Has anyone's child had jaw surgery?

[tam409]

My dd16 recently saw an orthodontist (the referral was made when she was 11, but somehow got lost/delayed due to covid).
The orthodontist really upset her by telling her she had an underbite and needed jaw surgery, which could have been avoided if she'd had a special brace when she was 11. The dentist never even mentioned this, he had referred her for other reasons.
Obviously as a teenage girl she was really upset by this man commenting on her appearance - his manner was pretty rubbish really, surely he should be aware that it might be upsetting! She had previously asked me if she had an underbite and I had tried to reassure her that her face was normal. Maybe she does have a bit of an underbite, but really nothing extreme, and she had convinced herself to stop worrying about it. So now she has to decide if she wants this operation when she is 18 before the orthodontic treatment can start because apparently it affects how he does the brace.

So my question is, has anyone been through this? I don't really know how to advise her. It seems like an unnecessary operation with risks of side effects but she might regret not having taken the opportunity when she is older. Thanks!

I suppose the orthodontist is just saying the facts although I appreciate it being upsetting to hear. Personally I would be encouraging her to go for the surgery if the orthodontist feels it is necessary and while she can still get it on the nhs. A friend of mine was told the same thing at around 16 and didn’t get it and really regrets it now

I had this surgery! 30 now and I had it when I was 18. 100% worth it, I hated the thought of braces at that age but now I have a normal jaw line and beautifully straight teeth. PM me if you want.

Has the orthodontist referred her to a MaxFax consultant? That used to be the next step when one of mine was referred after an orthodontist with similar communication skills!

The consultant was much better at communicating with teenage girls, took a lot of time to assess her and take her through the pros and cons of keeping her jaw as it was or having the surgery. The consultant said the referral was sensible but she felt DD's underbite was minor enough not to cause future issues. That made it mainly a cosmetic decision and we decided against.

I am in the same position with my DS for the exact same reasons, delayed referral, long waiting times and all that.
We thought surgery was very drastic for what is only a very mild overbite. We had never even noticed it until the orthodontist pointed it out on photos.
At the moment we are just going with braces and seeing how it goes. We discussed our options and decided against some teeth being removed as this would have affected his side profile even more, so that's something else to consider.
We know the end result might not be perfect, but if he's not happy we can apparently still consider surgery afterwards.

Snap

Thanks for this, it hadn't occurred to me that she would still get reassessed once she'd been referred, so it makes sense to go that far at least, and hopefully they will be more helpful. We were in such a state after the appointment I wasn't really thinking straight!

My daughter is 18 now. She identify her underbite herself. Although I think she looks pretty still. She doesn't think so. She insiste on surgery. And I decide to go ahead also. I appreciate anyone who could recommend a surgeon.