Hello.
I'm going on 19 and had braces put on when I was an early teenager. I've never had any real chewing problems or anything like that, and my teeth are fairly straight still. Tho my front teeth are a little crooked b/c I didn't wear my retainer, but thats okay.
So I guess my first question would be if I'd have to go back on braces before I got this surgery? Seeing as I just got off them a few years ago, and don't have any teeth/biting/etc. problems.
My jaw situation is this: when I look up while looking in the mirror, its easy to see that my jaw is nearly perfect on my left side. I consider that my good side. But my jaw hangs much further down on my right, and doesn't go out as far. I contributes to my right side looking like crap. It makes my face look MUCH longer and fatter on that side.
Would the surgery alter my left at all? I'd like it so my jaw looks identical to my left, but I worry that in the surgery if they would probably just pull my jaw line lower on my left to match my right. Or maybe have them meet somewhere in between, when I like the shape of my face on the left as it is.
Also, My cheekbone on my right side is a good bit bigger then on my left, making my right side look more unsymmetrical still. Does anyone have any experience with fixing a problem such as this? Like filling out my cheekbone on the left side of my face on the front & side to match?
Have an uneven jawline and I'd like to ask some questions.
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BathroomWindow
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:18 am
hi BathroomWindow!
I have exactly the same problem as you! my right side kept on growing while the left side had stopped long ago. so the right side of my face looks kind of longer, also my cheek is bigger on the right side. and im 19 too!;) the only difference is, that to me my right side seems healthy, and my left abnormal... id like to have my left side adjusted, hope that is possible... but generally, i heard thats possible to choose, which side you want to have adjusted, but of course that depends on your surgeon, and if its physically possible to adjust both sides, so your bite is healthy afterwards.
also id like to do the surgery without, or with little time in braces, i had some a few years ago too. there are a very few patients, which have the surgery without braces, but thats really a very small percentage, and normally you'll have to count with some month of braces at least.
first of all, in my case, they have to do a scintigraphy, to see if my right jawbone still is growing, if so, theyll have to perform a surgery first to stop the growth.
do you have to do a scintigraphy too?
to adjust the left cheek to the right, you could choose to do so with bone graft to your cheek. usually this can be performed during the main surgery, but normally health insurance doesnt pay that.
its also possible to inject fillers from outside, to make them equal.
thats performed by plastic surgeons.
greetings, stephany
I have exactly the same problem as you! my right side kept on growing while the left side had stopped long ago. so the right side of my face looks kind of longer, also my cheek is bigger on the right side. and im 19 too!;) the only difference is, that to me my right side seems healthy, and my left abnormal... id like to have my left side adjusted, hope that is possible... but generally, i heard thats possible to choose, which side you want to have adjusted, but of course that depends on your surgeon, and if its physically possible to adjust both sides, so your bite is healthy afterwards.
also id like to do the surgery without, or with little time in braces, i had some a few years ago too. there are a very few patients, which have the surgery without braces, but thats really a very small percentage, and normally you'll have to count with some month of braces at least.
first of all, in my case, they have to do a scintigraphy, to see if my right jawbone still is growing, if so, theyll have to perform a surgery first to stop the growth.
do you have to do a scintigraphy too?
to adjust the left cheek to the right, you could choose to do so with bone graft to your cheek. usually this can be performed during the main surgery, but normally health insurance doesnt pay that.
its also possible to inject fillers from outside, to make them equal.
thats performed by plastic surgeons.
greetings, stephany
First thing to say is that it's extremely rare to have this sort of surgery without braces, as they have to arrange your arches in a practically "perfect" position to get a good bite post-surgery. If your teeth are even a tiny bit crooked, they're not in a perfect arch.
I had assymetry corrected as part of my surgery (my chin pointed off to the left, and the left hand side of my jaw was about 9mm shorter than the right).i I also had my lower jaw brought foward (and the upper jaw impacted).
I was told that the plan was to lengthen the left side and shorten the right, and judging by the position of the plates on my x-ray, this is what they seem to have done. I'm at 5 months post-op but am not really happy with the way my jaw looks at the moment: the right side looks good and has a nice shape to the jawbone, but the left side seems mushy/lumpy and indistinct. However, I do have swelling (still) on both sides and I suspect that it will eventually look better (or at least, more even) than it does at the moment.
I believe it's rare for them to only break one side of the jaw when correcting assymmetry, though it does happen. Best thing to do it bring it up as a subject for discussion when you meet with surgeons/orthodontists and see what they suggest. You can always express a preference if there are different options - for example, they said they could do my upper jaw and get rid of the gummy smile I had and the cant I had developed to match my lower assymmetry.. or not. I decided to go for it and am very glad I did, as I no longer have a strip of upper gum showing when I smile - just teeth.
I would also say that you will probably notice a while lot more assymmetry before the end - I was warned about this and it's true. Once your jaw/teeth are straight, you may suddenly notice that your nostrils are different sizes, that your eyebrows are at different heights, that your eyes are a slightly different shape to each other.. all sorts of stuff. Almost everybody has a face like a Picasso, but most of us don't notice!
I had assymetry corrected as part of my surgery (my chin pointed off to the left, and the left hand side of my jaw was about 9mm shorter than the right).i I also had my lower jaw brought foward (and the upper jaw impacted).
I was told that the plan was to lengthen the left side and shorten the right, and judging by the position of the plates on my x-ray, this is what they seem to have done. I'm at 5 months post-op but am not really happy with the way my jaw looks at the moment: the right side looks good and has a nice shape to the jawbone, but the left side seems mushy/lumpy and indistinct. However, I do have swelling (still) on both sides and I suspect that it will eventually look better (or at least, more even) than it does at the moment.
I believe it's rare for them to only break one side of the jaw when correcting assymmetry, though it does happen. Best thing to do it bring it up as a subject for discussion when you meet with surgeons/orthodontists and see what they suggest. You can always express a preference if there are different options - for example, they said they could do my upper jaw and get rid of the gummy smile I had and the cant I had developed to match my lower assymmetry.. or not. I decided to go for it and am very glad I did, as I no longer have a strip of upper gum showing when I smile - just teeth.
I would also say that you will probably notice a while lot more assymmetry before the end - I was warned about this and it's true. Once your jaw/teeth are straight, you may suddenly notice that your nostrils are different sizes, that your eyebrows are at different heights, that your eyes are a slightly different shape to each other.. all sorts of stuff. Almost everybody has a face like a Picasso, but most of us don't notice!
Braced May 2005
Bimaxillary surgery Aug 2007
Debraced Jun 2008
Bimaxillary surgery Aug 2007
Debraced Jun 2008
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smileyone44
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:47 pm
Hi, I'm new to this forum too and I am going to have upper and lower jaw surgery in the next few months (hopefully). My problem is similar to the ones you guys have mentioned, which is that the left side of my jaw is a little bigger than my right side. I anticipate that my jaws still won't be perfectly symmetrical after surgery based on what I've read on this forum (and that's fine with me as long as it's some sort of improvement), but for those of you who have gone through surgery where asymmetry was an issue, are you glad you did it and are you happy with the results even if they are not "perfect"?
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BathroomWindow
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:18 am
I don't mind if they're not completely symmetrical. I just want more shape.
As it stands, I have one great jawline, and on the other side; no jawline. Just completely round. Plus, like I said, it makes my face look much longer on that side.
If my face is no longer that long, and I go from having no shape on my right to having at least some, then I'll be happy.
And yes, I know what is and isn't symmetrical on my face, thank you for the warning tho. My right side is wider then my left, my cheekbones are two different sizes (like I said), my eyes aren't straight (but they're nice looking, so it makes up for it), my nose goes over to one side more then the other.
Yes, all humans are about this unsymmetrical or more. People never really notice, but my jaw is ridiculous, and I think its still growing and I'd still like to go thru with this before it gets any bigger. I've been having pains in it that I've been telling myself were just wisdom teeth hitting gum and bone, and not growing pains tho.
Thank you for all the replies. I'll keep checking on this topic and hope to update it as news comes in.
As it stands, I have one great jawline, and on the other side; no jawline. Just completely round. Plus, like I said, it makes my face look much longer on that side.
If my face is no longer that long, and I go from having no shape on my right to having at least some, then I'll be happy.
And yes, I know what is and isn't symmetrical on my face, thank you for the warning tho. My right side is wider then my left, my cheekbones are two different sizes (like I said), my eyes aren't straight (but they're nice looking, so it makes up for it), my nose goes over to one side more then the other.
Yes, all humans are about this unsymmetrical or more. People never really notice, but my jaw is ridiculous, and I think its still growing and I'd still like to go thru with this before it gets any bigger. I've been having pains in it that I've been telling myself were just wisdom teeth hitting gum and bone, and not growing pains tho.
Thank you for all the replies. I'll keep checking on this topic and hope to update it as news comes in.
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WhiteLurcher
- Posts: 173
- Joined: Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:48 pm
- Location: Near Glasgow, Central Scotland
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smileyone44
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:47 pm
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BathroomWindow
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:18 am
That sounds great, and lifts my hopes a little. I know of a good plastic surgeon, but I don't know if he could do my jaw.sweetpea wrote:I also had the same, and I'm very pleased with the results of my surgery (have a look at my posts).
I had upper, lower, genio and I also had my jawbone shaved across the bottom to make them look more even. All done from inside the mouth!
Anyway, I'm glad that you were specific with what you wanted done and had someone working on you that had enough talent to give you what you wanted.
Anyway, back to my reply. I wanted to ask if anyone would know what an operation similar to sweetpea's would cost? With the shaving the bone down for evenness and all.
And possibly a pricecheck on that cheekbone fill thing for boosting symmetricalness.
BW,
I had much the same condition as you do. The right side of my jaw had grown more than the left. It wasn't so noticeable in my 20's (I had more padding then!), but as I got older, my teeth got in worse shape and I was having to get a lot of teeth crowned. So, please don't wait if you can do it now! I wish I had taken care of it earlier.
I had jaw asymmetry, crossbite and headaches. My sugery was covered under my medical plan. The cost billed to the insurance co. was at least $10,000. I paid only the copay of $50 for BSSO surgery and treatment, since my insurance covers orthognathic surgery in specific cases. It took a letter or two to get them to approve the surgery. I paid $3,200 for the braces. My dental plan paid the other 50%.
Lo
I had much the same condition as you do. The right side of my jaw had grown more than the left. It wasn't so noticeable in my 20's (I had more padding then!), but as I got older, my teeth got in worse shape and I was having to get a lot of teeth crowned. So, please don't wait if you can do it now! I wish I had taken care of it earlier.
I had jaw asymmetry, crossbite and headaches. My sugery was covered under my medical plan. The cost billed to the insurance co. was at least $10,000. I paid only the copay of $50 for BSSO surgery and treatment, since my insurance covers orthognathic surgery in specific cases. It took a letter or two to get them to approve the surgery. I paid $3,200 for the braces. My dental plan paid the other 50%.
Lo
Re:
[quote="sweetpea"]I also had the same, and I'm very pleased with the results of my surgery (have a look at my posts).
I had upper, lower, genio and I also had my jawbone shaved across the bottom to make them look more even. All done from inside the mouth![/quote]
I think I have the same thing as you did. Do you have any pictures of pre and post operation? I am thinking about having surgery for a fix and just want to see how surgery may change my face.
I had upper, lower, genio and I also had my jawbone shaved across the bottom to make them look more even. All done from inside the mouth![/quote]
I think I have the same thing as you did. Do you have any pictures of pre and post operation? I am thinking about having surgery for a fix and just want to see how surgery may change my face.