Metal Mouth Message Board

I think I heard "BSSO" this morning, they called at 5:45 am because I'm on the west coast and they are on the east coast.

That's news to me, I thought it was a LEfort 1. Are they the same?

I actually talked to my surgeon the other day himself, and he said that we might want to do more than just a lefort 1 because my lower jaw is going to rotate forward and up and it might not be the cosmetic result that I am going to want.

Any thoughts or ideas? Since this surgery is mainly cosmetic [there are a few medical things that he is fixing, obvioulsy. Like the lip incompetence, and hopefully it'll fix the mouth breathing] I would like everything to come out nice looking. No point in surgery if it's not going to come out looking better than when I went in

Hi MK,
It sounds like you are going to need double jaw surgery. Lefort and bsso are different procedures. Although there are many people here who are much more well versed than I am in these areas, here are what I understand to be the basics:

The Le Fort I osteotomy involves separating the maxilla and the palate from the skull above the roots of the upper teeth through an incision inside the upper lip. The maxilla is fixed in its new position with titanium screws and plates. Surgery time is around three hours. The operation is frequently carried out with the mandibular Sagittal split osteotomy(bsso).

For bsso,
The back of the lower jaw is split bilaterally in the region of the wisdom teeth.
The procedure is carried out in about 1.5 hours and permits the lower jaw to be advanced or pushed back with adequate bone contact for healing.
The bone is fixed in its new position by screws which are inserted through tiny external skin incisions which are located at the angle of the jaw.

I am having both done, as well as a genio in just under 2 weeks. I am also a mouth-breather w/lip incompetence so I am praying for the best as well.

If you go to youtube, you can also find videos of these procedures but they are very graphic.

Thank you, Ozzysmom! That clears it up, I thought a BSSO just pushed the lower jaw forward. Mine will need to be brought back because with the Leforte 1 by itself my lower jaw would rotate and move foward and that isn't wanted.

I have two or three appointments with my surgeon before my date [surgery is set for November 6th!!!!] so I will definitely be talking to him before then, but I was confused on the term used this morning.