Maxillary Osteotomies POD #2 for Major open bite

[Propofolboy]

Hi everyone. I am freshly post op from multi piece maxilary osteotomies to correct my open bite.
Here is my original bite! This is with my teeth closed!


Here I am 1 month after 8 extractions (wisdom teeth and 4 bicuspids) and one year and 2 months in braces. This is just a few weeks prior to my surgery on May 5th



Now here i am today after my maxillary osteotomy.




Sorry the last two are a little gory.
I'm pretty swollen at this point but the surgery really wasn't that bad. The worst part of the whole experience was the nasogastric tube, which was left in for about 18 hours after surgery to drain my stomach of all the blood from the maxillary osteotomies. I really had no pain (have not taken ANY painkillers) and have had no nausea. I have heavy elastics on right now, and it has taken a little while to get used to drinking, especially from a glass as my lips where initally totally numb and I drooled everywhere.
One thing that I noticed immediately is my breathing improved! Prior to surgery I was a mouth breather and really couldn't breath through my mouth. I also snored really loud at night. Now post op I find it toally easy to breath through my nose and I don't snore at all!


If anyone has a similar problem to mine and would like to ask about my experience feel free.
I honestly have NOT HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE! It was much easier than I thought! In fact this surgery was much easier than when I had my 8 extractions done.

Take care!

[nahky]

Congrats on your spectacular result Propofolboy

Quite a gap has been closed, its amazing. It must be a great feeling to have your mouth closed properly hey?

And your right, that does look like some heavy eleastics

I have an underbite, and i cant wait to join the post oppers club. Will finally be great to close my mouth.

Congrats once again on going through with it, and coming out the better, a definate inspiration to others experiencing similar problems.

[Propofolboy]

Thanks for the replies.

Just a couple things that I have found invaluable in the last couple days for anyone having surgery.

First and foremost make sure you have a REALLY REALLY good blender.
I purchased a Vita-Mix 5000 which is a 2 horse power industrial blender. I definately recommend this product. It can blend almost ANYTHING. Trust me, your going to be living off blended food so you want a good blender.

Second, for swelling a bag of frozen peas works the best. It moulds to your face and transfers lots of cold. Just be careful not to leave on too long!

Third, find a good liquid vitamin supplement. They are hard to find, I finally found one at a nutrition store. The product is called Salus Espreset. It is a herbal mutlivitamin, and actually tastes really good.

Hope these tips help anyone who is going through surgery. Again, I can't express how important a good blender is.

Take care!

[Svensk Tiger]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm having the same operation along with a mandibular advancement and genioplasty sometime this summer, so it's great to see such fab results and very reassuring to hear that you are recovering so well

[Svensk Tiger]

Double post - sorry!

[nvcarissa]

Congratulations on getting the surgery behind you! And thanks for all the tips for those of us who are still pre-op. And mostly, thanks for the reassurances!!

Keep us posted on your recovery.

[Lina]

I have an open bite and have to have sugery done to correct it. Do you now exactly how that did it????

[Propofolboy]

Ok, so I am now post op day #4. My swelling is pretty much the same, however I have a lot more feeling in my upper lip and face. Despite this I really don't have much pain. I have a huge bruise where I had an arterial line in my wrist (they did controlled hypotension during the surgery to reduce bleeding).

I still have heavy elastics and can't open my jaw. I'm still on my antibiotics but don't see any sign of infection. My nose is draining all kinds of clear fluid (must be my sinuses!). I can sleep for 4 hour periods, and wake up once in the night.

In terms of diet I have discovered you can blenderize almost anything. BarBQ'ed a couple hamburgers last night and put them in my blender with some broth and made a nice hamburger smoothie (it was good!).
Tonight I think I'll make some kind of mexican smoothie (beef, beens, salsa).

I'm going to be seeing the surgeon in next day or two. Hopefully he will put me in lighter elastics soon.

Take care!

[Svensk Tiger]

Good to hear you're doing well!

Keep us updated , looking forward to seeing more pics

[Propofolboy]

Ok so I am now POD #5. Swelling is going down, and I'm starting to notice some brusing (orange in my cheeks). Having no paid.
Had my heavy elastics off today, and brushed inside of my teeth for first time. The surgeon was happy with result and has now put me in light elastics that I can take off for eating and cleaning.
Had a CT scan at the office to see post op result. Teeth all look good, occlusion is good. I have four plates in my maxilla (two on each side) and two small wires.
Last night slept through night completely without waking up.
Eating well, but still have lost 5 pounds.
Everything seems to be going well.
Here are some pictures from today.