its not just me then!
i got about 12 hooks put on my archwire a couple of weeks before my surgery, and i keep getting my scarf hooked to my mouth,....
i have managed to untangle myself without anyone noticing thus-far!

Surgery today! I hope everything's going well!!!

best of luck

Hey all,

The surgery is behind me and I've been concentrating, the first few days, on just recovering.

I have just posted a bit on my Blog about the time in the hospital (with a few photos) and will be posting more in the next couple of days about life after surgery.

-Bill
http://semper-braces.blogspot.com

Meryaten, thanks for the well wishes. I just posted a bit more on my Blog about my post surgery recovery (along with a few more pictures).

When I think about it, the only area during the recovery phase that hasn't gone as smoothly as I'd hoped it would is breathing. My dental issues caused me to be a mouth breather so all of the heavy banding and slight issues with breathing through my nose had me in a mild state of panic Wednesday night (first night home). I simply felt that I wasn't getting enough air through the nasal passageways regardless of how deeply I breathed. I had used the Afrin and Ocean Nasal sprays so the nasal passageways were clear ... for me, it just seemed that I labored entirely too hard to get a decent amount of air.

For sure it was largely psychological and that has pretty much passed now.

Now it seems that my mouth is going into over-drive when creating saliva. This is a problem at night when I have to keep swallowing (what seems like) all of the time. Not sure if you experienced this or not ... it's a very odd sensation to have your jaws heavily banded shut and then feel the sensation that you've got water going into your lungs.

Double post

Bill - congratulations on the successfull surgery and wish u quick recovery...btw, i'm also having surgery in the northern virginia area in about two weeks...hopefully mine will go as well as yours

question about the breathing since I think I have the same problem as you of being a mouth breather...were u able to breath at all through your mouth? and did you find any remedies for the breathing problems?