jawsurgeryforums.com
General Category => Aesthetics => Topic started by: Jordana1983 on December 31, 2019, 02:09:38 PM
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Hello I had Lefort bimax 13 days ago
I went through a very difficult time these last past days
Very emotional
I had to do it without family around me , alone
No anxiolytics so all in all I feel Like a survivor , I am glad I can finally share My experience on this forum.
My biggest worry at the moment is the fact I look clearly uglier than before
I was beautiful I had a wide beautiful smile
I am experiencing nerves laziness on the right side of my face and the doctor said it will take time but will come back to normal movements and sensation over the weeks, same for the chin.
As I was saying for now as I am still swollen and I am lacking of sensations and movement freedom on my smile I am wondering is it normal I feel like my mouth cannot smile widely as before and that most of my teeth are not visible anymore especially bottom ones but also the top arcade
Please see attached before my beautiful smile and now .
Have some of you had a similar experience ?
Does it get better once the swelling is more reduced and the cheeks muscles less stiff ?
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At 13 days you probably don't have full control over your muscles. It's impossible to know just from photos which muscles are engaged in each photo, so it's hard to say if it's an accurate comparison. Based on what you posted, and assuming you're engaging the same muscles, it looks possible you were over impacted. But I'm not totally sure that's what's going on because in the first photo you're showing much more lower tooth than the bottom photo, and with over impaction you'd expect to see even more bottom (and less top, which you do have).
Hang in there. You're still swollen. Reassess in a few more weeks.
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Thank you so much for your answer
However I don’t understand what does over impacted mean here
I am very sad not to see my teeth when I smile
This would be a disaster
We did the surgery to give me some comfort because of joint pains and Jaw imbalance creating facial asymmetry and a crooked neck posture
One of the main aesthetic goal wast to reduce the left side of my face which was bigger and more advanced
The doctor told me I would not lose my smile but I see I lost it
Meaning it does not have the same shape and dimensions anymore ,it is ugly now none of my bottom teeth are showing and little of the top teeth
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I also had perfect occlusion on both side and now I lost occlusion on the left side after the surgery
The doctor said we could arrange that with orthodontics treatment
But he also created an inclination on the top jaw now my top teeth looks a bit crooked up tilted on the left side
I really hope orthodontics will help and that there ll be no need for another surgery to fix the overcorrection
I was disappointed as I thought there were using a technique to make sure the teeth bottom and up were staying fixed together and straight midline parallel to the eyes
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Jordana do you have braces or Invisalign on? Or was this surgery-first?
Impaction is when they move your upper jaw upwards. Usually done to reduce a gummy smile / vertical excess.
You hopefully just need more time to recover.
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I had Invisalign last year hence perfect alignement and perfect occlusion before the surgery
At the time I had Invisalign the surgery was not planned
The doctor said he would do his best not to lose the occlusion but it seems he over impacted the left side of my upper jaw
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So does it mean the doctor made me lose my smile and that my teeth will not be visible like before ???? This is the worse outcome ever
He was suppose to move down 2mm on the right and 2mm up on the left and he said he will not move the midline so my upper teeth stay visible
Now when I smile it seems the teeth were moved up more than 5mm as not visible anymore
Will it improve
And why my bottom teeth are not visible at all now
It feels like a disaster I feel suicidal
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Don't panic. You need to be patient and see what your smile is like in a few weeks. I understand it's hard though because it's an emotional time for you.
When they do lefort surgery most surgeons cut directly through the muscles above your lip, and those muscles are what control your smile. Once they have been cut they will need time to heal. Once they heal you'll regain more animation to your face. I haven't had surgery myself yet, but not being able to smile fully seems like a really common recovery complaint from people on jaw forums, and takes time to get it back.
2mm up, 2mm down - doesn't sound like you'd be at risk of over impaction. But you would need to know the final movements.
Regarding bottom teeth, it could be that your lips are swollen and covering teeth, or maybe it's to do with a genio. Again, it's way too early to tell because you're obviously still swollen. What were your planned movements for eveything?
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Thanks April
The doctor said he did not cut any muscles
I can see my upper teeth are higher and the lower teeth lower
I don’t understand and how it happened
I can’t accept to lose what was the most beautiful and what I liked the most about me my smile
I feel my face has been destroyed and I never agreed on that
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Give it a couple of more weeks, totally normal to show less teeth so soon after surgery. You're both swollen, and probably dont have full control over your lips yet. People joke about looking like the joker when smiling after surgery, because the face and the lips simply doesn't move as they should.
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Please relax and don’t do anything drastic.
It takes 6-12 months for swelling to FULLY subside, and at that point you’ll have some idea of the actual nerve damage. 2 weeks is VERY EARLY in recovery.
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Thank you but it really feels my upper teeth have been lifted up and the bottom one down like my smile was made disappeared
I force to a maximum to see what length of the teeth I can see and I observe too little unfortunately
I don’t know what I will have to do to get back my smile
This was my face and what I liked the most
I feel like I am dying
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Thanks April
The doctor said he did not cut any muscles
I can see my upper teeth are higher and the lower teeth lower
I don’t understand and how it happened
I can’t accept to lose what was the most beautiful and what I liked the most about me my smile
I feel my face has been destroyed and I never agreed on that
I know. Feeling like you've lost your smile is really, really hard mentally and emotionally. It feels devastating. I'm going through something similar with my smile, but not from surgery, mines from orthodontics (they moved my upper teeth backwards and upwards hiding them under my lip).
There are some surgeons who don't cut the muscles and do some modified technique, but even then, you would prob still have a lot of overall weakness and swelling, which time will heal. Like your doc said. Hang in there.
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Thank you April
I don’t know how I am going to live with it
If I can hope to get my smile back
The doctor is on holidays and not reachable
Happy new year to you all
I am sorry to hear that you expereienxes à change in your smile as well but at leas if it was done via orthodontics you can have hope to get it back by moving back the teeth in a correct and beautiful lip line position
What is freaking me out at my end is that I am going through hell with the recovery after the loss of sensation and I can tell you from my perspective I don’t wish the bimax surgery to anyone
The recovery is so hard and the worse part is not knowing what you will look like and in my case uglier than before
It feels like someone cut your face and attached a muzzle
Some are lucky and cette a better smile that before
But in my case I feel my life and face have been destroyed
Does someone who have had bimax can help me to know what happened with their smile and explain why I don’t see my teeth anymore
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You need to figure out what the actual displacements performed during surgery were and then tell us so we can tell you whether it’s likely swelling or a bigger issue.
Based on your pre-op, you shouldn’t have had ANY impaction imo
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The doctor had moved down the top right jaw 2mm down and the left 2mm up
And a slight rotation front for the right and a bit back for the left as a whole adjusting the bottom jaw accordingly
But I lost the occlusion on the left side and it seems the doctor overcorrected te top left side as now my teeth line seems inclined in the opposite way
He said he also had to do a genioplasty as the decanting was not enough to make the chin cebteree
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What does impaction IMO mean please
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The doctor had moved down the top right jaw 2mm down and the left 2mm up
And a slight rotation front for the right and a bit back for the left as a whole adjusting the bottom jaw accordingly
But I lost the occlusion on the left side and it seems the doctor overcorrected te top left side as now my teeth line seems inclined in the opposite way
He said he also had to do a genioplasty as the decanting was not enough to make the chin cebteree
IMO means “in my opinion”. I’m saying in my opinion, you should not have been impacted at all. That is, you should not have had any ‘upward’ movement in the upper jaw.
It seems to me your surgeon could have achieved the same vertical differential by simply downgrafting your right side 4mm and thereby preserving tooth show.
To my eye, your post-op pictures are more drastic than a mere +\-2mm movement which means there’s probably something else going on. Likely swelling, muscle weakness, etc.
You need to give it at least a few months to see what the issue actually is. I know it’s *very* hard to wait when you feel like you’ve lost your face, but nobody (besides your surgeon) can confirm anything this early.
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Thank you Post Bimax for your precious answer
Sorry for stupid an IMO I am French
No he had to do it split 2mm vs 2mm he said to preserve the lip line and to fix the TMJ imbalance
I really hope it is a matter of swelling and muscles weakness because as you say when I look at myself I can see that the lack of teeth showing is drastic indeed
I will see the surgeon in 10days
But if I listen to him he said that nothing changed..so it s a bit difficult for me to speak and believe someone who is not honest about the pictures émane the reality
Same je says that he does not see the fact that the left top jawline has been deviated too much upwards..while I went to see another Maxillo surgeon to have a second opinion (and help me remove wires that were hurting me) and this doctor acknowledged the inclination and the loss Ldn occlusion on the left side
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Does someone who have had bimax can help me to know what happened with their smile and explain why I don’t see my teeth anymore
Yes I have and, and the response is still same. My smile was ridiculous and with a lot less teeth show first weeks. I can't know your case exactly, in case of impaction the teeth show decrease on final result as well, but in your case it sounds more like your jaw was levelled, up some on one side only. So please, just take it easy for a couple if weeks if this is your only problem.
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As someone who was overimpacted and required a second procedure I recommend:
1) Staying relaxed. If you were overimpacted, you can get that fixed. I know this is easier said than done.
2) Get pre and post-op cephalometric measurements. Don’t guess what happened. Measurements
do not lie.
I believe you were impacted, but some more time is necessary to assess the aesthetic outcome and determine whether you were overimpacted.
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Thank you both Dogmatix and Ghiggson
So for now I will try my best to continue to hope it will improve
I must look weak but I am usually a very brave and positive person
It s just so scary at the moment
I will stop looking at myself
I have to go back to work on Monday so I have to deal with life anyway..I cannot think of the impossible..I know it is wrong
Your answers are really helping me
I ll have some exams done so we can compare the measurements.
I really thought the incisive teeth level and the lip were not supposed to change as it was discussed in the plan.
Ghiggson I am sorry to hear you were over impacted
I can’t even imagine having to go though the same nightmare again
Plus the nerve damages associated.. as I still don’t feel my upper lip, my chin the right side of my nose and top right cheek ..do a second surgery sounds scary but at least as you say it gives hope that nothing is final
I hope you are happy now with the results
Thanks again you cannot imagine how precious your inputs are for me and are helping me in a moment of big emotional pain and despair
Just to finish on a positive note
Post bimax you confirmed that you were able to smile widely after few weeks and your teeth ended up showing well ?
Ghiggson how long have tu had to wait to diagnose you were over impacted and plan another surgery? I hope you are happy now with your smile ?
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The smile is weak for about a month after lf1 because the muscles are actually cut and need to heal. But after that what you have is what you'll always have.
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i agree with the consensus here, sounds like just swelling and muscle weakness. you need to give it time.
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I still don’t feel my upper lip, my chin the right side of my nose and top right cheek
You see. You can't even feel your lip yet, but you expect it to retract and act as normal. Hope you see the connection. This surgery is brutal, you have to understand how much damage that have been done and how much there is to repair.
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Yes i realise I was not well prepared or did not realise the extended damages, nerves muscles on top of the swelling.
Thank you all for your answers I will keep you posted
Since yesterday I decided to practice positive thinking and do more of the things I like to be able to Copenhagen with the emotional stress
I really hope the final result will be beautiful and that’s will be able to have a beautiful smile again and recognise myself
I think i was misled by a lot of videos on YouTube where people were looking almost fully recovered after two weeks with residual swelling but not much mention about the muzzle sensation and the nerves damage affecting the smile
Some of them were smiling widely and showing a lot of teeth, so comparing is not always a good thing but sharing like I did here with you was extremely valuable and helpful.
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Yes i realise I was not well prepared or did not realise the extended damages, nerves muscles on top of the swelling.
Thank you all for your answers I will keep you posted
Since yesterday I decided to practice positive thinking and do more of the things I like to be able to Copenhagen with the emotional stress
I really hope the final result will be beautiful and that’s will be able to have a beautiful smile again and recognise myself
I think i was misled by a lot of videos on YouTube where people were looking almost fully recovered after two weeks with residual swelling but not much mention about the muzzle sensation and the nerves damage affecting the smile
Some of them were smiling widely and showing a lot of teeth, so comparing is not always a good thing but sharing like I did here with you was extremely valuable and helpful.
You'll have to be patient. In one paper on this topic, Dr. Wolford writes: "in my experience, it frequently takes at least 12 months before all residual edema has dissipated and complete animation of the upper lip has returned." This has been my personal experience; at almost 12 months, lip movement is still noticeably recovering, but not yet 100%.
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It can take several months up to a year before these kind of things recover. You need alot of patience.
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It can take several months up to a year before these kind of things recover. You need alot of patience.
Tooth show at rest is pretty much it after a month or so, if not earlier. If there's no tooth show at rest, then the jaw was overimpacted, no ifs or buts.
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Tooth show at rest is pretty much it after a month or so, if not earlier. If there's no tooth show at rest, then the jaw was overimpacted, no ifs or buts.
If this is the case then the surgeon failed to follow the plan. The tooth show in the afters is significantly less than what a 2mm +/- differential would have caused
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If this is the case then the surgeon failed to follow the plan. The tooth show in the afters is significantly less than what a 2mm +/- differential would have caused
While on consults, I was told over and over height/impaction is the hardest thing to get right.