To Fran - Re: Anyone see significant cosmetic improvement in their face

[Guest guest]

Hi Fran,

I think it is a matter of motivation to have the surgery.... people

could be a a great risk for future problems since they have a

problematic jaw, however their personal reasons/motivations for

pursuing the surgery could be solely related to cosmetics....

regardless to whether or not they stand to gain from possible

functional/medical improvements that would accompany the surgery as

well. Those considerations just aren't motivating to them. That isn't

to say that they won't gain from them, they just don't factor into

some individual's reasoning for pursuing jaw surgery. I hope I am not

being too inarticulate!

Then, there are those who would not undertake this kind of ordeal

solely due to cosmetics.... they need a more " substantiated " (or call

it what you want) - a more meaningful/serious/etc. reason- as if

appearance alone isn't an important enough motivation. For some

appearance/cosmetics just aren't that important to them, so

considerations in that regard don't weigh in.... that isn't to say

that those individuals wouldn't stand to benefit cosmetically from

the surgery just the same, that just isn't part of their reasoning

for deciding to have the surgery.

So, conversely to your very well explained point, there are those

individuals who have serious jaw problems and pursue the surgery only

to resolve the medical/functional problems, while cosmetics isn't a

consideration either way. Just the same, I think often times, those

with more serious jaw problems tend, inherently to the nature of the

problem, gain to improve their appearance just by correcting the jaw

situation. The jaw problem directly impacts their appearance, so a

function of correcting the problem, is to also improve the

appearance. Does that make sense? For some reason, I feel like I'm

not explaining myself very well!

Anyway, I don't disagree with what you said at all.... I just think

it is a matter of what motivates an individual's decision- whether

the motivating factor is cosmetic/function & problems/ or a combination

of both.

As an aside, when I was researching the surgery, I found a site that

discussed the classifications of the problems.... one was solely a

dental deformity that meant the teeth did not meet properly due

solely to the placement of the teeth in a well positioned/aligned

jaws. It was a teeth only problem.... usually resolved with

orthodontics. Then there is the skeletal deformity... the teeth

functioned and met properly within the framework of a deformed

skeleton- namely the upper and/or lower jaws were " deformed " to some

effect. This did not however impact the function of the mouth and

teeth- I think this is where the cosmetic only motivation comes into

play in some cases. The last classification is a dental-skeletal

deformity where both the position of the teeth and jaws is incorrect

and correction requires both repositioning of the teeth through ortho

and repositioning of the jaws with surgery. This is my problem... I

think that is what they call a Class III malocclusion. (My disclaimer

is that I may have this a little off, but I think that was the

general idea!) The body does have an amazing way in some individuals

of working around problems and finding it's own set of solutions, so

that maybe some people have teeth and joints that work dandily, but

they have the skeletal deformity. As a function of that, their

appearance isn't ideal (at least to them!) and thus they aren't

having a functional problem, but are dissatisfied cosmetically.

Ok, here are my long drawn out blathering thoughts on the subject!

You raised a really good point though, and it IS so hard to know or

even try to guess what will be in the future. One of my many

motivations for surgery was definitely to preempt and possible future

problems that I wasn't yet experiencing but stood the chance of

facing later in life.....

Katja

> > > While I don't recommend having this surgery for cosmetic reasons

> >

> > Sorry to intrude but this was really important for me to hear,

> > especially coming from someone as experienced as you, so I thank

you

> > for your honesty.

> >

> > I've basically come to the same conclusion. Unless there are

> > medical/pain issues OR you're very very ugly -- not a good idea.

> >

> > Gene