My Surgery

There were a few steps involved in obtaining this new look. Firstly, the braces. Over the next 2 years I wore braces to straighten my teeth. With monthly adjustments my teeth quickly moved into the required position but the braces had to stay on for quite some time.

I was really embarrassed at first to be wearing braces at my age. It's something I thought was really for teenagers but the more I actually looked at other people's smiles, the more people I noticed wearing braces. Braces are so refined these days, not like the old days where you could see them so easily. Working on a reception desk, the braces became almost trendy to me with strangers asking me how it was progressing and commenting on a lovely smile. So many it seamed wished they had have straightened their teeth. Of course there is always the Smarty Pants comments that can be so hurtful but with so many positive and encouraging comments, I knew I had made the right decision.

I have broken my surgery into 3 steps to explain it easier to you. It is all done inside the mouth so there is no scarring. The correct terminology is "Orthognathic Surgery" which actually means "straight jaws".

The first step is Upper jaw surgery (maxillary osteotomy). This involves cutting along the top of the bone above your teeth (below both eye sockets) so that the entire top jaw — including the roof of your mouth and your upper teeth — can move as one unit. The jaw and upper teeth were moved backward and secured with titanium plates and screws.

The next step is the Lower jaw (mandibular osteotomy) In this procedure, cuts are made behind the molars and lengthwise down the jawbone so the front of the jaw can move as one unit. The jaw was moved forward to its new position and also secured with titanium plates and screws.

We, being the surgeon, orthodontist and myself all agreed that if we were going to go through all of this surgery, then while this was being performed, Chin surgery (genioplasty) should be included for optimum results. So the chin bone was also cut and moved forward. Yes, more titanium plates and screws. On an X-ray I imagine I now look like my face is now made out of Meccano.

There was also the possibility of removing wisdom teeth. I had never experienced them coming down from my gum. They had never given me any trouble and were still sitting silently up in my gum. The surgeon thought that they would probably be in the way and would need to be removed but wasn't completely sure until the day of the operation.

surgery should take 4-5 hours to perform and about 2 weeks to heal but 8 weeks to recover. Most 20 something's recover in just a couple of weeks but we need to consider I am over 45 which generally means it takes twice as long.

There are also some risk of complications. The most common is losing feeling or sensation of numbness in your face. This can take a long time to heal. There is also a risk of excessive bleeding and the most rare complication would be for my own jaw to be rejected once it had all been put back together. I have had operations before and the doctors are obliged to tell you these risks so that you are aware of what could possibly happen. Generally nothing out of the ordinary does happen but they still have to let you know.

Let's do it!