Complications POST Double Jaw Surgery

[jhaghtalab]

My jaw surgery starts so many years ago but I will try and sum it up the best I can with hopes that someone else may give me some guidance.

When I was in elementary school I had braces put on for a severe over bite, after years of braces/head gear/retainers/etc. My teeth shifted again once I got into High School, I decided to go back into braces once graduating and the orthodontist recommended I speak to an oral surgeon about jaw surgery. That began a 2-3 year fight with the insurance company that it was medically necessary, which I ultimately won! In August 2003 I ended up have an 8 hour extensive upper and lower jaw surgery. My jaw was wired shut for 10 weeks and didn't really have too many complications that that time.

Fast forward through the past 14 years, I have had what I thought was back to back sinus infections and was treated. I ended up loosing teeth to poor heath, hair started falling out and all of the work that the surgery created was falling apart. Recently I went to an oral surgeon to discuss TeethXpress but after getting the X-ray the surgeon told me to immediately see an ENT because there was a lot of swelling in my maxillary sinuses. I went to the ENT who put me on an antibiotic for 1 month and then requested that I get a Catscan down of my sinuses. The ENT called me in for a follow up of the catscan and told me that the screws and pins in my maxillary sinuses had shifted and caused a pocket which resulted in an infection developing in my left maxillary sinus cavity which has affected my bone. He referred me back to my surgeon who has now retired and when I asked for my medical records, they are no where to be found ANYWHERE!

I am trying to see if my hair loss/teeth falling out/etc could possibly be from the bone infection in my jaw from the screws. Has anyone had any complications similar to this and if so what did you have to do.

[XXRyanXXL]

Under HIPAA, the doctor is not allowed to destroy your medical records just because he went out of business.
I would file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights for your HIPAA violation. They have to NOTIFY you in writing of where to send your medical records. I would track down anyone who worked in the office and inform them of your rights under HIPAA, they cannot deny you access to them.
Also, I would seek immediate medical attention to take out those screws and plates, there of no use now. The bones do tend to settle overtime. Even with titanium screws and plates, they do tend to move around just as easy because bones are not completely solid objects.
Does your medical insurance cover medically necessary surgery and hospital stay? If not, purge the costs, or your health will only decline.

[jhaghtalab]

I'm out of luck on finding the old records, I called the the hospital (who only needs to keep records for 10 years), the insurance (only keeps claims for 7 years) and the Drs. Office only for 7 years. I'll look around in my old files to see if I can find anything. This will not affect the medically necessary surgery that I will have to go under currently but it's nice to have everything together considering they will be going back in.

Has anyone had their screws/pins removed? How is the recovery?

The surgery was excruciating for me and was a really long recovery. 

[XXRyanXXL]

I've talked to two people on getting the screws and plates removed, and the recovery time is much faster than the actual surgery, just a few weeks for the majority of the swelling to go down. However, they still have to make the same incision points to remove them, so they may be cutting over old scar tissue or tissue that has become thicker.

I guess the question I'm asking myself is, did this doctor make any effort to reach out to you? Maybe there was something sent. I hope you can find someone that worked there, look them up under Facebook, or Linkin, or google search the front receptionist name.
There is a guy on YouTube by the name RNK, he does a lot of urban exploration, he's been in multiple hospital settings where the doctors left mountains and mountains of file cabinets with patients records in them, look him up. I think a proper disposal of records is appropriate in these circumstances, who knows what they did with your records, or if they certified them as destroyed and shredded. I worked for a medical company once under contract, so I know the shredding services they contract out.

[UKMaxfac]

8 hours for bimax?!?!?!

[jhaghtalab]

Yes, the surgery ended up taking a full 8 hours. I had 2 oral surgeons working on me and a whole team of Dr's, not to mention this was nothing the hospital has seen before so students wanted to watch as well.

Luckily I ended up finding my old consent forms so I know some of the work that it entailed and that should be suffice for the next Dr. along with the catscan and other X-rays I had.

I made an appointment at John's Hopkins in Baltimore at the Oral and Maxillofacial surgery center (thankfully I am close by a great hospital). The next thing I am wondering is if the prognosis and issues with my teeth could have been a result from infections that occurred in my bone with these screws over the years and to get my medical insurance to repair and replace some of the upper teeth I have lost over the past couple years.