Well, here goes my attempt to share my jaw surgery (otherwise known as orthognathic surgery) experience with the greater public, in the hopes that you'll find the information as helpful as I have found some other blogs' information to be. I'm thirty years old, and am kicking myself for not doing this back in High School. But better late than never, right?
Let me start by saying that I'm currently waiting to hear back from my surgeon's office for an official surgery date. I've been in braces for exactly a year. Most people start these kinds of blogs when they get the braces put on, but I figured I would start my blog right before my surgery.
My teeth right before braces weren't crazy crooked (but they were far from straight--you can see this if you zoom in on some of my pics). Nor were my teeth super crowded, or anything dramatic like that, but I did have an overbite, and a "cant" in my smile, meaning my smile is crooked (particularly the top gum line). Also, my chin was/is very "crooked." See the pics below so that you can see how my lower jaw is askew when I smile. Now that I've had braces on for a year, my overbite has really been addressed, and even my chin seems to have moved "into place." My orthodontist is really surprised by how much my lower jaw responded to the braces, but he agrees that it's still askew despite my teeth straightening quite nicely. He recommended upper and lower jaw surgery to address the chin and cant issues, and off to the Doc I went to get my approval!
On November 5th, the Doc approved me for upper and lower jaw surgery and even suggested I add a chin implant because it turns out my lower jaw is actually "further in" than it should be. Some people have a problem with their chin and jaws coming out to far, and I have the opposite problem--- if that helps with the visualization . I never really thought this was an issue (even though my sister mentioned it to me once or twice), but then later on at home I took a picture of my profile in a shadow, and I saw exactly what the doctor meant. So I agreed to all of it, and they gave me a March 2013 surgery date. Here's the shadow profile pic of myself so you can see what I mean about my chin:
Even though January is next week, March seems like an eternity away! So I put myself on waiting lists for January and February. They've already told me January is unlikely, but I'm first on the list for February, so I guess we'll see if that can happen. I won't hold my breath. I know these things are booked months in advance, and are rarely canceled.
I also want to mention that as I've browsed through dozens of blogs about this very subject, I have noticed that those who maintained a healthy lifestyle before during and after surgery seemed to have the quickest and least painful recoveries. So, in an effort to prepare for my face to heal quickly, as of January 1st, I'm going vegan (again)--I'm a vegetarian most of the time. I'm also committing to working out 5-6 days a week in these next couple months leading up to my surgery (I like spin and yoga classes personally). I've really stuffed myself this Christmas, so the health boost will be a nice detox. I guess we'll see how "fast" I recover when we get there. :)
PS: I'm also in the entertainment business, mostly behind the camera, but sometimes I'm in front of it. I recently shot something in front of the camera, and I was horrified by how magnified my mouth flaws were, so it was the extra push I needed to get all this work done. I have to say, that I'm really happy about it so far. Even without surgery, my teeth after braces for a year look SO MUCH BETTER!
PPS: I love my surgeon. She's super smart and went to my Alma mater, UCLA! I definitely trust a fellow Bruin. I also checked her out online and she's been recommended, so I feel confident I'm going to love the results.
Looking forward to connecting with others going through the same thing! I welcome any comments and questions!
