Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi, everyone! I'm doing really well... which I guess is why I haven't posted in a while! I've been given the all-clear to eat pretty much anything up to chicken texture or thin slices of apple. I'm still a little sore and swollen in the mornings, but it goes away pretty quickly. I'm able to shove tw...

So, since my bands came off last Thursday, I've been doing super well, and mostly feeling fine. The most annoying things are that my nerves in my upper lip and chin area are going nutso and it feels intermittently like the entire bottom of my face was shoved into freezing water. I'm hoping it's a go...

They unwired me today! It feels SO weird, and I feel really insecure still with my jaw--if feels like it's just flapping around and jolting with every footstep, but at least the elastics are doing a good job holding everything in. My bite isn't great, since I have a few molars that are clashing, but...

Actually, I realized that I've been posting here a lot in the last week without any formal introductory post. Hi, I'm 25, from NYC, but living in the San Francisco Bay Area, with Kaiser insurance (woohoo! Love it!). I have both linguals (since January) and normal metal braces for the surgery (for th...

Oh, good to know that my energy level (or lack thereof) is normal. I just kept thinking I'd be able to stand up for more than 5 minutes without feeling like I wanna sit down, but I guess that's just part and parcel, and it'll get better. I have another question (sorry, it just is so nice to ask peop...

Question: I've been feeling kinda light-headed when I stand up for too long, so I haven't been doing much exercise. Before surgery, I was very active--biking at least 2 miles a day, walking a ton, dancing a ton. I'm wondering if being lightheaded is actually a result of not exercising at all, or if ...

I'm wondering how you guys ramped down the pain medicine. I'm on day 5 after surgery now, and I'm just starting to halve my doses of Tylenol with Codeine and replace them with Motrin. I'm sure there will come a time when I don't feel the need for painkillers, but I'm a little nervous about cutting t...

Wow, it's so encouraging to read about people visiting friends, going to the mall, going out for drinks, etc., farther down the line. I'm at the stage where I feel like my face is going to be puffed up forever and my jaws always wired shut, so it's nice to hear from people who have gotten past that ...

I hear you on that, Broadway Bill. I think I must have been a little flippant yesterday and this morning ("Oh, I feel great! My pain is so low! I can breathe so well! I'm going to have a smoothie!") because about two hours after said smoothie, the pain started to intensify (I think my face...

Hey all, I know I haven't been too active here, but I just wanted to say that I'm home from the hospital. I had upper/lower surgery at Richmond Kaiser, and it's been... not as bad as I had anticipated. The only bad moment was waking up SUPER nauseous in the recovery ward, but I actually felt a ton b...

I'm having surgery at the end of October, and I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row, as it were... I'm prepared to have low energy, but I'm concerned about being able to get around easily. I usually commute almost everywhere by bike, riding at least 4 miles a day, and I'm concerned about not being...

Mistyp, my surgery is also on October 26!

Bonus: built-in Halloween costume...

Thanks for the replies so far, everyone. Audra, I'm guessing on the timing since I ALMOST started the whole procedure two years ago. The orthodontist was going to put braces on me in August and was confident I'd be ready for surgery by the end of December, with another 6-9 months of braces after the...

Hi, I've been reading this board for about a year now, but this is my first-ever post. I'm 24 years old, and in my first year out of college. Two summers ago, during the summer before my senior year of college, I consulted with both an orthodontist and an oral surgeon who both agreed that I'd need s...