Never ending research.. Now looking at TAD's

I've been back and forth over this surgery. My case isn't that "severe" to me to go through surgery. I simply want to intrude 4 teeth and widen my arches. I've found these youtube videos. I'm not sure how this is even possible but I'm considering going to every TAD orthodontist in South Florida to find someone who has done this at least ONCE and it has worked.

I also have an overjet and lower crowding..I already know I need braces but if I can also move my teeth up slightly and have just a littttttlleee less gum showing, I'd be perfectly satisfied. Also need more room for my tongue and then I can train my mouth to close naturally.

I also still want veneers..so to go through braces, surgery, then veneers is, in my opinion, ridiculous. Now begins yet another search for a miracle orthodontist or oral surgeon. The answer from orthodontists is always "jaw surgery" without even looking at other cases who have corrected my VME without the need for surgery.

Our technology has improved so much..I'm determined to have amazing before and after pictures to show that this can be improved (maybe not perfectly but livable) without the need for such an invasive expensive surgery.

Here's to hoping and more searching...

The waiting game.

After traveling to Austin to see an orthodontic specialist in invisalign/braces for jaw surgery, I have decided to go ahead and see the oral surgeon for a consult. He will first do a prescan and send my information over to my insurance (which he is in my network so this is awesome). I would love to start the process ASAP but traveling to Austin for this is a pain. My friend is moving there and will surely offer a place for me to stay to get cheap rates for flights.

The ortho said full treatment time is usually at most 18 months, with 6 months of prep even before the braces come on (if I remember correctly)

If all goes well in May, I hope to hear back from insurance by the summer and start the process by fall. Does anyone passing by know if you can go on short term disability if insurance says its medically necessary? 

I plan on being out from work for 2-3 weeks to recover. Thankfully my current job doesn't require extensive telephone usage, so I really can work semi remotely. 

I almost fell asleep at the wheel this morning...and I thought I had great sleep the other night. My sleep apnea is catching up to me finally. It's extremely scary to drive 1 hr to work drowsy. 

Back to the search for an orthodontist/oral surgeon...

I've been in a hiatus with this frustrating journey. I will say that research certainly has helped tremendously. I know exactly what my problem is and how to fix it.

There are options to "camouflage" the gummy smile even though I've already tried botox and lip repositioning surgery. However, I know this will not fix the mouth breathing concerns/TMJ/sleep apnea/grinding teeth. At the end of the day I want to be happy and not "camouflage" my problems just for a slightly better appearance. Knowing orthognathic surgery is a huge risk has put my journey on hold for awhile.

I've picked back up and have scheduled another appointment with an orthodontist specialist in Austin, Texas. He specializes in using Invisalign in the front and traditional braces posterior with less treatment time which is what I am looking for. I cannot be in braces with my profession for many months sometimes years.

He then will refer me to an oral surgeon who I hope has experience in convincing insurance companies to cover the surgery. The hardest part so far has been knowing I want the surgery but not having the time or money to spend with a bunch of consultations. I relied heavily on the research online for this orthodontist.

I see him in about 2 weeks and I pray that God has a plan to really begin this journey to fixing my problems.

Here are some more pictures...

 Side Profile w/ Receding Chin when closing mouth

My bite..my lips do not touch and you can see the lines still 

My lip closed posture my chin bunches up and is strained

Insurance Companies Rant

After about 3 phone calls I started to realize it may be near impossible to find a surgeon that would do a free consultation and staying "in network" knowing that they view this as a cosmetic procedure.

I do not want this surgery based on cosmetic reasons only. I want this surgery because I cannot breathe through my nose and find myself gasping for air and with very little energy throughout the day even after 8 hours of rest. I'm determined to get all of the required tests done to prove just how medically necessary this is or my insanity will drive me to spend the money on it. Even 60k+ that it will probably end up costing unless myofunctional therapy works.

Well, I've still chosen to see at least 3 doctors that are in network and see if they feel insurance will cover it. I'm scared because I do not want to have surgery. I've been trying my best to breathe through my nose and keep my mouth closed but it's led to headaches and extreme jaw pain plus allergies make it that much harder. I'll keep trying though until I can get a specialist to find another answer or cure to this disease. My quality of life needs to improve one way or another. I cannot keep feeling fatigue and depressed to do anything because lack of energy/oxygen.

I trust God has a plan though.

-Living with VME

First step..the consultations

I've done my research on orthodontists and oral surgeons in south Florida. I have 8 total consults to go to. Because my insurance will cover orthodontics, I need to go to in network orthos.

I don't know whether my insurance will cover the jaw surgery. Although it is cosmetic, there are a number of things that I believe should be necessary for surgery. For instance, I have sleep apnea and I am a chronic mouth breather with obstructed airways making it hard to breathe and I never fully feel rested after a nights sleep. I also have jaw pain occasionally and have to take a pill about once every 2 weeks when it bothers me.

If you found my blog because you are going through this journey too, please let me know whether it was easy to get covered and what your experience was. I'd really like to not become more poor when I desperately would like to solve my brain fog during the day and constant need for 4+ hour naps!

My estimated timeline for this journey is

Consultations in December 2015
Braces on February 2016
Jaw Surgery December 2016
Braces off July 2017

My Jaw/Gummy Smile Story

I am a 25 year old female that has had a gummy smile since I was a child. I have been diagnosed with vertical maxillary excess or "long upper jaw." For most of my childhood, I went without any diagnosis and never had braces. My teeth were always "straight" but I was a mouth breather with a gummy smile. At rest, my lips are slightly apart and show teeth. It wasn't until my freshman year of college did I really become self conscious about the gummy smile.

When I was 18 years old in High School 

I then decided to go to an orthodontist for an evaluation. During my first ever orthodontist experience, he noticed my teeth had shown a few gaps. He claimed that he could correct but he could not fix my "lip incompetence" or gummy smile. I decided to go through with a mild form of invisalign to fix 2 spaces. Within 7 months, the gaps closed but I now had a slight overjet and still the gummy smile and now an even harder time closing my mouth.

After doing even more research to fix my gummy smile, I decided to undergo "lip repositioning surgery." I wish this cosmetic dentist would have told me the relapse rate of this surgery. I still had no idea why I really showed so much gums. It wasn't my "high lip" when smiling. It was my jaw. Not knowing that, my smile looked so forced and fake that my teeth barely even showed. Three thousand dollars and 1 year later my lip repositioning surgery relapsed and I was back with the same gummy smile.

 After lip repositioning surgery. 

My new smile, barely showing my teeth.

Next, I started to research botox which would essentially do the same as the lip repositioning surgery (I suggest botox over that surgery any day). Botox works for about a month if I am not fulling smiling and laughing. Still this is not a permanent fix and it's about $60 every 6 months.

More research for 2 years has led me to finally fix my long upper jaw and lip incompetence. I have a narrow palate (I suspect from the invisalign treatment early on) and show a lot of black in my buccal corridors along with severe overcrowding due to shifting teeth on the bottom of my mouth which has made my lower jaw also narrow. First I will widen my upper jaw and fix lower crowding with braces. This will widen my smile to show more teeth and hopefully disguise some of my gumminess when smiling.

My mouth closed..receding chin and lip incompetence

I am going to see 4 orthodontics and 4 oral surgeons to get the best possible opinion for jaw surgery. Next, I am going to train myself through orofacial myofunctional therapy to keep my lips closed at rest and breath through my nose. I am trying now but my tongue barely has enough room to stay at the roof of my mouth with my teeth together; therefore, I keep my teeth apart slightly.

I also hope that this will move both my jaws up slightly, but after reading minimal research, this is not really proven. However, once I can successfully close my lips with proper tongue placement, without having to think about it, I will look into a sliding genioplasty since I have a receding chin when closing my lips and mouth.

I have taken before pictures of my journey along the way and will blog my journey from here on out living with VME, to improve my quality life, and to finally fix the root cause not just the symptom of my long narrow face.