Hello! First time poster to this forum. I'm trying to decide whether or not to proceed with orthodontics and bi-jaw surgery. Here's my story:
I've never had braces before. As the youngest of four kids, my parents didn't have much in the way of insurance, and my two oldest brothers needed serious orthodontic work. Lower jaw surgery was recommended for one of them, as his overbite was pretty bad, but both he and my mother refused. Lucky for him, he was young enough and hadn't fully grown yet, so they could make some significant improvements (not perfection) with braces, headgear, and a retainer. At the time, the orthodontist said that I had some issues, but that I could basically get away with skipping braces. As I grew, and as I've aged (I'm 38 now - will be 39 in January 2011), my bite worsened. Overbite, crossbite, upper jaw too narrow, lower jaw too far back ("weak chin"), tooth damage due to grinding, frequent canker sores - in part because I'm always accidentally biting myself. And I have two baby teeth with congenitally missing permanent teeth that are messing up the healthy teeth around them. Fun, huh?
Fast forward to now. I saw two different orthos when we lived in CA, and have consulted twice with the same doc here in NM. The consensus seems to be what I like to call "A Better Bite in 7 Easy Steps":
1. Pull the baby teeth.
2. Braces for about 1.5 years to straighten the crooked teeth. Spacers (springs, they're telling me) will maintain the spot where the baby teeth used to be. They'll also give me an appliance to retrain my brain and facial muscles in preparation for a new bite.
3. Dual jaw surgeries (I think it'll be BSSO on the mandible to slide it forward and LeFort I on the maxilla to widen it) sometime in 2012.
4. Braces for another 6 months or so.
5. Implants to replace the baby teeth.
6. Retainer (possibly forever...)
7. Cosmetic dentistry to repair/improve the look of the front teeth that have been ground down over the years.
I really don't know what I'm going to do. This isn't life or death stuff, but if I do nothing, I'm probably setting myself up for dental problems later in life. This isn't going to get better. It's just killing me that I'm not being given any real options. No gray areas. All or nothing. And I am absolutely TERRIFIED of having my jaws "broken," as my mother loves to call it. I'm extremely worried about something going wrong.
This is all going to be absurdly expensive, too. They seem confident that major medical insurance will cover the surgery, but I have my doubts...it's going to be a fight. Yes, there's a "medical need," but many companies want you to jump through lots of hoops to prove it.
My other very serious concern is that if they're going to fracture my upper jaw in 2-3 places to widen it, there's a risk of permanent sinus damage, and possibly changes to my voice. I've been an amateur singer for over 20 years, and only last year finally started landing paid singing jobs (I'm basically a professional chorister. Yes, it's chump change, but I'm doing what I love, and can at last attach the tag "semi-pro" to "singer." This is NOT the time to muck around with my vocal system, which is way more than just the throat/vocal cords. All the resonance is in the head and "mask," which is right where they'd be rebuilding my jaw. SCARED!!!!)
I know that no one can make this decision but me, but some insight would be greatly appreciated. I meet with the surgeon in January, two days after my 39th birthday (ha).
Thanks so much,
Mary-Ellin
