BSSO + Lefort I video (not for feint of heart)

[streo]

So it took me about a year of watching these videos before I was even comfortable getting a surgical consult.  Shortly after getting braces I was watching these over dinner not realizing how desensitized I had become.

Lefort I with BSSO:

http://youtu.be/xTpllmuKmSE

BSSO only:

http://youtu.be/UmQTqX2o05M

[Jack]

I know it's funny, when I first heard about this surgery nearly 4 years ago I was like whoa, I could NEVER do that...but over time, I'm like, if it gets me to what I need and want then bring it on, no sweat. The only thing I AM still concerned about is the possibility of permanent numbness in my chin or the roof of my mouth of lips. It seems like every single person, maybe 1 in 100 suffers NO numbness, but pretty much everyone has lasting numbness --sorry if I should have posted that comment in like a "side effects" thread or "life after jaw surgery" but I don't know if there is one. CK, do you still have numbness anywhere?

[x]

How noticeable of numbness are we talking?

[x]

I remember reading somewhere that the incidences of numbness are vastly under-reported because of a changing definition in terms of "success" by the medical team (surgeon + orthodontist).

The three people that I personally know that have had their jaws setback (I don't personally know anyone that has had lower jaw advancement) tell me that their "numbness" is so negligible that they see the surgery benefit outweighing the minor inconvenience of numbness.  The oldest post surgery patient just turned 60 and he had the surgery when he was 18 and he tells me that the numbness is so negligible that it's not even worth mentioning (he actually slipped into a coma because of a dosage error).  The other two tell me that it's their and if they think about it then it comes into "cognitive focus", but they never think about it and so it's not something that bothers them.

I should also add that the 60 year old also had a skull fracture when he was a child, but that didn't have any impact on his jaws (his head was hanging outside of a bus window when it was moving...you know the rest).  Dude is sharp as a tack btw.

Sorry for the random question, but is lower jaw setback a lot more common than advancement? Just curious, cause advancement is what I'd be getting.

[Jack]

Sorry for the random question, but is lower jaw setback a lot more common than advancement? Just curious, cause advancement is what I'd be getting.

so from what I've heard any lower jaw movement is more likely to lead to some form of numbness. I've only heard of one or two cases in the hundreds of cases I've read where someone reported obtaining full feeling back in their lower jaw(like everywhere). Most people it seems will have some part of their lip area and chin affected, i.e. some blind spots and numbness --I'm thinking something akin to when the dentist freezes you?

What I don't understand is that with the imaging they do why can't they just avoid cutting the nerve? They certainly are able to visualize it through the imaging. Also, one academic max fac I spoke with said that they're working right now on developing a laser that will be far more precise to cut the bone and this should minimize the possibility of cutting the nerve altogether, but he said they're about 10-15 years away from bringing this technology into wide use.

[x]

so from what I've heard any lower jaw movement is more likely to lead to some form of numbness. I've only heard of one or two cases in the hundreds of cases I've read where someone reported obtaining full feeling back in their lower jaw(like everywhere). Most people it seems will have some part of their lip area and chin affected, i.e. some blind spots and numbness --I'm thinking something akin to when the dentist freezes you?

What I don't understand is that with the imaging they do why can't they just avoid cutting the nerve? They certainly are able to visualize it through the imaging. Also, one academic max fac I spoke with said that they're working right now on developing a laser that will be far more precise to cut the bone and this should minimize the possibility of cutting the nerve altogether, but he said they're about 10-15 years away from bringing this technology into wide use.

Does that mean I'll be drooling without consciously realizing it or something? Mainly things like that that I am ambivalent about it.