Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello everyone.

Recently had my lower jaw surgery. My issue was crossbite and my right jaw was longer than the right one. My surgeon performed a BSSO with rotation, an advancement of the left jaw and setback of the left.
Swelling has been going down, numbness on the chin is still weird.
So my issue is about the teeth not touching properly. My surgeon said that molars are where they supposed to be to provide symmetry and truth is that with mouth shut i look fine.
I have a small opening on my right side and a long tooth i have does not allow full touch. I did knew about this pre-op so did my ortho so did my surgeon but now that i have bands, i can feel that i don't have a standard bite to keep track with. Also i am worried that my bone will heal upon the wrong bite and then create a small distance between the teeth....
Anyone else had uneven bite post-op?

There's still some tweaking for your ortho to do. In my case, the splint affixed to my upper was thick and intruded my molars somewhat, leading to them not touching when it came off. A few weeks without it and things settled down.

If you are concerned, make an appt. with your ortho and he/she will be able to tell you if your result is within the bounds of what was expected.

thank you for the reply!
And yes I did just that, on Tuesday I have an appointment with my Ortho.
Recovery from jaw surgery is so slow and annoying! Just needed to say that

The weirdest thing is that when I take off the bands to eat sometimes I don't remember which teeth should fall on which one...some elastics press so hard that they change my bite a little bit! I am waiting to hear what my Ortho has to say!

I had lower jaw surgery on the 31st, and recently was unwired. I too worried that my teeth were not matching after I was unwired but I think it just needs time to settle. I expressed this concern to my surgeon and didn't see why I was worrying which helped me to not worry as much. Just give it time, most likely your bite will fix itself.

That's great Kim I wish it is the case with me as well or at least my Ortho can fix it with braces.
Another thing right now is the elastics,anyone who has experience with it can say... on one side they feel to tight as if the teeth will crush each other....are the bands meant to be so tight? Do they hurt at first and then you get used to it.

Your teeth are meant to endure hundreds of PSI during chewing; nothing the bands can do will crush them. They are meant to help hold things in place (as an assist to the metal plates) similar to putting an arm in a sling when a full cast isn't needed.

The heavy bands (to go along with the plates and screws) are a vast improvement of the old technique of wiring everybody completely shut during the healing period.

For myself, as a LeFort-only patient, I had a nasty non-removable splint (and VERY light banding) for over two months. I can't decide if I would have preferred heavy banding to the splint.

Hi friends!
So today I had an appointment with Ortho and he was pleased with my bite even if it's not in perfect touch he predicted 4 months on braces after recovery.
He gave me softer elastics to use and said I need to start opening the mouth slowly but steady. I am currently on liquids because i can't open my mouth enough to wash my teeth well. He said i should try soft food ,no chew because soon i will also start to chew in about 4 weeks maybe. I still dread the relapse factor, but i need to go on with it.

After my surgery my molars met on one side and not on the other, I was quite concerned but now, 10 months down the line, the bite has sorted itself out.

[quote="Zonda"]After my surgery my molars met on one side and not on the other, I was quite concerned but now, 10 months down the line, the bite has sorted itself out.[/quote]

Hey Zonda! This is very nice to read. Thank you for giving me hope