Wisdom Teeth Surgery

In most cases, wisdom teeth need to be removed anyway, so you may have already had this done.

If not, the surgeon and orthodontist not only need the extra room for hooks and devices, but if your wisdom teeth are still coming in, they could cause crowding or movement that interferes with the rest of the process.

While I’ve heard a few cases of patients getting their wisdom teeth out at the same time as their actual facial reconstructive surgery, most people, including myself, get them taken out a few months before the jaw surgery.

You need at least a few months for your mouth to fully heal before your surgeon can perform the main operation.

I loved the fact that my maxillofacial surgeon was the same one that performed my wisdom teeth surgery, so it was kind of like a trial run for me, especially since I had never been put under before.

The surgery went great and gave me even more confidence in my orthognathic surgeon.

What To Expect With Wisdom Teeth Surgery

The morning of the surgery, my Dad drove me to the surgeon’s office. You will definitely need a ride to and from, because even if you aren’t put fully under, you will probably at least have some type of laughing gas, and you will be out of it afterward.

For my first time being put under, it was pretty uneventful. He told me to count backward from 10, and I don’t even remember getting past 9, then I woke up and it was over.

I was definitely a little out of it, but I felt fine. My cheeks were very swollen for the first week or two, and it’s important not to use a straw during that initial period either, or you risk infection of the sockets where your wisdom teeth used to be.

I followed the instructions and stayed away from straws, but my cousin didn’t and said infected sockets are a very uncomfortable and painful hassle, so please follow your surgeon’s instructions.

Once your wisdom teeth are history, your orthodontist will continue to tweak things with your braces, while you heal up.

The wisdom teeth surgery itself wasn’t a big deal at all, and other than being a little sore and swollen for a week or two, it’s a small bump in the road on the path to your new smile and bite!

Corrective Jaw Surgery

This comes from everyone who already knows they need surgery to someone who just wants to see what their options are and where to start.

The first thing I ask back is whether or not you already have an orthodontist.

If so, that’s where you should start, and there’s two reasons for this.

One, depending on your situation, you may be able to correct your bite with just braces, forgoing the surgery all together. While the surgery isn’t quite as scary as some make it out to be, it’s certainly no walk in the park and would be great if you can truly correct your issue without it.

Also, even if your orthodontist has already suggested surgery, they often know and work with experienced surgeons in your area, so they can give you a referral to set up a consultation.

In every orthognathic case, the orthodontist and surgeon have to work closely together in making sure that each does their job in getting you ready for a successful surgery.

The orthodontist’s job is, surprisingly, to make your bite worse. Huh?! Yeah, but there’s a method to the madness, because the ortho positions your teeth for your new post-surgery bite, so your current bite may get even more out of whack.

Don’t worry though, because the changes are so gradual, you will barely notice until it’s time for surgery anyway.

If you don’t already have an orthodontist, then that’s where you need to start.

Call around, ask some of your metal-mouthed friends, check online, or do whatever you can to find an orthodontist that you are comfortable with and can trust.

Don’t be afraid to go into a few different offices to meet and consult with various doctors, because this guy or gal is going to have their hands in your mouth for the next couple of years.

Once you sit down and discuss your options with your orthodontist, it’s time to set up the consultation with the orthognathic maxillofacial surgeon (sounds scary, right?).

During this initial consultation, come armed with every question you can think of, because this is the first true step in starting the process.

He will assess your overall bite and jaw alignment, and the office may even take new X-rays and molds. He may even be able to tell you if you’re due for underbite surgery, overbite surgery, or both, but don’t be surprised if a final determination isn’t made right away.

Some of the consultations are complimentary, especially if you’re going to go ahead with the surgery, and some charge a fee for the service.

Either way, it is absolutely worth the time and money to meet and consult with as many surgeons as you have to, until you feel completely comfortable and confident in the man or woman that’s going to be breaking your skull and bolting it back together.

Corrective jaw surgery was absolutely 100% worth it for me, but there’s no doubt that it’s a long and complex process, so having a surgeon that is willing to talk to you and answer any questions you have truthfully and honestly is essential to a great experience.

Corrective Jaw Surgery – Where to Begin Podcast

While corrective jaw surgery is not something to be afraid of or worry about, depending on your situation, still there might be other matters within your home or office worthy of your attention. For instance, is there a lack of security? If so, why not take the necessary steps to correct this? Call around or check online, and look into the various companies offering video wireless security cameras. There’s plenty to choose from and more than one should be able to satisfy your specific needs.

Did you have upper jaw surgery or lower jaw surgery?

Why have just one, when you can have both? Oh right, because both leads to much more swelling, recovery, and general discomfort — I’ll take two please!

Yes, I had upper and bottom. They moved my lower jaw back, upper jaw forward, and, if that wasn’t enough, corrected for a diagonal misalignment as well.

All together, they moved things about 12mm. Anyone out there have a bigger distance than that? (that’s what she said…)

How much did the surgery cost?

This is one of the hardest questions to answer, since it depends on so many different factors: severity, location, insurance plan, time required, and on and on…

BUT, this was one of my biggest questions as well, and it seemed like everyone was afraid to even give a ballpark number, so I’m going to tell you what it cost ME.

Remember, I have no idea what your specific needs and/or plans are, so my figures may be COMPLETELY different, and I can only speak from my personal experience for my personal surgery.

You may pay MUCH less or MUCH more, so you get the idea, right? Take these figures with a grain of salt (whatever that means)!

• ~2 years of braces (1 year pre-surgery, 1 year post-surgery) = $5,100 out of pocket
• amount insurance paid for actual surgery = $5,028.79
• my co-pay for the surgery = $300 out of pocket
• various lab fees and co-pay’s during the entire process = ~$200 out of pocket

Total Out of Pocket Cost: ~$5,500-$6,000

As you can see, the braces were the biggest cost, by far, since they weren’t covered by insurance, but I was “lucky” enough to have such a horrendous, mutant bite that insurance deemed my case extreme and covered the surgery.

Mine was considered a medical case, but if yours isn’t quite as severe, it may be considered cosmetic, which would probably leave you with the full cost of the surgery.

It’s also interesting to note that the bill indicates if I had used an out-of-network provider and/or not had insurance, I would have owed an additional $81,879.07! I’m not even sure exactly how that works or what it all means, but I sure am glad I didn’t get hit with THAT bill!

What exactly happened to your jaw? Why did you need the surgery?

Although it may have looked like I planted my skull in the middle of a heavily-trafficked railroad crossing, it was actually a much less dramatic process, where my jaw just gradually grew out of whack as I got older.

Technically, I could have managed for the rest of my life without the surgery, especially since I had never really know what I was missing. When chewing, I only had a few teeth that actually fit together, but it happened so slowly that I just naturally adapted.

If only I had known what a difference it would make when my teeth actually touched each other, I would have been filing for total disability before! It literally feels like I have a blender in my mouth now, and it’s so nice to experience what “normal” people take for granted.

I knew the surgery would make a big different, but I was still really surprised at just how much more functional it made me.

How long did it take to heal? How long does the swelling last?

The answer to this really depends on how you define “heal.” Again, my surgery was relatively complex and “major,” so your times may be a bit less.

I was in the hospital for 2 days and 2 nights following the surgery, just to ensure I was recovering well, getting adequate fluids, and stopping the bleeding. Some less severe cases may even go home the same day.

Once home, I was wired shut for about 5 weeks, and this was the most uncomfortable period, but the healing process was already in full swing.

I’d say it took about 6 months to really feel normal again, in terms of the last bit of swelling and being completely comfortable chomping back into my carnivorous diet, though I was about 75% or so after around 3 months.

Are there any risks associated with jaw surgery?

Of course, there are always risks associated with any surgery, but that doesn’t make them any less serious or worrying. Besides all the more general potential complications like infection problems or bleeding issues, one of the most pressing for me was the idea of a relapse.

There are very few patients who undergo the entire process of jaw surgery, only to have their jaws regress right back to where they were or misaligned in a whole new way.

This, of course, would require doing the entire process over again and can be a result of any number of things, including getting the surgery done too early before your jaw is done growing.

As with any surgery, it’s imperative to follow your doctor’s and surgeon’s guidelines to the letter. I took my post-op care and check-ups very seriously and was fortunate enough to not have any issues or signs of relapse at all, so please do the same!

What about the tingling/numbness?

Right after surgery, I could not feel most of my face at all, which is normal. It was definitely a slobber-fest!

Over the course of the next several weeks, the feeling slowly returned and radiated out from my lips. So, the feeling first starting coming back to my tongue, then my lips, then in a small circle around my lips, then down into my chin and so on.

The last bits of tingling and numbness lingered for several months, but you get used to it after a while, once you get your lips back — that’s the most important and frustrating part at first for eating and k-i-s-s-i-n-g (and things of that nature…)…

Do you look like a completely different person after?

Did you lose weight while you were wired shut?

Would you do it again?

What/how did you eat while you were wired shut?

I love all the questions coming in, so I’ve decided to move them to a much more organized place to make them easier to navigate for everyone. That means the comments here are now closed, so now you can ask your questions in the forums, and I’ll be able to answer them even faster.

Hello fellow jaw surgery survivors and potential patients-to-be!

I’ve been meaning to launch this blog for a long time, and I’ve finally gotten it started. I had a pretty major surgery (even by jaw surgery standards) where both my upper and lower jaws were moved about 3 feet each (if you aren’t familiar with sarcasm or exaggeration, I suggest you find a duller jaw surgery blog now…).

I’ve been keeping a video log of the entire process: daily for the initial period right after surgery and weekly/monthly as time went on and changes were less dramatic.

It’s now been a little over a year since the surgery (though it’s been about 3 years since the preparation process began), and I’m now fully healed, braces-free, and have all the feeling back in my face.

I haven’t come across another jaw surgery video log quite as extensive as the one I’m putting together here, and I know I would have loved to see someone else go through this process in so much detail, so I hope that others considering a similar procedure will be able to learn from this blog.

I’m getting all of the videos converted and ready for upload now, so I plan to have the entire blog live and complete by the end of the month (January 2009).

Be sure to subscribe here in the meantime, so you’ll know first about the latest updates.

You can also check out a brief summary and a sneak peak of my “after” pics on my bio page.

Of course, I’ll be here to answer any questions and respond to any comments you may have, so feel free to get the discussion started in the comment section now, and keep on me to make sure I get things finished as soon as possible!