Metal Mouth Message Board

hello to everyone! my name is Mari and I am writing from Italy. I just discovered this forum and am thrilled.
first of all sorry for any mistakes but, as you can guess, english is not my mothertongue.
I am currently in braces from February 2020, for preparation of jaw surgery for skeletal II class malocclusion. fro, a dental Point of view, I was/am probably a I class since my teeth were compensated, although both arches were pushed forward and we are now working to push backwards. in order to do this, for upper arch the orthodontist is using the space left from a loss of 2 molars that I had in the past. for lower arch, I had my premolars removed in June, and have been braced in lower arch in July.
for now, I have not been given any elastics, powerchains or anything in particular - just a chain to push back the upper premolars in the space where the molars used to be.
when the treatment will be completed, I will go under jaw surgery as the main issue is with my upper maxilla which has "grown too much" (gummy smile). my chin is underdeveloped, although my mandible actually is really not that recessed/small.
I could have chosen to go with orthodontic treatment only, with no operation, but I decided to go the hard way.
since it will still take a long time for my operation, I would like to know what changes I can expect in my profile just with braces. my orthodontist told me my profile might change a bit, but I am not sure to which degree. my main concern is my weak chin. I also have lip incompetency and am a mouth breather, but my main issue is the chin. I would be so grateful if I could improve my profile with braces, but I am not sure that the movements we will obtain with braces will be sufficient to notice a real difference.
I would like your advice or opinion on the following points:
- I had an estimation of treatment plan of 15/20 months, so my finish line should be from May to November 2021. based on your experience, how realistic do you think this is? what is your personal experience for similar treament (moving the arches backwards)?
- is there any picture or personal experience I could see of side profile improvement with braces? I have noticed there is a topic opened of a few years ago, but cannot see the attachments. I would love to be able to see some pictures of similar results
- do you think I have a chance to have some improvements with my side profile considering the movements I have to make?
(see photos attached - side profile with mouth closed, side profile to show inclination of the arches, and mouth in relaxed position)
https://ibb.co/w068cKG
https://ibb.co/2d6hpZD
https://ibb.co/2FF3XfR

thank you so much to anyone who would want to advise me

please... someone advise...!

and I hope I will be able to see pictures soon

Thank you for posting your journey here and welcome. Now considering that I am not an orthodontist and all of this is just my opinion, looking at the pictures you posted I can see what you are talking about, re class 2 and lip incompetence. I also can see why you chose to have surgery. I was told at 66 years that surgery would get me a 100% good result and not having it would get me a 95% good result so I did not have the surgery. I appears to me that your top teeth protrude outward and the bottoms not so much and the lip incompetence has produced an elongated facial profile. I would think that getting the braces first would move the teeth backwards and help with the profile and then the surgery would be easier to get correct. There could also be the option of Lip repositioning surgery to correct the gummy smile if the surgery you will have does not correct that problem enough.

My problem was crooked teeth, an underbite and I also have lost a couple of molars and had a premolar extracted. I will be having implants to fill in the spaces left. From what I have learned during my 11 months so far is that straightening the teeth and roots is the easy part. It's the fine tuning of individual teeth and the bite that is the part that takes the most time. I was aware of the time frames for treatment but never really sure why and I now know why. Teeth seem to move quickly but the formation of new bone and tooth coating takes time. The time frame for me is 2 years but who knows. Your estimate of 15-20 months seems reasonable.

I wish I could give you more info but I have also learned that all of our cases are different and can really only wish you the best with your treatment and from my own current experience, you will be happy with the results. I do not regret starting this journey. Finally I thought your English was fine and I understood all that you wrote.

Take care and stay safe.