I Wasn’t Able to Taste After My Jaw Surgery
“Not intended or considered to be a cosmetic surgery, but I had maxilla facial jaw surgery.
My whole life I had a large gap between my top teeth and my bottom teeth only in the front. I could bite down I the back but had about an 1.5″ gap in the front. I was unable to eat without putting the food in the side of my mouth.
The surgery consisted of removing my top jaw from my face, taking bone from my cheek and anchoring that to the front of my upper jaw, cutting out bone in the back of the jaw, and setting that all back into my face (at the same time conveniently removing my wisdom teeth). They then spent a few hours re-attaching ligament and muscle and moved to my bottom jaw.
My bottom jaw was a bit easier. Because of the length of my new top jaw it left me with no chin, so to add symmetry back to my face they cut off the bone in my chin and used the pieces of bone from my top jaw to extend the very bottom of my chin. It made my bottom jaw look more square.
In all, my cheek bones became slightly more visible, my smile improved 100000000% and I now have a more square jaw. Problems included: 10 months of pain and disgusting discharge, lack of taste for strong flavors that lasted almost 2 years, and I had to have a follow up surgery to remove left over materials that didn’t dissolve.
I am completely pleased with the results and would not go back ever to not being able to bite a sandwich!!! I also had the pleasure of having my surgeon be one of the pioneers of this surgery at UNC Dr. Tim Turvey.
The best part is, I only had to pay $4000 out of about $600,000 medical costs because the chin part of the surgery was the only “cosmetic” part and UNC helped me with the cost.
I believe myself to be more desirable, it’s hard to be attractive with a bad smile.
If anyone is suffering from any major dental issues I say correct them. Your teeth are the one thing you should take care of above all else, so you can enjoy a decent quality of life!!” – Reddit / crazydaze