Dwilzen Re: TRYING TO DECIDE

[Guest guest]

Hi Dwilzen,

I am in a very similar situation to yours. I need a mandibular

advancement of 4 to 5 mm and braces. I am at the beginning of my

treaatment plan; i have to find an ortho first. I've seen my oral

surgeon already.

You may want to talk to your oral surgeon about the risks of

surgery. In my case, there's a 3 % risk of permanent numbness, and

32% risk of having " alternate sensations " which is basically

permanent mild numbness, i.e. the tingly sensations that we may feel

in our cheeks and/or lips for the rest of our lives. The latter risk

of 32%, I wasn't told by my surgeon, I found out about it thru this

website (with referral to an article) and plan to confirm it with my

doc.

I also have no functional problems,and am doing it for aesthetics,

and also to relieve my severly dry lips which result from my mouth

being open all the time. I decided, that either I have surgery and

braces or nothing. I don't want the braces only alternative, since

in my case 2 negative consequences would result from not having the

surgery. Pushing my upper two front teeth inwards, more than in

the " ideal " case, so as to conceal my overbite, would result in my

nose looking too big, and my upper lip too small. The latter would

result because taking my upper two front teeth in too much would take

part of the upper lip along with it. Thus, having braces only would

mask my overbite but create two other aesthetic problems. Thus,

my " before " face might actually be more pleasing than my " after " face

without the surgery. Having surgery, on the other hand means my bite

would be proper and there would be no need to take those two front

teeth in more than is necessary. Thus, with surgery and braces,

there would be no need to get a nose job and no thin upper lip!!

Another factor worth mentioning is that my profile isn't balanced

now: my chin is too far inwards,as a result of my overbite. I don't

think this can be corrected with braces only. Surgery pushes the

lower jaw forward and along with it the chin goes forward too. This

results in a more balanced profile.

I hope this helps. Where are you from?

All the best,

> Hello, I am 31 years old and I have a 4mm mandibular retrusion ( my

> lower jaw sets back giving me an overbite). I was not really aware

> of this until I went to the Orthodontist seeking information about

> braces to straighten my teeth. He told me that there are 2 ways I

> could approach this. One is with braces only and the other is with

> surgery and braces. He said that the best approach would be to have

> the surgery and braces to ultimately have the perfect bite... or he

> could do braces only to straighten my teeth the best he could. I

> have no pain or any problem with my jaw. the main reason i started

> this is for esthetic reasons. But now I am trying to decide which

> way to go. both the oral surgeon and Ortho feel the sagittal split

> osteotomy it the way to go. I am just not sure I want to go through

> all that. Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.