Felice S O’Ryan, DDS

Good bedside manner? Sure. Personable? Sure, she seemed nice enough. Great surgeon? Well, she seems to have worked out for some people, but didn’t work out for me. My case was a disaster. Little planning went in to it. I could never get a surgical plan with measurements out of her but my orthodontist assured me everything would be fine and this was just how she did things. It wasn’t fine, and honestly, that is something that can be forgiven. Mistakes are sometimes made. It’s a part of the game. But, when mistakes get made, you hope your surgeon stands by you and works with you to fix things, especially with a patient who couldn’t be more understanding. Both of my jaws ended up more crooked and twisted than what I went in to fix, and through the first two weeks post op it was either noticed and purposely not brought up, or totally undiagnosed all together. Either way, I was the one who finally had to bring it up. I was quickly grabbed by the arm and ushered out of her office with the promise of «I’ll take a look at some things and talk to your ortho and I’ll be in touch,» and she was pretty much never heard from again. Why? I don’t know. To this day I don’t know and I’ll never know, which still tears me up inside a lot. I was abandoned, left broken, crooked, and helpless after a major procedure thanks to my treating surgeon. This has been the most traumatizing part of this whole experience for me, and my trust in doctors has probably been shattered for the rest of my life.
After two months of being brushed off and getting told to just keep seeing my orthodontist and she would be in touch later, I went and saw other surgeons to finally find out what was wrong with me. The four opinions (from some of the leading names in the business) I got were unanimous– My results were worse than I even thought. No wonder she didn’t want to deal with her mistakes! My results were catastrophic. I should have never left the hospital as bad as I was, let alone discharged and go undiagnosed (whether it was purposefully or not) and then left out to dry the first 4 weeks post op. I needed an immediate revision for all of the bones that were set bowed out, twisted, and crooked, but since she refused to see me and do that prior to bony fusion, I’ve now been in a long year plus process of getting all of this fixed. Even if I get a successful revision, some of the results of her poor planning and surgical errors will be permanent. My face is visibly asymmetric now, and that will require a complete and different third surgery down the road to fix. I’ve been out thousands of dollars and priceless amounts of emotional energy that I will never get back.
This has been a really devastating experience for me thanks to Kaiser and Dr. O’Ryan. It has literally made me a different person after dealing with the emotional turmoil this has caused. I feel so violated, and as previously stated, will never be able to fully trust a doctor again. I am glad some people come out of her care with great stories, but unfortunately it was not the case for me. Again, surgical errors happen. Nobody can expect perfection. But if you expect your doctor to step up and admit things didn’t turn out exactly the way they planned and then put their best effort in to fixing it, you won’t get that from Kaiser and Dr. O’Ryan. We can’t expect perfection and a flawless functional and aesthetic desirable outcome, but we can expect our doctors to treat their patients like human beings with respect and care. Not slam the door on them and run the other way like they never existed if the going gets tough and they need you the most. It’s disgusting that this kind of thing happens and a doctor can just go on about their business like nothing happened. It’s taken me a while, but for that reason, the least I can do is get my story out there. Maybe it can help somebody doing research for their choice of surgeon. I wish I had seen something like this when I was doing research in choosing mine.
If your orthodontist is pushing you to Dr. O’Ryan, please seek other opinions first. Shop around. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Care from Kaiser is NOT at the standard of care you should be getting as a jaw surgery patient. Now that I have seen the leading names in orthognanthic surgery and have seen what care should be like, it really is night and day. Sure, Kaiser will usually cover jaw surgery with no questions asked. It will be cheaper than going with other insurances and surgeons. In my case, I got what I paid for. It’s not worth it. Do your research. Get multiple opinions and go on as many consults as you can. If you end up with Dr. O’Ryan, get a surgical plan with all your measurements. Make her show you her planning, mock surgery on your molds, etc. Ask for all of your records and be in the know. If she has residents working more with you than she is, run… run as fast as you can. Pretty sure this is what bit me in the end.

Dr. Felice O’Ryan is a Godsend and a MASTER at her craft! She completely turned my life around!!! Since I was in third grade I had orthodontic work to try and correct my small, crooked, bite. As I got older I started to notice that even though my teeth were straight, my bite still did not line up. I had a cross-​bite, under-​bite, and an open bite. A train-​wreck in a mouth. I couldn’t eat certain foods because my front teeth couldn’t close to chew them. It gave me decent discomfort — I had mild yet constant jaw pain my whole life (which I thought must have been normal). What also came with it was some sever Self-​Consciousness and Low Self-​Esteem. It wasn’t until I was 24 that I learned about Orthognathic Surgery and was introduced to the Wonderful Dr. Felice O’Ryan. I was informed that the reason my bite would NEVER line up with just braces was because of the fact that my lower jaw had grown longer on one side than the other. The only option was to surgically remove part of that lower jaw. Dr. O’Ryan is truly the BEST in her field. She is also so personable and helped me to get over my fears about the outcome of the surgery and the process. Two years later I have a beautiful smile with NO JAW PAIN! And I can eat anything my heart desires. Dr. Felice O’Ryan was able to give me the smile that I should have had — and had always wanted. She truly changed my life for the best. No more being self-​conscious for this girl!

Am I in love? Maybe. Im just glad I trimmed my area because unbeknownst to me, I had a date with a catheter while I was knocked out.
Dr. O’Ryan has got to be one of the most dynamic women I have ever laid eyes upon. My only sadness is that our relationship will soon come to an end. I decided a few years ago to fix my bite, which on a scale of 1 – 10, was a 9. I got braces. I even got a dental implant. But the coup de grace was the jaw surgery that I had on March 1^st. Normally this would make me nervous because I had never been to a hospital for surgery before but Dr. O’Ryan made me feel comfortable and secure, so there was no need for anxiety or, even, follow up questions. I just told her to make me look like Heather Locklear (pre-​rehab preferably Melrose Place era). I have a strong jaw already so i didn’t want to wake up looking like Jay Leno or Quentin Tarintino. People fuck them because they have money, not because of their looks. I have no money so I have to scrounge, people. Dr. O’Ryan assured me that i would look essentially the same and then opted to do a different surgery that would keep my chin in place yet move the rest of my jaw forward to correct my bite. While it was a much longer surgery, she felt that this surgery would help retain the shape of my face.
On the day of surgery, she breezed into the OR with a beret and a long peacoat on. I thought she was on her way to a café to have a cigarette and an espresso, but no, she was going to knock me out (with drugs) and fix all my problems (oral). With the help of Alexis Kleinman (who i also LOVED and who will be one of the best surgeons you will ever lay eyes on) thats exactly what they accomplished. Oh, they also had Doogie Howser in the house as well… Hi Doogie!
On my follow up appointment, it turned out that i couldn’t have my jaw unwired because one side of my jaw hadn’t healed as fast as Dr O’Ryan would have liked. And oddly, this didnt bother me at all. This made me feel like she was ON HER GAME. And it meant i would be able to have one more appointment with her. She is direct, professional, charismatic and informative. I can’t say enough positive things about Dr. O’Ryan. If you are thinking about having jaw surgery, please seek out Dr. O’Ryan to perform the surgery. You won’t regret it. And if they try to foist some other doctor on you, tell them «Hell to the No.»

Best in the business. Dr. O’Ryan is the most charming woman ever, and I felt completely at ease the whole time I was under her care. She lights up every room, and I am extremely happy with the results. Her team is EXCEPTIONAL! All very professional and friendly. She knows what she is doing!

Maxillofacial Surgery
I am actually quite honored to be the first (I think) to Unilocal Dr. O’Ryan, because by all accounts (professional colleagues, residents, nurses, hospital staff and patients) Dr. O’Ryan is the WO-​man! That’s exactly how they say it:) As my orthodontist put it, if Dr. O’Ryan can’t fix your jaw, NO ONE can! I feel so incredibly blessed to have Dr. O’Ryan as my maxillofacial surgeon. It’s been a looong journey and it still isn’t over. I’m 5 weeks post upper and lower jaw reconstruction surgery, and Dr. O’Ryan’s work has exceeded everyone’s expectations — including her own. I wanted the BEST, and I got it!!! Her energy is incredible! She is incredibly warm, nurturing, and caring. She responds to emails within hours, even on the weekend! For a surgeon at her incredible skill level, I find her to be quite humble as well. As a nurse, I find that quality to be very rare. I had a lot of anxiety pre and post surgery and Dr. O’Ryan along with her staff were amazing in helping to manage that.
Dr. O’Ryan works with an incredible team. This is a teaching hospital, so over the span of 2 years I have seen several residents rotate through her practice. Two residents in particular deserve mention: Dr. Williams and his Chief Resident, Dr. Issam. I wasn’t the easiest patient leading up to surgery due to my extreme anxiety over the outcome and they handled me with kid-​gloves. Post op, they have been wonderful dealing with issues and concerns as they arise.
If you are in need of jaw (orthognathic) surgery, Dr. O’Ryan and her team are my professional and personal recommendation without hesitation!