underbite surgery...now looks like overbite :(

[ilovemusic13]

Hi,

I recently had jaw surgery to correct my underbite 5 days ago. My upper jaw was widened and moved forward and my lower jaw was moved backwards. I now have to wear this plastic splint on my upper teeth in order to keep my upper jaw in its newly widened position.

However, im not sure whether its due to the plastic splint in the top of my mouth but im starting to notice that i seem to have an overbite. My upper teeth seem to protrude out now. Is this normal?

[isolde]

Hello,

At day 2 I was already staring into my mouth looking for anything I could point out, so don't forget that it's natural in the first instance to notice all the differences! Your mouth is a very new place right now. I thought I had some kind of problem with my palette because I really couldn't get my head around how much more room I had, I don't know what it feels like to have your tongue in the right place! But that was nothing, it was just post-op worrying.

I also came out with a gap between my bottom and top teeth - that is to say a very slight overbite. But it wasn't related to the actual jaws, it's just that my teeth still need to move into their new positions. After you've had the surgery your teeth still need a bit of tweaking, hence why you may have your braces on for a good few months yet.

And the splint (plus the swelling on your upper lip!) do make you look like you've got a slight overbite.

I was convinced that I had too big a gap, but really the splint is quite thick so it does exaggerate slightly.

Don't worry yet, there's still a while to go before it's all 'finished'.

In fact I'm 4 weeks post op and my orthodontist said that things are 'coming along very nicely' - but they're still coming along! No where near finished for me.

[VikingGirl]

I actually do have a slight overbite right now My teeth just needs to be put back where they belong. I had a segmented lefort 1.

Isolde said it all!

[almost50]

Don't worry.

I had and overbite, and had surgery. A few hours after they took the splint out and the wires off, my jaw relaxed and I swore I had an underbite. Unfortunately it was Christmas eve, there was no one to call, my orthodontist was gone until after the New Year. I was really freaking out that they made a mistake during surgery.

Everything was fine. So don't worry. They know what they are doing.

[crazybeautiful]

It's also worthwhile to note that since you've been living with an underbite your whole life, now you suddenly have a correct jaw relationship, you're more likely to focus on the difference!

[JayC]

to ad what others have posted... usually when you have surgery the position of your jaw/teeth post op is not going to be the way your bite is when your braces come off.. you will still go into elastics to "perfect" the bite. the surgery was merely to reposition your jaw so the underbite was eliminated, and that through orthodontic work, a perfect and ideal bite can be achieved... that is why they dont recommend doing just the surgery without orthodontic treatment.. the braces will be used to "fine tune" your bite.

[Mason14nyk]

Did this improve for you? I sm having the same experience but the real cause for concern is my upper lip.

[survenant]

You do realize that a mild overbite is the normal bite.

An edge-to-edge bite is not normal or desirable.

[Mason14nyk]

I know that but the cause of concern is my lip placement its as if that wasnt taken into consideration. Goal was to fix the bite without sacrificing my looks. I was very happy with my looks, now I am very concerned.

[survenant]

How long has it been since your surgery?

In my case, I didn't mind, since it made my upper lip appear bigger while doing the opposite for the lower lip. But IIRC, it took about 2-3 months for my lips to be stable.

1 year and a half after the surgery, my cheeks are still a bit swollen.

[Mason14nyk]

Im not almost 8 weeks out. It has gotten better but not close to what i was hoping for. Hope there is still a lot more swellling to go.

[Mason14nyk]

Also at my 6 week ortho appmt they are keeping my bands in for at least another 6 weeks to correct by overjet from the upper!!!