Re: the split, the nerve and the numbness

[Guest guest]

Ann, if you want to see the surgery, there's a link that will take

you to a video made by the Learning channel. I had a copy, but gave

it to my surgeon. (They'll try to sell it to you for $175, but

tell 'em it's for personal use, and the cost drops to $40. It's

misleading in a way, because it does not deal with recovery at all.

Shows a young woman, probably in her mid-teens, with a large

underbite, and what they do to uppers and lowers to fix it. You don't

wanna watch it if you can't handle blood and cutting tissue and

sawing bone, though.)

You slept through it all thanks to your anesthesiologist! tee-hee!

And I was very, very grateful to have done so.

As for the comments about the split and the nerve -- that doesn't

square with what my surgeon told me. He even showed me the nerve on

the x-ray. He said he makes the first cuts, then carefully finds the

nerve and protects it, while he teases the bone apart, which doesn't

suggest to me that he can't see it. I don't doubt that he can have a

bad break - or rather that his patients can -- nor that he doesn't

get as good results with everybody as he did with me. As I've said

before, I think we both had very good mornings that day, as I hope

for everybody else, as well! I would not dispute at all that both of

us were blind lucky that morning, and that suits me just fine!

Cammie

>

> > If your lower jaw bone breaks the way the nerve is not exposed at

> all

> > (i.e. the surgeon does not see it) you do not get any numbness,

> > temporary or permanent. It happens, but extremely seldom and

> > surgeons have no control over it, as the nerve canal seems to be

> > a natural weakness in the bone to break along. Those people

> > are just blind lucky.

> >