age range for Orthognathic surgery

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone - I was wondering what the age range is for having

Orthognathic surgery. I'm in my mid-forties and my surgeon says there's

still time for me to have the surgery. I will probably need both upper

and lower procedures done. How old is too old? This will be the third

time in twenty-five years that I've contemplated doing this; I think I

am ready to pursue this and go all the way. I have a great surgeon

(he's doing my dental implant in July), now all I need is an equally

great orthodontist. I'm VERY tired of having an underbite and now it

involves impaired functions - changes in my speech and mastication.

Will my ortho and surgical-healing times be longer because I am older?

Does age make a difference? // Diane

[Guest guest]

Diane,

I am 57 years old and just had lower jaw surgery. Moved my jaw back

and to the left.

I was told that nerve damage is the thing that older people need to

think about. " You will either heal all the way or be numb for the rest

of your life " , is what my surgeon said. I was numb from my front lip

to the left side of my jaw line. Also along the left side of my tongue.

I am 5 weeks post op, it seems longer, and I have feeling on my lips

& tongue already. The numbing is going away slowly on my jaw. In

fact, keep pain medication ready at about 4 to 5 weeks because as the

numbing goes away you begin to " feel " the pain from the surgery more.

It hurts.

I'm really glad I did the surgery, wish I had done it sooner. My bite

and profile are fixed, not 100% but about 90%. That's a whole lot

better then the 2% function I had the old way my mouth worked.

It's a hard decision. Good luck on what ever you decide.

Dave L.

> Hello everyone - I was wondering what the age range is for having

> Orthognathic surgery. I'm in my mid-forties and my surgeon says

> there's

> still time for me to have the surgery. I will probably need both upper

> and lower procedures done. How old is too old? This will be the third

> time in twenty-five years that I've contemplated doing this; I think I

> am ready to pursue this and go all the way. I have a great surgeon

> (he's doing my dental implant in July), now all I need is an equally

> great orthodontist. I'm VERY tired of having an underbite and now it

> involves impaired functions - changes in my speech and mastication.

> Will my ortho and surgical-healing times be longer because I am older?

> Does age make a difference?  // Diane

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I had lower advancement only at 56, nearly 57. My surgeon told me his

oldest patient having orthognathic surgery had been 62 -- although I

don't know whether she had both upper and lower.

She did later choose to have her screws removed, as her bone receded

and she started to feel them, which suggests to me that probably she

had lower only. But there are plenty of folks older than their mid 40s

who have had both upper and lower.

I do think the state of your general health probably matters a lot. I

was very healthy, and in the best shape of my life when we started out.

Worked out and walked daily until the surgery.

I will share with you one tip my surgeon offered me. I sent him my

mammoth list of questions, all of which he patiently answered with no

prompting from me. And then he said, " You haven't asked me the

important question. "

" What's that, " said I.

" Ask me the age of my oldest patient who's had this surgery, " he said,

and then told me.

You might ask your guy that one.

Cammie

> Hello everyone - I was wondering what the age range is for having

> Orthognathic surgery. I'm in my mid-forties and my surgeon says

there's

> still time for me to have the surgery. I will probably need both

upper

> and lower procedures done. How old is too old? This will be the third

> time in twenty-five years that I've contemplated doing this; I think

I

> am ready to pursue this and go all the way. I have a great surgeon

> (he's doing my dental implant in July), now all I need is an equally

> great orthodontist. I'm VERY tired of having an underbite and now it

> involves impaired functions - changes in my speech and mastication.

> Will my ortho and surgical-healing times be longer because I am

older?

> Does age make a difference? // Diane

[Guest guest]

Hi Diane,

I've been a member here since 2001, so most of the questions have

been asked and answered many times over, but I'm glad to be able to

help.

I had upper/lower/genio in Aug 2002 for an overbite/overjet and

retrognathic lower jaw. The surgeon said I had a " strong " chin and

so he reduced and advanced it as part of the procedures. According

to my ortho, I had " adapted well " and my upper teeth/jaw was

actually twisted a bit. I really didn't know I had a functional

problem until I was referred to my ortho. Even when I had wisdom

teeth removed (lowers only, I have no uppers) about 7-8 years before

then, the surgeon at the time (not the one who performed my jaw

surgery) made no mention of orthognathic surgery.

I started off with ALF appliances in Jan of 2001, not fixed braces,

as that is a specialty of my ortho. I also had cranial-sacral

therapy as part of my ortho treatment package. After a year's time,

I was put into fixed braces and had my surgery in 2002. I think I

was in braces for about 8 months post-op. Of course, it's different

for each person. The ALF appliances added to my treatment time, but

did some of the work that fixed braces do, in addition to making

skeletal change.

Happy, no regrets. I'm the type of person who makes lemonade with

lemons, though. Whatever life hands me, I try to work with it. I

just felt, though, that as long as I could do something to prevent

joint deterioration further down the road (and minimize pain), that

it was worth doing. I could also afford it, my ortho treatment was

on the high end even though it was relatively short compared to what

some go through. If I didn't have the health care plan that I did, I

would never have done it, and might have coped just fine with the

symptoms. They just weren't that severe, although my ortho did say

my case was " severe " .

Anyway, hope that helps. At some point, you do really have to make a

leap of faith and either give up on the idea or trust the

professionals you have enlisted to work on you. But do ask lots of

questions about what will happen if you do, and if you don't go

through with this. You can always back out of it before surgery day.

You'll find more info on my surgery and recovery (and a whole lot

more) on the geocities site I developed at

http://www.geocities.com/orthognathicinfo/

Good luck with your decision!

> Hello, - Thank you for your reply. I'm new to this group so

I

> apologize if I'm asking questions that have already been answered

at

> an earlier time. Did you have lower surgery or both upper and

lower

> procedures? How long did you have to wear braces? Are you happy

that

> you underwent all this - no regrets? This is a big decision to

make,

> but I think I'm ready to do it. Thank you again. / Diane