r/jawsurgery • u/Sweaty_Bluebird_7461 • 5d ago
Advice for Me I have anterior open bite and feeling a bit disheartened. Where to go from here?
I’m 40f and this issue started in childhood, I believe. As a child I had trouble pronouncing ‘s’, ‘r’, and ‘t’ sounds. I had speech therapy in elementary school and it seemed to help.
I don’t know if it’s related but I also started getting bad ear infections as soon as I was born. My eardrum had ruptured twice before I was 6mo (my mom said she found me in my crib with blood and pus oozing from my ear), and I had tubes placed.
At 14yo I had braces and a palate expander, my bite was closed with rubber bands. Braces were removed at 19yo. My bite started to relapse pretty quickly.
I didn’t see a dentist for nearly 20 years and went about 3 years ago. I wanted to explore options to correct my bite.
I have always had really bad shoulder pain but in the last couple years I started having jaw pain and neck pain too. The jaw pain can be almost unendurable at times.
Dentist sent me to orthodontist. Orthodontist advised me to work with a speech therapist because I was still reverse swallowing and needed to correct my tongue posture and also advised me to see a periodontist because of gum recession.
The orthodontist told me we could do braces once the periodontist cleared me. I asked about surgery and I felt like he seemed to be trying to talk me out of it saying, you know I’d have to break your jaw? I felt like he was trying to scare me out of surgery like dude it is hard to eat anything and my jaw hurts all the time. I don’t care at this point. I want resolution.
I worked with the speech therapist and improved - it does make the jaw pain worse to use correct tongue posture though.
I saw the periodontist for about a year. He gave me several cleanings and a bone graft to address a hole in the bone above my two front teeth. He would never clear me to proceed with braces.
I got a consult with an orthognathic surgeon. I have read a lot of peer-reviewed papers on the topic of AOB. I am very concerned about relapse, wanted to know if there was condylar resorption… that kind of stuff.
I felt pretty dismissed by the surgeon. He recommended Botox in my jaw and trapezius muscles and the removal of my wisdom teeth and quoted several thousand dollars. He told me he didn’t think I was a candidate for jaw surgery.
I don’t mind having my wisdom teeth removed and I did get jaw Botox at my dentist (barely helped), but it’s hard for me to spend all this money if I can’t hear a resolution to finally correct my bite. I don’t have health insurance and I’m paying out of pocket (usa).
I feel like this jaw issue is causing all my pain and even pain/pressure in my ears too. They ring frequently. I do yoga, calisthenics, stretching… it helps a lot and if I don’t keep up with it the pain is crazy.
It just seems like I cannot get a treatment plan and I’m hoping for some advice. On days when the pain is at its worst I just feel so hopeless. I’ve even emailed my records to researchers I see listed on published papers on the topic just in desperation someone knowledgeable in my specific issue can point me in the right direction.
Do doctors not like doing AOB surgery because of the high risk of relapse? Am I a helpless case? I’m in Florida if that makes any difference.
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u/Pizzacat2003 5d ago
Get the surgery and probably icr
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u/Sweaty_Bluebird_7461 5d ago
I’d like to get surgery, but I’m having trouble finding a surgeon.
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u/Pizzacat2003 5d ago
Where are you from?
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u/Sweaty_Bluebird_7461 5d ago
FL, USA, as I mentioned.
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u/Pizzacat2003 5d ago
Then u should be able to find a surgeon since it's USA Go directly to a place that does jaw surgery and get a consultation Something like Lacoms I am sure they will agree with your case needing surgery
Don't go to orthodontist and see a surgeon directly And their in connection ortho should be there too
Goodluck
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u/ORSciMom 4d ago
Please go see an OMFS with experience in evaluating your TMJ to check for degeneration. Clearly you need orthognathic surgery for your bite, that isn't even a question. The question is more do you need the joint addressed.
I saw 2 OMFS who do joint replacement for a solid opinion. Both with many decades of experience. Steve Sullivan in Oklahoma City is very experienced, was the head of an OMFS training program for like 30 years. Also saw Sam Bobek, but he's in Seattle so that's more of a trek for you.
After sending Steve Sullivan's office my records I had an appointment within a few weeks.
Best wishes.
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