Re: Genetics of participants and what % of Americans do this?

[Guest guest]

Hello:

I have a double whammy I guess. The

oral surgeon told my parents and I that it would take 9 months of

braces but I don't know if it is worth the time.

9 months isn't much time, the five years is under your belt already!

They have to do the braces after to refine the new bite.

1. What are the long term affects if I do or do not have this

surgery? I heard that it is possible to wear out your teeth if you

avoid it.

=wearing out your teeth, embarassment of bite, and probably the best

one it could cost YOU up to 40 grand if you decided to do it when

you were not a student and had no coverage.

2. What is the average age of surgery? Also, what percent of

Americans or people in the world have to go through jaw surgery like

this?

=I think you'll find 18-60. Alot of us older ones wished we'd not

wasted so much time getting it done. I had it done at 28 and regret

that I didn't do it earlier. I am so much happier with my

appearance, bite, lack of headaches.

3. I was told that this surgery is genetics but NO ONE in my family

history has even had an underbite. Could it be because I have grown a

lot since my sophomore year in high school or even my sleeping

patterns? If not, what could the possible reasons be?

=Some people are probably genetically predisposed. However I have

heard underbites can occur in children that were not breastfed long

enough, trauma, illness.... My daughter had to have two lower teeth

pulled at 4 and has a very bad overbite now.

4. Finally, WHAT % of AMERICANS GO THROUGH THIS SURGERY? Maybe I

haven't noticed the problem but I don't know anyone that has this

problem. Is it most common to a specific race and/or country of

origin?

=not alot of people, if you ask your ortho out of all their patients

its not alot. I don't think there is a specific race although I

have heard one stat otherwise.

5. I was reading about a three day recovery...ten days until you can

start eating again. True? If not, what could the possible

complications be?

=there usually aren't eating complications. You really don't feel

like chewing for a while. The recovery is brutal but the results

are pretty instant.

It is normal to think you are nuts for doing this, its one of the

most involved surgeries one could put themselves through. But I'll

tell you for sure I won't let my daughter waste her time as soon as

she is old enough she's getting a BSSO. Attractiveness for men and

women is a precursor to success. For men weak chins and underbites

spell weakness. Get it overwith now as once you have a job,

children etc its a HUGE PAIN.

But its normal to have reservations and be as informed as possible.

But even for all the 'bad' things about this surgery I'd recommend

it to anyone with my old issues. But it does also take some

commitment on your part psychologically. Take a look at all the

pictures. Draw up a list of pros and cons for yourself.

Get a picture of yourself and imagine what you'd look like after.

Its amazing how much more attractive balancing out the face makes

you! And braces are so temporary

SHiloh

Thank you for reading this post. I would truly appreciate if people

could respond soon as this is something I consider important. I hope

to keep this on favorites for a while...we are fortunate that yahoo

set this up(wish AOL would too). Take care everyone...happy

Valentines Day and GO SUNS!

Mkmca2@a...

or e-mail me at my yahoo:

Sunsin04@y...

[Guest guest]

> 1. What are the long term affects if I do or do not have this

> surgery? I heard that it is possible to wear out your teeth if you

> avoid it.

Lots of things can happen. Yes. a bad bite can wear your teeth badly.

Also can lead to cracking the teeth, periodontal disease, joint

deterioration and other troubles.

> 2. What is the average age of surgery? Also, what percent of

> Americans or people in the world have to go through jaw surgery

like

> this?

I have no clue on these points. I would think that a lot of people

have the surgery in their late teens or early 20s, because that's

when the growth is usually complete. But you will find some people

outside those perimeters. Me for example. When I had my first round

of ortho, back in the '50s, they didn't really know much about

matching up the jaws, and there was not the technology to do the

rigid internal fixation. So these procedures were seldom done.

> 3. I was told that this surgery is genetics but NO ONE in my family

> history has even had an underbite. Could it be because I have grown

a

> lot since my sophomore year in high school or even my sleeping

> patterns? Personally, I inherited my pop's jaw. Bad breaks, growth

spurts or other issues can lead to surgery, though.

> 4. Finally, WHAT % of AMERICANS GO THROUGH THIS SURGERY? Maybe I

> haven't noticed the problem but I don't know anyone that has this

> problem. Is it most common to a specific race and/or country of

> origin?

Again, I don't know stats or figures. I can tell you that here in the

building where I work, and I would guess there are at least several

hundred employees, I know three people who have had it done -- and

there may be others I don't know about. As I noted above, the surgery

is done more and more often as it gets easier for the patients (and

presumably, the docs as well). I would suspect that the percentage

will increase in coming years, as the surgery is more available to

more people.

> 5. I was reading about a three day recovery...ten days until you

can

> start eating again. True? If not, what could the possible

> complications be?

I had lower only. My recovery was definitely longer than three days,

and my surgeon didn't want me chewing for weeks -- and then nothing

difficult.

As for the group -- Yahoo didn't set this up. A young woman named

did. Yahoo does provide what used to be clubs, and later

became groups. But should get the credit for letting us link

to each other, even if she is seldom around any more.

Cammie

>

> Thank you for reading this post. I would truly appreciate if people

> could respond soon as this is something I consider important. I

hope

> to keep this on favorites for a while...we are fortunate that yahoo

> set this up(wish AOL would too). Take care everyone...happy

> Valentines Day and GO SUNS!

>

> Mkmca2@a...

> or e-mail me at my yahoo:

> Sunsin04@y...

[Guest guest]

> 1. What are the long term affects if I do or do not have this

> surgery? I heard that it is possible to wear out your teeth if you

> avoid it.

There may not be any long term affects if you do not have the

surgery, but, then again, there could be - no one can really predict

what could happen with any certainty. I can say that wearing down

teeth isn't uncommon as a result of a malocclusion, but from my

personal standpoint, TMJ deterioration and the resultant arthritic

pain is no picnic. My left joint is arthritic and has been

diagnosed as such for over two years now (was 24 when it was

diagnosed, am now 26). It's possible things wouldn't have gotten

the way they are if I'd had the surgery earlier in life, but nothing

is certain.

> 2. What is the average age of surgery? Also, what percent of

> Americans or people in the world have to go through jaw surgery

like

> this?

I'm sure there is an average age out there, but I really don't think

it's significant because you can be nearly any age when you have

this surgery as long as you've ceased to grow physically.

> 3. I was told that this surgery is genetics but NO ONE in my

family

> history has even had an underbite. Could it be because I have

grown a

> lot since my sophomore year in high school or even my sleeping

> patterns? If not, what could the possible reasons be?

There are three basic things that can be root causes for TMJ

problems - the bones and teeth, the nerves and the muscles. So, it

could be genetic, but it could also be a result of sucking your

thumb too long when you're growing up and just about everything in

between. I've asked my doc what my cause was, and he said that was

sort of like asking the proverbial question: " What came first? The

chicken or the egg? "

> 4. Finally, WHAT % of AMERICANS GO THROUGH THIS SURGERY? Maybe I

> haven't noticed the problem but I don't know anyone that has this

> problem. Is it most common to a specific race and/or country of

> origin?

Again, I don't think this is significant. Using Cammie's numbers -

building of 100 people and she knows of three who have had it, that

would mean 3% of Americans, which sounds like a really low

percentage, but the population of America is 292,576,523 (give or

take a few), so 3% of that is just over 877,729 people, or, to

illustrate that point, over 17,500 people in each US state that have

had the surgery. What really matters is that the surgery is less

and less rare as medical science continues to develop. My father-in-

law had lower advancement over 20 years ago, and things have changed

a heck of a lot from then to the time I had my own surgery.

> 5. I was reading about a three day recovery...ten days until you

can

> start eating again. True? If not, what could the possible

> complications be?

Three days might be enough for an arthrocentisis or arthroscopy, but

three days would only cover the hospital stay part of recovery for

most orthognathic surgery patients. Count on two weeks. It could

be less; it could be more, but most seem to be doing fairly well by

two weeks post. Chewing takes a long time to get back into after

surgery as the muscles have to re-learn a lot of stuff.

Hope that helps.