August '11 Surgery - Now Have Deband Date

[conine]

After having my surgery (mandibular osteotomy) back in August, I'm happy to report that I got my deband date today. I'm going to be free of wires on 2/16! He's going to have me wear a positioner 24 hours a day for four days, then 12 hours a day for 10 days. After that, I'm getting upper and lower bonded retainers with hawleys to wear at night. I actually don't mind getting hawleys - I had both hawleys and essix type as a kid and as long as they're night only, hawleys are easier and they do last forever.

As far as current symptoms, I still have a little bit of numbness, but it gets gradually better week by week. I saw my surgeon recently, and he believes that I am going to walk away from this with no numbness at all. He did remind me that it can take up to a year for all of the tingling to go away.

[awags]

Thanks for the update! I am 6 weeks post-op from upper/lower jaw surgery and it is always reassuring to read posts from people who are further into their recovery than I am. I bet you are so excited to get rid of the braces! What is a hawley? I haven't heard of that before. From what I've read, 6 months in braces post-op is pretty typical. I'm hoping it'll be about 6 months for me and that I'll be debanded before my June 15th birthday!

[citeeofangels]

hi conine, congrats on getting your deband date! i also had my double jaw surgery in aug of 2011, i had it on aug 12 to be exact and my ortho also said that i can pretty much remove my braces anytime i want...just a lil space to fix to bring my top and bottom teeth to close which should be quick if i wear my rubber bands long enough. may i ask when did you have your surgery and what problems you had and what did you have done? i had double jaw surgery to fix a slight gummy smile, cant down on right and an overbite. i also had a genioplasty to bring my chin forward. i have to admit, this surgery is tough but it is so worth it and all the blogs and youtube videos that people made has helped me through it all when it was really difficult to eat and depression was kicking in. do you happen to have a blog? i'd love to see your results! hope you're happy with how everything turned out! i too still have some numbness as well, i also feel like i have some residual swelling left where i feel kind of puffy in my cheeks, hope that goes away with time since it can take up to a yr to fully recovery which is so hard to believe that something can take that long to get back to normal lol =P anyway i wish you the best of luck with your deband date and congrats to now having a million dollar smile! cheers!

[conine]

Got my braces off last Thursday finally, so now I'm in my positioner. I had my surgery on August 3, and it was one of the more simple procedures. I had the mandibular osteotomy (lower jaw) to rotate and correct an overbite. Almost all of the feeling has returned to normal except for a spot about the size of a quarter on my lower lip. That just has a mild tingling that is constant, but I can feel hot and cold, and I can also feel what direction I am moving if I rub my finger across it. My surgeon expects me to get all the feeling back.

I am pleased with the results. It's not textbook perfect, but so many years of having a bad bite has left me with uneven wearing of the teeth. He may still do more shaping after I'm done with the positioner - I'm not quite sure. But, I have two appointments left - one to get the fixed retainers and make the final impressions, and the other to get the hawley. Once I'm completely finished with those appointments, I may post pictures. But no, I didn't keep a blog or anything like that.