Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi all,

I'm from Singapore, a little country the size of an island under Malaysia in South-East Asia.

I am starting this thread to share with you my rare arrangement of teeth which I believe few would have. I require orthognathic surgery.

I've just started braces 4 months ago. I'm on Damon 2 braces, invented by the US orthodontist, Damon Dwight. Wish me luck

Those with rare arrangement of teeth like mine are welcome to post here with their photos.

BEFORE EXTRACTION





AFTER EXTRACTION





PLEASE CLICK ON PHOTOS TO SEE LARGER SIZE... THANKS!

I wanted to include a story about how my braces came about.. so here goes..

Hi all,

I am a 30 yr old guy. I have a cleft-lip palate since I was born....meaning my upper lip is stitched up (but very well, without scarring, done by my plastic surgeon) and my lower jaw is protruding out. As my family is not the rich type, I never thought of doing any orthodontics in the past and don't know anything abt jaw surgery as in the past, there was no internet and information not widely spread and readily available compared to now.

When i was in primary school, I like to talk a lot of make jokes and sometimes cross the line ... I remember classmate rebutted me saying I look like elephant man and kettlespout. It didn't mattered much to me back then.

WHen I was 16, I remembered my classmate saying something like I could be handsome but "ke xi" (meaning "a great pity")...I knew somehow he was referring to my cleft-lip... to be honest, I think I would look handsome cos I have boyish looks and I agree with him.... but alas..

As i entered late teens and early adulthood 18-21, I realised looks do matter as a measure of self confidence of how u appear to others... especially when I know I can't smile as normally as other people...

When I was 18 and jus before entering the mandatory National Service, I thought of doing orthodontics... my parents didn't mind but my brother advised me against it. During one of my visits to my aged plastic surgeon who repaired my cleft when I was a baby... he recommended a malaysian orthodontist... the orthodontist told me he was not confident in my case due to his lack of training in dealing with cleft cases, and suggested me seeking treatment in Singapore instead or jus abandon the thought altogether. So, I went to National Dental Center in my country and was put on a waiting list the length of 1 year (as I opted for subsidised charges)! 1 year was a long time to wait and the thought of doing orthodontics or watever eventually diminished from my mind.

Much later, I was looking in the mirror and the thought came about again...as I work in the education sector, I have to face young kids who readily make fun of my lower jaw... I think this op may benefit me in the long term but again there is the issue of time commmitment in hospitalization and curing.. and of cos pain of op and complications etc... but in the end I braced up!

I have hesitated for years since i went for my first consult at 18 due to $$ issues basically but even when i do get over it and decided to struggle to pay I wud be discouraged by the thought of looking weird with braces among schoolmates cos in the past, ppl with braces are considered "rich brats" in a way, since there's no health insurance scheme in my country. But now, I decided to do it cos I realise it affected my career and that appearance is an important factor of life esp when young, so I'll do whatever it takes to have a chance to see a normal look of myself in the future. With braces on, I felt a sense of joy in spite of the inconveniences and discomfort of the braces, anticipation of long treatment time and upcoming surgery. After all, the end result wud be better than what i started with.

I wonder if I wud be this happy if I had done braces earlier..

Hi sgguy!

Welcome to the forum! I can't say how proud I am of your good attitude and confidence to go for what you want! I know that braces and surgery can work miracles with a person's bite and appearance.

We are here to support you and I understand how the negative comments feel. I remember when I was a teenager, someone called me "jaws," because I have a slight underbite. He was an immature kid, but it's funny how I remember these things from time to time.

Good for you! And don't give a thought to what strangers think. It'll be no time before you can show off your new and improved "boyish good looks!"

P.S. - Your English is great!

Lo

When i read your story i couldn't belive how many times you'd gone to people for help and they just turned a blind eye, so i'm really happy you've found an ortho and surgeon at last. Everybody here knows how difficult it is to bite the bullet and start treatment and thats without all the bother you've had so kudos to you, i think you will begin to see huge improvement in no time at all!

Thanks for all your replies... I've browsed a bit of the photo pics here and my teeth can be said to be one of the most happening... if not the most happening..haha..

I've lived with it for many years....I don't have any speech or eating problems .. it's purely a very odd looking longer lower jaw that i wanna correct so tat's why I've delayed treatment for so long... and also $$ problems cos it's damn expensive to do both braces and jaw op.

I'll try to give updated photos here... stay tuned

Hi all, here's some photos of my updates after second adjustment of the wire.

BEFORE EXTRACTION





AFTER EXTRACTION (1st adjustment of wire)





2ND ADJUSTMENT photos





PLEASE CLICK ON PHOTOS TO SEE LARGER SIZE... THANKS!

I can't wait to see the results! Thanks for sharing your story.

I took a photo of my unusual bite last week ..here it is below..

hey you may have alot of crowding but don't be thinking your bite is unusual

its normal infact soo many of us on this board are suffering from underbites just like you

mines is very simalar to yours actually soo if you need to ask any questons about it eel free to ask me ,i will be haveing surgery in just over 20 days

U're having surgery in 20 days???? I'm jealous.. i wish i can go surgery tomorrow....

My ortho seems to indicate I'll wait a long time to get my teeth sorted out before I can go surgery.... as u c, I've just started in jan.

When did u start your braces treatment?

i started mine feb 2006 soo av had my braces coming on 19 months or something like that now

my brace treatment went on alot longer than expected but really everyones case is soo different i think my teeth were very slow moving =]

you may be different but really the time up till now has flown by these couples a weeks are taking sooooo long to come in its unbeleaveable

xxxx

Hi sgguy!
Good to know youve taken that step and im sure the results will be worth the effort and money you've put into this.
I have a similar bite as what you've got there aswell so its not unusual.
It is a while in braces before you get the 'ok' for your op im afraid but it goes quite quick really.
Ive been braced since August 2005 so 25 months its been now and my date is meant to be the end of January 2008.
Good Luck!
Rach

Hi all, here's some photos of my updates after third adjustment of the wire.

BEFORE EXTRACTION





AFTER EXTRACTION (1st adjustment of wire)





2ND ADJUSTMENT photos





3RD ADJUSTMENT photos





PLEASE CLICK ON PHOTOS TO SEE LARGER SIZE... THANKS!

Meryaten wrote:If you look at any number of web sites about orthodontia and orthognathic surgery, you'll see many cases with equally impressive outcomes ... and without putting the patients through the sort of indignity that this poor young woman has been subjected to, being paraded on TV as if she were some sort of a freak. I despise shows like that.

I know what u mean... but I guess she's can't afford to do the operation ...so in exchange for some showbiz publicity, she got a whole new look for free most probably.

I have no idea what they were saying, but yeah, I could only imagine it being equally as heinous as that fish eye lens they kept using over and over to make it look even worse by zooming in and out on her jaw from all those screwed up shots that would make anybody look bad anyway. Like "LOOK AT HER JAW! AT THIS ANGLE! AND THIS! AND THAT!" That was just too much. It was totally presented from the freak show angle instead of from the serious, medical condition that it was. I know I've seen this discussion before on here about how bad shows like 'Plastic Surgery Before and After' are and I concur, they do nothing to serve the greater good of our self image. But, still, ain't it grand for her to just blend in the crowd now if she wants? Of course, if everyone isn't always recognizing her from this cosmetic makeover show. Still, at least she's got a shot at a "normal" image now. Whatever that is. So I'm guessing they put those DaVinci veneers on her front? I see where they kept showing how they changed the Curve of William on her teeth, but is that really possible with surgery and no bracing???