Jaw Surgery Q&A

Hello all,

I can't remember the last time I logged in here. I've been wanting to post a Q&A of some of the questions I get often just so it is easier for anyone to find the answers as sometimes when people try to contact me it gets lost in translation. I've changed over so many social media accounts that I don't think I even have access to all my old emails.



1. Who was your surgeon and where are they located?

I had my jaw surgery in Toronto, Canada. My surgeon was recommended by my orthodontist but I had already known about him through my own research and was interested in meeting with him for a consultation. I highly recommend meeting with him if you live in Ontario and are looking for a surgeon. I have met a few of his previous patients and their final results were functional and aesthetically pleasing. I couldn't imagine having had a better surgeon.

Here is a link to my surgeons bio and the website for the clinic he works through:
My surgeon

I am not sure if they take patients from out of the country, but my best advice is to do your research and find out as much as you can about surgeons in your area and also try to get in contact with their previous patients.

2. How much did your jaw surgery cost?

The cost of my jaw surgery is a good representation of what Canadians living in Ontario will pay through OHIP, but will probably not be much help if you are from a different province or if you are from a different country.

The jaw surgery itself and my time spent in hospital was all covered by OHIP, Ontario's health insurance plan as although my face changed, it was not done for aesthetic purposes but for functionality. I had many associated costs that were not covered.

Braces: $7,000
Consultation: $200
Planning fees: $3,500
Wisdom teeth: Somewhere in the range of $500-$1000 (It's hard to remember all these years later).

Braces are required for surgery but as they are considered cosmetic, it is highly unlikely to have them covered unless your private dental plan includes some sort of coverage. I had pretty straight teeth but I needed to have my jaw decompensated (teeth moved to align with the bone structure) since I had braces previously. They are also required for holding the jaws in place and shut after surgery.

If you are having lower jaw surgery then it is likely you will require wisdom teeth removal as they tend to cut the jaw below where the wisdom teeth are.

Planning fees were fees paid to my surgeon through his clinic for preparation and planning for my in hospital surgery. As his clinic is private, these types of fees are not covered. I had sliding genioplasty as my chin have grow in angle backwards as part of my convex profile so planning for that was also included in the fees.

The best bet of what it will cost you is to check with your insurance company and try to get in contact with other people in your area who have had the surgery.

3. Do you have permanent numbness? How do you deal with it?

This is a question I get often and it is something people are terrified of. I have permanent numbness, which is a risk but it is more likely you won't have it than you will. My chin and lower lip are pretty much numb and the best way I can describe it is sort of like rubber.

After four years it is safe to say the feeling is gone. At first your entire face is numb and the feeling slowly comes back over the course of weeks or months. I did have little pins and needle feelings here and there in that area but the feeling sort of came back outwards in and then stopped.

It has been four years and I can confidently say that the numbness does not have an impact in my day to day life in any way. I actually go months without it even crossing my mind. I tend not to drool when eating, and I can speak perfectly fine. It really is not a big deal at all.

The only time I think I really thought about it was when I last had dental work. It was strange having areas of my mouth numb, but nice at the same time that I had less sensitivity than another person might.

4. How long is the recovery? When can I go back to work or school?

My surgeon told me I would be good to return to university after two weeks. I would strongly suggest against this if you are having double jaw surgery and genioplasty. For one, I still looked mangled, very swollen, and had very little mobility in my face, or energy to get through the day. Also, I found that I still hadn't recovered enough to return to normal activities. I still had bad days with a lot of pain, and was still learning to sleep without putting any pressure on my face.

5. Does jaw surgery hurt? 

Surprisingly, no. At least it didn't for me. I found it was more annoying than anything. I had no pain post op. I was completely numb in the face for a long while. the worst part is throwing up post op, which is common, since your stomach will likely be filled with old blood. I also found it really hard dealing with feeling returning to my face because it was constantly twitching and tingling. I had some joint pain as I continued to recover, but most of my pain was manageable with medication. I was on some pretty heavy painkillers that first week, and actually ended up needing a sedative to sleep. I was very uncomfortable.

6. How long does the swelling last? 

I want to be honest and say that the residual swelling takes about 6 months to a year to go away. The first 6 weeks are the worst. My face looked very uneven during that time. After that I could get away with going out in public and not looking like my face was a rubber mask. That was the first time I took a photo of myself and felt somewhat normal. This will vary for everyone. Overall though it is a long road.

Leave any further questions in the comments and I will answer them. Also, I'm going to try to save the most frequently asked questions I get and make a youtube video.

Terra

Back To Toronto

It is cold, really really cold. I didn't realize how warm in was in Vancouver until I arrived in this deep freeze hell that is Toronto. I'm back in school and after two days of classes I now have three days off, which I will not complain about at all.

I got back in late although the flight was making good time. The arm that connects the gate to the plane was having issues and we had to wait for that to get figured out. Then my luggage got jammed on the ramp coming into baggage claim. I had to wait an extra 15 minutes before it started moving again and my hard shell luggage had a huge dent in it which I managed to bang out with my fist. I didn't take a lot back with me as I am moving out west and wanted to leave everything I could there. To be honest it's so cold here I would happily wear pjs and sweatpants the rest of the winter.

I hate flying. It's one of my most hated things. Not out of fear. I actually have no fear of the actual flight, I just hate jet lag and I get motion sickness. I usually force myself into a drugged up coma and try to numb the pain with reruns of whatever horrible sitcom they have available on those little screens. I watched Back To The Future and old episodes of Fraiser. That about did it for the flight.

I wanted to do a little jaw update since something weird happened when I got to Vancouver. My first day in I spent revisiting my lunch over the toilet, now a common ritual after flying and then spending 30 minutes in a car on ever changing elevations and winding roads. I pretty much avoided all food and stayed in bed when the nausea would pass. Once I got up I was enjoying a healthy lunch of skittles and my jaw did something really weird. I opened my mouth and got a really sharp pain not in the TMJ but a little in front of it. It was a really awful sharp pain like something cracked. Every time I opened my mouth I would get this sharp pain and cracking noise. I have no idea what it was. I pretty much avoided chewing and tried not to open my mouth and hoped it would go away. I have a history of having jaw issues arise when I am many thousands of kilometres away from my surgeon. I should call my surgeon about the plate and bring this up too. I'm getting pain in all the upper plate now. Not horrible pain, but still uncomfortable. I don't feel any sort of infection, but if I lean forward, or move my face a certain way I will feel an uncomfortable pressure in the plates in that area.

All the plates on my upper jaw are close to the surface and can be felt through the skin. There are three plates in my upper jaw. I had four but one was removed when I had a reoccurring infection in my sinus area. The surgery wasn't for plate removal, but it was removed while my sinus was being cleared of any material that got lodged in there. Jaws are such weird things, and it's crazy all the metal used to hold it all in place after surgery.

Oh I almost forgot. Weird breathing thing. So I had a lot of sleep apnea symptoms prior to jaw surgery. I would sometimes wake up in the night with my throat collapsed, unable to breathe at all. This all pretty much went away after jaw surgery. My fiancé woke me up a few nights ago because I was gasping for air in my sleep after struggling to breathe through my nose. Or so he says. If this is the case then I am really happy I am breathing through my nose in my sleep as I had a very bad tongue thrust. It took years, but I managed to force my tongue posture so often that it somehow stuck. I'll do a separate post on this.


Well I'm off to bed. It's midnight Vancouver time and 3:00 am Toronto time, which seems like as good a time as any to sleep.

Terra

10 Months Post op

Hello readers!!

It's been a crazy summer and I've been slacking in the blogging and youtubing department.
I did do a youtube update not that long ago and I will do a retainer one soon.
My bite has been good and has pretty much stayed the same. I've been wearing my retainers nightly for the most part. The only time I didn't wear them consistently was when I was at the hospital overnight with my grandmother.

My last post was on the way back from Montreal and everything sort of got crazy after that. A couple days later my grandmother fell ill and was hospitalized in critical care. I was closer to my grandmother than most people are so when she's not well I don't leave her side. She was at the hospital for 9 days in which I pretty much was there all the time, around the clock. She started to improve on July 6th and we had a lot of hope that maybe she would someday be well enough to be moved to a different ward and eventually recover. The following day she went down hill really fast and that was the last day I got to spend with her. Planning the funeral that week was chaos with the amounts of flooding and the storms in Toronto. We had a power outage so I got very little sleep working around the clock to have everything sorted out. The funeral turned out to be beautiful and I think it honoured her life well.
I miss her every single day.

Some days everything that has happened these last few months just overwhelms me so most of the time I try not to think too much. My life has forever changed in so many ways that sometimes I don't recognize it at all.

At the same time I feel blessed to have the amazing people that I do have in my life. Hoping for lots of good from here on out. I really hope all your wonderful people are doing well. I miss your stories and I've going to try to catch up on everyones blog.

xoxo
Terra

Costs of Jaw Surgery

This is in reply to a comment regarding the costs associate with jaw surgery.
First off I just want to say that I live in Ontario, Canada and therefore I have provincial health insurance which covers certain costs.  All cost in Canadian dollars.

This is a break down from start to finish:

1. Braces: (first set)                  $3000
2. Premolar removal                $500- 1000 (estimating as this was a long time ago)
3. Braces: (second set)             $7000
4. Wisdom teeth removal:        $1300
5. Surgical Planning                $3500

The surgery itself was covered by OHIP and I have additional health insurance for my prescriptions which I'm sure would have been at least a few hundred on top of everything. 

I'm not sure how other surgeons price out their surgeries but for my surgeon $3500 seems to be a standard rate for a double jaw surgery and genioplasty. Those fees included costs incurred at his private office such as x-rays, follow up visits, moulds, and other related costs. There was also an initial consultation fee of $200. 

Terra

Before and After 5 months post op

Hey all,

So I wanted to post before and after profile pictures for the last few months and I just haven't.
I took a couple pictures tonight to share with you guys.
I don't have hair and makeup or any of that going on which could possible alter the overall difference.
So here it is:

It's hard to believe that my profile is normal for the first time since I can remember. Pretty awesome!!
I'm super happy with the way everything looks.
I need to get on top of the whole speech therapy soon.
I've been so overwhelmed with school and the setbacks I had at the beginning of the term didn't help.

Are those cheekbones that I have now?? wow crazy.

btw in the before pictures my lips were closed, that way my face at rest sadly.

Have a great weekend !!!

Terra