hey everyone. i posted on here a while ago, and have since came back after having a lefort 1 to correct an open bite
i have so many concerns and anxieties from the surgery that rule my daily life, and constantly wonder whether i made the right choice by trusting my doctors at the time and having the jaw surgery
the worst part of it is that i didn't want to have the surgery in the first place, but felt like i was just doing what i had to do at the time - and even researched TADs and mentioned it to the ortho who didn't feel confident that it would be the best route to take because of the lack of research. then a few years go by and there's a ton more research and i feel like i missed out on a less invasive treatment that probably would have worked and it leaves me feeling a bit helpless that it is out of my control now and that i went through a traumatic surgery when i didn't have to.
the treatment started with a mouth guard because i had TMJD symptoms all the time, clicking/popping/locking, ear fullness, dulled hearing, ear infections semi frequently, and ringing in the ear (would get much louder when turning my head) one of my discs was displaced, and the joint was sitting higher up pretty much in the ear canal which the splint helped. then i had braces to fix the bite, and they said my case was borderline and felt like surgery would be the best option to take (they considered the TADs at the time too) i honestly was just following their opinion and i sort of feel like i shouldn't have. part of me questions whether the mouth guard made my bite worse to where i became a surgical case because for a short bit the dentist let me wear a partial coverage splint after it broke.
i was also a mouth breather, it was difficult to breathe through my nose and had bad quality of sleep and would wake up in drool
here are a bunch of photos from before/after and such
https://imgur.com/a/IJDPEthe surgeon said that the he can't guarantee the surgery would help but felt like it should(he specialized in tmj as well). luckily it did though. i don't have the issues i was having before mentioned above anymore, but feel like i could have alleviated those issues without surgery if i was informed enough on every treatment possibility
i wish that i had an obvious deformity or something that would have really made the surgery worthwhile. i feel like aside from the tmj problems i was having nobody really knew i had an issue with my bite. i don't even think my face looked too bad before to where the surgery would have made a drastic positive difference. it's been hard for me to feel positive and put it all behind me and move forward.
in terms of post-surgical issues, i can't really list many. i had an infection a year later that needed to be cleared out. the roof of my mouth has feeling everywhere but might be less ticklish than it used to be/slightly more dull. that's about it though
what do you guys think? do you think the surgery was a good option in my case? or do you think my judgement is fair in that it was a bit too extreme?