Overbite and jaw surgery/braces

[southkakkatlantan]

I've had an overbite forever as well as some spacing on my top jaw. I'm finally in a place where I would like to proceed with braces with have been told that my issue is skeletal and that jaw surgery would be needed in between braces to fix my jaw to get the right alignment.

I don't feel that I have any asymmetry issues going on in my face visibly that I or others can see/notice. If I understood correctly my top jaw is 'too large' for the lower one.

I'm just curious if anyone here who was expecting to go into braces and only do braces have also been recommended jaw surgery, and if you did it or not....

[Coolair]

Your problem is just like mine . i also experience this. can you please update what did you do braces or surgery. Thanks

[Dashdog]

I had a slight overbite but as a kid the dentist even told my parents if I was his kid he would do nothing about it as it was not that bad. It never bothered me nor did people make fun of me. What did bother me a little was I had a gummy smile with so much exposed gum on the upper jaw.

I had a retained baby tooth that broke in at 29 yrs and my dentist pulled it and said I would need a partial but I had a slope in my jaw that he thought would cause a partial to break so sent me to an orthodontist to see about braces to pull that slope out.

I entered that office thinking braces on the lower jaw for awhile . Within seconds of the exam the orthodontist said We are talking braces, and Jaw surgery! To say I was shocked puts it mildly. I said " no Thank you" He said "well think of it this way it will dramatically improve your appearance." I was not aware there was anything wrong with my appearance so sorry but that did not help so I walked out.

I am in the medical field and a doctor I am fond of heard about this and told me to go back to that orthodontist that he was by far the best one in town and had done his 3 boys teeth and. He said that I would not be unhappy. I checked around more and others said great things about him too. So I called him and said I would be willing to meet with the oral surgeon and see what he said. I sort of knew him from seeing him around the hospital when he had surgery patients in.

I met with the oral surgeon and he said when he got the casts of my jaws he thought the lab had messed up and sent him an upper jaw from one person and lower jaw from another. Mind you he did not say this to my face but had an intern with him that he took out in the hall way to talk about my case with.Yeah I could hear them and was laughing when they came back in and asked " why did you bother to go in the hall as I heard everything?" so then he explained how miss matched my jaws were and said if I did not do anything to fix that slope now it would get worse over the years until I had to do something and it would be harder for me cause I would be older.

At 31 I ended up having 2 years of braces followed by Jaw surgery ( both upper and lower) and a few months more of the braces. It was not as horrible as some think because the surgery took several hours so stretched out the nerve so my jaw was numb for a couple years so pain was not an issue. Not being able to eat or talk was frustrating.

The hardest part for me is when people say " are you happy you did it?" I do not know how to answer as unlike some people that feel they are not attractive and will be so after the surgery or people having pain that will be gone after the surgery I feel like a snowball as I had never dreamed of any of it yet once I walked in that office day one and that snowball started that down hill roll getting bigger and bigger.

Do I think I look different? Not really as when I look in a mirror I do not see my profile and that is where it is most notable so others see it but to me I look like me. Ok the gummy smile is gone and I do like that. And people often comment on how nice my teeth are so that is nice to hear. And my wallet is a lot lighter as even though I have great insurance the out of pocket was not cheap. But even now 31years after I can not answer that are you happy you did it question. The funny thing is after all of it I decided to do a tooth implant instead of a partial and that implant is still with me and still healthy so I am glad I did that.

Good luck in what ever you decide to do.