CRISIS Averted!

Ok, so I think I was having a little bit of a melt down last post. My husband started asking me questions about my upcoming jaw surgery that didn't make sense, and then I sorta panicked. So...I contacted my Dental Sleep Medicine Doctor. He said that sleep apnea is a common problem for people with a retronathic jaw, and that in fact a very large number of people who suffer with Sleep Apnea have it because of issues related to a underdeveloped lower jaw. This was the email he sent me:

Brandy, I would be happy to talk to you about your upcoming surgery. It does sound like it is an integral part of your orthodontics to fix your occlusion. It is also one of many treatments for sleep apnea and snoring. I have no experience in my practice on how effective it is but it does change the shape of the oropharynx, changes the muscular pull on the tongue, will probably change the direction of the muscular pull on the hyoid bone, all which affects the opening of your pharynx during sleep. The amount of effect it has is unknown, and only time will tell.

I see my ortho for impressions again on the 31st, and then I will be scheduling a pre-op consult with my Oral Surgeon. I will discuss it further with him, but originally he had told me that he was pretty sure he would be able to get at least and perhaps a bit more space from the BSSO surgery, as I was getting with my appliance. He is considered a phenonmenal surgeon here and has been practicing for 28 years so I think he probably knows what he is doing, I just wanted to hear it from someone else.

I was checking out a site on orthonathic surgery and found a case study of a guy who had severe sleep apnea and a class II malocculsion like me! His Apnea was completely eliminated with the BSSO so I was pretty psyched about seeing that too! It will all be amazing once its finished!