Re: Intro and Hello: Long Old Answer

[Guest guest]

Absolutely, your life is probably not even half over (mine probably

is, and was) -- and even if it were, I think you'd rather have the

rest of it with teeth than without. Dentures these days are fine

things, and so are implants, but believe me, from relatives'

experiences I know that they are not even a close second to the real

thing -- cavities, root canals, crowns, braces, jaw surgery and all.

You may have to fight the insurance company to get coverage.

Mercifully, I did not -- and your surgeon can be your best ally in

that struggle. Just know what your policy says, and fight if need

be. You can appeal a " no, " and my policy allowed me to request

review by a panel of oral and maxillofacial surgeons, had I needed

it.

You know more than I do about your mindset about braces. But do at

least have a look at the ceramic and clear ones. They are amazing.

Probably you could not have them on the lower jaw, in any case,

because they are much harder than metal, and if they happen to hit

an upper tooth, they could break it. (metal will just pop off.) Some

docs also refuse to use them for surgery because they can chip, and

if some of the bracket goes down a lung, it can't be found by x-ray

and can cause big problems. I do not know, however, of anyone who's

had such troubles.

My surgery entailed 16 months of ortho prep -- mainly straightening

and aligning my teeth, and then some work on the bite to get it into

the right spot for surgery. (Although I had class 2 problems, I wore

class 3 elastics before surgery. That's not unusual, I think. Our

docs tend to move us to sort of extreme spots, to give plenty of

room for a bit of relapse. but they can easily fix it, once things

are set in place again.)

I had the appliances installed in January or February of 2001. Had

surgery in June 2002. Went into the hospital at 12:01 on a Tuesday,

had surgery at 7 a.m. I think both my doc and I knew it went

extraordinarily well, almost immediately. It was quick (about 45

minutes, I'm thinking) and I lost almost no blood. I remember that

when I woke up, he came bounding over (he tends to be the sort who

goes bounding everywhere) and asked, " Do you have any numbness?) " I

felt around and told him I thought not. Maybe a bit of altered

sensation, but no numbness. Later on, I decided I didn't even have

that. " I thought so, " he said.

I went to a post-anesthesia recovery room, where I had a nurse by my

side all night. I was fine, but he brought me ice and anything else

I might have needed. I had a catheter, which was indeed welcome, and

which he removed the next morning. (I confess to having been a bit

anxious about having a male nurse remove a female's catheter, but he

was so totally expert and professional about it that it was no

bother at all, and no pain.)

I'd been on morphine that night, and did some pretty tall

hallucinations. (Later, I accompanied another patient to that same

room, after another procedure. I could tell it was the same place,

but man, did it look different! Some of the nurses remembered me,

and were mighty sweet as they insisted that I smile for them. " We

never get to see the finished product! " they insisted. They said

they were pleased with my results. My own male nurse accepted a box

of brownies I gave him, and you'd think I had awarded him a medal of

honor!)

Next morning, about 9 or 10, they took me to x-ray for a panorex and

whatever else, then back to my room. By this time, I was off the

morphine. I had a vaporizer going, and just rested until my surgeon

showed up. He said everything was fine, insisted that I try not to

talk and warned me that the steroids might cause some depression. He

also sent me home with a battery powered suction device, rented,

which I never once used. (But some folks aren't so lucky. The nurses

insisted, " If that rides in the trunk, you have to ride in the trunk

with it. Be sure that it's in the car with you, wherever you are! "

And that's about it. I came home, looked like a Clydesdale had

stepped on my face, but had little swelling or pain. (Thanks for the

Lortab, Doc!) I did have liquid Lortab and antibiotics for about a

week (Doc was worried about my swallowing tablets, with the sore

throat I had after intubation), then tablets of Lortab, of which I

did not use all. I do not remember a lot of pain, at this point. I

did use ice for the first 48 hours (in the Zip and Squeeze jaw wrap,

which was wonderful) and then heat (also in the same jaw wrap, which

again was wonderful). I was sooooo tired. I slept and slept and

slept and slept some more.

I stayed out of work 4 weeks. I could, and I figured, " Why push it? "

I was glad I did.

I did have the splint wired in, and I was very careful about eating.

I used yogurt a lot, canned soups a lot (blended with a stick

blender, and heated in a pyrex measuring cup -- really easy

cleanup). And ice cream and smoothies. All in all, I did not suffer,

and any weight I had lost, I gained back almost immediately (that's

not an achievement for me).

The splint stayed 7 weeks. After a few weeks with not even any

bands, I began to have some pain in my jaw. " Let's give it some

support, " my surgeon said, and added two big ol' twisty wires up

front to attach elastics -- little bitty potent ones, I'm thinking.

I didn't complain, as they made the pain vanish in 15 minutes!

The braces were removed in October 2002. Ever since then I have been

in retainers, which my ortho asked me to wear 14 hours a day.

Probably, actually, I log in a lot more hours than that -- almost

around the clock.

These are the little acryllic ones, and for the most part, they're

nothing. I lost the first ones, recently, and he put some moxie on

the new ones, just to straighten things out a bit where they were

going errant. They made me as sore as the braces did, but nobody

knew it but me and those who heard my wails.

C.

>

>

> ## I'm 45 and while I was talking to the orthodontist on Thursday

I started

> saying why bother at my age He reminded me that I probably

will live

> another 30-40 years (God willing) and having straight teeth and a

good bite are

> just as important at 80 as they are at 20.

>

> ## I'll see how it goes when I see the oral surgeon. I'm really

hoping my

> medical will pay for the surgery part because its going to be a

stretch for me

> to pay for just the ortho. I really, really do have a thing about

the metal

> braces, so I will take him up on the option to use Invisalign for

the

> up-front straightening. I don't need much, but I guess from an

orthodontic point of

> view I do since my front teeth have pointed inward as well as

having very

> slight overlap. My ortho said he won't have to put metal braces

on until

> shortly before surgery. But all this is still spinning around in

my head, I must

> say. I never expected to hear about braces and surgery when I

went in.

>

> ## I'm interested to hear more about what your surgery entailed

since it

> sounds like what I'll be facing. Do you wear your retainers only

at night?

>

> Sharon

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

How quickly you heal/recover depends on a lot of variables, I think.

Some folks are ready to hit the gym after a couple of weeks. I was

ready to be a dishrag (although I had been in pretty good shape going

into the surgery.

age can also be a factor, as can your body's general predisposition

to such things.

And when you're ready for work depends, too, on what you do at work.

If you have to talk a lot, that can be a problem. If you have a job

that requires a lot of activity, or heavy lifting, it's probably

smarter to wait a bit.

Cammie

>

> --- In orthognathicsurgerysupport , ceast36532 >

> > I stayed out of work 4 weeks. I could, and I figured, " Why push

> it? "

> > I was glad I did.

>

> ## Thanks for the detailed reply. That was a lot of great

> information! Did you have the same surgery I need, the mandibular

> advancement? My orthodontist said I would only be out of work one

> day, that sounds a bit unrealistic after reading your reply. I

don't

> know that I'm prepared for so much downtime, though. Yikes, I sure

> have a lot to think about. I don't see the oral surgeon until next

> week so I guess I'll just stop worrying about it until then. I

sort

> of feel like a ton of bricks fell on me. I went from thinking I'd

> have Invisalign for a year to thinking about 2 years of ortho and

> some pretty significant surgery. Thank God for wine and chocolate,

> my favorite coping mechanisms

>

> Sharon

[Guest guest]

And yes, I had a mandibular advancement, 5 mm., with a bilateral

split surgical osteotomy (I think that's the right set of big

words... BSSO) plus my doc moved my jaw 3 mm to the right.

C.

>

> --- In orthognathicsurgerysupport , ceast36532 >

> > I stayed out of work 4 weeks. I could, and I figured, " Why push

> it? "

> > I was glad I did.

>

> ## Thanks for the detailed reply. That was a lot of great

> information! Did you have the same surgery I need, the mandibular

> advancement? My orthodontist said I would only be out of work one

> day, that sounds a bit unrealistic after reading your reply. I

don't

> know that I'm prepared for so much downtime, though. Yikes, I sure

> have a lot to think about. I don't see the oral surgeon until next

> week so I guess I'll just stop worrying about it until then. I

sort

> of feel like a ton of bricks fell on me. I went from thinking I'd

> have Invisalign for a year to thinking about 2 years of ortho and

> some pretty significant surgery. Thank God for wine and chocolate,

> my favorite coping mechanisms

>

> Sharon