Hi,
5 years ago, I undertook orthodontic
treatment to straigten my teeth. I
worebraces and removable retainers for
about 2 years, and my teeth ended up
verystraight. However, during one of my
treatments at the othodontic practice,
ionce found that I couldn't open my mouth
beyond a certain point so had to movemy
jaw around to 'click' it into position to
open it fully. This only happenedonce
during my treatment, so at the time I
assumed it was normal and to beexpected
with teeth alignment.
However, I have recently noticed that when
I let my jaw relax and look closelyin the
mirror, it appears to be misaligned.
1) the left side of my bottom jaw appears
to be a few millimeters higher than the
right side, so only my left teeth
naturally touch each other when closing
2) the left side of my chin appears to be
a few millimeters higher than the the
right side (i.E. Slanting down to my
right)
3) my bottom teeth 'point' slightly to the
right (only slightly though)
4) when I talk, my lips tend to move to
the right and I only expose my
bottom-right teeth.
5) I think it's also affecting my speech,
as I often have to concentrate on the
movement of my lips to say certain words
such as 'little', 'strategic, 'statistic'
to avoid mumbling, which I definately
didn't have to do before I had orthodontic
treatment.
For my jaw to be straight, the left side
needs to be slightly lower (or the
right side slightly higher), in effect
rotating it anticlockwise. However, the
focus of my question is whether you think
I would need orthognathic surgery(which I
would prefer not to have) or whether it
may be possible to 'click' myjaw back into
relalignment, similarly to what doctors do
when one fracturestheir arm or leg.
I believe that my jaw suddenly became
misaligned during my orthodontic
treatment. I have tried moving it around
with my hands, and found that it
sometimes clicks when it gets to the far
left or right. Therefore, do you think it
may be possible to 'click' it back into
alignment and avoid unneccessary surgery?
I appreciate that I would need to see a
specialist in person to get an adequate
diagnosis but I would be very grateful for
any advise and experience you may have to
offer.
Thanks,
alan
