Jaw Surgery Overview

Jaw surgery known as orthognathic surgery to medical professionals is performed to correct various skeletal problems such as misaligned jaw and or teeth. Skeletal problems specifically include having an open bite, protruding lower jaw, and receding lower jaw. Jaw surgery is not only for aesthetic reasons. It can be done to improve a persons medical condition as well.

A few examples that jaw surgery can fix include:

1. Those with TMJ disorder that causes pain and headaches.
2. Those who have difficulty breathing.
3. Those with sleep apnea can improve if not fix their conditions with jaw surgery.

Jaw surgery and having braces normally go hand to hand. Orthodontic treatment helps to align the teeth to a position that the oral surgeon can work with when assessing how far to push the upper jaw forward or lower jaw back. Since orthodontics and jaw surgery are coupled then you have to expect to have a lot of x-rays taken regularly.

The surgery itself involves the cutting of bone to reposition the bone and fix the problem. Every case will be specific to the persons need and the surgeon will assess what is needed. After bone is cut and repositioned, the surgeon will screw titanium plates and bolts into your bone. This is an important step in the surgery because maximum tightening of the bolts on your bone will decrease the likelihood that your jaw will revert back (relapse) to it's previous pre-surgery position. The surgeon will then use dissolvable stitches to close up the wound. The surgery itself is simplified greatly in my explanation but these are the major prevailing steps during orthognathic surgery.

Various complications can occur just like any other surgery. Complications are rare if you are healthy. It's best not to think too much about complications unless you are at risk for them. Just for your benefit I provided a link below.

Use this link to look at various complications in detail:
http://herkules.oulu.fi/isbn9514269934/html/x486.html

PLEASE: Do not change your mind about this surgery because of the complications!

Use these links for more details on jaw surgery:
http://www.orthognathicsurgery.info/en
http://www.aaoms.org/jaw_surgery.php

I hope you make the right decision for yourself!
Deciding to go through with jaw surgery was one thing in my life that I will forever be thankful for. 

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