Extreme 1,5+cm underbite case, thumb sucking related?

Hi,

 

I'm almost 20 years old. Have been thumb sucking all my life whenever I felt like it up until highschool, where I stopped when at school, but continued when home. At about 7-9 years old dentist's started noticing that I was developing an underbite as well as my upper jaw being too small, asking if anybody in my family had the same jaw-growth. None do, except for my grandmother, who has a very minor case. At 12 years old I got braces via an orthodontist to straighten up my teeth and close gaps caused by the thumb sucking. At this point the orthodontist was fairly certain my underbite and overbite were going to have to be surgically fixed, so the braces were just a matter of tidying things up.

I had the braces for about a year and a half and then went on my way, waiting for my body to stop growing. In the meantime I went to a physiologist that sent me to a podiatrist to get shoe soles because my back was starting to show signs of scoliosis. The physiologist blamed it on my legs being different lengths, sure.

Jaw, few months ago

A few months ago I went to see a specialized jaw-surgeon (one of the best in the country, or so I'm told..) and he looked at my case together with about 5-6 other surgeons and told me a few things about how the procedure would go and that this was one of the worst cases they had ever seen. He then asked if I had any idea what could've caused the extremity of it and I told him I still regularly suck on my thumb, and that I was fairly certain that is what caused it. Surprisingly, all the surgeons kind of chuckled and basically said in chorus; "yeah no way, this is way too extreme to be caused by thumb sucking, at this point it might even help to suck on your thumb, because you are pushing your upper jaw up, and pushing the lower jaw back." at that point I was kind of flustered and just kind of agreed, but once I got home and tried to feel what forces my thumb sucking really had on my tongue and jaws, I noticed that I am pulling on my lower jaw with my tongue, which would explain the extension. I'm now at the point where I'm getting another set of braces for a year, to prepare for the surgery which will shorten my lower jaw and extend my upper jaw.

My back however, hasn't been getting any better. I have seen posts that have linked thumb sucking with a-symmetric bodygrowth and seeing how both my jaws are heavily slanted outwards, it would make sense. I only use my right thumb and my jaws are almost opening up to the right side, which would be explained my the a-symmetrical force of my right hand almost "hanging" on my jaw.

back, recent

 

Just wanted to share to get your insights and theories on if all of this is related to eachother.

 

EDIT: I forgot to mention. My thumb sucking and underbite also made it uncomfortable to lay my tongue in a resting position against my palate. I have a feeling that my smaller upper jaw also causes some breathing problems because breathing through my nose isn't as comfortable as breathing through my mouth. Especially when trying to sleep. I always sleep with my mouth open, partially because my jaw just doesn't passively rest in a closed position.

Tiny detail which might not have to do with anything, but still worth mentioning; when getting 2 molars extracted, one of the roots dragged a part of my upper palate with it, creating a hole connecting my nasal cavity to my mouth. The dentist had never seen this and it healed fine, but might indicate a weak or thin palate?

 

The Jaw