Re: Procedural questions / rounds 2 and 3 and maybe 4

[Guest guest]

Hi Amy,

Have you thought about getting a second (and maybe even third)

opinion? That sounds like a lot of surgeries.

I'm not positive about all the procedures you mentioned, but RPE is

Rapid Palatal Expansion, so RME could be Rapid Maxillary Expansion

(someone please correct me if I'm wrong). The maxilla is your upper

jaw, so they'd be widening it. The Le Fort I is where they do a

horizontal break of the upper jaw and adjust its height. I had a Le

Fort I done last week to make my upper jaw shorter by removing a few

millimeters of bone. It corrected my gummy smile and my open bite

(the surgeon removed more bone in back than in front). They expanded

my palate at the same time.

A mandibular osteotomy is a lower jaw procedure. I'm not sure why

they couldn't do it at the same time as the Le Fort procedure, though.

Three surgeries is an awful lot to have to go through.

Good luck with your research, decisions and eventual results!

Beth

> Hello-

>

> Someone on another site directed me here to find more information

> about the procedures I'm going to have done.

>

> OK, when I was 15 I had my upper jaw moved forward to correct my

> underbite. Now, at 29, my jaws have grown unevenly, I have an open

> bite in the back on both sides, and I only chew on about 4 teeth in

> the front. The other day I got a cc of a letter from my surgeon to

> my orthodontist (both different guys from before). My surgeon is

> suggesting 2, maybe 3 more surgeries. The first one will be to

> remove the hardware that's still in place from my first surgery when

> I was 15. At that time, they're planning to do " some cuts for RME

> to get the maxillary width that we need prior to the LeFort 1. "

> Later, they'll do the LeFort 1, see what happens, and then maybe do

> a mandibular osteotomy.

>

> So here are my questions:

> What are these thing--RME, LeFort 1, and mandibular osteotomy? Does

> anyone know if there are drawings or descriptions of what this

> means, and if so, where can I find them? Has anyone had any or all

> of these things? I have another meeting with my surgeon tomorrow,

> so I'll be able to get a lot of questions answered then. But, I'd

> like to have as much information as possible in advance so I can go

> in and ask the right questions. Any help would be appreciated.

>

> Thanks,

> Amy

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I'm doing some educated guessing here, which may be a disservice to

you. Always, ALWAYS, your surgeon is the person who will give you the

very best answers, and you should not be shy about asking questions.

Presumably, your orthodontist can explain as well, but I'd wanna hear

it from the person who's proposing the cuts.

OK.

I'm guessing RME is " rapid maxillary expansion. " as in cuts in the

upper tissues and partially through the bone to let an expander or

the braces give some more breadth in the upper jaw.

Le Fort I is a specific set of cuts used in work on the upper jaw, or

maxilla. Check out the links here and on site 2 if you want more

specifics. (Le Fort was the doc who devised the techniques. There are

also Le Fort II and Le Fort III, which, if I am not mistaken, are

cuts higher in the face to resolve more complex problems.)

Mandibular osteotomy is the lower jaw. Literally, cutting through the

bone of the lower jaw, to rearrange its length, usually, and perhaps

rotate it. There are several different approaches to doing this.

My surgeon showed me, with a plastic model of a skull, exactly what

he proposed to do. Ask yours if it's possible for him to do the same.

Cammie

> I was 15. At that time, they're planning to do " some cuts for RME

> to get the maxillary width that we need prior to the LeFort 1. "

> Later, they'll do the LeFort 1, see what happens, and then maybe do

> a mandibular osteotomy.

>

> So here are my questions:

> What are these thing--RME, LeFort 1, and mandibular osteotomy?

Does

> anyone know if there are drawings or descriptions of what this

> means, and if so, where can I find them? Has anyone had any or all

> of these things? I have another meeting with my surgeon tomorrow,

> so I'll be able to get a lot of questions answered then. But, I'd

> like to have as much information as possible in advance so I can go

> in and ask the right questions. Any help would be appreciated.

>

> Thanks,

> Amy