Anyone who has had surgery on NHS

[Kessler]

Hi,

I was hoping somebody could help me out. I was wondering what the process is to try to get jaw surgery on the NHS?

I'm in my 20s. I have an underbite (currently made worse by extractions and other orthodontic treatment carried out privately) and have had plans to have the surgery later on privately. I'm quite new to the UK and was not aware that apparently so many people can have this surgery on the NHS. As far as I was told it was for younger people. Do you think it's realistic that I may be able to get surgery for my underbite on the NHS? And if so, how long would that entire process take (considering my orthodontic work is being done privately).

I've read different information like you need an underbite of 3.5mm to qualify for surgery, some say 7mm. I would love to hear from anyone who has had surgery on the NHS and how they qualified?

Thanks for any help.

[midnight]

Adult orthodontics on the NHS isn't very common. A lot will depend on the area you are in. The hospitals where I had my surgery and all surrounding areas would only consider those people with problems that fitted into grade 5 on the IOTN - http://www.bos.org.uk/orthodonticsandyo ... whatisiotn I don't think even this is a guarantee that you will get the surgery though, a lot will depend on the individual and the reasons that it's required.

I don't know how it would work with orthodontics being done privately and surgery on the NHS. Both of mine were on the NHS. It would be worth asking your orthodontist and seeing if they can refer you to the orthognatic surgeon to discuss it as only they would be able to say whether you were a candidate.

Waiting times can be very long but that might be mainly for the orthodontics rather than the surgeon. I waited years...

[Bracefacepower]

Hi,

I am 5 weeks post op after hbo g lower jaw surgery on the NHS. I asked my regular dentist about requiring braces and she referred me to my local hospital as she said that she thought I would need surgery as braces alone wouldn't solve my problem. I had to wait around 3 months before I got the hospital appointment but at that appointment after being measured having X-rays etc they said there and then I qualified for the treatment and to go away and think about what was involved and decid if I wanted to go ahead. I rang a few weeks later and had my first orthadontics appointment within 6 weeks. Which I thought was pretty quick. That first orthodontic appointment was 18 months ago and I have 6 to 9 months of braces to go. My lower jaw was brought forward 8mm.

[cs2thecox]

Guidelines for Guy's in London are below - I assume they're NHS-wide (?)
I qualified in terms of my open bite, but teenage orthodontia (I'm 33 now) have left my roots slightly short so the NHS weren't willing to touch me again.
(They also only offer standard metal train tracks, and I wanted to go lingual...)

My mum gets a lot of her dentistry done free at Eastman's Dental Hospital, by the students. They all have a certain number of procedures they need to do each term, so if you have one of the rare ones then they love to get you in so the students can learn on you. Apparently it's fine (they're all well supervised) but loads slower than a fully trained dentist!

My biggest advice is that it never hurts to ask, and the worst they can say is no.
If you have a dental teaching hospital near you, ask them as they will need far more patients than just a normal orthodontic practice.
If you're a particularly interesting or unusual case, then you always stand a better chance!

------------------
Patients will only be accepted for treatment if they fall within grades 3, 4 or 5 of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN).

IOTN Grade 3 – Moderate treatment need
a. Increased overjet greater than 3.5mm but less than or equal to 6mm with incompetent lips.
b. Reverse overjet greater than 1mm but less than or equal to 3.5mm.
c. Anterior or posterior crossbites with greater than 1mm but less than or equal to 2mm discrepancy between retruded contact position and intercuspal position.
d. Displacement of teeth greater than 2mm but less than or equal to 4mm.
e. Lateral or anterior open bite greater than 2mm but less than or equal to 4mm.
f. Increased or complete overbite without gingival or palatal trauma.

IOTN Grade 4 – Great treatment need
g. Increased overjet greater than 6mm but less than or equal to 9mm.
h. Reverse overjet greater than 3.5mm with no masticatory or speech difficulties.
i. Severe displacements of teeth greater than 4mm.
j. Extreme lateral or anterior openbites greater than 4mm.
k. Increased and complete overbite with gingival or palatal trauma.
l. Less extensive hypodontia requiring pre-restorative orthodontics or orthodontic space closure.
m. Posterior lingual crossbite with no functional occlusal contact in one or both buccal segments.
n. Reverse overjet greater than 1mm but less than 5mm with recorded masticatory and speech difficulties.
o. Partially erupted teeth, tipped and impacted against other teeth.

IOTN Grade 5 – Very great treatment need
p. Increased overjet greater than 9mm.
q. Extensive hypodontia with restorative implications.
r. Impeded eruption of teeth due to crowding, displacement, the presence of supernumerary teeth, retained deciduous teeth and any pathological cause.
s. Reverse overjet greater than 5mm with reported masticatory and speech difficulties.
t. Defects of cleft lip and palate.
u. Submerged deciduous teeth.

[sirwired]

That Grade 3 isn't very tough at all to meet. I'd think just about any patient an ortho referred for surgery would hit those criteria.

[purpleandteal]

i just had double jaw surgery on the nhs. it took me years of appealing to get accepted for nhs dental treatment, that was before surgery was even an option. my overbite was 13mm, along wth other problems. when i finally got accepted i had a year wait until i got braces, 19 months with braces, now god only knows how long i have left.
i ended up having to pay for a private consultaion with an orthodontist who assesed my need then referred me to an nhs ortho and thats when the ball really started rolling. so you're ortho should be able to do the refferal for nhs treatment, with any luck
my lower jaw just got moved 6mm forward and my upper jaw i dont remember the measurements, all i know is it bloody hurts haha!
hope you're sucessful in your journey