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Medical Forum / General / Dentistry / December 2006Underbite, small upper jaw clicking and popping, opinions?
Sorry if this posts twice... but my topic didn't seem to show up in the list at all...???? Dear all, I'm in a bind. Dunno what to do. Have already seen the orthodontist and am getting braces probably within a couple of months. This is in prep for some good ol' orthognathic surgery. Why? Well, have had this bite problem since I was.. hmm... 6 years old.. but never really "did" anything to me until now. Now, my teeth have an unusual (and not so good) wear pattern, seeing as my back three molars on both jaws are the only teeth ever actually used for anything (the front ones don't meet at all, can't make them meet either). My jaw has also started to lock when I yawn (and I mean I have to take my hands and force it to pop back into place to get my mouth to close again). Of course, there's also the ever present impression that I look like a bulldog (which, I can assure you has cost me more than one job interview when the interviewer thought I was being uhm.. "ornery" or "sarcastic"). Anyhow... I have met a couple of people in my life who have had jaw surgery, the same kind as me... with underbites who have had to have the lower jaw receded and so far... they've said the same thing "The first 6 weeks are hell. After that, it'll be the BEST thing you ever did". I've been reading some of these group posts though, and it sounds like a huge nightmare! Can someone please give me a straight, answer/opinion... or if I could get a whole BUNCH of answers that would be great... I need something more to formulate my opinion on. I've been thinking about this procedure since I was 12... I just want to know if there's ANY positive news about this at all??? > Sorry if this posts twice... but my topic didn't seem to show up in the > list at all...???? [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > procedure since I was 12... I just want to know if there's ANY positive > news about this at all??? Have you tried here? http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/orthognathicsurgerysite2/ http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/orthognathicsurgerysupport/ Steve  SignatureMark & Steven Bornfeld DDS http://www.dentaltwins.com Brooklyn, NY 718-258-5001 The majority of my patients that have had orthognathic surgery in conjunction with orthodontics have been pleased with the results. Sure, there is recovery time after significant surgery, that's to be expected. Fortunately, the oral surgeons I have worked with have been very good also. I don't know if this will help with the locking though. That is a separate issue with the joints themselves. carabelli > The majority of my patients that have had orthognathic surgery in > conjunction with orthodontics have been pleased with the results. Sure, [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > carabelli Thank you very much for responding. I'm glad to hear that it's not all horror stories and lawsuits in the world of orthognathic surgery! (reading some of the posts, I was beginning to wonder!). I'm expecting (and have been expecting) the recovery time to be long. The cost of the braces is a whole other story. :P I think depending on what the surgeon plans to do and why the locking is happening the surgery may help... as the locking was never a problem until about 2-3 years back.. which is *looong* after I had stopped growing (well, height-wise anyhow ha ha). I suppose I shall find out after all the x-rays/poking/prodding is finished! Thank you for your insight! > > The majority of my patients that have had orthognathic surgery in > > conjunction with orthodontics have been pleased with the results. Sure, [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > I suppose I shall find out after all the x-rays/poking/prodding is > finished! Thank you for your insight! But there are times when people do end up with horror stories. If you haven't been warned about the serious risks of the surgery you're contemplating, then you haven't been given a proper informed consent. Most of the time, people do just fine and are very happy with the outcome. Fortunately, the risks happen to the minority. Sometimes "things" go wrong during surgery. Unless you have some particular condition/s that might put you in some type of high-risk category for complications, you are like all the other candidates who go into the operating room expecting to come out of it as planned ... but there will always be those people who wake up to a new reality. When it goes bad ... it can go very, very bad and in a hurry. This isn't meant to discourage you in any way. But! ... it's the "locking" part of your history that caught my eye. Couple that symptom with orthognathic surgery and I'd sure want to know how much your surgeon knows about operating on temporomandibular joints (TMJ). My advice as a lay-person is to suggest that you ask your surgeon to have an in-depth discussion about what the "locking" has to do with your current condition and your post-op recovery. Maybe some of the dentists or OMFS here in smd will have additional comments to share. In the long run, being proactive is the best policy. Webby > Have you tried here? > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Brooklyn, NY > 718-258-5001 Thank you very much for providing the links... in truth, years ago I tried chatting/posting on those sites, and a few of the members were very caustic, insulting and just plain unfriendly.. thus being no help at all. However, that was a few years ago, I'm sure things may have changed... I'll give it another go. I had lost the URL's in my latest computer clean up... thank you for providing them again. :) |
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