Hello fellow Jaw Surgeristas!

I just updated the FAQ page, including the juicy “How much does it cost?” question. Click here to check it out.

Also, there’s more information than you’d ever want to know about me, along with before and after pictures from the surgery, here: About Me

Don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS Feed to be updated automatically on the latest jaw surgery news and videos.

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.

The Jaw Surgery Blog is almost ready to go live!

I’ve got all the videos converted, now it’s just a matter of uploading and getting the final tweaks done.

In fact, I’m creating the FAQ (frequently asked questions) page right now, and I need your help.

Ask me absolutely any burning question you have about any part of the jaw surgery process.

Not only will I answer you personally, but I will also include it on the FAQ page, because there are probably a ton of people out there with your exact same question.

Don’t worry, all of the questions will be listed generically and anonymously, and you don’t even have to use your real name in the comments.

To ask a question (or multiple questions), just click here to get your answer.

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!

Oral Maxillofacial Surgery is a unique discipline that marries medicine and dentistry. It entails a whole wide range of diseases and procedures from simple ones like impacted wisdom tooth and wisdom tooth surgery to complex complicated ones like jaw abnormalities and corrective jaw surgery. Complex reconstructive work like in a fibula free transfer graft also falls under the arm of oral maxillofacial surgery and may be done with the proper support and expertise.

Oral maxillofacial surgery as the name suggests refers to disease and procedures of the oral cavity and the region immediately surrounding it. It may even stretch as far up as the eyes and as low down as the neck. Simple diseases that falls under the branch of oral maxillofacial surgery includes tooth decay warranting tooth extraction and impacted wisdom tooth or an impacted or buried tooth that requires wisdom tooth surgery in the case of a wisdom tooth or just dento- alveolar surgery in the case of other teeth.

Soft tissue lesions such as a lump on the lip e.g. mucocele and the management also falls under the care of oral maxillofacial surgery. The excision of the mucocele or any other soft lesions is done under local anesthesia and sometimes general anesthesia. And very often, the tissue is sent to the pathology lab for a routine histology to confirm the diagnosis. Biopsies be it an incisional biopsy or excisional biopsy is also done.

Bigger lesions and pathologies like a dentigerous cyst, odontogenic keratocyst or an ameloblastoma are also routinely managed under oral maxillofacial surgery. Managements includes simple enucleation of the cyst to resection of the pathology.

Facial trauma also falls under the management and care of oral maxillofacial surgery. Lacerations of the lips and face and fracture of the jaw bones and facial bones are common place in the hospital and the management is normally handled by the oral maxillofacial department. Toilet and suture of the lacerations may be done under local anesthesia or general anesthesia depending on the extent of the injury. And more often than not, if there is an associated fracture, the open reduction and internal fixation of the jaw or facial bones are done together with the lacerations under general anesthesia.

Dental and oral maxillofacial implants are another area where oral maxillofacial surgery is involved in. The placement of dental implants to replace missing teeth in the jaw is gaining popularity and is offered by oral maxillofacial surgery. Besides dental implants, the oral maxillofacial surgical team also do maxillofacial implants such as orbit implants and otic or ear implants. They also offer answers to complicated or difficult cases such as those with bone deficiencies.

Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) also falls under the care and management of oral maxillofacial surgery. Jaw joint pain is a common problem and is normally attributed to stress or trauma. It may even be due to normal physiological wear and tear. But whatever the cause, it can be a worry for the patient. Most of the time though, the jaw joint pain or TMD pain is caused by myalgia which involves the inflammation of the muscles of mastication.

Dental infection or facial infection leading to swelling is also commonly treated by oral maxillofacial surgery. Many a times the swelling of the face is attributed to a dental cause and the prompt identification of the cause and removal of the source together with antibiotic therapy is adequate treatment. Incision and drainage (I&D) is also commonly instituted.

Corrective jaw surgery and reconstructive jaw surgery is also commonly carried out by the oral maxillofacial surgical team. In cases of jaw abnormalities requiring corrective jaw surgery, the oral maxillofacial surgical team will work together with the orthodontist to co manage the patient. In reconstructive surgery, after a major trauma or pathology removing surgery, the oral maxillofacial surgical team will decide the graft to be used and place it appropriately and reconstruct the face.

Cosmetic surgery and plastic surgery are also commonly done. Treatments such as botox administration for the treatment of wrinkles and use of fillers for the facial region is gaining popularity and more and more oral maxillofacial surgeons are venturing into this department due to the demand. Other treatments offered are rhinoplasty and blepharoplasty.

This article is written by an oral surgeon in government practice. Click on the links to learn more about wisdom tooth surgery, corrective jaw surgery and Beverly Hills cosmetic dental surgery.