So my orthodontist thinks I need surgery...

[johnjohn320]

Went in for a check-up today. Now, my profile has always been a little odd in that my lower jaw is kind of set back farther than my upper jaw. It gives my face kind of a weird curve, swooping in a bit toward my chin. Maybe I'll take pic of my head from the side later to show you what I mean. He tells me I have TNJ, which basically means my jaws don't quite fit into the sockets they're supposed to, and they slide around a lot (thus the popping my jaws have made when I open them wide for as long as I can remember). He says that this *could* later cause problems, in that my back teeth would break down quickly, and I could experience some significant pain.

Unfortunately, the only solution for my case is to slap me back in the braces for 6 mos-1 year to "prepare" my teeth for the big shift. Unfortunately, they aren't normal braces, they have all kinds of weird clenchy bands that would prevent me from opening my mouth too wide for a loooong time. Once that is finally done, they take the braces off, give me 6 weeks to recover, then send me to the surgeon. Here's the crazy part: they literally take out my top jaw, shift it up and back into its socket. Then, they take out my bottom jaw (literally shift it out of my head, apparently) and move it forward and up, lining up with the top jaw. Then they screw them together in place with titanium screws. After this, I get a short while to recover, during which my teeth are really fvcked up, and then it's back to more of the braces with the crazy restricting bands. Whole process would take 12-18 months apparently.

Since I'm not in any pain at the moment, and my profile, while annoying, doesn't bother me THAT much, I don't think I want to do this. Not to mention the astronomical cost. I don't want to spend my senior year in high school not being able to talk or eat properly, not to mention I would have to quit playing wind instruments. Bleh....

 

[RbSX]

first of all those bands don't close your mouth shut, they are called elastics, they are removable, and nearly everyone that has had braces has had to put up with them. live with it.

secondly, coming from a guy that had (getting my braces off in 4 weeks), youll appreciated having your smile look great. I don't agree with your orthodontists opinion of having surgery. I was given that option if I didn't wear my retainers enough. Instead of taking this option, I wore two twin block retainers for 6 months which involves no pain.

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara
first of all those bands don't close your mouth shut, they are called elastics, they are removable, and nearly everyone that has had braces has had to put up with them. live with it.

secondly, coming from a guy that had (getting my braces off in 4 weeks), youll appreciated having your smile look great. I don't agree with your orthodontists opinion of having surgery. I was given that option if I didn't wear my retainers enough. Instead of taking this option, I wore two twin block retainers for 6 months which involves no pain.

You obviously didn't read my post at all. I had braces for 3 years, and had those elastics you're talking about. This is not that. As for the rest of your post, forget it, I'm not gonna waste my time. Read before adding your opinion please.

 

[AvesPKS]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara
first of all those bands don't close your mouth shut, they are called elastics, they are removable, and nearly everyone that has had braces has had to put up with them. live with it.

secondly, coming from a guy that had (getting my braces off in 4 weeks), youll appreciated having your smile look great. I don't agree with your orthodontists opinion of having surgery. I was given that option if I didn't wear my retainers enough. Instead of taking this option, I wore two twin block retainers for 6 months which involves no pain.

I wore braces too, but his situation seems way more extreme than yours or mine. I would trust an orthodontist's opinion on this.

 

[jurzdevil]

its probably a load of crap. my friend and his brother have the same thing and so does their dad. doc said the same thing to all of them and they havent had a problem. its a big scam.

the pain from the surgery you describe will be a lot worse than any you "may" feel from the jaw problem. i'd tell your orthodontist to take hike!

 

[Anubis]

:camera:'s

sorry couldent resist.

he prob knows what hes talkin about. you could always get a second opinion

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: RyanSengara
first of all those bands don't close your mouth shut, they are called elastics, they are removable, and nearly everyone that has had braces has had to put up with them. live with it.

secondly, coming from a guy that had (getting my braces off in 4 weeks), youll appreciated having your smile look great. I don't agree with your orthodontists opinion of having surgery. I was given that option if I didn't wear my retainers enough. Instead of taking this option, I wore two twin block retainers for 6 months which involves no pain.

You obviously didn't read my post at all. I had braces for 3 years, and had those elastics you're talking about. This is not that. As for the rest of your post, forget it, I'm not gonna waste my time. Read before adding your opinion please.

testy

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: jurzdevil
its probably a load of crap. my friend and his brother have the same thing and so does their dad. doc said the same thing to all of them and they havent had a problem. its a big scam.

the pain from the surgery you describe will be a lot worse than any you "may" feel from the jaw problem. i'd tell your orthodontist to take hike!

Yeah, lots of people have it, so does my mom and sister. My mom never fixed it, and is fine. My sister didn't either, but hers was a little more severe. She's now 22 and in severe pain, she's having the surgery soon. Mine is apparently much more severe than hers.

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: RyanSengara
first of all those bands don't close your mouth shut, they are called elastics, they are removable, and nearly everyone that has had braces has had to put up with them. live with it.

secondly, coming from a guy that had (getting my braces off in 4 weeks), youll appreciated having your smile look great. I don't agree with your orthodontists opinion of having surgery. I was given that option if I didn't wear my retainers enough. Instead of taking this option, I wore two twin block retainers for 6 months which involves no pain.

You obviously didn't read my post at all. I had braces for 3 years, and had those elastics you're talking about. This is not that. As for the rest of your post, forget it, I'm not gonna waste my time. Read before adding your opinion please.

testy

He was being a smartass. "Deal with it", etc

 

[Yossarian]

my rule is, if it doesn't hurt, don't do anything. there's preventative maintenance and then there's taking your head apart to fix what may or may not ever develop into a real problem.

 

[Walleye]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Went in for a check-up today. Now, my profile has always been a little odd in that my lower jaw is kind of set back farther than my upper jaw. It gives my face kind of a weird curve, swooping in a bit toward my chin. Maybe I'll take pic of my head from the side later to show you what I mean. He tells me I have TNJ, which basically means my jaws don't quite fit into the sockets they're supposed to, and they slide around a lot (thus the popping my jaws have made when I open them wide for as long as I can remember). He says that this *could* later cause problems, in that my back teeth would break down quickly, and I could experience some significant pain.

Unfortunately, the only solution for my case is to slap me back in the braces for 6 mos-1 year to "prepare" my teeth for the big shift. Unfortunately, they aren't normal braces, they have all kinds of weird clenchy bands that would prevent me from opening my mouth too wide for a loooong time. Once that is finally done, they take the braces off, give me 6 weeks to recover, then send me to the surgeon. Here's the crazy part: they literally take out my top jaw, shift it up and back into its socket. Then, they take out my bottom jaw (literally shift it out of my head, apparently) and move it forward and up, lining up with the top jaw. Then they screw them together in place with titanium screws. After this, I get a short while to recover, during which my teeth are really fvcked up, and then it's back to more of the braces with the crazy restricting bands. Whole process would take 12-18 months apparently.

Since I'm not in any pain at the moment, and my profile, while annoying, doesn't bother me THAT much, I don't think I want to do this. Not to mention the astronomical cost. I don't want to spend my senior year in high school not being able to talk or eat properly, not to mention I would have to quit playing wind instruments. Bleh....

my sister got the surgery that corrects this. she's now recovering and starting to eat solid foods again


(by solid foods, i mean ones that require *some* chewing)

 

[SpiderX]

I'd be very careful. A girl I know had somewhat the same procedure done. They cut a piece of her jaw bone to align them. After it was done she had to have her jaw wired shut. She ended up freaking out in her sleep, swallowing her tongue and dying.

A dentist tried to tell me that i needed the same thing years ago. My Mom just about freaked. Our regular dentist just told me to get a retainer, and it worked fine.

So be wary.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Originally posted by: SpiderX
I'd be very careful. A girl I know had somewhat the same procedure done. They cut a piece of her jaw bone to align them. After it was done she had to have her jaw wired shut. She ended up freaking out in her sleep, swallowing her tongue and dying.

A dentist tried to tell me that i needed the same thing years ago. My Mom just about freaked. Our regular dentist just told me to get a retainer, and it worked fine.

So be wary.

You're a lot of help. He doesn't need horror stories.
:|

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy

Originally posted by: SpiderX
I'd be very careful. A girl I know had somewhat the same procedure done. They cut a piece of her jaw bone to align them. After it was done she had to have her jaw wired shut. She ended up freaking out in her sleep, swallowing her tongue and dying.

A dentist tried to tell me that i needed the same thing years ago. My Mom just about freaked. Our regular dentist just told me to get a retainer, and it worked fine.

So be wary.

You're a lot of help. He doesn't need horror stories.
:|

Shrug. It's not like I'm making my desicion on a message board, anyhow. Just thought I'd see if others had had it before.

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy

Originally posted by: SpiderX
I'd be very careful. A girl I know had somewhat the same procedure done. They cut a piece of her jaw bone to align them. After it was done she had to have her jaw wired shut. She ended up freaking out in her sleep, swallowing her tongue and dying.

A dentist tried to tell me that i needed the same thing years ago. My Mom just about freaked. Our regular dentist just told me to get a retainer, and it worked fine.

So be wary.

You're a lot of help. He doesn't need horror stories.
:|

Like I tried to point out earlier and others have too, you have a classic problem of overbite. Given this problem there is two options.

1) Breaking the Jaw and resetting it

2) Using twin block retainers to make your jaws instinctively bite forward, and then use braces to correct the tooth alignment.


Let me rephrase what I said earlier, I'd really get a second or third opinion.

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy

Originally posted by: SpiderX
I'd be very careful. A girl I know had somewhat the same procedure done. They cut a piece of her jaw bone to align them. After it was done she had to have her jaw wired shut. She ended up freaking out in her sleep, swallowing her tongue and dying.

A dentist tried to tell me that i needed the same thing years ago. My Mom just about freaked. Our regular dentist just told me to get a retainer, and it worked fine.

So be wary.

You're a lot of help. He doesn't need horror stories.
:|

Like I tried to point out earlier and others have too, you have a classic problem of overbite. Given this problem there is two options.

1) Breaking the Jaw and resetting it

2) Using twin block retainers to make your jaws instinctively bite forward, and then use braces to correct the tooth alignment.


Let me rephrase what I said earlier, I'd really get a second or third opinion.

Alright, I'll say it one more time and then I give up. It's not overbite. I had overbite. They corrected my overbite with bands. I no longer have overbite. This is not overbite. This is TMJ. TMJ.