Guest guest Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 Hi Meryaten168, I am preop, so cannot address your question about pain post op. There is a wealth of information here on the board that you can read through. When I first came here, I browsed through a few weeks worth of posts, and it gave me a good basic idea of what many people go through with the preop, surgery and recovery issues of orthognathics. It really helped me. I just wanted to pop in here and welcome you to the board too! Hugs, Fran > > I'm trying to decide whether or not to undergo orthognathic surgery to > correct a class 2 malocclusion - I have an overjet of about 6 mm and a > little asymmetry (lower midline is off by maybe 1.5 mm) We can get a > dfairly good result with ortho alone, but to get the perfect class 1 > occlusion it will require mandibular advancement - I assume > (consultation on Wednesday) BSSO. > > What I'd like to ask those who have gone through it is how their > experiences with respect to pain and swelling compare with (if they > have had it) removal of wisdom teeth - in my case that was no big deal > at all, though I had only partial impaction. > > I apologise if this is an oft-asked question. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 Hi, I don't remember much about my wisdom teeth surgery (I had only 2 lower removed, no uppers apparent, one lower was impacted), but my husband tells me I was really swollen, like a chipmunk. I do remember having to take Tylenol 3 for pain. As a contrast, this surgery: no pain (discomfort can be controlled with children's tylenol) and minimal swelling. I did do a lot of things to minimize the swelling this time (homeopathic remedies, MLD therapy, etc). It is a major surgery, though, and you'll have a longer recovery than just wisdom teeth removal. Your movements sound on the border of minimal, though, so I would definitely be asking the surgeon whether or not it's absolutely necessary. Sometimes orthodontal treatment can correct this sort of thing (my ortho tries to treat without surgery wherever possible), but I would want to make sure that any functional problems were being corrected with orthodontics so that there aren't future problems laying in wait. Hope that helps, > > I'm trying to decide whether or not to undergo orthognathic surgery to > correct a class 2 malocclusion - I have an overjet of about 6 mm and a > little asymmetry (lower midline is off by maybe 1.5 mm) We can get a > dfairly good result with ortho alone, but to get the perfect class 1 > occlusion it will require mandibular advancement - I assume > (consultation on Wednesday) BSSO. > > What I'd like to ask those who have gone through it is how their > experiences with respect to pain and swelling compare with (if they > have had it) removal of wisdom teeth - in my case that was no big deal > at all, though I had only partial impaction. > > I apologise if this is an oft-asked question. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 Hi, I am around 4 months post op from lower jaw sugery (also to correct a class 2 malocclusion) and my jaw was moved 5mm - so around the same situation. I found that swelling was not necessarily any MORE than my wisdom teeth extraction, just that it did last longer - the worst swelling is probably a week or so, for my wisdom teeth it was more like 2 days. As far as pain (and I don't know if this is common or just me or whatever) I found the jaw surgery much less painful. You can feel the stress of your muscles which are trying to adjust to the new position of your jaw, and if you call this painful then maybe the surgery is more painful however I kind of found this to be just dull pain in the back of my mind - my wisdom teeth extraction was a lot more painful in the way that you normally think of pain (does this make any sense??) Hope this helps. Val > > I'm trying to decide whether or not to undergo orthognathic surgery to > correct a class 2 malocclusion - I have an overjet of about 6 mm and a > little asymmetry (lower midline is off by maybe 1.5 mm) We can get a > dfairly good result with ortho alone, but to get the perfect class 1 > occlusion it will require mandibular advancement - I assume > (consultation on Wednesday) BSSO. > > What I'd like to ask those who have gone through it is how their > experiences with respect to pain and swelling compare with (if they > have had it) removal of wisdom teeth - in my case that was no big deal > at all, though I had only partial impaction. > > I apologise if this is an oft-asked question. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 I had lower jaw advancement and lefort 1. I'm now about 4 months post op. The only pain that I thought was bad was the day after surgery, I was feeling around my mouth which caused a pain. Other than that, I think discomfort is more of an issue than pain when doing this surgery. Such as swelling, hunger, and clogged sinuses. > > I'm trying to decide whether or not to undergo orthognathic surgery to > correct a class 2 malocclusion - I have an overjet of about 6 mm and a > little asymmetry (lower midline is off by maybe 1.5 mm) We can get a > dfairly good result with ortho alone, but to get the perfect class 1 > occlusion it will require mandibular advancement - I assume > (consultation on Wednesday) BSSO. > > What I'd like to ask those who have gone through it is how their > experiences with respect to pain and swelling compare with (if they > have had it) removal of wisdom teeth - in my case that was no big deal > at all, though I had only partial impaction. > > I apologise if this is an oft-asked question. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 Yeah - I take your point about it being a pretty small degree of correction to justify going under the knife (just barely enough to qualify for coverage under some health plans). On the other hand, I asked my ortho what sort of an overjet he felt he could get me to using orthodontics alone, and the best guess was about 4 mm. I am just not convinced I will be happy with that after all the time (and not to mention the hassle) of braces. I look at people's " after " pics, with lovely class 1 occlusions, and just wish that could be me. My other, and larger, concern vis a vis going the purely orthodontic route is stability. Anyway, thanks for the info - much appreciated. > > > > I'm trying to decide whether or not to undergo orthognathic > surgery to > > correct a class 2 malocclusion - I have an overjet of about 6 mm > and a > > little asymmetry (lower midline is off by maybe 1.5 mm) We can get > a > > dfairly good result with ortho alone, but to get the perfect class > 1 > > occlusion it will require mandibular advancement - I assume > > (consultation on Wednesday) BSSO. > > > > What I'd like to ask those who have gone through it is how their > > experiences with respect to pain and swelling compare with (if > they > > have had it) removal of wisdom teeth - in my case that was no big > deal > > at all, though I had only partial impaction. > > > > I apologise if this is an oft-asked question. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 I think the problem with minimal movements is that there's no guarantee of a precise movement. Surgeons often overcorrect to allow for relapse - that could easily be 1 mm. As I've said before, though, I don't believe you can attain happiness by having this surgery (or orthodontics). It's an internal change, not an external one. Surgery or orthodontics that doesn't live up to your expectations can open a much bigger can of worms. Good luck with your decision. > > Yeah - I take your point about it being a pretty small degree of > correction to justify going under the knife (just barely enough to > qualify for coverage under some health plans). On the other hand, I > asked my ortho what sort of an overjet he felt he could get me to > using orthodontics alone, and the best guess was about 4 mm. I am > just not convinced I will be happy with that after all the time (and > not to mention the hassle) of braces. I look at people's " after " > pics, with lovely class 1 occlusions, and just wish that could be me. > > My other, and larger, concern vis a vis going the purely orthodontic > route is stability. > > Anyway, thanks for the info - much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 Oh dear - I don't think I've made myself very clear Sorry about that. When you say " It's an internal change, not an external one. Surgery or orthodontics that doesn't live up to your expectations can open a much bigger can of worms " I think you are under an impression that this is all about vanity and jealousy and so forth. It's not. The decision to go for ortho was one made after a good deal of prompting by my dentist - oral hygeine has been becoming increasingly harder as my teeth have crowded, to a point where even the hygeinist has trouble flossing my teeth. Not good. Now, the ortho offered me two choices - compromise and get a less than perfect occlusion at the end of the treatment, or go all the way and have surgery to correct the overjet and midline. To be very clear, my overjet is maybe 5 or 6 mm (I've not looked at my records) now so we're not talking about correcting 1 mm. We're talking about correctiong 5 or 6 mm, as opposed to going ortho alone, and only partially correcting that. I had ortho as a kid and my parents and I cut it short when the ortho wanted to use headgear - neither I nor my parents understood why (neither did we ask, neither did he tell us) and a second doc (a general dentist - there's a lesson there said that he did not believe further treatment was necessary. Fast-forward and look how my jaw grew to this lovely overjet - I deeply regret not preventing this as a kid. So now, as I go through a second (and costly) round of ortho, I ask myself, will I feel the exact same regret if I get my braces off and see not a medically correct and healthy class 1 occlusion, but rather a remaining overjet of about 4 mm, that (to add to the fun) might well relapse to become almost as bad as it started. Yes, I'll have better aligned teeth, and I'll have addressed the major oral health issues, but will I wish I'd taken the last step to make my bite _right_ as opposed to merely straight? It's not about magical mythical happiness through surgery and ortho - it's about knowing I did what was right for me this time around, and not having any regrets this time. > > > > Yeah - I take your point about it being a pretty small degree of > > correction to justify going under the knife (just barely enough to > > qualify for coverage under some health plans). On the other hand, > I > > asked my ortho what sort of an overjet he felt he could get me to > > using orthodontics alone, and the best guess was about 4 mm. I am > > just not convinced I will be happy with that after all the time > (and > > not to mention the hassle) of braces. I look at people's " after " > > pics, with lovely class 1 occlusions, and just wish that could be > me. > > > > My other, and larger, concern vis a vis going the purely > orthodontic > > route is stability. > > > > Anyway, thanks for the info - much appreciated. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 Much clearer, thanks. Dental health is a really good reason to be doing all of this. I can relate a bit to your story. In my mid-20s, my dentist (and I guess my parents) talked me into orthodontal treatment. I got as far as having molds made, but chickened out mainly because I was going through the period of leaving home via university, and didn't want to go back home every 2 weeks (that's what I thought the frequency of adjustments would be). Nobody mentioned anything about jaw surgery at the time. It wasn't until my late 40s (almost 47) that I had the surgery (upper/lower/genio - my ortho called my case " severe " ), so I lived with it for a long time. The difference was that the ortho treatment was done without removing any teeth - the dentist wanted " four on the floor " , which is slang here for removing 4 teeth. I'm glad to have waited and hung onto my teeth! I didn't read vanity or jealousy into your post at all. It's just that many approach this from a cosmetic standpoint, expecting the surgery to fix their low self-esteem problems. I don't read that as vanity or jealousy, just the wrong approach to fixing self esteem issues. Hope that's clearer from my end! I've been around here for almost 5 years, so I've seen a lot of posts : ) > > Oh dear - I don't think I've made myself very clear Sorry about > that. > > When you say " It's an internal change, not an external one. Surgery > or orthodontics that doesn't live up to your expectations can open a > much bigger can of worms " I think you are under an impression that > this is all about vanity and jealousy and so forth. It's not. The > decision to go for ortho was one made after a good deal of prompting > by my dentist - oral hygeine has been becoming increasingly harder > as my teeth have crowded, to a point where even the hygeinist has > trouble flossing my teeth. Not good. Now, the ortho offered me two > choices - compromise and get a less than perfect occlusion at the > end of the treatment, or go all the way and have surgery to correct > the overjet and midline. To be very clear, my overjet is maybe 5 or > 6 mm (I've not looked at my records) now so we're not talking about > correcting 1 mm. We're talking about correctiong 5 or 6 mm, as > opposed to going ortho alone, and only partially correcting that. > > I had ortho as a kid and my parents and I cut it short when the > ortho wanted to use headgear - neither I nor my parents understood > why (neither did we ask, neither did he tell us) and a second doc (a > general dentist - there's a lesson there said that he did not > believe further treatment was necessary. Fast-forward and look how > my jaw grew to this lovely overjet - I deeply regret not preventing > this as a kid. So now, as I go through a second (and costly) round > of ortho, I ask myself, will I feel the exact same regret if I get > my braces off and see not a medically correct and healthy class 1 > occlusion, but rather a remaining overjet of about 4 mm, that (to > add to the fun) might well relapse to become almost as bad as it > started. Yes, I'll have better aligned teeth, and I'll have > addressed the major oral health issues, but will I wish I'd taken > the last step to make my bite _right_ as opposed to merely straight? > > It's not about magical mythical happiness through surgery and ortho - > it's about knowing I did what was right for me this time around, > and not having any regrets this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 I wouldn't spend too much time regretting not getting further orthodontics as a child - you really don't know if that would have corrected your problem or not. I know a few people who had the braces, the head gear, etc. throughout their teens (my sister, for one) - yet still had to have this surgery and braces again as an adult. Orthodontics as a child doesn't guarantee a perfect bite. Anyway, I don't know if it makes you feel better or not, but I thought I'd pass on my experience with head-gear. Also.....I'm only 2 months past my surgery so far, but I would gladly have skipped the surgery to have a 4 mm overjet. I didn't have the option, though, 3 orthodontists told me they wouldn't put braces on without me committing to having the surgery. This is only my opinion, others are perfectly happy with their outcome......you need to make up your own mind. > > > > > > Yeah - I take your point about it being a pretty small degree of > > > correction to justify going under the knife (just barely enough > to > > > qualify for coverage under some health plans). On the other > hand, > > I > > > asked my ortho what sort of an overjet he felt he could get me > to > > > using orthodontics alone, and the best guess was about 4 mm. I > am > > > just not convinced I will be happy with that after all the time > > (and > > > not to mention the hassle) of braces. I look at people's " after " > > > pics, with lovely class 1 occlusions, and just wish that could > be > > me. > > > > > > My other, and larger, concern vis a vis going the purely > > orthodontic > > > route is stability. > > > > > > Anyway, thanks for the info - much appreciated. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 Oh dear - I don't think I've made myself very clear Sorry about that. When you say " It's an internal change, not an external one. Surgery or orthodontics that doesn't live up to your expectations can open a much bigger can of worms " I think you are under an impression that this is all about vanity and jealousy and so forth. It's not. The decision to go for ortho was one made after a good deal of prompting by my dentist - oral hygeine has been becoming increasingly harder as my teeth have crowded, to a point where even the hygeinist has trouble flossing my teeth. Not good. Now, the ortho offered me two choices - compromise and get a less than perfect occlusion at the end of the treatment, or go all the way and have surgery to correct the overjet and midline. To be very clear, my overjet is maybe 5 or 6 mm (I've not looked at my records) now so we're not talking about correcting 1 mm. We're talking about correctiong 5 or 6 mm, as opposed to going ortho alone, and only partially correcting that. I had ortho as a kid and my parents and I cut it short when the ortho wanted to use headgear - neither I nor my parents understood why (neither did we ask, neither did he tell us) and a second doc (a general dentist - there's a lesson there said that he did not believe further treatment was necessary. Fast-forward and look how my jaw grew to this lovely overjet - I deeply regret not preventing this as a kid. So now, as I go through a second (and costly) round of ortho, I ask myself, will I feel the exact same regret if I get my braces off and see not a medically correct and healthy class 1 occlusion, but rather a remaining overjet of about 4 mm, that (to add to the fun) might well relapse to become almost as bad as it started. Yes, I'll have better aligned teeth, and I'll have addressed the major oral health issues, but will I wish I'd taken the last step to make my bite _right_ as opposed to merely straight? It's not about magical mythical happiness through surgery and ortho - it's about knowing I did what was right for me this time around, and not having any regrets this time. > > > > Yeah - I take your point about it being a pretty small degree of > > correction to justify going under the knife (just barely enough to > > qualify for coverage under some health plans). On the other hand, > I > > asked my ortho what sort of an overjet he felt he could get me to > > using orthodontics alone, and the best guess was about 4 mm. I am > > just not convinced I will be happy with that after all the time > (and > > not to mention the hassle) of braces. I look at people's " after " > > pics, with lovely class 1 occlusions, and just wish that could be > me. > > > > My other, and larger, concern vis a vis going the purely > orthodontic > > route is stability. > > > > Anyway, thanks for the info - much appreciated. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 Oh dear - I don't think I've made myself very clear Sorry about that. When you say " It's an internal change, not an external one. Surgery or orthodontics that doesn't live up to your expectations can open a much bigger can of worms " I think you are under an impression that this is all about vanity and jealousy and so forth. It's not. The decision to go for ortho was one made after a good deal of prompting by my dentist - oral hygeine has been becoming increasingly harder as my teeth have crowded, to a point where even the hygeinist has trouble flossing my teeth. Not good. Now, the ortho offered me two choices - compromise and get a less than perfect occlusion at the end of the treatment, or go all the way and have surgery to correct the overjet and midline. To be very clear, my overjet is maybe 5 or 6 mm (I've not looked at my records) now so we're not talking about correcting 1 mm. We're talking about correctiong 5 or 6 mm, as opposed to going ortho alone, and only partially correcting that. I had ortho as a kid and my parents and I cut it short when the ortho wanted to use headgear - neither I nor my parents understood why (neither did we ask, neither did he tell us) and a second doc (a general dentist - there's a lesson there said that he did not believe further treatment was necessary. Fast-forward and look how my jaw grew to this lovely overjet - I deeply regret not preventing this as a kid. So now, as I go through a second (and costly) round of ortho, I ask myself, will I feel the exact same regret if I get my braces off and see not a medically correct and healthy class 1 occlusion, but rather a remaining overjet of about 4 mm, that (to add to the fun) might well relapse to become almost as bad as it started. Yes, I'll have better aligned teeth, and I'll have addressed the major oral health issues, but will I wish I'd taken the last step to make my bite _right_ as opposed to merely straight? It's not about magical mythical happiness through surgery and ortho - it's about knowing I did what was right for me this time around, and not having any regrets this time. > > > > Yeah - I take your point about it being a pretty small degree of > > correction to justify going under the knife (just barely enough to > > qualify for coverage under some health plans). On the other hand, > I > > asked my ortho what sort of an overjet he felt he could get me to > > using orthodontics alone, and the best guess was about 4 mm. I am > > just not convinced I will be happy with that after all the time > (and > > not to mention the hassle) of braces. I look at people's " after " > > pics, with lovely class 1 occlusions, and just wish that could be > me. > > > > My other, and larger, concern vis a vis going the purely > orthodontic > > route is stability. > > > > Anyway, thanks for the info - much appreciated. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 Shoot - how did I manage to triple post - sorry about that. > > I'm trying to decide whether or not to undergo orthognathic surgery to > correct a class 2 malocclusion - I have an overjet of about 6 mm and a > little asymmetry (lower midline is off by maybe 1.5 mm) We can get a > dfairly good result with ortho alone, but to get the perfect class 1 > occlusion it will require mandibular advancement - I assume > (consultation on Wednesday) BSSO. > > What I'd like to ask those who have gone through it is how their > experiences with respect to pain and swelling compare with (if they > have had it) removal of wisdom teeth - in my case that was no big deal > at all, though I had only partial impaction. > > I apologise if this is an oft-asked question. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 Shoot - how did I manage to triple post - sorry about that. > > I'm trying to decide whether or not to undergo orthognathic surgery to > correct a class 2 malocclusion - I have an overjet of about 6 mm and a > little asymmetry (lower midline is off by maybe 1.5 mm) We can get a > dfairly good result with ortho alone, but to get the perfect class 1 > occlusion it will require mandibular advancement - I assume > (consultation on Wednesday) BSSO. > > What I'd like to ask those who have gone through it is how their > experiences with respect to pain and swelling compare with (if they > have had it) removal of wisdom teeth - in my case that was no big deal > at all, though I had only partial impaction. > > I apologise if this is an oft-asked question. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 As far as the small degree of correction you both are talking about, I had my surgery to correct a 5mm overbite which might not seem like a big deal except for the fact that I had a " deep bite " (as in my lower front teeth were digging into - and made permanent holes in - the roof of my mouth) so that could definitely be the case - this cannot be corrected with orthodontics alone. So there are definitely situations in which surgery is still needed for minimal movements. Just contributing to the conversation =) Val > > > > > > I'm trying to decide whether or not to undergo orthognathic > > surgery to > > > correct a class 2 malocclusion - I have an overjet of about 6 mm > > and a > > > little asymmetry (lower midline is off by maybe 1.5 mm) We can > get > > a > > > dfairly good result with ortho alone, but to get the perfect > class > > 1 > > > occlusion it will require mandibular advancement - I assume > > > (consultation on Wednesday) BSSO. > > > > > > What I'd like to ask those who have gone through it is how their > > > experiences with respect to pain and swelling compare with (if > > they > > > have had it) removal of wisdom teeth - in my case that was no > big > > deal > > > at all, though I had only partial impaction. > > > > > > I apologise if this is an oft-asked question. > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 As far as the small degree of correction you both are talking about, I had my surgery to correct a 5mm overbite which might not seem like a big deal except for the fact that I had a " deep bite " (as in my lower front teeth were digging into - and made permanent holes in - the roof of my mouth) so that could definitely be the case - this cannot be corrected with orthodontics alone. So there are definitely situations in which surgery is still needed for minimal movements. Just contributing to the conversation =) Val > > > > > > I'm trying to decide whether or not to undergo orthognathic > > surgery to > > > correct a class 2 malocclusion - I have an overjet of about 6 mm > > and a > > > little asymmetry (lower midline is off by maybe 1.5 mm) We can > get > > a > > > dfairly good result with ortho alone, but to get the perfect > class > > 1 > > > occlusion it will require mandibular advancement - I assume > > > (consultation on Wednesday) BSSO. > > > > > > What I'd like to ask those who have gone through it is how their > > > experiences with respect to pain and swelling compare with (if > > they > > > have had it) removal of wisdom teeth - in my case that was no > big > > deal > > > at all, though I had only partial impaction. > > > > > > I apologise if this is an oft-asked question. > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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