Upper and lower jaw surgery - what preparations will my ortho make?

[WiredJon]

Hi,
I've got a date for upper and lower jaw surgery at the end of November to fix an underbite (the surgeon also pointed out that the upper jaw is also tilted a few degrees off in 3 different axis and recommended that I get that fixed at the same time, hence upper jaw surgery is required as well).

I've already been through SARPE earlier this year, so have a good idea of what to expect in terms of pain, the operation itself and the recovery, but what I'm not sure about is what sort of preparation will be required before I go in. The surgeon mentioned that I'll have to switch from an active wire, and also mentioned something about a band and new brackets, but I wasn't sure what he meant. I'm a bit scared at the moment that I'll end up with something similar to the expander that I had to wear pre/post SARPE, and that was not a lot of fun! I'll see my orthodontist next week, but it'd be good to have some idea of what to expect going in.

[SingleJawMelb]

You don't make any preparations. Ortho puts on the correct wife and brackets/hooks. Don't worry about it, it happens when it's needed.

[kpw818]

Orthodontist will know what to do when it is closer to surgery. There is a surgical wire and hooks to go on (Mine go on 10/13!).

[LyraM45]

Depends on what you're having done. Typically the ortho's job is to follow what the surgeon dictates to him/her about your case. Typically they exaggerate whatever malocclusion you have in preparation for surgery so you can get as much proper bone movement as possible to correct the true skeletal discrepancy. You'll be stepped up wires until you get to the steel surgical wire. You'll have extraction spaces all closed up (if you had them). And then finally before surgery they'll prep you in your final set up and have surgical hooks placed right before the op.