The Basics

Some general info about my course of action:

WHY:
The big question. Why do I want this surgery so badly? Why do I want another year of braces during my late high school years followed by a big surgery that requires a good deal of healing time? Am I that unhappy with my appearance that I feel I need to spend money to correct the way I look, almost like plastic surgery?
Well, as shallow as it may seem (like oh, I just want an absolutely beautiful smile so I can look nice in pictures and be perfect, la la la), part of the reason (though not the majority) is aesthetic. I never ever smile with my teeth in photos; every photo you'll see of me has a tight-lipped, close-mouthed smile, and I don't know if it's because I'm conscious insecure or if it's just out of habit since I've been doing it for so long. I'm aware that American society is one that really values having nice teeth and a nice smile, so my underbite definitely does make me a bit insecure. I'm happy with myself otherwise, but if I could change one physical aspect, I'd get rid of this damn underbite (which is what I'm doing right now).
The main reason for this has to do with the discomfort and impending medical issues. Even though my underbite does not appear to be severe at all, the unfortunate way that my teeth fit together cause much more issues than they look like they would. When I told my orthodontist about the current issues I have (stiffness in the jaw, popping TMJ, teeth not meeting, slight discomfort while chewing or talking vigorously), he was surprised because symptoms don't usually show up so soon in teens, they usually become more apparent mid-20s. He told me that the issues I am having now can only get worse in the future as I age. Although the symptoms are very manageable right now, it was very daunting to me that they would be degenerative for the rest of my life unless I do something about it, which to me, meant that I was going to get this surgery sometime in my lifetime no matter what, it just came down to a matter of when. And I wanted to get it done as soon as I could, so I could live the rest of my life without having to worry about it any more. Which leads me to the next point...

WHEN:

Well, as I mentioned above, I knew that I was going to get this surgery at some point in my life, and to me, right now was the best time to do it. They couldn't do anything about my underbite when I was younger, because I hadn't yet stopped growing and there was no point in undergoing an big surgery at that time if there was no way to tell how things will turn out in the end once I was done growing. Girls stop growing sooner than guys, and in order for the orthodontist to make sure I was ready, they took an x-ray of my wrist about 5 months ago to make sure that the growth plates in my bones had completely fused, and thankfully they had, so I was good to go. My dad's point of view up until I finally convinced him to let me go through with this was it isn't causing you too much apparent trouble right now, and you look fine, so why go through with a big surgery? There's that saying, "If it's not broke, don't fix it," but I think a smarter saying is "If you know it's gonna break, why not fix it before it does?" If you know the stove in your kitchen is leaking gas, why wait for it to burn the whole house down instead of just mending the tube ahead of time? I wanted to fix my bite right now, because even though I am in high school and will have to suffer a little embarrassment for having braces in junior year and into part of senior year, this is the probably going to be the most convenient time of my life within the next 10-15 years for me to do it (with college, and job hunting, and possibly settling down), and if I wait another decade, my healing capabilities wouldn't even be able to compare to what they are right now, and who knows how much more expensive the surgery might be. Plus, who would want to be in college or even out of college and have to get braces on again? I can handle a little high school embarrassment, haha. The only real bummer is that I'll be getting the braces on just about a week before prom, but oh well. As inconvenient as it may seem right now in high school, it's nothing compared to how inconvenient it'll be afterwards. Workload-wise, it's much easier to take a week or two off high school post-surgery than it is in college, and I'll still have the comfort of living with my parents while healing.
I had originally hoped to get the braces on 6 months ago and be able to have my surgery right when the school year ended so that I could have my surgery in the summer and have tons of time to heal, but because of countless disappointing setbacks trying to get my dad on board, it has been postponed all the way until now. It's been extremely frustrating, but you know what they say: The best time to start treatment was 6 months ago, the second best time is right now.

HOW LONG:
The first orthodontist I saw was very inexperienced, and I'm pretty sure she had never put braces on a patient who was planning for jaw surgery before. She had told me my total treatment time would be two years, which was a big disappointment for me because I wouldn't be able to get them off before I go off to college, which would be a huge hassle (could you imagine having to schedule orthodontist appointments from a different state and trying to find time to visit home in order to go to appointments, or having to find a whole new orthodontist to pick up where the last one left off?) Thankfully, when I had a consultation with my new orthodontist, he was much, much more experienced and said it was very possible to cut my treatment time in half. That was a total relief! He saw that my teeth were already relatively straight and that my upper palate was wide enough and didn't need any correcting (thanks to the palate expander I had in middle school), and all that was left to do would be some fine-tuning of the angles of my top and bottom teeth so that they would be in the perfect place for surgery. That part was estimated to take roughly 6-8 months, then the surgery, and then about 4 months after the surgery to make sure everything was perfectly in place. This plan sounded 1000x better to me, and I'm totally up for it. A year will fly by in no time.


BRACES AND SURGERY:
Basically, I am going to get full top and bottom braces to angle my teeth into a better position to fit the position that my jaw will be in after surgery, which requires angling my lower teeth outwards more. This means that my underbite will actually appear somewhat worse leading up to my surgery, the part that I'm really dreading, but I understand it is necessary. I'll explain this whole concept more in a video that I'll make once I have my braces on.
As for the actual surgery, I was presented with two options. Since my underbite isn't dramatic enough to require a combination of both top and bottom jaw sugery, I could either move my upper jaw forwards, or my lower jaw back, with the same results as of bite placement. Moving my upper jaw would give me the small change in appearance of:

• slightly taller nose
• fuller cheekbones
• more inset eyes
• fuller upper lip
• rounder face
• better profile

Moving my lower jaw would give me the small change in appearance of:

• pointier lower jaw
• less prominent lower jaw
• more heart-shaped face
• more delicate lower lip
• slightly more angular cheekbones
• better profile

Although the goal was not to dramatically change my face, because I like the way I look, just not how my smile is, I opted to move my lower jaw back: a sagittal split mandibular osteotomy (mandibular setback). I felt that I already have a pretty round face and the mandibular setback would give me a better appearance overall. An important thing to know is that they are NOT just chopping your lower jaw in two and then removing a piece to shorten it, it is much more refined than that and involves cutting a small section off the side of the jawbone, then along the jawbone and sliding the two sections to a better length, clearly demonstrated in the diagram and video below:

 

Even though the surgery may look scary, it never really bothered me because I have a pretty good tolerance for pain, I trust that the surgeons know what they are doing, and I'll be totally knocked out for all of it. I'm not so much nervous for any of it (the braces, the surgery, the recovery) as much as just anxious to get it all over with. And all of this begins in about a week, once I get my braces on! I'll definitely be blogging periodically with updates and even uploading some videos.