Hi guys, I'm not sure if I should have my upper jaw impacted (along with the other surgery that I am scheduled to have), and would really appreciate some advice.
I don't have a vertically long upper jaw, but I do have quite large maxillary incisors and, as well as it not being the best look aesthetically, I feel they sometimes muffle my speech (speech is quite important to my work, but then again, in what job is it not?). My front teeth have been shaved down as far as possible and covered with crowns. Still, I feel they are too long, and I don't think they'll ever be a dental solution to my problem (unless you guys know something different).
I also have a retrognathic mandible and a 5.5mm overjet so both of these would be improved by the autorotation of the mandible that occurs after impaction. The impaction would be small - any more than 2mm and there's a risk that I won't show any front teeth - but I feel, all things considered, the operation could provide me with a significant improvement. But I was wondering, is 2mm too small to even consider it? As I say, I'd already be undergoing surgery so it's not like I'm having impaction alone.
The downsides seem to be the nasal flaring that would occur, but since the impaction would be nothing in excess of 2mm and there would be no forward movement of the maxilla, how bad could it possibly be?
Also, my bite would be slightly altered. This would be good in that it would reduce my overjet, but bad in that I have a class 1 molar relationship, and might require orthodontics to fix it.
What does everyone think? I could just get on with it and have no impaction, but there's a chance that I'd forever be conscious about it, and really regret that in the best opportunity I had to get it fixed (or improved), I declined.
