(My fiancee Jeff and me x-mas 04.)I was minding my own business a few years ago when my dentist told me that he would not be able to move forward on costmetic crowns on my top front teeth because I had an overbite and would need braces! At the age of 46 this came as a complete surprise to me. So off I went to see the orthodontist. This guy was just going to slap some braces on me even though my case was "difficult". He did not even have my x-rays on the day of the consult. So a friend sent me to her orthodontist, Dr. A (the man who "did this to me"), who spent quite some time measuring and then sent me off for more x-rays and pictures. Needless to say, I also found a new dentist.
I was stunned on the day I sat in Dr. A's office and he told me that I would need more than braces, that I would need orthognathic surgery, something I had never even heard of. I wanted to cry, I was really upset. But after it began to sink in and I began to look more closely at myself in the mirror, I could see what Dr. A saw -- that my chin was small and that my bite was off. Not by much but enough to have been the source of many of my dental problems over the years such as having lost many lower molars at an early age. But why had nobody ever told me!
I got my braces put on and then spent about a year trying to get my insurance company to approve the procedure. In the end, I was granted an exception and the surgery date was put on the calendar. Yikes! Now that I had fought so hard to have the surgery, I was petrified. Did I really want to go through with it? Well, my dentist told me that I really had no choice, that if I didn't want to lose more teeth and bone it was really my only option.
Now that the surgery is over, I have implants to look forward to. And that will require more surgery for bone grafts and then the implants!
3 comments:
Hey Mary,
Did they have to do any bone grafts on your during surgery for your implants? I, like you will be having a bone graft done on my lower left molar when they do the BSSo on me. Then when I'm all healed up (about 8 months later) they will go in and place the implant, then I will officially be done with all this orthodontic/orthonathic drama! You can check out my blog if you like. I'm detailing my whole journey from beginning to end. I have already had one surgery to expand my palate.
Brandy
Sorry, I meant that I have to get an implant like you (not a bone graft)
Hi Brandi,
I am pretty much on the late train with this whole process and did not discuss the bone grafts with my dentist other than when he told me that we would have to wait 12-18 months after to surgeyr to do it. I never discussed it with the surgeon. I do know that my insurance will not pay for it and I am not prepared to pay for it at the moment. Sounds like you have a good plan and place and I will definitely follow your progress.
M
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