Irish! Re: Maxillary advancement - how does it work?

[Guest guest]

Hey, hi there Irish!

Once in awhile I find I'm useful here ...

I'm doing well, thanks, although I think I just failed Removeable

Retainers 101 - my ortho says I'll be switched to a fixed wire

retainer upstairs after some more fiddling starting next month. I

have one tooth that hasn't quite signed on to the new program.

Otherwise, things are doing ok.

I wish winter were longer - I only get out on the weekends for

xcountry skiing, so it's not enough for me! But I'm aware that some

of my colleagues want to see flowers coming up instead of the white

stuff coming down, so I'll defer to their wishes in about 3-4 weeks

time.

Glad to hear you are doing well! and I've seen many posts from you on

the site too, glad you are still hanging around.

> > The cut is actually a fracture called a Leforte 1 (that's the

most

> > common procedure, there are also Leforte 2 and Leforte 3), it's

> > basically a break in the face below the nose, above the

> gumline/roots

> > of the teeth. Then the jaw itself can be cut further if it's too

> long

> > (in my case, typical gummy smile) or added onto with bone either

> > grafted from another site (typically hip) or cadaver bone or

other

> > sources, the added bone is only if the surgeon needs to add to

the

> > jawbone, for example to increase the height.

> >

> > Then the bone is either fixed with plates and screws (I think

mine

> > are on either side of the nose but I can't feel them) or the

> > patient's two jaws are wired together until the bone heals.

> >

> > Over 25 years ago, my family dentist wanted to pull four teeth

and

> > put me in braces, I chickened out. No mention was made of a need

> for

> > orthognathic surgery. When I had my lower wisdoms out 8 years ago

> > (have no upper wisdom apparently), the surgeon said my case was

not

> > too severe, I didn't look too bad, again no mention of

orthognathic

> > surgery. It was only with my new family dentist about 4 years

ago,

> he

> > was monitoring my clicking & popping jaws, that I finally got

> > referred to a TMJ specialist for my pain, and that's when I was

> > introduced to all of this. And even at that, my TMJ/ortho

> specialist

> > says he avoids surgery where possible. So I would be careful with

> the

> > malpractice thoughts!

> >

> > I eventually had upper/lower/genio in August of 2002.

> >

> > If you check out the links on the geocities info website, you'll

> > probably find some that show the actual cuts (illustrations, of

> > course) at http://www.geocities.com/orthognathicinfo/ My own

> personal

> > surgery tale is there as well.

> >

> > Hope that helps,

> >