Re: New to the group - to

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I am sorry to hear about all of your problems. I feel so bad that

you went through so much as a child. I did not have any problems

with my bite until the last jaw surgery. Believe it or not, my tmj

problems began in 1995, I was working as veterinary technician and

was hit in the face by a large dog. We were x-raying him and the

veterinarian did not have a good hold on him. Needless to say, I

started with the workman's comp. doctors which I think made my

problems worse as time went by. I am finally free from workman's

comp...unfortunately that means I have to pay for everything.

I have been very happy with the surgeon at Mayo. He is the one who

put in the Christenson implant in the left side. My range of motion

was great, better than I ever expected. If the extra bone (I think

they called it an osteophyte) hadn't formed causing me to need

another surgery I would be doing great. I was told that what

happened with the extra bone was very uncommon. Anyway the left

condyle was shortened causing me to have an open bite. At first we

waited to see if it might self correct after the swelling went down.

Then we had to wait until the joint was stable before we started

getting ready for the next surgery. The braces have been

torture.

I just wonder about the headaches. I started having them after the

first surgery. I have seen several neurologists and they all agree

my headaches are from my jaw problems. The headaches have been

worse since I have had the braces. Last month I was ready to have

the braces taken off and forget the whole thing. My doctor talked

me out that. I know there are no guarantees with reducing pain with

another surgery. I am just hoping to get back to where I was. I

meet with my doctor and surgeon at Mayo on 4/13 to decide when to do

the surgery. My orthodontist said I am ready anytime.

I appreciate you telling me your story. I am thankful for everyone

who has responded to me. It does help to know that other people

have gone through similar things.

Greda

-- In orthognathicsurgerysupport , minirascal2002

wrote:

> Hi Greda,

>

> I have had 4 jaw surgeries so far - two to correct my bite and two

> on my TMJ's. My TMJ problems stemmed from being born with an

> underdeveloped mandible which caused my joints to dislocate

> repeatedly when I was about 9 or 10. Fortunately (after hearing

> about others' bad experiences with TMJ surgery in the early 80's)

> the TMJ specialists I was seeing at the time always advised me to

> avoid surgery at all costs. However my joints continued to

> deteriorate and I had a lot of bone loss. I had had mainly an open

> bite as a teenager (large enough to easily stick my finger through

> when I was biting down) but that developed into an overbite as

well

> that kept getting worse. By the time I had my first surgery, I had

> an almost 20 mm overbite.

>

> I was finally persuaded to do something about my bite after I saw

> numerous dentists, oral surgeons and TMJ specialists (including my

> pediatric dentist who had years earlier warned me away from

> surgery). They felt that the stress of trying to force my teeth

> together was making the joints worse and we could hopefully halt

the

> progression of the arthritis through orthognathic surgery.

>

> After 6 years of braces, I finally had my first surgery in Sept

> 2002. The surgeon did everything possible to minimize further

stress

> on the joints. He did the surgery in two stages. First, he

advanced

> my mandible gradually by using distraction osteogenesis for total

of

> 17 mm. Then in November 2002, he moved the upper jaw 5 mm (Lefort

> I). I finally had a perfect bite for the first time in my life.

>

> Unfortunately, it didn't last very long. Instead of getting

better,

> my joints got worse. The condyles (what there was of them) rapidly

> deteriorated. Within 6 months, I had an 8 mm overbite and my lower

> jaw was deviated to the left. That was when I had my first TMJ

> surgery. My TMJ surgeon wanted to be as conservative as possible.

He

> did a temporalis muscle (one of the scalp muscles) graft into the

> left joint to replace the cartilage. On the right, he salvaged

part

> of the disc and sewed it back in place. It held for a few months

and

> then my bite was off again and my opening was very limited. A CT

> scan showed that while the muscle graft had healed well and was

> holding, the left condyle was now completely gone. The right joint

> was fused and had avascular necrosis (dead bone). We had been

hoping

> to put it off for years but now we didn't have a choice. I either

> needed a joint reconstruction or artificial joints.

>

> We opted for the joint reconstruction. It (theoretically) has

better

> long-term results than artifical joints which last, at best, 10-15

> years. Since I'm only 37, that would mean multiple surgeries in my

> future. In January, the condyles were reconstructed using

> distraction again. We achieved 15 mm of new bone growth on each

> side. I also had the temporalis muscle graft on the right. Right

> now, everything is holding up well and my bite is perfect again.

> Next week, the distractors come out and my surgeon will apply bone

> plates to hold everything in place. Then I will start aggressive

> physical therapy to get the range of motion back. Right now my

> opening is only 12 mm because the muscles have atrophied and there

> is a lot of scar tissue. I'm being cautiously optimistic that

> everything will work this time. My surgeon is so happy about the

> results so far that he presented my case at a recent TMJ

conference.

> I hope he's right.

>

> I really hope the orthognathic surgery helps you and gets you

relief

> from the pain. I can really empathize with the constant pain and

> getting tired of having surgery after surgery. Even if this

doesn't

> work, I quit. No more surgery for me. I'll live with whatever the

> results are. If it's any consolation to you, the Lefort I was the

> easiest jaw surgery I went through, much easier to recover from

than

> the TMJ surgeries. I wish you all the best.

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Greda,

I'm sorry to hear about your problems, too. Ouch, I can't imagine

being hit in the face by a large dog. I've been hit accidentally by

my " minimunchkin " 2 year old who weighs all of 23 lb and that hurt

enough.

Your jaw and scalp musculature and skeletal structures are all

anatomically interrelated so if your bite is off, that may very well

cause headaches. I hope they go away after your surgery. I hope you

feel better soon and your surgery gets scheduled soon. Keep us

updated and remember that we are always here for support. It does

help to " talk " here with others in similar situations. I have never

met anyone in person who had quite the jaw troubles I did. Hopefully

this will be the end to both of our TMJ problems.

> Hi ,

> I am sorry to hear about all of your problems. I feel so bad that

> you went through so much as a child. I did not have any problems

> with my bite until the last jaw surgery. Believe it or not, my

tmj

> problems began in 1995, I was working as veterinary technician and

> was hit in the face by a large dog. We were x-raying him and the

> veterinarian did not have a good hold on him. Needless to say, I

> started with the workman's comp. doctors which I think made my

> problems worse as time went by. I am finally free from workman's

> comp...unfortunately that means I have to pay for everything.

> I have been very happy with the surgeon at Mayo. He is the one

who

> put in the Christenson implant in the left side. My range of

motion

> was great, better than I ever expected. If the extra bone (I

think

> they called it an osteophyte) hadn't formed causing me to need

> another surgery I would be doing great. I was told that what

> happened with the extra bone was very uncommon. Anyway the left

> condyle was shortened causing me to have an open bite. At first

we

> waited to see if it might self correct after the swelling went

down.

> Then we had to wait until the joint was stable before we started

> getting ready for the next surgery. The braces have been

> torture.

> I just wonder about the headaches. I started having them after

the

> first surgery. I have seen several neurologists and they all

agree

> my headaches are from my jaw problems. The headaches have been

> worse since I have had the braces. Last month I was ready to have

> the braces taken off and forget the whole thing. My doctor talked

> me out that. I know there are no guarantees with reducing pain

with

> another surgery. I am just hoping to get back to where I was. I

> meet with my doctor and surgeon at Mayo on 4/13 to decide when to

do

> the surgery. My orthodontist said I am ready anytime.

> I appreciate you telling me your story. I am thankful for

everyone

> who has responded to me. It does help to know that other people

> have gone through similar things.

> Greda