Class 3 Malocclusion Jaw Surgery - Before & After

Before and after double jaw surgery recovery, corrective jaw surgery for class 3 malocclusion. — *2015 & 2017*

Lisp. Crooked teeth. 6-week liquid diet. Extreme weight loss. 2 years of braces. Residual numbness. No regrets.

In 2016, I had a life-changing surgery. This surgery dramatically changed the shape of my face and most importantly, my bite and smile.

My freshman year of high-school, I realized I had a slight lisp while speaking. I had a dentist who recommended braces when I was younger, but I never wanted them. I saw the pain kids my age had gone through at school with braces and I did not want to deal with them. So instead, I dealt with not being able to bite through pizza, trouble breathing with a deviated septum, and bulldog-like smile with crooked teeth. I don’t know what I was thinking.

By the time I wanted to get braces, I was in my freshman year of college. The team at Legendary Smiles and Dr. Lloyd who eventually took over my case, told me it was going to be a longer journey than I was expecting.

Before pictures, taken by orthodontist at Legendary Smiles, Reno, Nevada double jaw surgery recovery, corrective jaw surgery for class 3 malocclusion. — *2015 before braces*

All I wanted were straight teeth. But apparently, straightening them wasn’t an option. I was told I had a class 3 malocclusion… which in non-doctor words means, I had an extreme cross-bite. Along with a cross-bite, my upper jaw was narrower than my lower jaw, with it almost fitting inside of my lower jaw… which explains why I had a hard time eating pizza.

In order to get my dream teeth, I would have to wear braces for 2 years, which didn’t seem like a big deal, but even though the braces would straighten the teeth they couldn’t straighten my jaw.. so I would have to deal with straightish teeth and a crooked underbite that worsened as the teeth got straighter until it was time for surgery.

It was going to get worse before it got better. A lot worse.

This was going to be a severe surgery. To get my teeth to fit together, the surgeon would have to break my upper palate in half and widen it, and break my lower jaw in two places and move it backwards.

My first surgeon wanted to cut into the side of my jaw from the outside, creating a large scar on my cheek… this method had been successful before and I was going to move forward.. then he retired. The second surgeon, Dr. Ryan Falke, with Sierra Oral and Facial Surgery (who I am SO glad did my surgery), gave me a little more hope when he told me he was able to do the surgery without the external scarring.

Because they had to break the top and bottom jaws, Dr. Falke was able to gain access to the top jaw by cutting above my gum line inside my mouth… if you want to see a nasty video, you can see an example of this being done on Youtube.

After surgery, my teeth had to be wired shut for 6 weeks. No chewing or speaking like a normal person for a month and a half.

Recovery

If you are reading this because you are about to have this surgery, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. I couldn’t find ANY articles or blogs before I went into surgery, only before and after pictures. The pictures are great to see the results… but it is worth reading about what the recovery was like.

I’ll start from the beginning. I had to donate my own blood to put on reserve for my surgery. A bit of anxiety I’d say.. it reaffirmed the seriousness of the surgery for me, and sparked a lot of fears.

The next week, I checked in the hospital. I woke up in incredible pain and an inability to talk or speak in any way. I had bandages around my head and icepacks strapped down to my cheeks. I used a whiteboard for a few hours, but since I was only in the hospital one night, I tried to stop talking as much. I was exhausted from trying to write things down. At some point during the night, I was given a steroid in my IV to help with inflammation, and it burned every nerve cell in my entire body for at least a minute and a half. It was late at night, and I couldn’t tell the nurse how bad it hurt or ask why… because my jaw was tied shut.

After double jaw surgery, corrective jaw surgery for class 3 malocclusion. — *1-2 days after surgery*

The one thing the Doctor didn’t really explain.. or I didn’t really listen to, was that it wasn’t just a liquid diet. I didn’t have enough space to even use a straw. I was given catheter tubing to attach to the end of a large 50cc syringe to feed through the tiny hole where my wisdom teeth used to be.. and that was it.

So, as you can imagine, I couldn’t have any liquid that was thicker than the catheter tubing... for about 4 weeks. At the 4-5 week mark, my jaws were finally strong enough to open just wide enough to swallow rice and noodles. But I still couldn’t chew. So it killed my stomach.. but when you are basically starving, it’s worth it. Looking back, I probably should have figured out how to swallow protein shakes but at that time of my life, I didn’t even know what those were.

I was given a liquid pain medication and liquid Tylenol to help with pain. Which sounds great… but I couldn’t have a full meal to settle my stomach from the pain medicine. So every time I was scheduled to have a dose of medication I felt nauseous almost instantaneously, BUT I couldn’t throw up due to the danger of choking because my teeth were wired shut. So out went the pain meds.

As the pain dulled, the swelling remained. I was swollen for a few months afterwords, however I became recognizable after a couple of weeks.

For about 3-4 weeks, I was barely able to walk from my bed to the bedroom door without feeling like I was going to pass out. The energy our body pulls from food is insane. I was so hungry at one point, I convinced my Dad to blend a spicy hotdog with water. I was convinced I needed it, and I know it sounds gross. But I didn’t even get to try it, because the consistency was too thick for the catheter tubing.

I lost 25 pounds in 6 weeks.

Not by choice obviously. I felt like an Alone survivor in the modern world.

*I returned to work after approximately 8 weeks*

Was it worth it?

10000%.

Once the splint was taken off, and I could start to chew again, I had to keep the braces on for another 6 months. But I was able to go back to work after 8 weeks off. The limitation was waiting for my jaw to heal just enough so I could talk for 8 hours a day (I learned what I had energy to talk about, real quick).

Once the braces came off. I felt like a new person. And probably looked like one too.

Before and after double jaw surgery recovery, corrective jaw surgery for class 3 malocclusion. Photos taken by Legendary Smiles Orthodontics, after braces removal.

All I have to worry about now is wearing a retainer at nighttime.

My advice is this: do the surgery, but be prepared for the suck. Because it really, really sucked. But the end results are SO worth it.

Now, in 2022, I look back and am surprised at how hard the surgery was. I remember the hunger pains and the weakness and how tired my jaw was from learning how to talk again.