Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone can help me out. I have been undergoing orthodontic treatment and I have surgery planned for sometime in the new year. I have had a meeting with the surgeon and he did not tell me either way. The orthodontist has not told me either way either, however, he explained he is trying to avoid having my top jaw done by bringing my top teeth outward

Without any knowledge, I feel as though my upper jaw is also underdeveloped and want to ensure I do everything to get this right the first time.

Does anyone have any advice on this? Or know when they should let me know? Is having both jaws done a huge step up in terms of the complexity of the surgery / recovery?

Thank you! Merry Christmas!

I fell into the "planning trap" as I like to call it. Which is a nice way of saying, I wanted everything planned up front before I started any treatment.

In the course of my journey I have found out that this is completely incorrect, and you aren't going to know your exact procedure(s) you need done until you are "surgery ready".

What this means is the surgeon needs to take detailed records and models once they think you are ready, and they will determine the treatment based on those records/models. Basically, "surgery ready" means your teeth are straight, and your bite is as good as it is going to get without surgical intervention.

So, in your situation, I wouldn't worry at all. The only way I would be worried is if you've taken detailed records/models and the OS still isn't able to give you detailed information on what your treatment is. If this were the situation, I'd fly out of that OS's office and find a new one I highly doubt this is the situation, however.

As for recovery/complexity, yes, having both jaws done is of course going to add days to the recovery and complexity to the surgery. However, that's nothing to really worry about. In the end, the recovery is going to be hard no matter if it is one jaw or both, so there is no use in getting worked up over this. And, a qualified OS isn't going to find bi-max surgery any more challenging or complex than single jaw. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if bi-max is seen as a better situation for them because they likely have more flexibility in planning the final result.

Best of luck to you and keep us posted!

-Chicago29