Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi all! I've been lurking this board for years but finally decided to make an account since I'm in a pickle with my treatment. I'm not sure whether this should go in the surgery forum, or general forum, please forgive me! I'll give the TL;DR version.

I'm in my second round of braces since October 2012 and I was told I needed to have lower jaw surgery to correct an underbite. My teeth have been ready for surgery since October 2014... yup! Since 2014 my life has been a rollercoaster. I've been battling 3 insurance providers, I graduated college, temporarily moved out of state to seek a good paying job to pay for the surgery, moved back... so many things have happened.

I've changed insurance providers 3 times during this process and have had trouble getting my surgery approved by each since it seems they each have different requirements. I have had to wait 6 weeks+ to get in and see the surgeon (they wanted to do 3 consultations before getting with my insurance company) and getting all of my pictures and molds took about an extra year (October 2014- December 2015). I finally got a surgery date for March 2016 and 3 days before my surgery, my surgeon's office called me and told me that they were canceling the surgery because insurance didn't approve it AGAIN since I didn't see a general doctor before getting braces on and starting the path to surgery. At this point, I had no more time to dedicate to this process as a young graduate starting my career, so I put it on the backburner in 2016. Now that it is 2017, I've moved back to my home state where my ortho and surgeon are and I don't even have insurance at this point, but I need to see my orthodontist.

I've been in tears thinking about the idea of going back to his office because they've made me feel guilty and terrible about the fact that I haven't been able to have surgery yet at each check-up I've had, despite things being mostly out of my control. At this point, surgery isn't a feasible option anymore and I just want to have my braces removed. Maybe I can try again when my life is more settled. Will my ortho leave my teeth in the state they're in if I request to have them removed? They were shifted with surgery in mind, so my bite positioning is way off. Has anyone gone through something similar? Changed their mind about surgery? Etc?

I feel your pain - my braces went on September 2013 and although I was lucky enough to be getting my surgery on the NHS, it's been such a long wait (I was ready for surgery by late 2015 and yet only had my op a couple of days ago) that I was very much ready for throwing in the towel on more than one occasion.

In the end I felt like I'd come so far that it would be a real shame not to see it through, but then, that was knowing that there was a guarantee that the tunnel did have an end, even though at times it felt invisible. I can see how your situation is different and I must admit in your shoes I'm not sure I could stand it for this long without knowing for sure whether there's an end in sight.

From speaking to my orthodontist I've heard that it's not that uncommon for people to go through the orthodontic part of their treatment and leave it at that - either due to wait times or just because they feel in themselves that things have been corrected enough through braces.

I say go see what your orthodontist has to say about things. I'm sure they don't resent you - of course ultimately they'd like you to see your treatment through, but if circumstances are beyond your control I'm sure they understand that.

As for going back to it at some point in the future, I'd be very surprised if that weren't an option - after all, look how late in life some people are before they seek treatment.

I've just realised this has been a very long winded way of saying not very much at all but I hope at least knowing that you're not alone is some comfort!

Oh wow, thank you, sadchipmunk88! I feel a lot better knowing that I'm not alone in waiting years. This whole thing has been such an emotional rollercoaster. How are you recovering from your surgery?

Thanks for asking, it's going ok! the only downside is both my partner and mum chose this week to go away on trips....talk about timing!!!

I've actually been pretty good on the pain and misery front - my orthodontist really prepared me for the worst so apart from a couple of wobbles I've been pretty much fine on paracetamol and ibuprofen and using a cold mask.

The worst thing really is missing food - some people say they feel too nauseated to be hungry but I'm so not having that problem and I'm getting a wee bit sick of soup! It doesn't help that most of the instagram feeds etc that I follow are food related

At the moment I'm a little concerned about both the functional and aesthetic results although I know I'm being a little impatient. Looking forward to seeing my orthodontist tomorrow as I feel she'll give me an honest opinion either way and it'll put my mind at rest.