About Me

Okay, first in response to the couple of questions I've gotten, because my case is minor, the only adjustments needed during surgery will be to separate my upper jaw, slide it forward, and then anchor it in place with plates and screws. My jaws will only need to be held shut with very tight rubber bands, not wired shut.

In more severe cases, if your jaws are very different lengths, the surgeon may have to adjust both the upper and lower jaws, requiring the jaws to be wired shut, post op. If your jaws are canted, front to back, or side to side, a wedge of bone is permanently removed during the surgery, and again the jaws must be wired shut. Both of these operations are somewhat riskier than the basic operation I require, and can have a longer healing time.

Upon receiving my request for pre-approval, my insurance company refused the claim because my "malocclusion could be treated non-surgically." Which prompted me to call them, and ask "what if I already had orthodontics for this and it didn't fix it?" After a lot of back and forth between my new doctors and orhtodontist, my old orthodontist, and my health insurance company, they decided that it is, in fact, covered.

I have scheduled preliminary appointments with the new orthodontist but at the moment I don't have an appointment to get braces on yet. The earliest that could happen is in a few weeks.