I have a consult coming up. I’ve had a friend tell Me they think I have a jaw development issue but it’s very slight. I know my dental health isn’t great but I was curious if anyone can tell from my X-rays anything bad going on with my mandible palate or jaw in general. I’ve had teeth grinding issues for years and have an MSE consult… but I have also considered DOME.
Hi there! Just off first glance (and remember I am not a doctor, just someone who just sees a lot of scans), it looks like your jaws, especially upper jaw, is recessed. Your lower jaw is recessed enough that it appears to be blocking your airway. How’s your nasal breathing? Sleep breathing? How do you feel about your side profile?
Nasal breathing is terrible- I almost feel I have to force myself to breathe. I’m hoping MSE or a combination therapy can help. Would it help with upper jaw recession?
It doesn’t help with the recession, but reallllllly does help with nasal breathing. A lot of people end up doing both maxillary expansion (for nasal breathing and bite) and jaw surgery (for the recession). I am currently doing just expansion, hoping to not need jaw surgery. 😭 you can always try a reverse pull headgear with your MSE/expander, but they usually aren’t very predictable on adult males. How old are you? I can tell you an expander was sooooo helpful for my nasal breathing.
I’m 34- I did braces alone years ago and got wisdom teeth pulled hoping it would help my jaw muscle pain. It’s gotten so bad over the years, and now it almost always feels like I’m choking because I don’t feel I have a healthy airway it seems upper and lower jaws are just messed up. I don’t want to fork over 6k to do the expansion and braces only to need jaw surgery and a third set of braces(another 5-6k) I just hope I can get some answers- I’ve been suffering for a long time and I’m in pain everywhere because my body structure isn’t holding itself well due to my jaw issues.
I like your idea about the headgear though!
Have you consulted with any expansion orthodontists yet? If not, I highly recommend checking out getexpanded.org to see if there are any airway focused doctors near you - they will better be able to tell you if they think expansion + headgear is worth your time.