Some terms defined

In my last post I posted the letter my surgeon wrote to my insurance company. It used a lot of medical-ese terms that I'm going to define and clarify here.

mandibular - lower jaw

maxillary - upper jaw

hyperplasia - overgrowth

Class III dentoskeletal deformity - This basically means that my jaw grew wrong such that I'm left with an underbite--my bottom jaw is too far forward.

maxillary vertical hyperplasia - This is the 'gummy' smile previously mentioned. This also means, "cannot create a lip seal without mentalis strain"--ie, my lips don't close unless I work on doing it, so they are almost always open.

maxillary transverse deficiency - This means my upper jaw is too narrow for my lower jaw. I can attest to this one because if my teeth are together I can feel the bottom of my upper tee

th with my tongue--they stick out into my mouth.

mandibular sagittal hyperplasia - This means my bottom jaw is too far forward.

osteotomy - A surgical operation whereby a bone is cut to shorten, lengthen, or change its alignment.

LeFort I osteotomy - Le Fort was a surgeon who pioneered these surgeries. The LeFort I surgery is a horizontal cut in the bone along the top jaw. See the pretty graphic of a skull for a visual.

mandibular osteotomy setback - This basically means they are going to cut out a chunk of my bottom jaw and move the front part backwards.