As I've been getting closer to surgery, more people are asking me, why jaw surgery? I've included a link on the right sidebar (see Why Jaw Surgery) to a website that gives a pretty thorough explanation of why people might need corrective jaw/orthognathic (which is what I'm having). The short answer is I have an "insufficient bite". I have an open and over bite. This bite causes me to have:
Difficulty chewing, or biting food
Headaches - from lots of clenching and grinding on back teeth (thankfully I've been headache free the last year and half due to being on a muscle relaxer at night)
Excessive wear of the teeth
Open bite (space between the upper and lower teeth when the mouth is closed)
Receding chin
Inability to make the lips meet without straining
Though this is an "elective" surgery, if I chose to not have it, I would probably lose most of my teeth in the back (the only ones I have to chew with, currently!). And with my current bite, I am not a candidate for dental implants (they would just crack or break). This would either leave me with dentures at an early age, or on a limited diet (think mashed potato consistency).
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