Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi, first of all my name is steve and i'd like to say thanks to everyone who has posted on this board many weeks post op. ive been reading away without posting for a few weeks now, its been a great help.

so i thought i had better try contribute to some extent. Im a 3rd year dental student so hopefully in quite a unique possition to help a few people.

I am 2 weeks post op. i had my mandible advanced 13mm (apparently as far as possible in one op) and my maxiller moved forward 8mm and up 7mm so all pretty major. i been wired completely closed with the splint in place for 2 weeks untill this morning and am now on the elastic guide bands

Welcome Hope things are all fine and dandy!

I'm from Staffordshire, and have been in tight bands for 5 weeks. One more to go! I've had upper moved forward, lower backwards as well as genio. And corrections for assymetry. But all is well.

I find it strange how some people in certain areas can go 6 weeks in tights, whilst some only go 1-2 weeks... I guess it's just what each surgeon practices.

yeah apparently in america they hardly tight band at all. to be honest i didnt mind it. when you have gone through a lot to get this far its worth putting up with that extra bit of discomfort to get a good, stable result.

its strange when they com eoff though, my jaw feels strong enough to chew soft food but my main problem is opening my mouth wide enough to get any in there!

I agree. For the past 2 weeks at my weekly checkup at hospital they have taken them off so I can 'try' and get inside with a toothbrush. Feel so odd, but at the same time awesome to have a proper bite, something if you have never had feels oh so strange when you first feel it. There's so much support from the band that the muslces are deemed inactive for such a long period that opening the mouth wide is impossible.

But I look forward to nect week where they come off, and mouth excersises and soft food come into play!

My opperation was 7 hours long apparently, it was supposed to be around 4 hours but apparently there were problems with the sagital split of the lower jaw (my wisdom teeth were left in as i have a big mouth, but i think they got in the way)

Before:



2 Weeks After:



im really happy with the result. i had very minimal swelling, i didnt use any ice packs orr steroids i guess it was just luck of the draw! so i have a good idea what my 'new' face will look like.

ive just had my long hair cut off so it's going to be a complete image change when i go back to the dental school on monday. i already feel more confident about my profile and have recieved only good responses (however some people cant put there finger on whats changed, they just know i look different)[/img]

They are some great results right there! Congrats.

incredible you look great for such a short period of time...good luck with the soft foods (thats what im looking foward to haha) im sure itll get easier to eat soon enough

yeah i have quite a big nose (i blame my mum's side of the family...) and that was not helped by the retrusive maxiller. moving it forward has filled out my cheeks and as you see made the skin less taught. moving the chin forward has also helped deflect attention from this. ill try find one of the diagrams from my text book, but basicaly it has been decided by somebody high and mighty that the most aestheticaly pleasing layout for your profile is for there to be a straight, verticle line between

1) the start of your nose (concave bit where a mono-brow would go if you had one lol)
2) the most concave area of bone between the bottom of your nose and your upper incisors.
3) the most concave area of your chin (so basicaly above the point, below the lip)

as you can see from my first photo, if you drew a line between points 2 and 3 the line is at almost 45 degrees (well, not quite...) and now all three are almost in line

all of this makes me sound very vein, however i would say my motives were 60% function and 40% aesthetics. however nobody talks about my sesame bite because they never experienced it, so it hardly comes up in conversation but the aesthetics do. i get sick of trying to explain that the day i can eat a pizza or sandwhich without getting covered in food it will all be worth it (i had a HUGE anterior open bite)

My fiance took a picture of the first slice of pizza I was able to bite into. It was so great to be able to bite through it and leave nice even teeth marks. Like you I had upper, lower and genio to correct an anteriot open bite. Your results look fantastic. I'm pleased with mine as well although I still have my braces and it's one year post-op in July for me. I'm getting close though! I wish I had as little swelling after two weeks as you do/did. That's amazing. How are you numbness wise??????

Sheesh, what incredible results.

Really fantastic result! I know what everyone means about that perfect bite. It's so wonderful not to destroy a sandwich or burger anymore or have to keep flipping it over to even out the bread!

hey StevenAko

your results are awesome sorta look like paolo nutini (not sure if thats a compliment to you)

but it is intended as one =]

and wow that was a long operstion 7 hours

xxxxxxxxxxx

yeh i definately see the paolo nutini connection, anyway great results i bet your chuffed!

Man you must be stroked! I'm very impressed with your results. I have to admit being uncertain about surgery but when I see a result like yours, the prospect becomes a lot less daunting.

Hope the recovery continues going well!

Mike

ha i had never heard of this paolo nutini, but yeah i'll settle for that likeness lol... cheers for all the compliments, im really happy with the results, especially now most of the swelling has gone (4 weeks) and i can eat a bit more. my friends are used to it now, but some of my patients at the dental school were a little confused!

iBorg, im glad the my results have given a few people some confidence, my movements were pretty major but its amazing what mm's can do to your profile!

i saw my surgeon again today, i had a good long chat with him because he is my tutour, so i suppose he could hardly fob me off! he is really happy with the results, except apparently my lower center line has shifted 2mm to the left since the op. nothing that cant be fixed with elastics while the bone is still healing. he put it down to muscle memory and the way my teeth try to inter-digitate as my occlusion is still a bit off, but i think the random spasms i experienced just after might have done it (anybody else have those?)