Can you have braces without having lower jaw surgery?

The DNA Appliance is an ideal treatment modality for you.  It can orthoedically grow your jaws to a more ideal state.Regardless, no one must have orthognathic surgery.  You have lived 54 years with jaws as they are and the  surgery should should always be considered on a risk/ benefit basis.Without pictures I do not even know if your lower jaw is forward or back.  If it is back it is very easy to correct without surgery.Ira L Shapira DDSDiplomate, American Board of Dental Sleep MedicineDiplomat, American Academy of Pain ManagementRegent and Fellow, International College CranioMandibular OrthopedicsChair, American Alliance of TMD OrganizationsThinkBetterLife.com

impossible to tell without records (pictures and xrays) but one really has nothing to do with the other.  Based upon what the orthodontist told you though, I'd suspect that you are a surgical case but that doesn't mean you have to do it.  It all depends upon the intended outcome; it may be necessary to do for you to achieve what you're after, but other compromised outcomes are possible.