Hi everyone,
First, excuse my english. I'm not a native speaker.
Also, excuse the looong post ahead...
A little bit of backstory... I'm a 30 yo female, french speaking belgian.
I have always had "bunny teeth". Cute when you're a child, embarassing when you grow up.
I have always knew that, at some point, I would have to wear braces.
When I was a kid, my mother couldn't afford the cost. So, in 2013, having a decent job and a stable life, I decided it was time to fix things up.
I went to a local ortho, thinking that I would need to wear braces on top, and maybe bottom as well since my teeth were crooked.
Well, I had a big slap in the face. After x-rays, molds and ceph studies, the ortho explained that I needed SARPE and SARME (8 mm for both), then braces, then jaw surgery to correct my overbite/overjet and lip incompetence
I was in a bit of a shock but after a long discussion with my partner I agreed to do what needed to be done.
My ortho gave me the name of a max fax surgeon and a few months later, I had my first operation (SARPE and SARME).
Well, long story short, it was hell on earth. It hurted a lot (the surgeon told me it was painfree... yeah, right), the bottom device didn't allow me to speak properly and the top device didn't allow me to eat properly. The gaps were huuuuuge. I had to wear the devices for 5 months before braces and lost almost 10 kg in the process. I'm pretty thin so it was a bit scary.
At the end of 2013, the day of my 29th birthday, my braces were placed.
Thanks to SARPE and SARME, my teeth moved pretty fast.
By that time, I started to look online for some infos and decided to see several surgeons to have more opinions. I understood that my face could change big time so I wanted to do the right thing.
Every max fax that I saw gave me a completely different surgery plan. I was so lost and scared, I didn't know what to do anymore.
After several month of consultations here and there, I had enough and went back to the surgeon that performed my first operation. After all, my first went well.
We agreed to a sugery plan: advancement of the mandible for the overbite, (tiny) advancement of the maxilla to correct the lip incompetence (I didn't have a gummy smile at all) and reduce the lenght of my philtrum (when I smile, my upper lip made some kind of dimple - I don't know how to explain it), and genioplasty because, unlike many people with overbite, I had a pretty strong chin (for a woman).
However, one week prior to surgery, the surgeon changed his mind. He only wanted to bring my lower jaw forward. He said my profile would be perfect, I was in shock and just answered something like "I won't spend my lifetime in profile".
Later that day, I had to see my ortho for the surgical hooks. I told her what happened and she was like "Nope, we need to do something for your lip incompetence. I'm gonna call the surgeon, don't worry, I'll fix it".
The next day, she called me to tell me everything was ok, that the surgeon agreed to do what needed to be done. What a relief.
A week later, I had my jaw surgery. Everything went well according to the surgeon but I was surprised and shocked to discover that he only did mandible advancement, nothing else.
His words were "you don't need anything else, everything is perfect". He gave me a prescription for some painkillers (advill-like - what a joke) and went away.
I spent a night at the hospital and then went home.
Recovery was a hard process, the pain was difficult to deal with and I was in some kind of depressed phase.
Today, almost a year later, I can say that nothing was ok. My lip incompetence is still here (of course), my nose and my nasal septa are crooked (due to SARPE I assume) and my face is a whole mess of asymmetry. My chin is asymmetric, my lips are asymmetric, the two halves of my face are completely different.
Three months ago, I saw a well-rep surgeon in the capital. He told me that yep, my surgery was a poor job and I needed a revision.
He agreed to do it (advancement of the maxilla and mandible, genioplasty and some kind of procedure for more cheeks projection).
So I'm on rubber bands again to recreate an overjet that will allow my theeth to place correctly after surgery.
However, I saw another surgeon and she told me to do a Cone Beam. Last week, I went back to see her with the Cone Beam and she said that "surgery wouldn't be a wise decision" because of some gum and bone loss due to big teeth movement.
She said that I needed to stop everything as soon as possible, see a plastic surgeon for my nose and maybe have a surgery on my mental fold to help reduce the lip incompetence (yeah, but the problem is my upper lip so...).
I left in tears. I can't stop everything now, my bite isn't good, my jaw issues aren't fixed.
I made an appointment to have gum grafts done where needed. If I need to put my orthodontic treatment on hold for a while, I'll do it but just stop everything, I can't.
