Braces at 13 and Again at 54, Followed by Orthognathic Surgery at 56! - Palo Alto, CA

I meant MY UNDER-BITE!

After suffering with crooked and broken teeth for 50 years in spite of 4 years of orthodontic treatment at 13, it was only after I discovered that OSA surgery could address almost all of my oral-maxillofacial issues. I have probably always been a OSA sufferer, even in my youth. Also, I have always been very hard on my teeth because of the bite issues associated with being "edge-to-edge". It was only when my apnea worsened & I started cracking/losing teeth that I realized that I needed to get on this. I interviewed OMFS in the SF bay area, Texas, and North Carolina. Because I did not want to do a formal "BIMAX" due to my already prominent mandible, I was challenged on how best to achieve function, aesthetics, and apnea relief. I opted to have a maxillary advancement. At Stanford alone, there are 3 doctors in 2 separate divisions (plastic/oral surgery & sleep medicine) who do this procedure. I opted to use Dr. Kasey Li, M.D., DDS who was formerly affiliated with Stanford, as my surgeon. My reasoning was simple. Dr. Li is a board certified in Oral & maxillofacial surgery, ENT, and Facial plastic surgery. He operates at Stanford but is out-of-network & essentially private-pay. It is now almost 6 weeks post-surgery, and I am thrilled with the results. As I said, I probably could have gotten more apnea relief from a much larger surgery, but I wanted a bite and better esthetics as well. To be frank, you have to have an excellent orthodontist who understands the whole surgery process. You then need a surgeon who does orthognathic surgery frequently, & who understands the interrelated nature between airways, sinuses, bites, and aesthetics. To be fair, many apnea sufferers I talked with prior to my surgery cared only for apnea relief and NOTHING ELSE. The process is long and complicated, and not inexpensive if you live in the US. Most importantly, wait until your jaw have stopped growing, or you may be looking at a revision surgery. Try to center your providers around a large teaching hospital/medical school, if possible (though there are plenty of great "solo-providers" as well). Most importantly, remember that MOST oral surgeons do not do orthognathic surgery, but focus on less time-consuming procedures that are more profitable. You do not want your jaw repositioned by someone that does this "occasionally".I am happy to respond to any personal requests for information. Please pm me. Best of luck to you all!