Let's start at the beginning

I was born in December 1988 and am starting this blog 1 week after surgery on 20th May 2014.

I think my condition only became pretty prominent in my early teenage years, around 14yrs to 15 yrs old. Before that I am pretty sure my teeth were pretty normal.

I remember at 14 yrs old I would open my mouth to 'crack' my jaw on the right side that would get stuck unless I stretched all the way to the point of a cracking sound...sounds awful, I know.

As the years went on my lower teeth moved further away from my top teeth eventually leaving me with just 4 points at which my teeth met; the lower wisdom teeth with the upper molars.

'Teeth before pre-surgical orthodontics' (in most cases of double jaw surgery, braces need to be done BEFORE surgery to align teeth to proper position. This is to ensure a stable bite and a successful operation)

This created numerous problems for me as I grew up.

• Firstly the gap between my front and lower teeth made my speech unclear and I had a lisp. Although many family and friends assured me I always spoke clearly I was very self concious when I spoke and certain sounds especially with 's' in them were difficult to pronounce.

• I became very conscious of my side profile which I hated very much...I was quite happy with my facial features but the gap between my front and back always seemed very very extreme...I later found out my case was consider extremely severe and I felt I needed to do something about it.

• I always ate very slowly as well, understandably so seeing I could only eat with my teeth right at the very back.

• I always breathed through my mouth as my nose passage way at the back of my throat was too small due to the position of my jaws. My mouth was always slighly open during the day and always open during the night.

It's important you know why YOU are about to do this. Sometimes you will come across people who are not well informed and will say 'Why are you doing plastic surgery etc,'. This is not plastic surgery at all. Yes, your looks change (hopefully for the better!), but there is so much medical benefit as well and only people like you and I going through this together will understand the difficulties of having jaws that don't match up well.

'Me in 2010 before pre orthodontics'

So in 2010 I decided to begin the long and tedious task of researching my condition and seeing what I could do about it.


Click on the pages above for more info, each which I have broken down by category.

• Part 1 covers the research phase of my procedure

• Part 2 covers pre surgery treatment which in most cases is required before any surgery is done

• Part 3 covers the actual surgery itself which I will try to be as detailed as possible

• Part 4 covers recovery after the operation which I will cover in depth as well!

• There is also a section on the cost of the operation and how we successfully managed to get much of it covered under my health insurance policy!
• Don't forget to check out the Photos and Videos section for detailed imaging from  Pre Surgery right up to the Final Result!
• Check out these useful links to other great resources and blogs which I found helpful

This blog is dedicated to my mum and dad, Aunty Lali & Uncle Peter and my pal Shaun without whom I would not have been able to go through all of this! Tq so much!

I also want to give a huge shout out to everyone at Imperial Dental Bangsar & The OralMaxillofacial Practise Sg especially Dr How Kim Chuan & Dr Stephanie Chong (my orthodontists) & Dr Winston Tan & Dr Wee Tze Haur (my surgeons). Blessed with such an expert team =)


I pray this blog helps someone out there in their journey in doing orthognathic surgery! =)
--
Shoban