Having a hard time coping with the prospect of having this problem forever.

[VioletA92]

Hi. My name is Violet and I am 22 years old. I have an 8mm overjet, narrow palate, and an incompetent lip. I look terrible and I don't see any way to resolve these issues. I've resigned myself to a life of misery because I cannot imagine doing half the things that I want to do while looking like this. I've never had a boyfriend, date, even a kiss. As far as I know, no one has ever been attracted to me. Lol. 
I've been to several orthodontists and I've come to the conclusion that I "missed the boat." There are specific, time sensitive, procedures that could have helped. Alas, I am too old. Ancient by their standards.
I don't know why I am posting this. Probably because I don't have anyone else to talk to. Anyway, thanks for listening. 

[Lazlo]

Hi. My name is Violet and I am 22 years old. I have an 8mm overjet, narrow palate, and an incompetent lip. I look terrible and I don't see any way to resolve these issues. I've resigned myself to a life of misery because I cannot imagine doing half the things that I want to do while looking like this. I've never had a boyfriend, date, even a kiss. As far as I know, no one has ever been attracted to me. Lol. 
I've been to several orthodontists and I've come to the conclusion that I "missed the boat." There are specific, time sensitive, procedures that could have helped. Alas, I am too old. Ancient by their standards.
I don't know why I am posting this. Probably because I don't have anyone else to talk to. Anyway, thanks for listening. 

You're not too old at all and all your problems can be solved. You need SARPE, yeah it's a bit of a procedure, but what's a few months out of the rest of your life? Please don't have teeth extracted to make room for any crowding. Have sarpe done. Then you just need jaw surgery. You're going to be fine, maybe even beautiful! And by the way you're pretty young. I was a virgin until my early twenties and I'm a guy (which is way way worse!). But it wasn't my looks preventing me it was my sense of self, confidence and becoming more of an interesting person. Since then, I've banged tons and tons of girls. You need to work on your inner self and your confidence by working hard on something and gaining a level of expertise in it. Also go to the gym and stay fit (that's all in your hands). And your jaw problems are easily solvable! Have faith and hope! Good luck!

[terry947]

Violet Im in the same boat. I also have narrow jaws as well. Find a surgeon and get sarpe as Lazlo said, or get an orthodontist to do it for you (but this on takes patience and lots of time) and then have jaw surgery to fix your problems. Its not the end of the world. Keep trying and dont give up!

[Lazlo]

who the f**k just negged my karma after I posted such a positive and supportive message!? violet was it you? I'll have GJ find out!

[VioletA92]

@lazlo um, no. It wasn't me. 

[Gregor Samsa]

What exactly did the orthodontists say?

[VioletA92]

They've all said that I must have two bicuspids extracted from the top. I knew from the beginning that that did NOT interest me. I said no and I'll continue to say no. Orthognathic surgery was never even given as an option for me. It's ridiculous because they try to force their opinions down my throat and make me feel stupid. I'm not doing it. Case closed. It's really funny because apparently they think that, even though I could have had all of this covered by insurance two years ago, I would agree to it now when I no longer have that luxury. No thanks.

[Gregor Samsa]

What's stopping you from consulting directly with a maxfac surgeon?

[VioletA92]

Fear of being told that I'm not a candidate, fear of a bad result, fear of surgery, etc.

[Gregor Samsa]

It's not the end of things if a surgeon tells you that you're not a good candidate for surgery. I've had a few surgeons tell me that I'm not a good candiate for various reasons and most of those reasons have turned out to be completely false. The sad truth is that many surgeons, maybe even most of them, simply aren't knowledgeable enough to deal with cases that fall outside of the norm. You just need to keep looking until you find a surgeon that you're comfortable with. I'm sure this forum can point you in the right direction depending on where you live. You sound like a candidate for jaw surgery based on what you've written so far so it may very well be that you're a straight-forward case and you'll get the whole thing covered by your insurance.

How does your profile look like? Is your lower jaw recessed?

[VioletA92]

It really is recessed. I look so crazy.

[Gregor Samsa]

If you have a 8 mm overjet and your lower jaw is recessed then you sound like a good candidate for jaw surgery. Forget about what the orthodontists said; they have limited knowledge and usually try to solve the problem in the only domain that they know of and that leads to unfortunate treatment plans such as extracting teeth when the proper plan would be to advance the lower jaw.

[Nataliepryor]

From what I have read over 23 is a good time for a female to have jaw surgery as generally growth as stopped.

I am over 30, second time in braces, just had SARPE surgery (narrow upper ) and still have expender on.  I have recessed chin, 10mm overbite and require double jaw surgery this year.

I found a great maxfac surgeon (if you can get a great referral for a good one, it's worth just meeting for the exercise). He looked at my X-ray and explained what I needed, why and how.  I think the consult sort of confirmed all the things that I thought were 'off' with my jaw/bite. When I spoke to him I knew he was the guy to do it for me.

I still have a few people say " why would you bother"? I bothered because I was looking long term, I want to be confident about myself and I want my natural teeth to see another 10 years in my mouth (as appose to a sparkling new set of dentures).

There is no obligation when you meet with a surgeon, even to investigate, walk away and think some more about it.  You have far more great years to benefit, maybe just investigate it can't hurt...wish I had at your age, I procrastinated instead!


Good luck