Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello all!

I had a double jaw surgery last year and I'm currently in my last week of braces, and today I was working at an event and got talking to another guy who's also working there who also has braces. He asked me how long I've had my braces for and I said almost a year, but I'm having them taken off next week. He asked me how is my treatment so fast, because he has to have his for 1.5-2 years. I told him that perhaps it's because my braces are a part of my jaw surgery and not a plain braces treatment, but to be honest I'm not really sure. I initially thought that part of it was because my teeth weren't that crooked in the first place (later realised that I was wrong - I had a pretty bad deep bite which apparently is very common with Class II malocclusion, and some spacing issues on my upper teeth, which again is kind of common with Class II).

I haven't thought about it for a while but it reminded me of what my orthodontist said when I visited him right after my jaw surgery. He said that after jaw surgery, the bones are still "soft" so teeth move faster, so for 2 months after my jaw surgery I saw him every 2 weeks (!!!!!). So maybe that's why, too?

Have any of you heard anything about that? I tried to search the internet for a more in depth explanation on this but I can't find anything, but perhaps I'm not using the right keywords. Does anyone know why, because I can't seem to get my orthodontist to tell me anything more in depth than the most basic of layman terms - e.g. a few visits ago I asked him what work is left to do on my teeth and he told me it's to move my teeth and close the gaps... I'm like OH DUH that's why I still have braces and power chains in the first place!!! :/

I've had braces on for 2 years before jaw surgery, probably another 6-9 months to go after jaw surgery.

From my understanding talking to orthodontists/dentists; It depends on how the teeth are before braces and the amount of movement needed before and after jaw surgery. Some patients (like me) have pretty gnarly teeth configurations (Here's a timelapse of my braces, so much movement! http://doublejawsurgery.samansari.info/ ... ay-34.html) that take 1-2 years to straighten out enough to even have straight wires for hooks for surgery, as well as aligning after surgery.

Others may be pretty close to ideal already, or have a simple move after jaw surgery (I had a cant that was removed, which means after surgery my teeth have to all re-align), so it may only take a couple months to fix. I've read jaw surgery blogs on either side of the fence there.

Fingers crossed I only have a couple months left. I'm jealous of how little time you've needed yours

Thanks for the reply! Yes I'm surprised at how short my "sentence" is, too!

Also, I'm jealous of how little swelling you seem to have! I was so swollen even after 3 months!

I didn't really have my teeth moved before the surgery - just brackets and only had surgical hooks installed right before the surgery (in early May 2016), and only had proper wires to move my teeth after the surgery.

Also may I ask what is a can't and what are those springiethingies on your lower teeth?

fixmyjaws wrote: Also may I ask what is a can't and what are those springiethingies on your lower teeth?

Yep, they were springs. So the idea there was to push the teeth apart in that area to give space for the tooth that was so twisted they couldn't get a wire on it for a couple months.

My surgeon said that my orthodontist should "take full advantage" of the shifting of teeth during this time... she said I should go every 3-4 weeks for the next couple months rather then the every 8 weeks.

I am a little concerned that my teeth are a little lose (some of them) .. but i'm not freaking out yet.

I was scared of that too! And there was one point where some of my teeth were so painful that my doc prescribed me painkillers AND antibiotics (as opposed to just OTC paracetamol) because they thought my roots were infected. Naw it was just fast-moving teeth.