Re: Forward movement of both jaws

[Guest guest]

Hi,

On October 29th I had upper/lower surgery myself. I had my upper moved up &

forward and my lower moved forward. I had a 13.5mm overbite. The day after I

had none. I wasn't banded or wired shut which was great because I could fit a

baby toothbrush in my mouth to clean the tops of my teeth. Chewing was not

allowed for 6 weeks so I ate alot of mashed potatoes & soup. It is very

important to NOT chew because the muscles have to heal correctly. I can answer

any questions you have.

[Guest guest]

I'm not sure if I had any forward upper movement, but I did have

upper segmentation to widen my jaw and lower advancement. You can

see my before and after pictures on the OSS1 site under two folders

both called .

Not sure what sort of joint surgery you're having, but I had an

arthroscopy on my left joint that was nothing compared to the

orthognathic surgery and recovery. I've also had two arthrocentises

on that joint, which are less invasive than the arthroscopy. My doc

is now recommending open joint surgery to repair or remove the

cartilage in there, and he says it's much easier to recover from

than the orthognathic surgery. I haven't undergone the surgery yet,

but know I will sometime in the future. However, my doc has not yet

led me astray, so depending on what sort of joint surgery you're

having, I think the recovery should be easier than from orthognathic

surgery.

There is another boad member (minirascal) who has also had

experience with joint surgery.

> Hi all,

>

> I'll be gearing up to have both jaws moved forward this summer

> (actually, the plan is to move the maxilla up and forward, as well

as

> mandible forward). I'm wondering if any of you who underwent this

> exact procedure can send me a photo or two of your before and

after

> shots.

>

> Also, later this month I'll be having surgery on my right TMJ

disk.

> I believe someone once posted that this type of surgery was more

> difficult to recover from than jaw surgery. Any thoughts?

>

> Many thanks!!

>

> Molly in Boston (YEAH PATRIOTS!)

[Guest guest]

Hi Molly,

I'll answer this question even though I live in Panther territory ;-

). How much your appearance changes depends alot on how much

movement you have on your jaws. With some people it's hardly

noticeable. My appearance changed dramatically. My old college

roommate and my great aunt didn't recognize me at all after my

surgeries. I had the lower moved forward 17 mm and the upper was

moved 5 mm. I'm happy about my new appearance and don't feel self-

conscious anymore about my teeth.

I've also had surgeries on my TMJ's. The first surgery I had on my

TMJ's was the easiest. The surgeon did a temporalis muscle flap on

the left where the disc was completely gone and arthroscopic surgery

on the right where he tried to salvage part of the disc. I was back

to work and eating a soft diet after two weeks. The pain wasn't bad

at all. Unfortunately I had a very destructive arthritis and the

condyles continued to degenerate. I'm now almost 3 weeks post-op

from bilateral joint reconstruction which was by far the most

difficult surgery.

Hopefully you'll have an easier time of it. Good luck.

> Hi all,

>

> I'll be gearing up to have both jaws moved forward this summer

> (actually, the plan is to move the maxilla up and forward, as well

as

> mandible forward). I'm wondering if any of you who underwent this

> exact procedure can send me a photo or two of your before and

after

> shots.

>

> Also, later this month I'll be having surgery on my right TMJ

disk.

> I believe someone once posted that this type of surgery was more

> difficult to recover from than jaw surgery. Any thoughts?

>

> Many thanks!!

>

> Molly in Boston (YEAH PATRIOTS!)