Background: I had my braces removed in January 2006. While I was in braces, my orthodontist encouraged me to get the orthognathic surgery due to my overbite. I was a complete *idiot*
and opted not to do it because after doing a fair amount of research and deliberating over it for what amounts to around 1 year, I was too scared and felt that it wasn't worth all the pain and trouble when I hadn't experienced any problems from my jaw, and had no proof that I ever would. I used to have an intense fear of surgery as well, so all the horror stories I came across kind of screwed me up. At the time, I had no problem with how my overbite looked cosmetically... now I do, a lot. It has really been bothering me, although I still have no pain/TMJ symptoms. I thought about getting a chin implant, but that seems like it might be a bad idea, and most of what I've heard is that if you go in for a chin implant with an unhealthy bite, they more or less refer you to the orthognathic surgeon. A chin implant seems a lot less expensive than the ortho though.
So what does the orthodontist do to prepare your teeth for the surgery when you are in pre-treatment? My teeth are as straight as they could possibly be. Is there a special positioning they have to go through? Also, how much did your treatment, orthodontia and surgery cost in the end? I get the feeling I won't get a lot of help from my parents on this one because of the decision I made when I still had the braces on, and as a 19 year old college student I'm a little worried about the thought of the money I would have to come up with, particularly because I would need to get this all done with within the next 3 years, unless the braces could be Invisalign, which seems doubtful? *big sigh* Thank you for reading this long post, and any and all advice/info is very appreciated!
