Re: Surgery, or not?

[Guest guest]

Hi.

I am ten months post-op from upper and lower and can feel everything

like I did before surgery, except for my top front four teeth. I can

feel them, but the gums feel sort of spongy. Doesn't really bother

me, and there is some hope I'll still get that feeling back to

normal. Even if I don't though, I am still glad I had my surgery.

My lower jaw was only advanced 5 mm. I would have gone through with

the surgery for a smaller correction because there are so many things

that may happen with a malocclusion. Having the bones in the right

places is like having a good foundation to build a house on. I can

speak from experience that arthritic jaw joints aren't fun and are

nearly impossible to fix. It's possible the arthritis could have

been avoided if I'd had the surgery sooner, but there are no

guarantees. There are also many whose teeth are much healthier as a

result of the surgery - Cammie is a wonderful example of this.

In the end, the decision is up to you, but for me, my way of handling

difficulties is to try and prevent them before they happen.

Good luck to you as you continue in your process.

> Hi,

>

> I'm new to this site. I've already started ortho treatment for a

> class II overbite. The surgery to extend my lower jaw has already

> been approved. The date has not been finalized, pending further

> ortho treatment.

>

> Today I decided to do some research and found this great support

> group. But it has raised more doubts about going through surgery

> than I already had. In particular, there seems to be very few

people

> who fully recover from the nerve damage, i.e. numbness of lower lip

> and chin.

>

> My question to everyone....if you only needed a small correction

> (only 3mm), and ortho treatment could get you 80% there, would you

> still have the surgery?

>

> I can't imagine going through the rest of my life not feeling my

> loved one's kisses as they were before surgery.

>

> Please help.

>

> Virginia