jaw realignment

border_collie

This kind of surgery is never offered "willy nilly"

It is nearly impossible for casual observers to see how bad these people's faces really are because they push their jaws backwards or forwards in an attempt to look normal.

The proper photographs taken of before and after tell a different story.

loulou123

I had a lower jaw advancement (BSSO) wit 4 wisdom teeth removed at same time - just over a year ago, at the ripe old age of 28. I also wore braces for 2 years before and 8 months after, so its quite an undertaking. My lower aw was moved forwards by 13mm.

I needed it doing for medical reasons, the cosmetic reasons were just a bonus, but its done my confidence the world of good too.

If i hadnt had it done i would have suffered arthritis in my TMJ jaw joint at a young age, and the poor alignment of my teeth was causing me headaches and grinding issues, meaning i was ending up having lots of dental work, as i was literally grinding the enamel off my teeth.

It wasnt as bad for me, as some others have said, but its still hardly a picnic and physically and emoitionally takes some time to get over.

I was in hospital for 3 nights and in intensive care for one night, i was in for longer than average due to a problem with bleeding, i also had probems after the operation requiring a smaller 2nd operation to remove one of the metal plates, BUT id still do it all agin if i had to.

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask, im happy to help.

donteatthat

I've seen some of this surgery done for both functional and cosmetic reasons which has literally changed people's lives for the better. Me n TS don't often disagree - do we darling - , but I think that facial profiles are extremely important to a lot of people and often the "cosmetic" profile issues do hide some difficult functional issues also. I'm not sure how the techinical aspects of the surgery have changed, but these days the post-op recovery seems much better, and there doesn't seem to be the wiring of jaws that we saw as students. In fact one of my neighbours had a mandibular advancement last summer and was out hospital the next day and at a barbeque with me the following Saturday.
Now that's not to say there aren't big risks or complications, but there are some very good orthodontists and maxfac surgeons who can do this stuff brilliantly with the greatest of success rates and minimum complications. It's not a quick procedure as often the pre-operative orthodontics can take years as people have said.

Flower08

Toothsmith wrote: »

And that's worth going through the surgical equivalent of a car crash?

I'd say so yes. When most of your childhood life has consisted of bullying and you lack in confidence that much, definatly worth it!

Im due to have the operation and although im not looking forward to the actual operation i cant wait for the results

Toothsmith

Flower08 wrote: »

I'd say so yes. When most of your childhood life has consisted of bullying and you lack in confidence that much, definatly worth it!

Im due to have the operation and although im not looking forward to the actual operation i cant wait for the results

I really do wish you well then.

My main thrust here is just to make sure people don't go into this lightly.

Good luck with it. The people you will be under really are very good, and I hope it all goes well.

IzzyR_2

Hi all I am new to this site, just saw this thread and wanted to ask the people who have had the op a couple of things.

I am currently deciding whether to go ahead or not. My orthodontist explained that the left side of my lower jaw is longer than my right, my lower jaw is longer than my upper and my cheekbones are sunken and one is higher than the other. This does cause me some discomfort in my jaw joints and often leads to bad headaches etc. I was worried about going ahead though as I have been told I could permantly lose the feeling in my face and tounge, has anyone experienced this?

Also Vicki, would it be possible to see your pictures at all?

I am 26 and this was only suggested to me recently after my jaw locked open after a particualy bad day of pain. My mother says there is nothing wrong with the way I look but I do notice my 'wonky' face and it does affect my confidence.

Thanks in advance.

JaneandCarl

Hi, I wonder if you can give my any advice. Especially Toothsmith!

When I was 12/13 I had train track braces to realign my teeth, they worked but other new adult teeth grew through and moved all my teeth again, quite severely to the stage now that one of my front teeth is almost being pushed through my gum and out of my mouth. There is still not enough room for my back teeth to grow through properly and they are half covered in gum. Also my bottom jaw is too small, I have a very large overbite and my front teeth at the bottom are over 2cm away from joining my front top teeth, and my bottom jaw is narrower so even my back teeth only half join on to each other when I bite.
When I was under the orthodontist aged 13 they told me I would need an operation to break and re wire my lower jaw to make it bigger and bring it inline with my top jaw. They told me I would need to wait until I stopped growing and teeth stopped coming through, they also said it was a big operation to have at such a young age and told me to think about it.
I am 21 now and I am wanting to proceed with treatment as I am in constant pain because I have not got enough room for my teeth and I am struggling to eat properly because nothing lines up properly.

Do you think I would get this treatment on the NHS? I asked this when I was younger and my dentist said I would because of the severity but I want to check my options!!! Please Help!!!

Thankyou in advance.

Toothsmith

If you were told to wait until you'd finished growing, then now is about time to get the wheels in motion again.

There may well be two problems here. Partially errupted / impacted wisdom teeth as well as the alignment problems.

Next check up, bring up the subject with your own dentist. Is it still the same one as when you were younger? That would make it a whole lot simpler.

If the alignment is how you describe, and the history is accurate, then you will probably get this done on the NHS.

JaneandCarl

Sadly not, my family moved away and now I live at the opposite end of the country, I also have not seen the dentist since I left when I was 15, however I would say my teeth are ok health wise - I take good case of them and they are not sensitive/do not have any fillings.
I just pray I can have it done on the NHS as I couldnt afford private. I am going to get myself a dentist on monday and see what transpires.

Thankyou so much for your help I really appreciate it, I have been worrying about it for a long time as I have always wanted the treatment but am somewhat frightened of what to expect, I just hope I havent left it too late - but then again - I guess I cant control when I finish growing!!!

mto

A bit late to this thread, but I would highly recommend a look at http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/index.php for anybody considering any dental/orthodontic work. Although based in the US, it has plenty of contributors from the UK (including me) and I wish I had come across it before i started my braces journey! I had a bilateral mandibular osteotomy when I was 18 on the NHS and am currently 12 months into braces at the age of 40:eek: