Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm so very sad, the outcome of my surgery isn't AT ALL as expected. I had double jaw surgery when I was younger to correct an underbite, and open bite and an asymmetry (it was quite a mess). When the swelling started to go down I saw that something must be wrong, the midline of my upper teeth did no longer line up with the midline of my upper lips or my face. Before surgery the teeth in my upper jaw lined up with my cupids bow and the rest of my face but my lower jaw were off to the left, after surgery both my jaws where off to the left. It's like they moved my upper jaw to the left instead of moving my lower jaw to the right. No-one said anything about this on the check ups and i thought I was crazy. Then maybe a year after surgery i finally called them and explained that I wad worried and SOMTHING must be wrong. The didn't listen and I was too young and didn't have the courrage to talk against them. So I guess I just lived with this for many years but i recently saw I new dentist and he didn't think it looked right. The midlines of my teeth DO NOT line up and they DO NOT line up with my lips and my lower jag IS asymmetrical and off center. I was devistated, I NEW something was wrong long ago but NO-ONE listened. I don't know what to do, I did the surgery many years ago but i was tricked into believing that they did nothing wrong but now I know they DID. This makes me very sad in so many ways and I don't know what to do.

"lower jaw" not "lower jag".

here's two horrible pictures:

http://s24.postimg.org/mmpuy3491/image.jpg
http://s23.postimg.org/5twuna4y3/image.jpg

How does your bite feel? Are you having any problems with your joint? Do you grind your teeth??

To be honest, I think you look great. I would never notice an issue. Of course, I am not a dentist. But it seems like if you are having any unpleasant physical symptoms (pain, functionality problems) that you would be able to get a corrective surgery. I know - not cheap and not ideal, but if it is really giving you problems....

I took a close look at these pics, especially the one showing your teeth as compared to your face. Regarding the one that shows no teeth, I really don't see a problem. Now, when I look at the one showing your teeth and put a ruler from the middle of your face vertically through your teeth, I can tell what you're talking about. I think your top jaw may be 1-2mm off of midline. Your bottom lines up with your top just fine.

I doubt anyone but you (and those of us who have trained our eyes to look after staring at way too many before and after pictures), would notice it. My chin used to be 4mm off to the left, and you wouldn't believe how often I told people I was going to have surgery and they would ask why. So I would tell them my chin was off center. And they couldn't see it. Not even when they were looking right at me. People are just not that discerning.

That leaves two questions:
1. Are you having functional problems? Pain? Jaw joints crunch, click, lock up? Grinding your teeth? etc?
2. How much does it bother you? If you have no functional problems, would it be worth it to you to fix it for cosmetic reasons? You would have to pay for surgery completely yourself in this case, but maybe you think it would be worth it to have that perfect smile we all want after we go through such drastic surgery.

In either case, the next step is to talk to an ortho and a surgeon, probably more than one of each, and see what they have to say.

Hello,

your midline is not that bad. You would never noticed through day to day interactions unless somebody is there purposely looking to analyze your face. I honestly would not worry about it unless you are having functional and pain issues. I do not think it's worth it to get surgery to correct something so minor.

Look at Tom Cruise his midline is way off and he's still a handsome fellow.
http://seasons-of-smiles.com/wp-content ... 40x300.jpg

hello! thank you all and sorry for the spelling misstakes in my first post. I'm not that worried about the midlines of my teeth, the problem is that I know that the midline of my upper teeth lined upp with the rest of my face before the surgery and after the surgery it don't. After surgery the midline of my upper teeth lined up with the midline of the teeth in my lower jaw but not with the rest of my face. therefore my upper jaw must have been moved to the left during the surgery when my lower jaw was off to the left and should have been moved to the right. You are all so very very kind and I can see that the asymmetry isn't as obvious in the pictures I posted since my jaw is quite round and it's hard to tell where the center of the chin is anyway. I know it's not the whole world but I did the surgery because of the asymmetry (and other things) and now I think it looks even worse. Well, thank you all for your kind words, I'll at least have a talk with the surgeon and try to get x-rays. thank you!

hello. maybe i just have a great face for hiding asymmetry because i drew some lines on the picture and I think you can see what I' talking about now (especially if you look at the bottom of my chin). but it's hard to tell if the chin is off center or if it just grew a little larger on one side. I guess I believe it's off center because it looks off in the same direction as the midlines of my teeth.

http://s29.postimg.org/9f25205dj/image.jpg

Really, your midlines (both of them) are not that far off. I'll echo the other posters in saying that it's really not noticeable unless you are looking for it. We aren't just saying this just to help you feel better; my oral surgeon said research showed it had to be 4+mm off before a midline discrepancy can be noticed by a casual observer.

My surgical outcome was much like yours (started out with a dead-center upper midline, ended up with a skewed one) and I'm cool with it. (However, in my case, it was on purpose, and agreed-upon before surgery; it's how I avoided having my comically skewed lower jaw done.)

Yours is subtle enough that if I was an ortho (much less an oral surgeon) I wouldn't recommend even braces to treat it.

Hey!

I understand what you mean by your midline being off. But I personally didn't notice anything at all until you drew the lines on the picture. As sirwired said, its VERY subtle. My midline is about 5mm off to the left (thats just about one tooth)..and really no one noticed until I told them I was getting braces for it and crowding etc. If I were you I wouldn't worry because your teeth and bite look great!

I totally understand your frustration. Since it's our face, we tend to be more aware of all the little things wrong about it. for example, I noticed that since my jaw is longer on one side than the other, it causes one under-eye lid to sag lower than the other. No one else ever noticed and I only noticed it recently after 25 years on this planet! But luckily it's not the worst that could happen! My surgery is set to happen next month and I'm super nervous. I hope nothing crazy happens like a crooked nose! wish me luck and YOU look great!!!