Hi! My name is Andrea Mayer. I am 35 years old, Brazilian and I live in Vienna, Austria. I am going to undergo jaw surgery on the 29th of April 2015 (One day before my birthday! :-O) to correct an overbite.
Before I decided to have this surgery done, I searched for blogs (written in English) of people that went or is going through this kind of procedure here in Vienna, but I didn't really succeed (if you know any, please, tell me!). The blogs I found, people live either in Australia, or England, or Canada, or in the United States of America, etc, but none in Vienna. Despite having good knowledge of the local language, I can assure you it is still very difficult to listen to (or read) all medical terms in German. In addition to that, every country has different procedures regarding hospital, insurance, etc, so I felt (and still feel) eager to get any information I could about jaw surgery in Vienna (preferably in English!). That is also the reason why I have decided to write this blog; to share my journey with other people and hopefully be of any help (especially for foreigners living in Vienna).
How it all started...
To understand my reasons to undergo jaw surgery, you need to know a little bit of my medical history. I suffer (unfortunately) from migraine attacks. Unlike other people that have it since childhood, my migraine attacks started back in 2006, when I was 27 years old. With time, it went from once every six months, to once a month, to up to 16 times a month. I am married and I have two small children and I was/still am struggling to take care of them because of my migraine attacks. For years I looked for every kind of treatment against migraine you could possibly imagine. Nothing helped. Only my migraine medicine, which I am, honest to God, fed up of taking (my poor liver!). Then one day, back in 2012, somebody told me; "...Maybe your migraine comes from your teeth... did you ever get it checked? You would be surprised how your teeth can affect your health...". Then I stopped to think about it, did some more research and finally started paying attention to what my body was telling me. I noticed a few things:
1) I cannot close my mouth (I have a 7mm overbite). It stays constantly open (nobody realises I have an overbite because my thick lips are very good at hiding my malocclusion);
2) When I try to do so, the pressure in my jaw joints is such that I immediately slide my lower jaw forward to relieve the pressure and the pain;
3) I keep on sliding my lower jaw forward in order to talk or eat;
4) My jaw joints are under stress because I keep on sliding my lower jaw forward;
5) I wake up already feeling pressure and pain in my jaw joints;
6) I have difficulty to pronounce some words;
7) Checking out some photos taken in 2006, I can see my teeth have shifted;
8) I constantly (unconsciously) grind my teeth during the day (and most likely at night too);
9) My lower teeth meet my upper teeth between the teeth and the gum, pushing them further forward;
10) My tongue feels too big or too long to fit in my lower jaw;
11) I have difficulty to breathe from my nose.
Now, to be true to my feelings, I must say that my smile never bothered me that much. I kinda find it cute! My personal stamp! But still, to get healthy again, I do anything (including having adult braces...). I just want to be pain free and no longer in need of taking so much medicine. And that is why I decided to give a shot at my orthodontic treatment.
I started (back in September 2012) to look for an orthodontist that could speak English. I found one at the centre of Vienna but I did not have a good experience there. The clinic was relatively big and I could see the doctors rushing from one room to the next to attend to people. They did not take their time for me. Nor for anybody else that was there. Everything was done real quick and you were plainly just a number. When it was my turn, the orthodontist looked at my mouth for two seconds and said: "I can see already that you would need a jaw surgery to correct your overbite and you don't want to have that. You can bite, so let it be". She didn't care one second for me, my wishes, did't hear anything I had to say, nor did she care whether or not my smile or profile bothered me aesthetically. I went back home feeling frustrated and spoke about it with my husband and he then recommended a doctor that is a member of the company he works for, BNI Germany.
His name is Dr. Michael Ernst Meissl.
I tell you, I felt like winning the jackpot!!! The clinic is 10 minutes away by foot from my house, everything is extremely organised and clean, and, 'taaaadaaaaaaa': they can speak English!!!!!!!! On the top of that, they are extremely friendly, they take the time for you and Dr. Meissl (God bless him!!) was and still is very much patient with me (I always bombard him with loads of questions!).
Still in the year of 2012, I had an initial appointment to take all the X-Ray and photos. Then another one, to have a talk about the best treatment option for my case (I took a friend of mine with me for emotional support!). He showed us all the alternatives and explained to us that in my case, having a jaw surgery would be the best option to correct my overbite. He explained that the surgery is what they call elective surgery (only you decide whether or not to have it done). I have also heard that it has not been yet scientifically proved that the jaw surgery can relieve/reduce migraine attacks or that a malocclusion can be the cause/trigger of migraine attacks.
Anyways, my brain went into strike mode when I heard the word surgery... It completely stopped functioning and I completely panicked, simply because I am really scared of any kind of surgery. BIG TIME!!! I told him I would seek for a second and eventually third opinion (which I did - they all agreed with Dr. Meissl!), think about it and discuss it with my family before taking any decision. My husband (God bless him too!) suggested then that I wait for another two years, so the kids would no longer be so small (at the time my son was three years old and my daughter, one year old). And so, I did. I made a new appointment, spoke to Dr. Meissl about how I felt about this whole thing and told him about my decision to wait. Again, he was very comprehensive and friendly.
Exactly two years later, September 2014, I went back to his clinic. We had that initial talk again... twice! Once, when I went there alone and another time, accompanied by my husband. Honestly, what a friendly and patient doctor! And, before you ask me, no, I am not being sponsored to praise him or his clinic! I just simply, really, genuinely like them all!
So, as you can imagine, in these two years I literally obsessed about Jaw surgery. I took my time to ponder about it, I did loads of research and read a lot of articles and blogs about it. I could see, from what people wrote, that they went through a tough time but they were now enjoying the benefits of having this surgery done. I put the pros and cons on a balance and I finally made up my mind: I am going for it! And so, on the 29th of September 2014, I finally got my braces on and we booked a date for my surgery with a surgeon recommended by doctor Meissl himself.
Now, having said all of that, I am trying not to panic, nor having anxiety attacks, just focusing on getting myself physically and psychologically prepared for the surgery. And hoping that after my recovery, I will have less migraine attacks or miraculously be migraine free!
I guess thats enough writing for my first post! I promise to post photos soon!
Loads of love,
Andy
