I need some reassurance (want to begin journey for jaw surgery)

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Questions5757
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Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2021 6:43 am

I need some reassurance (want to begin journey for jaw surgery)

#1 Post by Questions5757 »

I'm London based.

I have the classic recessed jaw coupled with mentalis strain. My teeth have never been particularly crooked, only crowding out the bottom.

I think my issue with my jaws is a mixture of nature and nurture. I sucked my thumb until I was 8 but both me and sister have problems with crowding.

I had braces as a teen which did nothing. They didn't put elastics on me (don't think it would have done much as I was 16 by the time I got braces). One of my incisors had migrated behind my bottom row of teeth and instead of using the braces to put it back into place they simply pulled it out! Probably because my jaw was too small to actually fit it, at which point why not at least discuss surgery with the patient? That ortho didn't like me much at all and scoffed when I spoke about my weak chin saying it doesn't matter (I think we know why).

I was (and still am) unsatisfied with the way I look so after a couple of years I got a dentist to refer me to an ortho. She sent me to the dental services at St Guys and St Thomas where they didn't do the right thing at all. I saw an ortho who told me to open and close my mouth a few times whilst looking at my teeth and sent me on my way. No scans, no measurements or anything. He was quite rude and dismissive so it definitely crushed my spirit quite a bit. But I understand that orthos are more concerned with teeth rather than the actual jaw.

I'm going to dry again and this time I want to specify to be sent to see a surgeon not an ortho.

I just feel very disheartened because I really want this (have quite severe body dysmorphia over my jaw) but the NHS seems to reject people all the time. I go onto other jaw surgery forums and people who I think would be a sure fire case get told by other users that they may not be eligible! So it's all very confusing.

From my prospective I'm grade 3 with lip incompetence. I notice I do breathe better when I jut my lower jaw out. I also think I'd need djs instead of just ljs as they say there's a relationship between the top and bottom jaws, and I have nasal turbinate hypertrophy.

I definitely think the hypertrophy is connected to my jaw.

I want my next appointment to go smoothly but I'm not sure what to talk about or anything. I don't think mentioning the fact that it causes psychological distress will work in my favour too much so I don't particularly want to do that. Just feel anxious and disheartened right now.

snapdresser
Posts: 996
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2015 7:31 am

Re: I need some reassurance (want to begin journey for jaw surgery)

#2 Post by snapdresser »

I was once in the same boat as you in most ways. I’m in the US but I ended up getting a sleep study that showed I have sleep apnea and they did a Lefort I + BSSO + SG to fix it. I’m so much happier with my appearance now! Do you snore? If so, that’s a good sign that you may have sleep apnea and might qualify for the surgery for that reason. Good luck and welcome to the community!
No braces
1-piece LeFort I + BSSO + Sliding Genio on 10 JUNE 2015!
Partial hardware removal 14 SEP 2018
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