Re: Cary - Dental Visit and Referral

[Guest guest]

Hi Cary,

I just had my surgerys one week ago today - one week post op today;

Yippie! I had it for sleep apnea purposes also. My insurance

covered literally everything - except they wouldn't pay for braces.

I'd had braces when I was a teen, so to be honest -my teeth are

pretty straight anyway! I have one lower tooth that is just very

slightly 'askew', and wasn't going to pay a minimum of $8,000 for

one 'slightly' out of place tooth (it's barely noticable!). So, my

surgeon decided he would do the surgery without braces!! I really

lucked out there big time!!!

Anyway....it sounds like you're having this done for sleep apnea

obviously. What did the OS say they would do to fix all that for

you? In my case I had upper and lower jaws moved forward,

genioplasty, plus he fixed my deviated septum and removed my uvula

which is that little hangy-thingy in the back of the throat.

I'm a week today, and although I've got a ways to go before I'm

feeling myself again, I'm really glad to have hit the one week

milestone!!

Good luck with everything,

Judy

-- In orthognathicsurgerysupport , " Cary Blackburn "

<csblackburn@g...> wrote:

I took the plunge and visited the dentist today and explained the

problems I've been having. She couldn't have been better to me. She

took the time to phone the Orthodontist she personally would

recommend me to go to. The only drawback was that his office is over

an hour away, which isn't very practical. He recommended an

orthodontist only about 25 minutes away who is working in

conjunction with other Orthos and Oral Surgeons on a study involving

misaligned jaws and sleep apnea. The Orthodontist was very happy to

take me on as a patient because of this.

To make matters even better, my dentist wrote a personal letter to

the orthodonist and faxed it immediately to explain my situation. I

phoned the Ortho's office when I got home and they knew exactly who

I was from the letter she had written. They scheduled me for a

consultation

on July 26, which would be the earliest they could get me in.

Although, they put me on their cancellation list because I told

them I was flexible. Well, no more than 5 minutes later they phoned

and booked me for this coming Monday, June 27.

Needless to say, I'm extremely happy with the service I received

from my dentist. She took the time to answer all of my questions

including the most important one: In her opinion, is this the right

thing to do for practical and medical purposes or does she feel it

is purely esthetical? She assured me it was the former and not the

latter.

Cary

[Guest guest]

Judy,

Thank you, first of all.

I haven't visited the Oral Surgeon yet as I'm making my first visit to

the orthodontist today. So, I'm not sure what exactly the OS will do

with my underbite. Although, and this is my best guess, I'll probably

end up getting my jaw moved back and all 4 wisdom teeth pulled to get

some extra room in my mouth. They are all healthy, but they have

caused a very minor bit of crowding at the very front of my bottom

jaw. Having a big jaw has helped me avoid impacted wisdom teeth, so

in that sense having large jaw helped.

Insurance won't be a problem for me as we have socialized (government

funded) medical here, that will cover the surgery. There are

advantages and disadvantages to socialized medical. Surgeries like

this would probably take over a year due to a waiting list because of

our medical system. But, obviously it will take that long anyways

until my mouth is ready. I'll only have to pay for the Orthodontics

and 50% is covered by my extra dental insurance through my employer.

Sleep apnea is one of the reasons why I'm in the process of getting it

done, plus TMJ and wear on my back teeth from my misaligned jaw. Was

your sleep apnea worse when you slept on your back than in any other

position?

Thank again,

Cary

> I took the plunge and visited the dentist today and explained the

> problems I've been having. She couldn't have been better to me. She

> took the time to phone the Orthodontist she personally would

> recommend me to go to. The only drawback was that his office is over

> an hour away, which isn't very practical. He recommended an

> orthodontist only about 25 minutes away who is working in

> conjunction with other Orthos and Oral Surgeons on a study involving

> misaligned jaws and sleep apnea. The Orthodontist was very happy to

> take me on as a patient because of this.

> To make matters even better, my dentist wrote a personal letter to

> the orthodonist and faxed it immediately to explain my situation. I

> phoned the Ortho's office when I got home and they knew exactly who

> I was from the letter she had written. They scheduled me for a

> consultation

> on July 26, which would be the earliest they could get me in.

> Although, they put me on their cancellation list because I told

> them I was flexible. Well, no more than 5 minutes later they phoned

> and booked me for this coming Monday, June 27.

> Needless to say, I'm extremely happy with the service I received

> from my dentist. She took the time to answer all of my questions

> including the most important one: In her opinion, is this the right

> thing to do for practical and medical purposes or does she feel it

> is purely esthetical? She assured me it was the former and not the

> latter.

> Cary

[Guest guest]

Hi again Cary,

I decided to make all my replies, so I don't forget anyone later.

Good luck with your appointment today, first of all. Wish you the

best with that!

I didn't know you were under the NHS...I do understand that, as we

have several friends over on that side of the 'pond' as well, and they

of course have the NHS too!

Yes, my sleep apnea was worse when I slept on my back. My jaw would

fall back, plus I have a monstor big tongue (never knew this

previously! I mean how would I really?!) so both my tongue and jaw

would fall back when I sleep and I'm primarily a back sleeper anyway.

It was seriously affecting my sleep, so I just decided to forge ahead

and do this. I'm glad the worst is over, and you will be too once you

get to that point! Right now, I'm just relaxing - trying to anyway -

and waiting for time to 'heal all'.

Take care and again good luck today,

Judy

[Guest guest]

Judy,

It's nice to hear I'm not the only one with a " monster large "

tongue. I've known I've had a big tongue all my life, but I didn't

realize that it can cause problems. I just thought it was cool trick

that I could touch my nose with my tongue. I really have to be

careful that I'm not walking around or doing things with my

tongue hanging out of my mouth. In school, I was teased a few

times about my tongue hanging out.

I've been trying to sleep on my side as much as possible as it

seems I sleep much better that way. But, there are times I roll

over when sleeping or simply don't want to sleep on my side.

These are usually the nights that the Apnea has the most affect

on me.

I'm glad to hear everything is going great for you and I wish you a

speedy recovery!

Cary

> Hi again Cary,

> I decided to make all my replies, so I don't forget anyone later.

> Good luck with your appointment today, first of all. Wish you

the

> best with that!

> I didn't know you were under the NHS...I do understand that, as

we

> have several friends over on that side of the 'pond' as well, and

they

> of course have the NHS too!

> Yes, my sleep apnea was worse when I slept on my back. My

jaw would

> fall back, plus I have a monstor big tongue (never knew this

> previously! I mean how would I really?!) so both my tongue and

jaw

> would fall back when I sleep and I'm primarily a back sleeper

anyway.

> It was seriously affecting my sleep, so I just decided to forge

ahead

> and do this. I'm glad the worst is over, and you will be too once

you

> get to that point! Right now, I'm just relaxing - trying to anyway -

> and waiting for time to 'heal all'.

> Take care and again good luck today,

> Judy

[Guest guest]

Hi Cary,

I had to laugh inside when you wrote about being able to touch your

nose with your tongue....I could always do the same thing! My tongue

never hung out of my mouth though...I just knew I had a long tongue.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to do the tongue/nose trick again -

but if not, that's ok....I'm 41 now and don't need to be doing those

tricks again anymore anyway...lol

Thanks for the well wishes,

Judy