Underbite - Is this the best treatment?

[fullbald]

I am 32 year old male from Australia and have recently consulted with an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon about my underbite.

The surgeon indicated two problems with my teeth/jaws:
1. underdevelopment of upper jaw - this is the fundamental cause of underbite, while my lower jaw is actually within appropriate length.
2. 2mm asymmetric to the left for my lower jaw

The surgeon recommended 12-months braces, followed by surgery and then 6-months braces for the full treatment. Also with the surgery, the surgeon recommended to operate on upper jaw only. Having said that he also asked me to prepare myself for two-jaw surgery too, because of the reasons below:
1. depending on how the teeth react to the braces, upper jaw surgery may not be sufficient. We will need to wait until about 9-months in the braces before we can tell.
2. in order to correct the bite, moving upper jaw along forward too far may lead to unpleasant appearance where the nose will be burred. Therefore a two jaw surgery is needed where upper jaw move forward while lower jaw backward. He also mentioned that Genioplasty will be required too.

I understand the lower jaw surgery involves more risks comparing to upper jaw surgery only, however for a better result i think it will be worth it. I have attached the x-ray and some profiles pictures here https://imgur.com/a/wHeFn

I feel confident with the surgeon and the treatment plan but would love to hear your inputs.

Thanks in advance

[xjoe28]

I had an underbite with an open bite in the front.
I had braces put on, SARPE surgery, then double jaw surgery 1 year after the SARPE surgery to correct my underbite and open bite. I was supposed to have chin reduction done too but at the last week or 2 my surgeon said I actually don't need it.
I am 5 weeks post double jaw surgery. Im so amazed at the before/after results. Its really fascinating. Maybe one day I will post my before/after pictures or at least x rays here. The recovery is much more then i expected though. Its been the roughest 5 weeks of my life. There are risks like infection and the need of hardware removal. Hygeine post-op is very important.
Good luck

[fullbald]

Thanks Xjoe28,
Appreciated your input. iam glad that the surgery went well for you. it must be a hard journey for you through two surgeries, but its almost the end of tunnel now.
does it hurt after the surgery? did you feel any numbness?

[drgnfly]

I had almost the exact same situation, right down to the asymmetrical lower jaw. I'm six weeks out from double jaw surgery today. It was rough, but after the first ten days, it started to get much better. Good luck with your decision!

[fullbald]

Thanks for your reply drgnfly, its good to hear that you are recovering well.
such a small world, apparently its quite rare to have some one in my/our situation.
Did u get elastic? it must be hard with elastic.
if you dont mind, would u plz pm me the before/after photo.
Thanks

[drgnfly]

It is strange! In my initial consult with the oral surgeon, he thought that if the orthodontist could get the lower midline close enough, that he'd be able to only operate on the upper jaw. After nearly 1.5 years in braces, when I was finally ready for surgery, he realized that I would need to have both jaws done. Then, two days before surgery, he was working with the engineers that work with him to plan the surgery on the 3D models and x-rays, and they noticed that one side of my chin stuck out farther as well, so I also ended up with a genioplasty. They went in on the longer side and filed it down.

I had a lot of issue after surgery, because apparently I have very strong jaws. I kept breaking the strong rubber bands, so they wired me shut. I broke through the wires two days later. They think that I was pumping my jaw while I slept. At that point, they told me to stay unbanded but in my splint all day (which was wonderful for taking pills whole and eating with a spoon!) and to then band myself very securely and take a LOT of Ativan before bed. It seems to have worked.

My orthodontist was able to start moving my bite around at the 2 week post-op mark, so I've been shuffling through different rubber band configurations for the past few weeks. We've finally settled on two lateral boxes and one band diagonally from top to bottom to pull my midlines together. I wear these elastics at all times, except right now, because I'm a little tender from having a piece of hardware removed today.

Are you able to PM me? I tried to PM you some pics, but because you're so new, you're not eligible to receive messages (I think). Try to PM me, and I'll reply. Or make a few more replies.

[fullbald]

Yeah, I am in the same boat here. When the surgeon said my asymmetric lower jaw, I asked him whether its teeth or jaw. He then examined my lower jaw and confirmed it's definitely jaw.

I am sorry to hear that the recovery has not been exactly a smooth sail for you, but you are almost at the end of tunnel now. Hang in there.

Thanks

[drgnfly]

I've come to realize from reading the experience of others and from my own experience that there's no such thing as a smooth recovery from jaw surgery. It's pretty much guaranteed to be awful from about day 3 until day 10 or so. That said, once you get over that hump, it's really mostly all downhill. I had both of my hips replaced due to a degenerative bone disease in the same procedure on the same day two years ago, and I'd go through that ten more times before I ever have surgery on my facial bones again. That said, I'm glad that I did it, and I would absolutely do it again.

[fullbald]

Sorry for the late reply, i was flat out this week, meeting multiple doctors, scans and stuff.
Thanks for the photos, im amazed how great you look after only 6 weeks. all the swellings are gone already.
That's a very good tip about the cool mask, i was gonna get something similar to this, haha https://www.google.com.au/search?q=ice+ ... E6WKg1qKCM:
I went to see my doctor yesterday and signed up the treatment plan. I am getting braces Jan 18, very excited. It's good to hear that you are recovering well. Hope you enjoyed the first week back work, haha