- Re: Can anyone relate to my condition??

[Guest guest]

, thanks for responding so quickly.

I totally agree with your arguments and thank you for the link. It

really helped in answering some of my other questions too. In your

opinion, do you think you were at all disadvantaged by having your

surgery when you did than if you were around 20 years old?

I am from Cowtown (Calgary, Alberta).

Thanks again,

Murat

> Hi from a fellow Canuck! I'm north of Toronto, and am 9 months

post-

> op from upper/lower/genio surgery for an

> overbite/overjet/retrognathic lower jaw. I had no idea that I

needed

> surgery, I just had pain on opening to eat, and was referred by my

> dentist to a TMJ pain specialist (he said it would be expensive),

who

> did a lot of tests, and told me that the best solution would be

> surgery, but who also offered a non-surgical option. I just didn't

> think that the non-surgical option would correct things in the

long

> run, that things wouldn't get better on their own, that they could

> get a whole lot worse. And that at 46 years of age, I was in good

> health and would have an easier recovery than if I were to end up

> doing this in my 60s.

>

> I had a great recovery, I'm delighted with the results, and also

> finding that I have derived other health benefits as a result of

> correcting what was a fundamental skeletal deformity.

>

> There are lots of studies out there on the net about risks of

damage

> to the main nerve which runs through the lower jaw (trigimenal -

> sp?). A good surgeon will locate and isolate that nerve before

> proceeding during surgery. Unfortunately, the nerve doesn't

> particularly like being stretched or moved, and usually results in

> temporary numbness. This numbness, for most of us, goes away

fairly

> quickly in the beginning stages of recovery, but there is residual

> numbness that can take years to go away completely. I had lower

> wisdoms removed about 8 years ago, and I had a patch of numbness

on

> my lower lip that ended up being like the very last few seconds of

> dental freezing - you could touch it and feel very light tinglies.

I

> would not call this numbness, but an altered sensation.

>

> There are risks to any surgery involving anaesthesia. Of course,

> there are also risks in driving on our highways, flying in

airplanes,

> etc. It's good that you want to be able to make an informed

decision.

>

> There are a lot of good links on this website:

> http://www.geocities.com/orthognathicinfo in particular, click on

> OTHER LINKS and ORTHOGNATHIC LINKS for links to some studies

online.

>

> What part of Canada are you in? Have you had any consultations

with

> an oral surgeon yet?

>

>