Dental Forum

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Originally posted by Emma2007:
Hi, I am 19 and 5 weeks ago i had major upper and lower jaw surgery also a chin reconstruction: Maxillary Osteotomy, Mandibular Osteotomy (forward/backward sliding mandibular oteotomy), Genionplasty. My lower jaw was brought forward 25mm! I now have 6 plates and 28 screws, holding it all together. This was not a cosmetic surgery, it was medical, due to a rare joint condidtion i suffer from. I spent 2 nights in hosital, and suffer alot of discomfort, although the nurses were great and really helped me. To be honest i had a real rough time of it, im not going to lie and say it was easy, i suffered alot of pain! to start with i suffered from really bad sickness, which was so painfull! I then caught a yeast infection, caused by the anti biotics i was taking. I couldnt sleep and at one point went 2-3 day with only 1-2 hours, which made me really groggy and irritable. But slowly started to sleep, would defo recomend a few extra pillows and a glass of wine... but read your medication first to see if it's ok!!! As i said, i am now 5 weeks into recovery, and still not back to normal!!! At first i was completly numb from my eyes down. The feeling came back slowly and in sections, i made sure i did a feel test every day. I now have all feeling back in my cheeks, however still now feeling in my upper lip or my chin. Also i still have no feeling in my gums or my lips. I think this is due to all the insisions were done from the inside so the scars are still heeling. my surgeon informed me that all nerves are intact, so at some point all feelin will come back. I am also still finding it hard to talk, its a real effort, bliss for my partner.. ha ha but very frustrating, has anyone one else suffered from this??? I have fixed braces, theses were kept on throught surgery and will stay on until maybe may next year, i am finding it really hard to get in there and give my teath a good clean, as i am really worried about decay, Anyone have any tips????? I am still finding it very hard to eat solid foods, although i would recomend; fish, stewed meat, mash. I would love to hear from someone who has had a simular surgery beacuse i am a little worried, sould i be able to feel more???
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I have to say i find it great to see i share this problem with others. I was born with a cleft lip and palate so im not used to seeing other people with my problem (even if it is just in relation to the jaw surgery). I find it really hard to talk to any of my friends or family about what im going through as i can tell they are uncomfotable to talk about it, or else i just cry...i cant help it(sorry i didnt mean for this to be such a sob story).

I am in my last year of school and im doing my leaving cert in June (im guesing this is an American site, well the LC is a big end of school exam...which pretty much decides my future). i should be having the op within a few days/weeks after my exams. this year is stressful enough as it is right??!lol well i have my debs(debutant ball) mid August and if being scared of the op wasnt enough im afraid i wont be able to go to my debs which is just awful to think about to be honest.

To be honest my life sucks(in my opinion anyways) and i could really do with some reassurance about this op as it is just going to be the first serious one of many...i have a lot of questions and i would really appreciate if someone could get in contact to answer them...my email is: efa999@hotmail.com

Really sorry if i sound like another stupid depressed teenager...i guess i cant help it! im really quite a happy person usually!

I thought I'd chime in on this discussion. I'm 30 years old now. I had braces from the ages of 12 until 16. At the age of 15, I had upper jaw surgery to correct an open bite - they moved by upper jaw down slightly by rotating it.

Then around the age of 19 or 20 I noticed my bite pulling apart slightly. Well, between then and the age of 28, it pulled apart completely and I was left with a bad open bite again.

They're not sure what happened other than I grew a lot between having the surgery at 15 and the age of 19... they think my lower jaw didn't grow proportionally to my upper jaw and this caused my molars to not touch correctly... then over the course of another 8 years, the molars not touching correctly caused other problems etc.

So anyhow... at the age of 28, I started Orthodontic treatment again and was told at day one that I would probably need to have a second jaw surgery.

I just had the second jaw surgery 3 weeks ago on January 21, 2008.

This time around they rotated my lower jaw up slightly to pull the bite together and I had a sliding Genioplasty ... which is a Chin Job. The moved my chin forward slightly to make my profile look better.

So after 3 weeks, I have numbness in my chin and lower lip and the insides of my cheeks somewhat ... this is improving on a daily basis though.

I was told that it could take upwards of 3 months for the numbness to go away and have full feeling etc. back.

I've been through jaw surgery twice now and would recommend it to anyone whose bite is messed up. Don't let the problem go cause it could potentially get worse and worse.

The surgery isn't so bad... I did have some pain on day 4 and 5 after the surgery. This was due to some swelling on the right side of my face and I popped a stitch. The pain was caused from the pressure on the stitch cause once the stitch popped, the pain I was experience decreased almost immediately.

The thing to keep in mind with this surgery is that there is a long recovery - up to three months or so ... give or take. You have to be patient.

While I was waiting at the hospital an hour before my surgery, one of the nurses came over to me and told me that she had lower jaw surgery a few years back. She suggested a homeopathic product called "Arnica". She said it would help the swelling and the pain. I took her advice and got some when I got home.

My surgeon recommended it also. If you do some research on the net for Arnica you'll see that it's recommended for things like swelling, tissue regrowth and pain relief.

I'd suggest this to anyone because the swelling I had the first time around (way back in 1993) was far worse for a lot longer than this time around.

I'm still a little swollen in places though. But apparently I'm looking a lot better than some people do at the three week point.

Hope this helps people make their decision on whether to have this surgery or not.

I have started regaining feeling in my face and top lip again but my bottom lip seems like it isn't mine still

Yesterday I started eating mashed potato and mashed eggs sooooooo good not to have to drink my food. Manage to get my mouth open just enough to put a baby spoon in there with tiny amounts of food on.

I still look like an extra from planet of the apes but my swelling has reduced dramatically and I had no bruising.

I am still continuously dribbling where I can't feel my bottom lip so just generally a bit worried that if this feeling doesn't come back I will be a full time dribbler!? :'(

Has anyone else had this problem? What about those people that didn't regain feeling in their bottom lip - do you dribble and not know you are?

Swelling - Insane amount of swelling first week, could barely notice myself. Most of swelling is gone by 2nd week, however still some swelling in the upper area of my face around my nose and middle of my upper lip.

Pain - Pretty much painless. Haven't really experienced any pain at all in my jaws. First few days post op I had some disturbing headaches. Continue with your medication. At two weeks, I dont' take anymore medication.

Numbness - Still numb upper and lower lip. Around the nose area. Surgeon said the nerve near the lower jaw was cut. He also said he attempted to try to restore the nerve as best as possible. So lower chin/lip numbness may be permanent. I'm surprised upper jaw area still numb. But surgeon said this should return. He told me upper jaw numbness area should return 100% Lower jaw should be anywhere between 50% and 0%. I am doing research on nerve regeneration and any herbal supplements I can take to help. I will try to update as the months go by.

Energy - Be sure to take at least 2-3 weeks off work/school. I finally feel comfortable walking around/driving. Not too much of either though. First week I had no energy at all and was in bed most of the time.

Satisfaction - I am happier with my smile. I showed too much teeth and gum upper jaw, and had an overbite. So my smile looks great. Compared with the numbness, I still can't say whether it was 100% worth it. Then again, I am only two weeks post op. Will get back with you guys in the months ahead.

Hope that helped any.

There were many times I was really depressed as I could not recognize the person in the mirror. my lips have changed shape and my jawline was totally differnet and because of the swelling i lost my well defined chekbones. along the way i had my left suture rip and a couepl days later it got infected. I was freaked as I thought I had an infected jaw/hardware on my left side. I went to my surgeon and he said everything was fine and prescribed me some anitbiotics for the infection.

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Originally posted by Chasity:
I've been reading all these post and I;m starting to calm me down about my surgery on both top and bottom in a 2 weeks but I;m also freaking out even more. What you guys say about the pain and after effects sounds alot better than what I'm expecting. then again about all the swelling and not being able to open my mouth, now that scares the hell out of me. and what I really want to know is about the weight loss factor,how much do you lose,how weak do you get, and how long untill you gain it back. normally i walk at 130 and cut to 125 with a days notice all the time,should i fight in a lower weight class after 8 wks. after surgery? yeah i know you guys are probabaly thinkin" What the heck, she thinks she can fight after 8 weeks." well I'm goin by what my surgeon says and he's the best of the best from what i hear. So please can anyone help me.

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I dont really understand what you mean when you say can I fight, but I found that I didn't actually lose any weight really! Maybe a couple of pounds, but nothing profound. I wasn't weak as such, I just got very tired easily and 2 days after coming home from the hospital I could walk for about 25 minutes but then got very tired and had to stop. These days it is uncommon to have your jaws 'wired' shut into the new position of the jaws, instead rubber bands are used which you may be able to take off after the first week/2 weeks. If your jaws are wired, then you will lose much more weight that if they are just banded. My swelling was quite bad, but then my surgery was complicated, so my swelling stayed for about 5 weeks and only then really started to go down. By week 3/4 I was eating scrambled egg and walking for 40/45 minutes and energy was nearly all back!

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Originally posted by LDSpring:
I had jaw surgery (upper/lower) 3 1/2
months ago. Wondering when if ever I'll feel "normal" again. Very worried. Difficulty opening mouth comfortably. Roof of mouth completely numb, chin numb. Tooth graying. Wish I would not have done it. Don't understand why anyone would recommend this type of surgery so lightly.

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Originally posted by LDSpring:
I had jaw surgery (upper/lower) 3 1/2
months ago. Wondering when if ever I'll feel "normal" again. Very worried. Difficulty opening mouth comfortably. Roof of mouth completely numb, chin numb. Tooth graying. Wish I would not have done it. Don't understand why anyone would recommend this type of surgery so lightly.

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Originally posted by Penny:

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Originally posted by Dani:
Hello to everyone who are researching jaw surgery. I had lower jaw surgery last Aug. '05. I had both a great and highly recommended orthodontist and oral surgeon. I am 37 years old and physically fit. The recovery from discomfort, swolleness, and being able to open my mouth wider did not last more than a month; however, the numbness to my whole lower lip and middle and right side of my chin, the loss of taste on the left side of my tongue and no feeling to my bottom gums still exists. It's been 6 months now. There still is a great chance I will recover some more feeling- I hope! It's still very disturbing to me. Has the surgery been worth it? I'm still on the fence with that question. I look a little better and my bite is better, but the expense and numbness has me unsure if I would do it again or ever recommend it to someone else. It must be said that this surgery is an important decision. And you are taking a risk.

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I have always had a bad overbite, and eventually this led to me wearing out my teeth, mostly my upper fronts. The teeth had become so worn that I was going to have to have them capped or replaced. I went to 3 different orthodontics, and only one did not recommend pulling teeth to fix my problem (may have been a mistake). Anyway, after over 3 years in braces, the orthodontics decides I need jaw surgery to really correct the problem. I went back to a few other orthodontics and they wouldn�t touch the work that had already been done. I went to at least 3 surgeons, and 1 was ready to take it on for about $21,000, one said live with it, and another said he could do it for about $7,000 with a co pay (plus hospital expenses of course). Instead of going to a surgeon in Colorado, I visited a surgeon in Murray Utah that seemed to fit the bill and seemed affordable. My step son has a house in the area so I thought I�d give it a try.

On day 4, today, it seems to last forever. I don�t want visitors, phone calls, or family asking if they can help. They don�t understand, or care that it hurts to talk to them, look at them, grunt answers to them. I even sent my step-son camping with his room mate so I could have some peace. But, due to so many interruptions today from family, I wore out a couple of pain pills prematurely so called the surgeon and got a refill (which I drove 15 miles to get).

Enough crying for now. My pain and numbness? Hurts? yes. I try and keep fresh ice in the pouches in my Jaw Braw. It seems to help a great deal with the pain and comfort. I also have a freezer baggie of crushed (about � full) to douse my lips and the rest of my face. My lips have reduced their swelling, I think thanks to the ice. Pain. Upper and lower jaw area around the molars. Also my nose was really sore because they kind of went through the upper jaw just behind it, so I ice that area also.

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Originally posted by titus09:
Hi, I am 57 years old and had lower and upper jaw surgery 4 day ago. They surgically split my lower jaw, both sides, and moved it forward and my upper jaw was split and expanded to align with my lowers. How do I feel? Like crap. I had to spend an extra day in the hospital due to high blood pressure. I�m trying to sleep on a recliner at my step-son�s house but I do get in a couple of hours at a time. The big problem is that I don�t want to eat or actually I don�t want to hurt my mouth and jaw.

I have always had a bad overbite, and eventually this led to me wearing out my teeth, mostly my upper fronts. The teeth had become so worn that I was going to have to have them capped or replaced. I went to 3 different orthodontics, and only one did not recommend pulling teeth to fix my problem (may have been a mistake). Anyway, after over 3 years in braces, the orthodontics decides I need jaw surgery to really correct the problem. I went back to a few other orthodontics and they wouldn�t touch the work that had already been done. I went to at least 3 surgeons, and 1 was ready to take it on for about $21,000, one said live with it, and another said he could do it for about $7,000 with a co pay (plus hospital expenses of course). Instead of going to a surgeon in Colorado, I visited a surgeon in Murray Utah that seemed to fit the bill and seemed affordable. My step son has a house in the area so I thought I�d give it a try.

On day 4, today, it seems to last forever. I don�t want visitors, phone calls, or family asking if they can help. They don�t understand, or care that it hurts to talk to them, look at them, grunt answers to them. I even sent my step-son camping with his room mate so I could have some peace. But, due to so many interruptions today from family, I wore out a couple of pain pills prematurely so called the surgeon and got a refill (which I drove 15 miles to get).

Enough crying for now. My pain and numbness? Hurts? yes. I try and keep fresh ice in the pouches in my Jaw Braw. It seems to help a great deal with the pain and comfort. I also have a freezer baggie of crushed (about � full) to douse my lips and the rest of my face. My lips have reduced their swelling, I think thanks to the ice. Pain. Upper and lower jaw area around the molars. Also my nose was really sore because they kind of went through the upper jaw just behind it, so I ice that area also.

That enough for now, time to sit in the chair and ice down and drink water through a syringe.

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Originally posted by amanda82:
I am 27 years old and I am going to have this surgery done in about 2.5 months. They will be moving my lower and upper jaw forward. I am reading all this and it is really freaking me out. A couple questions: I teach and I am supposed to be going back to work about 2 weeks after the surgery. That's how long the surgeon told me to take off from work. Is this an unreasonable amount of time? Second, I have a lot of ear problems (infections). The surgeon, my orthodontist, and my ear nose and throat doctor all say that this surgery could possibly alleviate that. Can anyone attest to that? That is the main reason I am planning on doing this. If there is any possibility my ears will be better I will take it. I just want to know if this has helped anyone else's ears. Please let me know so I know if I am getting false hopes.

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Originally posted by sazloo:
Hi, everyone, I would first like to say thank you all for posting, as i am only 19, and due to have surgery on July 20th 2007 and am terrified. I believe i am only having the lower jaw moved forward. Anybody else had this done? As i am really worried about recovery etc. and would appreciate someone telling me how there op went.
I had 8 teeth out a few months ago, and it was awful, my face was like a chipmunk, and upon waking my nose was bleeding and i was throwing up, will it be this bad again!? Also and more importantly how long where you all in hospital? As i really dont like hospitals, last time when i woke, all i wanted to do was go home, and i dont like the thought of having to stay in hospital. Please get back to me! Thank you all

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Im not worried bout pain...just the fact that my face tht ive grown to love my whole life(not bein ****y) will be a little bit different. i know a better smile and bite will only increase my looks but its still a had thought to get over. also im gettn it done over christmas break and ill have 3 full weeks of recovery until going back to school. Will this b enough time for swelling? im in very good shape and i plan on staying as positive as possible.

i dont really know wht i want to see in response to me writing this...im just excied/nervous/terrified/relieved/happy

I am super nervous about the surgery and I am starting to get cold feet. I wish I could say that it is only for a cosmetic reasons but it is not, it�s a necessity to me keeping my teeth.

What should I expect as far as the pre op meeting?

What can I do to put on weight now and how can I keep it on after the surgery? They have told me that my mouth will be wired shut 4 to 6 weeks!

If anyone would like to talk that has had or will be having the surgery please let me know any response is welcome!

The worst part for me was the drainage afterwards. I wasn't prepared to have goopy nasty bloody crap draining down my throat, into my mouth, and out my nose for days. It was SO DISGUSTING. And it was so hard to get it out of my mouth, i had to put peices of paper towels on my finger and squeeze it in my mouth to wipe off the roof of my mouth. I also puked blood twice (once soon after i woke up from surgery, and once the next night. my surgeon wanted my to puke though, so the blood wasn't just sitting there)

I couldn't breath through my nose, so my mouth/throat/lips got EXTREMELY DRY. Especially when I slept.

My surgery itself only lasted about 2.5 hours, and I went home that night, so I was lucky I guess. I also wasn't wired shut or anything. I've been told I'm on a soft food diet for 6 weeks, and I really hope I can eat some "real" food after that.

I had a lot of swelling, some bruising, and was numb in most places below my eyes. My face ached. It was pretty miserable. My swelling is down a lot now, but I look chubby, and kind of like i had botox. especially when I try to smile or talk. I have some feeling back in my cheeks, nose, and upper lip. I'm confident most, if not all of my feeling will eventually come back.

Right now, 9 days after surgery, I feel physically fine except my mouth. My teeth and right jaw are aching, and the rubber bands I got at my 1 week post op appointment with my surgeon are making it worse.

Other than that, it isn't bad now. my braces are slashing into my cheeks which is starting to hurt, and its hard to get the wax back there since i'm sore and puffy and i'm afraid to get too close to the stitches. it's also hard to brush, but you need to try to. I don't know if i'd highly recommend this surgery, but maybe i will in time. it is survivable. I'm looking forward to recovering and eating without being sore!!!

I hate hospitals in general so at my pre-op I asked about getting something to calm me down which they did and it was great. I don't remember much about going into the OR room. I was in the hospital 2 nights and was very comfortable. I ate whatever they gave me. I think a fair bit of me was numb on waking up, but really quickly I got everything back except my lower lip and chin (which is still numb now... it sucks drooling in your sleep!). One thing to remember is to mentally prepare yourself... a lot of people freak out when they wake up in recovery because you cannot open your jaw. If you prepare yourself for that feeling you should be fine. I am not wired, I have elastics only.

So I was fine in hospital, got discharged, and the first day or two were fine. But on Sunday night I got nauseated and threw up. All my elastics broke off. I tried to sleep but awoke at 4am again with nausea, threw up again at 7, and then went back to the doctor. They put new elastics on and gave me a needle of gravol, and told Mom to get gravol suppositories (up your bum... sounds gross but they won't make you sick if you're already nauseated like oral gravol will). Also, when the doctor re-elasticed me he did it different. Instead of 2 elastics on each eye tooth he put 4 across in different places. Which means that now I can open my jaw a bit, I can even get my tongue through! And I can drink blended mac & cheese, lasagna etc with a regular cup which is amazing. Anyway, I spent 24 hours taking gravol and sleeping, woke up today and feel a million times better and am back to "normal".

2 things to remember:
- don't drink all milk-based products, esp if you have a low dairy tolerance like me. All those boost drinks are milk-based and I think that might have played into my nausea. I've started blending anything I feel like eating and it's going much better.
- beware of the meds as they can also cause nausea. I haven't taken any of the anti-inflammatory or morphine in over 48 hours, just childrens tylenol, and the pain is not too bad. I'd rather a bit of soreness than throwing up!!

So 6 days later the swelling has gone down a LOT but some is def still there, my cheeks and chest are bruised yellow, and I am a bit weak because of lack of food. But all in all I'm in good shape. I really recommend blending lasagna or other pastas, and I recommend the Gatorade G2 electrolyte drink. A couple options that aren't milk-based.

That's all I can think of for now. I think it will be worth it. I wasn't sure the other day when I was throwing up, but now that I am okay again I can see the light. Before none of my teeth lined up except the back, so I couldn't chew a lot of things (even oranges). I'm excited to try it out. I will be open-mouthed on March 2nd, 27 days after surgery. It was supposed to be a week earlier except I am home in another province at that time on Spring Break. So it could have been only 20 days elasticed shut.