MMA surgery - finding # of times a doctor has performed

[patrickdom]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this community and was hoping someone might have some experience I can draw on. I've been attempting to get used to CPAP and dental devices for about six months without much success. I'm strongly leaning toward having MMA surgery and believe I'd be a good candidate for it.

However, I'm struggling with finding information around how many times a doctor has actually performed this surgery. I live in Colorado and there are plenty of oral surgeons who list this procedure on their website, but that does not really provide clarity on the experience that a doctor has with performing MMA surgery.

I know that Dr. Kasey Li in Palo Alto, CA is very experienced with this, but I don't think I can afford his services and traveling out of state for the surgery is less than ideal. Does anyone know of a database or other method of determining how many times a doctor has done this procedure?

Appreciate any guidance you can provide on this. Thanks!

[49er]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this community and was hoping someone might have some experience I can draw on. I've been attempting to get used to CPAP and dental devices for about six months without much success. I'm strongly leaning toward having MMA surgery and believe I'd be a good candidate for it.

However, I'm struggling with finding information around how many times a doctor has actually performed this surgery. I live in Colorado and there are plenty of oral surgeons who list this procedure on their website, but that does not really provide clarity on the experience that a doctor has with performing MMA surgery.

I know that Dr. Kasey Li in Palo Alto, CA is very experienced with this, but I don't think I can afford his services and traveling out of state for the surgery is less than ideal. Does anyone know of a database or other method of determining how many times a doctor has done this procedure?

Appreciate any guidance you can provide on this. Thanks!

You could call the office and ask to speak the doctor's nurse or primary assistant and explain that you are considering having this surgery but would like to know how many times the doctor has performed the surgery. If the answer is satisfactory and you're also getting good vibes, book an appointment for a consultation.

Hope this helps.

49er

[chunkyfrog]

This is a great idea. I suspect my eye doctor was inexperienced when he did my RK,
which required an enhancement, resulting in severe astigmatism on my dominant eye. (I had to change dominance.)
Beforehand, I asked him how many times he had done it, but got the "oh, quite a few" answer.
I wish I had asked him how long he had been doing the surgery, and later asking the office staff how often he did the surgery--
then I could do the math with a bit more confidence.
The next question I would want to ask is how much experience constitutes expertise.

[avi123]

Many posters were not happy with this kind of surgery

[Julie]

ASK him or her. He must tell you the truth and won't be offended by your asking (or if he is, get another doctor!).

[library lady]

I looked into doing this before I went on cpap, here at Mayo Clinic Rochester there is a doctor who does it all the time (Dr. Kevin Reid). I decided against it because I realized that it was going to change the shape of my face, and probably change my bite, and I have invested a lot of money in my many crowns so that I don't want to risk having to redo those later on. I also realized that I didn't want to go through the pain and discomfort of having them "break my jaw." IMHO, the non-invasive cpap approach is the best way to go, especially since it is also the gold standard of treatment for OSA. But to each his own - we all have to make our own decisions.

[patrickdom]

Many posters were not happy with this kind of surgery

Yes, I do understand there are some patients who have had negative results. I guess my belief is that most people on this forum who had negative results would still be around and posting vs. those who had great success likely would not.

I also believe that it's quite possible that those who did not have a good result, had the operation performed by a doctor who was not as skilled or practiced with the procedure. That's what I'm trying to avoid.

[Julie]

It's possible of course. But people are not like cars where all the part #'s can be interchanged between the same models. Even MRI's can't show things that only surgery can... doctors are surprised all the time by what they find when operating. Certainly experience is important, but it's not everything (and certainly a doctor may have 100 MMA's under his belt, all missing an 'ingredient' of work that another doctor with only 5 jobs will provide. Maybe you can find a forum dedicated (more so) to people who've had successful MMA surgery and see what they have to say - which is not meant (at all!) to say you're not welcome here at any time.

[chunkyfrog]

My dentist had laser surgery on his palate and uvula, and it did not eliminate his apnea.
I know this not the same procedure, but it shows that being in the club is no gaurantee.

[IheartCPAP]

Many posters were not happy with this kind of surgery

What part of the surgery were they usually not happy with? Any threads you can point to?

Thanks.

[musculus]

Since this is a CPAP forum, and the infamous UPPP has unduly ruined the image of sleep apnea surgery.

Many posters were not happy with this kind of surgery

What part of the surgery were they usually not happy with? Any threads you can point to?

Thanks.

[IheartCPAP]

Ah okay, gotcha. I've heard lots of bad things about the UPPP. Thankfully I won't be going for that surgery.