Lower only vs. upper and lower for underbite

[Guest guest]

Hello all, I'm new to this group and I'm happy to have found it.

I'm near the start of my treatment. I've had braces for 4 months and

will have my surgery near the end of the year. It is still undecided

as to whether I will only have my lower jaw put back or if I'll have

both that done and have my upper pulled forward (like my technical

terms here). It seems that the ortho and surgeon are going to wait to

see how everything looks when my teeth are correctly aligned. I at

first leaned toward having only the lower done, because it was less

surgery, but now I am leaning toward pushing to have both done. After

examining my face and doing some research, is seems that doing both

will result in a better aesthetic outcome. Any of you guys been in

the boat I'm in now? Any of you been right on the line between

needing one or both? Let me know your experiences. Also, does adding

work on the upper jaw add tremendously to the pain / healing time /

numbness / etc.

Thank you all.

[Guest guest]

I wasn't in exactly the same situation as you, but my surgeon's

initial analysis from a visual exam what that I would only need

lower advancement. When he saw the molds from the ortho, he had to

break the news that I needed upper surgery as well (it may be worth

noting that it was my surgeon who sent me to the ortho, not the

other way around like most people go).

At any rate, based on my own experience, my advice would be for you

as the patient to not push one way or the other just yet. It must

be a close call as to whether or not orthodontics alone will correct

your upper jaw enough for the total optimum outcome. The docs have

the medical knowledge to make the best recommendation. I know it's

got to be hard to wait, but I think it might be best for you to put

this into your doctors' hands for now.

Should you end up needing upper, it does greatly impact the

recovery. I can only imagine what lower alone would have been like,

but I know that my upper surgery was what resulted in the most

numbness and the greatest amount of physical healing. I had LeForte

1 with segmentation to widen my upper, but that still involved

incissions in the sinus cavities, which resulted in a lot of

drainage that wasn't very comfortable during the first day after

surgery. I believe my recovery would have been easier if I'd only

needed lower, but that said, I've also got to say that even with the

addition of upper surgery, my recovery wasn't anything like I

thought it would be - not nearly as much as a challenge as I'd

imagined. I still have some numbness along the gumline in my upper

jaw (I had surgery on 3/12/03), but it really doesn't bother me at

all. It seems that most upper surgery patients who have permanent

numbness have it in relatively unnoticeable locations.

Good luck to you!

> Hello all, I'm new to this group and I'm happy to have found it.

>

> I'm near the start of my treatment. I've had braces for 4 months

and

> will have my surgery near the end of the year. It is still

undecided

> as to whether I will only have my lower jaw put back or if I'll

have

> both that done and have my upper pulled forward (like my technical

> terms here). It seems that the ortho and surgeon are going to wait

to

> see how everything looks when my teeth are correctly aligned. I at

> first leaned toward having only the lower done, because it was

less

> surgery, but now I am leaning toward pushing to have both done.

After

> examining my face and doing some research, is seems that doing

both

> will result in a better aesthetic outcome. Any of you guys been in

> the boat I'm in now? Any of you been right on the line between

> needing one or both? Let me know your experiences. Also, does

adding

> work on the upper jaw add tremendously to the pain / healing

time /

> numbness / etc.

>

> Thank you all.

[Guest guest]

I agree with , I'd leave the decision up to the surgeon, or at

least wait until you get closer. My ortho said lower only, my surgeon

said upper, lower, possibly genio (for my " strong " chin) and possibly

upper expansion. Ortho said " it's between you and your surgeon, but

I'd recommend taking his advice, he works on way more surgical cases

in a year than I do " . I had a class II overbite/overjet, and a weak

chin by my account (could bury it in my neck if I tried). In the end,

I had upper/lower/genio.

Everyone's experience is different, but I didn't have a rough

recovery by any means, mine was relatively uneventful, pretty easy

actually. I felt great from the moment I woke up from surgery and

never looked back. I didn't have any of the problems that some

complain about with upper surgery. My biggest problem was the runs

for 2 days after the week of liquid diet :< and also a nasty cough

which actually persisted for months, it was finally diagnosed as mild

asthma, so it was probably aggravated by the tubes and changes.

I also had no pain, just discomfort. They gave me Demerol in the

hospital, but I didn't feel I needed it (of course, I didn't want to

have to ASK for it either, so I took what they gave me). After 1 day,

I blew my IV and got weaned off it anyway, onto childrens' tylenol

with codeine. I later stopped the codeine as it made me slightly

nauseous and that's not normal for me. Every 3-4 hours was enough to

keep things at bay. I would describe it as more like sore muscles,

your face gets pretty sore, things get shifted enough for the muscles

to complain.

Numbness also varies, it takes the most time to recover from

(although residual swelling that is largely unnoticeable to others

can take 6 mos to a year to go away). I still have a bit, but it's

more like an altered sensation, something like the very last second

of dental freezing (or novocaine), nothing major at all.

You can also find lots of info on the geocities info website at

http://www.geocities.com/orthognathicinfo/ and photos of members at

the second yahoo site at

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/orthognathicsurgerysite2

Hope that helps,

> > Hello all, I'm new to this group and I'm happy to have found it.

> >

> > I'm near the start of my treatment. I've had braces for 4 months

> and

> > will have my surgery near the end of the year. It is still

> undecided

> > as to whether I will only have my lower jaw put back or if I'll

> have

> > both that done and have my upper pulled forward (like my

technical

> > terms here). It seems that the ortho and surgeon are going to

wait

> to

> > see how everything looks when my teeth are correctly aligned. I

at

> > first leaned toward having only the lower done, because it was

> less

> > surgery, but now I am leaning toward pushing to have both done.

> After

> > examining my face and doing some research, is seems that doing

> both

> > will result in a better aesthetic outcome. Any of you guys been

in

> > the boat I'm in now? Any of you been right on the line between

> > needing one or both? Let me know your experiences. Also, does

> adding

> > work on the upper jaw add tremendously to the pain / healing

> time /

> > numbness / etc.

> >

> > Thank you all.

[Guest guest]

Thank you so much for your detailed response. I can see why this

board is so active - what a great support network for people going

through the same thing. I don't know anyone personally that has or is

going through this, so this is a Godsend.

Again, thank you for your reply. I look forward to sharing my

experiences with you all.

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I'm exactly in the same boat as you. I might end up getting both

lower and upper, or just lower depending on what the ortho is able to

do. I, just as you, first wanted to insist on just the lower, but

then started to reconsider. In my case, I don't know how much of a

cosmetic improvement having both will be, and frankly, I don't know

if I would have the upper for purely cosmetic reasons (don't get me

wrong, I would like to look better, but I've never really had major

issues with the way I look). My goal in this process is get the best

and most stable bite I possibly can, and if my OS will decide that

having the upper too will help me achieve that, then I'll have one.

I don't think that you should skip the upper just because you want it

for cosmetic reasons, but be sure to discuss all the possible

situations with your doc, and make sure your expectations about the

outcome are realistic. Keep us posted on your decision!

> Hello all, I'm new to this group and I'm happy to have found it.

>

> I'm near the start of my treatment. I've had braces for 4 months

and

> will have my surgery near the end of the year. It is still

undecided

> as to whether I will only have my lower jaw put back or if I'll

have

> both that done and have my upper pulled forward (like my technical

> terms here). It seems that the ortho and surgeon are going to wait

to

> see how everything looks when my teeth are correctly aligned. I at

> first leaned toward having only the lower done, because it was less

> surgery, but now I am leaning toward pushing to have both done.

After

> examining my face and doing some research, is seems that doing both

> will result in a better aesthetic outcome. Any of you guys been in

> the boat I'm in now? Any of you been right on the line between

> needing one or both? Let me know your experiences. Also, does

adding

> work on the upper jaw add tremendously to the pain / healing time /

> numbness / etc.

>

> Thank you all.

[Guest guest]

Hello,

My advice is, contrary to most people on this site, to not get the surgery

done.

There is too much risk and too much potential of pain afterwards(I'm now 14

months post-op with lower jaw surgery and I'm in extreme pain all day, every

day).

Mike

>

>Reply-To: orthognathicsurgerysupport

>To: orthognathicsurgerysupport

>Subject: [Orthognathic Surgery Support ] Lower only vs. upper and lower

>for underbite

>Date: Wed, 05 May 2004 15:18:04 -0000

>

>Hello all, I'm new to this group and I'm happy to have found it.

>

>I'm near the start of my treatment. I've had braces for 4 months and

>will have my surgery near the end of the year. It is still undecided

>as to whether I will only have my lower jaw put back or if I'll have

>both that done and have my upper pulled forward (like my technical

>terms here). It seems that the ortho and surgeon are going to wait to

>see how everything looks when my teeth are correctly aligned. I at

>first leaned toward having only the lower done, because it was less

>surgery, but now I am leaning toward pushing to have both done. After

>examining my face and doing some research, is seems that doing both

>will result in a better aesthetic outcome. Any of you guys been in

>the boat I'm in now? Any of you been right on the line between

>needing one or both? Let me know your experiences. Also, does adding

>work on the upper jaw add tremendously to the pain / healing time /

>numbness / etc.

>

>Thank you all.

>

>

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