Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello all, new to the forum so hope you don't mind me sharing my story!

After 3.5 years (!) in braces I finally had my surgery this Wednesday. Original plan way back was for bimax + genioplasty, which was reduced to BSSO for mandibular advancement +/- genio (to be decided intraoperatively as they felt I was "borderline"). In the end I just had the BSSO and was advanced 6mm.

Initially felt great in hospital though now I suspect it was just the combined effects of the IV dexamethasone and the cold mask!

Now that I'm home the misery (that I must admit I was well warned about) has set in slightly. I feel like my bite on the left is not well aligned, when I brought this up at the ward round with my surgeon (well, in fact it was his registrar - the consultant himself only briefly saw me in recovery) he was quite dismissive and said this would be fixed with further orthodontics.

Additionally I still have no feeling on the left of my lip or chin, though I have the promising pins and needles etc on the right. I'm concerned that I might have downplayed this with the consultant in recovery (still high as a kite on anaesthetic drugs) when he asked if I had any altered lip sensation and I told him "everything's fantastic! I can totally feel my lips!" I now wonder whether this was him testing the waters knowing there had been a complication or am I just reading too much into things?

Finally, I can't help but feel maybe the lack of genioplasty was a mistake. I've gone from having what was quite a strong chin (despite my overbite and weak profile) to feeling like straight on at least I've lost my chin completely. Basically I feel like I look like me in a fat suit. The rational part of me says that I need to be patient and wait for the swelling to go to be able to truly judge, but I can't help but feel concerned that the surgical plan changed so much from the initial plan a couple of years ago (which was made by a far more experienced surgeon).

Before anyone says it, yes I know that the bite issues are the main focus over the aesthetics, but try telling most 28 year old women not to care how their face looks...and anyway, I'm concerned that the bite may not have been functionally corrected.

I guess what I'm really looking for is a little piece of mind....has anyone else been through it, felt this way at this stage and ultimately had a positive result? Am I just feeling a bit sorry for myself?

(I should say that I am an OR nurse myself so knowing all the things that can go wrong doesn't help! However, my colleagues have been keeping my "chin up" with lots of "mental" puns )

Would love to hear others' stories and hopefully they'll cheer me up a bit!

I wonder if you have problem with excessive saliva? My mouth feels like its thick from it. It make me sick. This whole recovery is just nasty and frustrating

Yup, have just slept all day and woken up in a pool of it. Lovely

Did u try to spit it out or swallow it?

Yep, I felt like I had a fat suit on my face Of course it was the worst the first week post-op, and still pretty bad the second week. By the 4th week the swelling had gone down substantially, but it really took about a year for my face to look as "thin" as it was before the surgery. Be forewarned tho, there are a LOT of people who had a prominent chin and/or underbite before the surgery and hate their new chin afterwards. It seems to be a mental thing. They can't wrap their head around the idea that to other people, a LESS prominent chin looks better (especially for women). Good luck. The mental aspects of this surgery, including being able to look in the mirror and see the attractiveness being reflected back, even if it's not perfect, can be extremely challenging. Controlling your thoughts helps, and maybe getting some positive feedback from other folks after your swelling goes down. Rest assured your chin will look a lot better than you think it does.

Hi
I'm so exicited to see your post. I''m on day 18 and I feel exactly the same. I had Le Fort 1 and BSSO (lower jaw advanced for 8.4mm). Looking at myself now, I think the lack of genioplasty was a mistake. 80% of my sweeling has almost gone away. I can see a more clear picture of myself. I feel my lower jaw (chin part) is still setback and weak, which could have been solved by a sliding genioplasty together with the surgery. I'm very concerned about how this would affect my looking. Functionality part is ok , but aesthetically I'm not very satisfied. I feel I look like almost the same as pre-op. I'm not sure whether this can changed after several months. Next Tuesday is my 3rd post-op appointment with my surgeron. I plan to talk to him about my situation. This has really tortured me mentally.

Everything you are going through sounds completely normal for day 3! I was worrried about my bite after as well (my midline was off and my teeth never fit into the splint), but once I started wearing elastics everything has worked itself out. As for how you look, Its really hard to judge what you will look like after day 3! I look completely different then what I did at that point and I only had surgery 2.5 months ago Chin up (notice the pun ), and take it easy on yourself!