Questions for initial surgery consult

Message

#1 Post by **timsmith** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:59 pm

Hi,

I have just made it to the surgery consult stage and I have an appointment for this Friday. My lower jaw needs moving forward, I have some idea's for questions to ask but I am sure that there is much wisdom out there that I could use, so please help me out.

My initial list would include:

What type of procedure?
What happens after the surgery, wired shut, elastics or what?
Any teeth to be removed such as wisdom's
Eating
How long for recovery, swelling, pain, eating more normally, numbness?
Change to facial profile?
Surgery before or after a planned holiday in July?
How long before braces can be removed?

Looking forward to your thoughts,

Tim

#2 Post by **almost50** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:42 pm

Looks like a pretty good list.

How long will the procedure take?
How long will you be in the hospital? Same day? Overnight?
How many/often have you done?

FYI, I'm not sure of your exact procedure, but for a BSSO you might need to have your lower wisdom teeth out and healed for 6 months before surgery. Although I have heard of it being done at the same time. Speaking sans wisdom teeth and awaiting BSSO surgery sometime next fall.

#3 Post by **OzzysMom** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:49 pm

Also, you will probably want to ask to speak to a former patient who has already gone through the surgery

#4 Post by **blindboarder2008** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:54 pm

looks like you have a pretty good list going

perhaps another question would be:
How much will the surgery be?
as well if you have insurance see if the insurance will cover the procedure or not

#5 Post by **phil** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:42 am

Hi, Tim,

You might want to add:

What are the potential risks with this surgery, along with percentage rates of possibility...

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

#6 Post by **timsmith** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:46 pm

Thanks guys for the suggestions, I will post again after the consult.

Regards

Tim

#7 Post by **timsmith** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 8:04 am

The trip to the oral surgeon was interesting, I think I saw him for a whole 5 minutes but in reality the whole visit lasted an hour with one of the hygienists giving me the outline of what was to come.
The procedure is the what seems to be standard BSSO, they want to pull all four wisdom teeth which I am questioning as I am missing a lower pre molar on one side and the panorex xray shows that the lower wisdom will line up nicely with the last upper molar on that side. I am in discussion with my ortho on this one as the whole reason to go down this journey was to get a better bite and reduce/eliminate headache's.
The oral surgeon did say that he has on occasions pulled the wisdom's as part of the jaw surgery but the final results are not as good, I have elected to wait the 6 months for the surgery. It bugs me a bit as to why the ortho did not ask for the wisdoms to be removed earlier!
The hygienist indicated that I would wake up after the surgery with a splint wired to my top brace and elastics to hold my mouth closed for about 1 to 2 weeks, the splint would stay on for about a month.
The cost for the work up as they call it, including the splint is $1500 which my insurance probably will not pay, however the operation is covered in Canada/Quebec by Medicare.
They suggested on planning to be off work for 2 to 3 weeks, what I would like is to stay off work until the splint is removed, some negotiation is required nearer the time!

So I think that I understand where this is going and will have the wisdom's pulled during the week of the 29th March, I could have had that done this coming week but it is my wife's birthday next weekend and I want to be able to enjoy a good meal out