Why Me?!

Why Me?!

Our jaws are a critical component of our body. They are the home for our teeth, the first step of our digestive system. They are also incredibly strong; did you know your they can exert a force of up to 250 lbs?! That's strong enough to bite though a cinder block (if your teeth could handle it).  

The fitment of our jaws would ideally look like my model below. See how the upper jaw fits slightly over the lower? Notice how the teeth fit into each other when it's closed? These traits render your teeth into a scissor of sorts. Making it easy to tear your food into manageable pieces.

Normal Jaw

The issue with my jaw is how it fits together. I have what's called an open bite.  The top of my jaw, back towards where my molars are, is too long. The extra length prevents my lower jaw from closing all the way.  So with my mouth closed, and my back teeth touching, there is space in-between my upper and lower teeth. My case is particularly bad, the gap in-between my teeth is so large that I can easily push my entire tongue through, mouth closed.

Example of Open Bite fitment

My Open Bite

My Open Bite

Your probably thinking, "ok, so you can't eat a sandwich. Big whoop!" And honestly, I wish that were the only issue. But the reality of the situation is pretty rough. Since my front teeth never touch, they never get used. This forces me to do all of my chewing with my molars. As a result I have brand new, never been used front teeth, and rear teeth that are excessively worn. My molars will wear so much faster than my other teeth that I'll ultimately face being without them, or expensive dental implants. Another issue is speech. My tongue has quite a bit more real-estate than most. The extra space hosted a myriad of speech issues as a child. You can only guess how much fun it is to be a kid growing up with a lisp. Finally, it affects my appearance. I'm by no means a chubby boy, but since my lower jaw couldn't close, I always had the appearance of a double chin.

Modern medical science in all its glory has a couple ways to treat this. Through orthodontics, or surgery. If you want to go the orthodontic route, you've got to have a skeletal system that is still growing. For most, that's till you're a young adult in their early twenties. But once your skeleton is fully grown, you're stuck with the surgical method.

I'd tried the orthodontic method in high school. But my gap was too severe. All it served to do was frustrate me with disappointing Orthodontists visits. So I bagged the first attempt, had the braces taken off and waited till I was in my twenties to try the surgical method.

The surgical method is no walk in the park. But it gets results. All of the Oral Surgeons I'd spoken with wouldn't even see me until I'd had braces on for a year. They want to be sure that your bite is as straight as possible before they permanently set your jaw.

This method has you build a team of an Orthodontist and an Oral Surgeon. They work together to prepare your teeth for the surgery. First the Orthodontist will put braces on you to get your bite straightened out and ready for surgery. Next, the Oral surgeon will perform the procedure. After recovery, the Orthodontists can make any small adjustment to get your bite just right.

To treat my bite, the surgical procedure I had is called a Le Fort I Osteotomy. The surgeon cut my upper jaw, above my teeth, all along my upper gums. Cut the bone to remove the extra length. Pinned the jaw in the right spot with some screws and plates and closed up shop. The best in detail (rated G) explanation I've found so far is here "Le Fort I osteotomy". The best (rated, I dunno PG? Look it's actual surgical footage) can be watched here. Watch the procedure performed