long term (long time after) post op stories

[amyD]

Has anyone some stories to share who has had these procedures done, maybe more than a few years ago?

[Bullfighter]

Has anyone some stories to share who has had these procedures done, maybe more than a few years ago?

<crickets chirping>

I think people tend to drift away from this board after life gets back to normal.

But there are a couple of discussions from people who returned after a few years -- you might just scroll down a few pages.

[jsb350]

In about 2 weeks, I'll be 1 year post-op. It may not be a "few years" just yet, but to share my experience with people looking to do this or not, I would say I have no regrets. My life has changed in so many ways, sometimes I wish I had the courage to do this sooner in life.

I'm 28 years old today, and had the choice (which I turned down) to do this surgery when I was 22. I did A LOT of research on this topic, looked into whether or not I needed surgery, and soon realized, that not only did I need it, I decided that I wanted it done.

I had double jaw surgery to correct a Class III (underbite) cross-bite. Physically I was ok with the way I looked before, but functionally I was having trouble chewing, and started to have pain in my jaw. Now being about 1 year after my surgery, I would say I can eat anything I want now, I still have a tiny amount of joint pain from time to time, but no more than I had before the surgery, and I am way more confident with the way I look.

[amyD]

In about 2 weeks, I'll be 1 year post-op. It may not be a "few years" just yet, but to share my experience with people looking to do this or not, I would say I have no regrets. My life has changed in so many ways, sometimes I wish I had the courage to do this sooner in life.

I'm 28 years old today, and had the choice (which I turned down) to do this surgery when I was 22. I did A LOT of research on this topic, looked into whether or not I needed surgery, and soon realized, that not only did I need it, I decided that I wanted it done.

I had double jaw surgery to correct a Class III (underbite) cross-bite. Physically I was ok with the way I looked before, but functionally I was having trouble chewing, and started to have pain in my jaw. Now being about 1 year after my surgery, I would say I can eat anything I want now, I still have a tiny amount of joint pain from time to time, but no more than I had before the surgery, and I am way more confident with the way I look.

thanks
so happy you are doing well and have improvements. it does take courage, yes? and some knowledge...
i've been doing tons of research too, i need to know for certain its the best/ neccessary and i want to understand the procedures and options.
there are some bloggers out there with post-surgery updates who say it took at least a year to completely heal. i can relate to the chewing and joint pain issues, as i cant chew at all, and if i tried the joint pain is unbearable/ my jaw dislocates on one side. I'm still feeling apprehension, but after some more consults (to find the right surgeon), i hope that i find peace with the process. thanks again for sharing, it helps so much.

[adawnclark]

I had my surgery on February 3, 2005. At the time, I was 23 years old. I had upper and lower done. Before surgery, I had 1/2 a tooth touching in my entire mouth. 18 months before my orthognathic, I had joint surgery where my surgeon removed all of the cartilage and left bone on bone. I wore my braces for a year before and waited patiently for my teeth to be in the correct position for surgery. I was very scared, but I had suffered with severe pain since I was 8 years old and I believed this was going to be my saving grace. Immediately after surgery, I was notified that my surgeon wasn't completely confident that my bones were going to hold my plate on the upper right side and was given a very strict set of instructions of would to do if I noticed any shifting. My blood pressure was doing crazy things, so I had to stay in the hospital an extra day, but finally I was able to go home. I was miserable for the first several weeks. The worst part was not being able to take anything for pain. I lost 20 lbs. the first couple of weeks. I would stick a tube on a syringe and put it partially down my throat to get any kind of nourishment for almost a month. I finally found some very soft foods I could swallow like applesauce and potted meats. My mother would make mock mashed potatoes out of cauliflower and that was my favorite! I went back to my full-time job within the first week and my biggest bother was drool. I would sit at my desk and out of nowhere, have a puddle of drool on my desk...pretty gross. I pulled my stitches out early, and although it hurt at the moment, it started really healing. My surgeon was 3 hours away and for the first 3 months, I was going at least once a week. The swelling began to go down after about 5 months and at about six months I was eating almost anything I wanted. All these things, you've probably heard.
For the first couple of years, life was great!! I could bite into apples and hamburgers and experience a lot of different things that I'd never got to enjoy before. I've always been aware that my jaw had gone through a major trauma, but it didn't bother me for the first 2 years. Gradually, though, the headaches started coming back. Usually, they had a pre-cursor, like waking up grinding my teeth or chewing gum or talking and laughing a lot. At first, they were very few and far in between. Now, I'm on the same soft-solid diet that I was on before my surgeries and I just have to be very careful. When I have pain, it sticks with me for long periods of time. My surgeon says that my jaw will never be "normal", but I'm just tired of the pain. I've had to have a gum graph and one of the screws on the bottom right side was measured wrong, so it had to be partially unscrewed and cut off, all while I had a local anisthetic. I couple of months ago, I went back to the surgeon and he x-rayed me and noticed that I have some deterioration and referred my to another specialist. This doctor is now talking about a total joint replacement and I feel that everything I've already been through was for nothing.
Looking at me, you could never tell that I'm having the problems that I'm having. My teeth are perfect and the physical appearance of my face post-op is satisfactory. Before surgery, my smile was very "gummy", my chin was set far back and my teeth just didn't seem to all fit into my mouth. I have had a team of wonderful doctors, starting with my dentist, who referred me to my surgeon and I met my orthodontist along the way. Now, this new surgeon that I'm seeing seems very knowledgable and trustworthy, but a total joint replacement on both sides of my face is a big deal. Maybe, I waited too long to have treatment, I don't know. What I do know, is if I had to do it all over again, I probably wouldn't.
I have an eleven year old daughter that has my exact same problems, luckily, we caught it early on her and my doctors are already trying to treat her before it gets to the point were she needs surgery.
Sorry for the long post and good luck to you on your journey. I believe my post-op outcome is rare. My best advice for anyone considering having orthognathic surgery is do not expect to be healed afterwards. It is unrealistic to believe that once you have this operation, you'll never have problems, again.