Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm trying very hard to accept my imperfect surgery result.
When my surgeon moved my lower jaw back,(BSSO) the resulting thicker jawbone ended up butting against my molar. Well he shaved down the bone and blended it on one side but said he was unable to do the other side because he was concerned about being too close to a major artery.
So on one side there is a slight bump and also it's very hard to clean back there on that side- I can't get my finger back far enough to floss behind my last tooth and the toothbrush is banging against that bone when I try to brush. (ow!)

So the bump is very hard to notice when looking at me, and the difficulty cleaning is obviously not life threatening, I wonder if I'm looking for perfection when I know darn well that nobody is perfect or maybe I should address this on my next visit.... but the only solution is surgery- is it worth it for such a small thing?

Hi bb,

Your post has struck a bit of fear in me. I'm pretty sure I'll be having my surgery with the same surgeon as you (you mentioned his name many posts ago). I've only had the initial consultation with him so far and he seems like a really nice guy, but do you feel like you got the best treatment possible? Looking back, would you recommend him highly?

ps. Before I got my wisdom teeth out I would bump into bone with my toothbrush too...for many many years. I'm betting you'll get used to it!! Here's hoping!!

You are exactly right... no one is perfect. And NO ONE has a truly symmetrical face either! You have to remember when people look at you and are talking to you they see your whole face and a tiny imperfection isnt noticed. I know when I see a picture of myself I look straight to my own imperfections and things that I hate, but if I happen to mention them to someone else they have no idea what I'm talking about, because they cant see it. To me (without seeing pics) it sounds like your small imperfection wouldnt even be noticed by anyone so its probably not worth worrying about dont sweat the small stuff

Try to live with yourself for a year or so, let your face heal. If you'll feel a year from now that it still bothers you then rethink surgery.

I say if fixing the bump won't make you look better and you don't suffer from pain, just leave it as it is. It's not worth it.

bb wrote:I'm trying very hard to accept my imperfect surgery result.
When my surgeon moved my lower jaw back,(BSSO) the resulting thicker jawbone ended up butting against my molar. Well he shaved down the bone and blended it on one side but said he was unable to do the other side because he was concerned about being too close to a major artery.
So on one side there is a slight bump and also it's very hard to clean back there on that side- I can't get my finger back far enough to floss behind my last tooth and the toothbrush is banging against that bone when I try to brush. (ow!)

So the bump is very hard to notice when looking at me, and the difficulty cleaning is obviously not life threatening, I wonder if I'm looking for perfection when I know darn well that nobody is perfect or maybe I should address this on my next visit.... but the only solution is surgery- is it worth it for such a small thing?

Good points.
I'll keep living with it and see if it really bothers me after a while.

I'm in the same boat as you. Had my surgery 3 months ago, and so far I've been displeased with the final result. The bite is perfect, but from an angle or two, the symmetry isn't exactly there. Every visit to the OS, they said they didn't notice anything and it was perfect. It must be in my head, I thought. But whenever I'd talk to people, they would move their jawline sort of to mimic me. Until I realized I was the one shifting my jawline to correct the imperfection, and I was the problem. Once I realized that, whenever I had the urge to correct, I stopped. I'm going to live with it, I now realize chasing perfect is impossible, and likely will not do any more. I'll see what the final result is a year from now, but I can say I've found my inner peace. I hope you find yours.