Is Jaw Surgery Worth It?

Searching the internet trying to figure out if jaw surgery is worth it usually leads to fairly general articles that might not help too much. The purpose of this story is to tell you how I believe you can determine if jaw surgery is something you should pursue.

Jaw surgery is likely worth it if you've been anxious or unhappy for a number of years, knowing that orthodontics alone cannot fix whatever issues you're experiencing. If you have a crossbite, underbite, overbite, or other issues, it can wear away at your psyche over time.

Think It Over for a Long Time

My first tip is to give yourself some time to think about the decision. One of the great lessons of life is a simple one: Is it a big decision? Ok, sleep on it.

For jaw surgery, sleep on it for a few months. Give it a lot of time and consideration.

If it's been several years and you're pretty sure you’re ready, then it might be time to make a decision. However, if considering jaw surgery is something new, you might want to think it over for quite a while. Here's why.

Jaw surgery is major surgery. It is nothing like wisdom teeth extraction. Getting your wisdom teeth taken out is a walk in the park compared to jaw surgery. Jaw surgery can make you feel like you got hit in the face by a car. I'm not trying to scare readers, but it's important to know that jaw surgery is big time. No, it's not heart surgery or brain surgery, but to put it bluntly, a surgeon is going to cut inside your mouth and move your upper and lower jaws around, or one jaw if you aren't having double jaw surgery. Then the surgeon is going to fasten your jaws in place, likely with titanium plates and screws, and those plates and screws never come out. At the same time, you're probably never going to feel or notice the plates and screws, nor is anyone going to see them since they are under gums inside your mouth. Even you won't be able to see them since they won’t be visible inside your mouth.

The surgery might last anywhere from 2 to 10 hours. My first surgery lasted 8 and a half hours. It did not end in a positive result. However, my second surgery only took about two and a half hours, and I am now supposedly set for life with a good jaw.

VIsiting an oral surgeon for a consultation and reviewing your x-rays can be a positive step toward figuring out if jaw surgery is worth it for you.

Go for a Consultation

My second tip to figuring out if jaw surgery is worth it is to go for a consultation with an experienced surgeon. Jaw surgeons are usually referred to as oral and maxillofacial surgeons. At the consultation, ask them to diagnose your bite and ask if it's fairly severe compared to other cases they've seen. If it is severe, that may be more reason to have surgery. But if they consider the case mild, think over whether or not major surgery and three months of recovery are worth it.

What is involved in three months of recovery? I'll try to keep this brief since there's a lot of detail I could go into. After the surgery, you might remain at the hospital or medical center for one or more nights. For my first surgery, I stayed at the hospital for two nights. For the second surgery, I left the same day.

Recovery involves not being able to eat what you want for probably at least six weeks. It will most likely be 8-12 weeks before you're eating what you want. Instead, you’ll likely be on a liquid diet of soups and shakes.

Right now if you want to go and have something to eat, as long as you have the money there's nothing stopping you. It is a very strange and unpleasant feeling whenever you really want to eat something specific and you simply can't because your face has been involved in major surgery. It's unlike anything you'll ever experience again.

It’s going to be incredibly hard to watch people eat burritos when you can’t chew, or in some cases, you can’t yet open your jaw.

Right now if you’re trying to cut back on junk foods, you can cheat and have a burrito or a burger. The option is there. But you don't have that option after jaw surgery, and I remember how crazy that reality was. Not being able to eat something you want really is not fun, to put it lightly. People get cranky when they can't eat what they want, especially if their stomach is already empty. We all know how that is. I was wondering at the time if jaw surgery was worth it, but there was no going back.

Other aspects of jaw surgery recovery having to do with the three months is that you will likely be in mild to moderate pain for the first week or two, but nothing severe for most patients. The worst part is the discomfort and not being able to do what you want, which is worse than it sounds. First-hand experience will help patients understand what I mean.

Talk to Family

My third tip, and it's a little boring, but I need to do it, is to speak with family and friends about the decision. They probably will say they support you no matter what you want to do. They also likely will say if they think you're fine as you are. But only you know what it's like to be unhappy and uncomfortable with the state of your jaw if that's how you feel.

The hospital or medical center might send you a big bill if you don’t figure out the exact financial situation involved with your jaw surgery beforehand.

Cost of Jaw Surgery

My fourth tip is figuring out if you can even have it done. Is it covered by your insurance? Is it a medical necessity? If you can do it at a smaller medical center that’s not a major hospital, can you pay out of pocket for the procedure? If not, then you can’t have the surgery.

Only You Know How You Feel

Finally, this is obvious, but if your jaw surgery goes well then it's absolutely worth it. Duh, right? However, some surgeries don't always go well. Sometimes weeks after surgery, a patient will realize that they still have a slight crossbite, underbite, or overbite, which can be depressing. For example, my first surgery ended with me still having a crossbite. I had to get a second surgery. It's a good thing the second surgery went well. It was a risk, but I'm glad I did it. (Ask your surgeon ahead of time how often they have to redo surgeries for a patient, meaning basically ask the surgeon how often they mess up and have to try again. My second surgeon said he maybe had one patient a year where he wasn’t fully satisfied with his work. That’s a good rate of success!)

If you understand that jaw surgery is major surgery, that you've been perhaps unhappy for a number of years and know that it's time to have surgery, and if you trust your surgeon, you may want to go forward with surgery. I can’t tell you to do it or not to do it. The only person that can make that decision is you. Go for a consultation. Ask questions. Think it over.

This post is one in a series of the most asked jaw surgery questions.

Featured photo credit: Ri Butov from Pixabay.