Re: Hello to the group

October 3, 2005

Hi Ben,

Boy did you come to the right place!!! lol You will find a lot of

people here who have a similar diagnosis and treatment plan. There

are differences for each of us, but yours sounds really familiar to

me. I am in the beginning stages of braces, and am looking at

surgery in roughly 2 years, but othewise, yours is similar to mine

in that it is for an overbite, I have an overly deep bite instead of

a crossbite, and will have both upper and lower surgery. If you

look at some of the recent weeks threads, you will see several

people who have just gone to surgery and are in recovery. It will

help you get prepared for your recovery at home. And you will see

the general progression. That always helps me. Even though the

first week can be difficult, knowing what to expect can even make

that easier to handle. Take a look around and post anything that

you want more info about. This is a great place to be, and you

found us well in time prior to your surgery. Welcome to the board!

Hugs,

Fran

> Hi.. I'm a 39 year old male with surgery scheduled for December

13.

> Really have the jitters today!

>

> So here is what I've been diagnosed with: " Full step II

malocclusion

> with 12.0 mm of overjet. Edge to edge left posterior cross bite.

> Severe mandibular retrognathia. Maxilla is vertically deficient

and

> has mild transverse maxillary hypoplasia. Mild progenia. "

>

> Treatment plan: " Orthognathic surgery consisting of a bilateral

> sagittal split mandbular osteotomy with advancement and rigid

> fixation. Le Fort I Osteotomy to expend and correct the posterior

> cross bite and also down graft anteriorly to give more incisor

show.

> Adjust occlusal plan to reduce progenia. "

>

> Whew.. I'm college educated and I am lost in a world of oral

surgery

> Jeopardy. I'll take " things only I know for $100, . "

>

> Just wanted to introduce myself and see if any of this looks

> famililar to anyone. Color me nervous ...

>

> Ben

October 3, 2005

Welcome, Ben.

Try not to be jittery. Most people who are a month or more post-op

agree that the worst part of this whole business is the an-ti-ci-paya-

shun.

Here's a bit of deciphering for you, subject as ever to correction by

anyone who knows more or better than I, a total lay person who had

lower advancement surgery in June 2002.

39-year-old male: a babe in arms. I had surgery when I was 56, almost

57.

Malocclusion: mismatched bite.

12.0mm overjet. That means that your upper teeth flare outward, so

that you have 12 mm of difference between your lower and your upper.

5 mm is about a quarter of an inch, so you have something over a half

an inch of a problem there.

The cross bite means that your upper teeth on the left side are not

neatly meeting, overhanging your lowers a bit, as they should.

Instead they may be hitting smack on the edges (I'm guessing now,

that such is what the " edge to edge " bit means).

Severe mandibular retrognathia: Your lower jaw (mandible) is small,

or your lower teeth are way behind the front ones.

Maxilla vertically deficient: You don't have enough height in your

upper jaw.

I'm not sure about the " mild transverse maxillary hypoplasia. " I

think that may mean that the upper jaw is not quite large enough

across.

And prognathia I forget. Sorry. It is probably somewhere in the files

or links, though, where you will find most excellent glossaries, some

with pictures.

Bilateral sagittal split osteotomy. This is what I had. They cut the

bone of the lower jaw in the back, then tease it apart until they can

slide it forward on itself. (My surgeon used a plastic model of a jaw

to show me this one. They'll do it on both sides (that's the

bilateral part) and the split will be sagittal, or from the back to

the front. The rigid fixation means they'll then screw it in place,

using (probably) tiny titanium screws. Maybe some plates, too.

The Le Forte I is the standard procedure for repairing the upper jaw.

Look in the links for this one. " I " means the level at which they

cut, and if I'm not mistaken, many people have this one. Rarer are

the LeForte II and LeForte III, which are higher cuts.

Does that help? Hope so. Read around in the back posts, and come back

with any questions.

And always, always, your surgeon and/or ortho should be willing to

explain these things to you precisely. Any explanation and

understanding you get from them will doubtless be clearer than any I

can come up with, and will not include any mistakes I may make.

Best,

Cammie