orthognathic surgery

[Lilith]

Hi!
I was told by my orthodontist that I might need a jaw surgery to correct my facial assymetry. I was wondering if anyone can tell me more about the procedure, and the approxiamate cost? Thanks.

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[Yah-E]

Gosh Lilith, it's really difficult to inform you specifics unless we see you in person or see your cephalometric radiograph. But what an orthognathic surgery involves is that the bony structures around your mouth have to be corrected to fix your bite and improve your esthetics. Unfortunately, Orthodontics alone will not correct the malocclusion alone.

You can be any of the following:

Class II malocclussion (no chin)
Corrected by:
Mandibular advancement - Bilateral Sagittal Split Osteotomy (BSSO)
or
Maxillary (midface) retrusion - LeFort I Osteotomy
or
Combo surgery - BSSO and a LeFort I

Class III malocclusion (your chin sticks out)
Corrected by:
Mandibular retrusion - BSSO
or
Maxillary (midface) advancement - LeFort I Osteotomy
or
Combo surgery - BSSO and LeFort I Osteotomy

Posterior Crossbite
Corrected by:
SARPE - Surgical Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion

Often a genioplasty (chin position correction) procedure can be done also with the orthognathic surgeries.

Above is only a general overview, many other options are available depending on your specific diagnosis. All above procedure can be done at an OMFS office or an OR at a Hospital under General Anesthesia. Cost? No idea, probably $2500-$4000 depending on the procedure, I guess.

For more detailed info about the actual procedures, search the internet for:

Lefort I Osteotomy
BSSO

You'll learn much more!

One more thing, many, many orthodontic patients undergo orthognathic surgeries to correct their bite and esthetics so this is not an unusual event! You will be very pleased with the end result, I can assure you. I've always loved Ortho and/or Oral Surgery lectures where they showed Before & After pictures of patients underwent Orthognathic surgeries and what a drastic change in 100% of those patients, especially esthetically!

I can recall many occassions when we saw a case, when there was this female patient underwent orthognathic surgery, her Before photo was lets say below my "taste" and then her After photo was "Hot-o-Mama"!! Wow, what a change!!!

Good luck with your surgery, you're in great hands (literately)!!

 

[Frank Cavitation]

I dunno, I don't have severe malocclusion but I can't see myself agreeing to having metal plates and screws placed deep into my head like that. Dental implants is probably as far as I'd go. I guess I need to have more concern for my appearance

 

[UBTom]

That and having your jaw wired shut for 6 weeks..

A classmate of mine was a skeletal Class-III and looked just like Beavis. Over this past Christmas break he had one of the OMFS residents at my school do orthognathic on him, both a Lefort-I and a mandibular setback. It was the funniest thing during the first few weeks in clinic when we got back-- Nobody could understand a word he was trying to say while his jaws were wired shut. Imagine him trying to phone his patients to get them to come in!

Small price to pay I guess, since the surgery was done for him free of charge.. The advantages of being a dental student I guess..

 

[captaintripps]

Actually, it is not a very funny experience and shouldn't be taken lightly. I had orthognathic surgery and it was rough. The surgeon corrected the assymetry and microsomia with a bone graft. It was major surgery and hurt like hell, and also required years of remodelling. As a dental student, I have compassion for those undergoing such treatment. Find the best surgeon you can and things should work out well.

 

[UBTom]

Not detracting from your experience and I'm sure you had a rough time, but in my classmate's instance he saw the humor in it and he laughs about it with us. In particular he wished he could have asked to have it done earlier (like right before summer break) rather than right in the middle of the school year, so he wouldn't have to mumble unintelligibly to his patients.

It's all part of the collective dental school experience. Unless UConn SDM has the atmosphere of a funeral home, I'm sure there have been moments of levity like this in your class as well. At least I hope so.

After all, what's worse than seeing a dentist? Seeing a surly dentist!

 

[marshall]

I had orthognathic surgery and thought it was a piece of cake. My jaws were not wired shut (this is not common anymore but they do put the brackets on your braces with the hooks to wire you shut if they need to). You have to eat soft foods for 6 weeks, that's for sure. The screws you will never notice but it is important to remember because they can skew MRIs and other scans. If you find it for $2500 I would get 3 or 4 just for the bargain... mine (covered by insurance thankfully) had a surgeon fee of 8,000 and all the hospital fees.

On top of that, you usually have to have your wisdom teeth removed and the OMFS in charge usually wants to do that so tack on at least another thousand if you need general anesthesia. I did it on spring break of soph. year of college and other than swelling like a watermelon, I took some vicoden and had a merry time. I don't remember most of it, honestly. In two weeks you are basically OK and within 2 months completely healed (in my case). Anyways, I wouldn't worry about it but I only had it to correct 9mm overjet. Add this to my growing list of procedures done to me and I'm going to be the most sympathetic dentist EVER

 

[Lilith]

Thank you guys for all the information. My case is that one side of my jaw grew more than the other side, thus the assymetry. It wasn't obvious when I was younger. (I am 27 now). I believe it's due to genetics. My cousin has the same problem. Orthognathic surgery was recommended to her as well. I still have 8-10 months to go for my orthodontic treatment. I will consult some OMFS, and give you guys updates.