February 2011 Buddies!!!

[I love my teeth]

I am going to weigh in on the yawn issue---I am 8 weeks and can open to about 36mm...still not enough for a good yawn

I still feel a strain in my front neck muscles when I yawn.....ouch!

Got turned over to my ortho at 7.5weeks---he put me in NiTi wires and new ligs, I had lost a bracket, so he replaced that this week and put me in SS wire on top and NiTi on the bottom, as the tooth missing the bracket had rotated a bit. I go back in 4 weeks for transfer records as we are moving at that time. I suspect I am almost done- and will finish up the last 3-5months (my estimate) and retainers with a new ortho I hope he's good!!

good luck to all, and congrats on almost being unwired DRG!!

[Nathaniel]

I got turned over to my ortho this Wednesday, but there's nothing much going on in my front except bone healing. I get braces on May 4th!!! Then I guess that's the start to the final road - double jaw surgery!

[DRG]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you won't!

I am 8 weeks and can open to about 36mm...still not enough for a good yawn

Say it isn't so! I have had my heart set on a good solid yawn for some time. I actually just yawned thinking about it...ouch!


DRG

[Nathaniel]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you won't!

I am 8 weeks and can open to about 36mm...still not enough for a good yawn

Say it isn't so! I have had my heart set on a good solid yawn for some time. I actually just yawned thinking about it...ouch!


DRG

When I yawn I click my jaw now! OS/Ortho said my bite would get worse before it get's better (aka, after my double jaw surgery). I am such a heavy and repetitive yawner when I'm tired I hope I can do it when I am a Double Jaw patient! Ahhh!

I hope all you February buddies are feeling better

[suzanna]

So I'm officially 6 weeks post op today. Doing pretty good. Eating is getting a little bit better each day. I've been working hard on it the last few days and I definitely have been feeling it in my joints today! So sore!! Same with my muscles around my joints. No change in numbness/tingling since I last updated, and I'm still at about 18mm in opening my mouth. Swelling goes up and down and up and down. I felt like my cheeks were so swollen yesterday but they look so much better today. I've reverted back to sleeping propped up on a few pillows today because I keep sleeping on my stomach (my favourite position!) and I can definitely tell that the swelling is worst in the morning and gets better as the day goes on.

I'll probably post some pictures tomorrow!

[DRG]

I got unwired yesterday! I'm 34 days post-op, so it was 33 days yesterday.

It almost didn't happen as they didn't put my appointment in for the right day. Clearly the doctor and I had made arrangements for it to take place yesterday, but the front desk had it one week later. So I stood at the front desk and my Doctor came up and said "Oh yeah, DRG here isn't leaving without getting those wires out, even if he has to do it himself I bet".

My five year old had the day off school, so he accompanied me and even got to help cut one of the wires. My doc said that my opening was more than he expected, but he didn't measure or ask me to push it very far. He did implement rubber bands in place of the wires, and reminded me that it wasn't long ago when patients would would be wired 6-8 weeks. So I've got to keep the bands on all day & night, except for short windows when I can eat.

And I can eat! I took my family out to the local diner last night. I had pancakes, eggs, and little bit of everyone else's food too (mac-n-cheese, chicken pot pie, and even a tiny bit of overcooked cheeseburger).

The rubber bands are killing my teeth right now, feel like they are being pulled out one by one. If pain equals progress, then I must be making progress right now.I've got two broken brackets which are next to each other, so the force of the bands is concentrated on that side of my mouth.

And my bite is not comfortable. It's the first time many of my teeth have met each other in thirty six years, so that's new. It takes a little bit of wiggling to get my bite to line up...and that doesn't include the few teeth that the ortho still has to move into the right place (left rear molars). Thanks to the broken brackets I will get to see my ortho on Monday, so perhaps I can get some more insight into how to help my teeth and bite feel better in the short term. But, I won't get my hopes up, expecting the answer to be "hang in there". The OS told me that the bands will actually start the alignment process, that is if my teeth aren't pulled out of my jaw first (that's my interpretation, not his words).

Anyway, I'm happy to be unwired, but the rest of this has me a bit tentative right now. I'd really like to know when I will be back to "normal", or close enough. It doesn't look like that will be too soon. I don't think the OS will have me turned over for another two-three weeks.

Oh, and I yawned a few times yesterday. It wasn't all that I hoped, but let me tell you that it was so, so, so much better than when I was wired.

Congrats Suzanna on your progress. You must be heading back to work soon, if I recall.

DRG

[Bullfighter]

So I'm officially 6 weeks post op today. Doing pretty good. Eating is getting a little bit better each day. I've been working hard on it the last few days and I definitely have been feeling it in my joints today! So sore!! Same with my muscles around my joints. No change in numbness/tingling since I last updated, and I'm still at about 18mm in opening my mouth. Swelling goes up and down and up and down. I felt like my cheeks were so swollen yesterday but they look so much better today. I've reverted back to sleeping propped up on a few pillows today because I keep sleeping on my stomach (my favourite position!) and I can definitely tell that the swelling is worst in the morning and gets better as the day goes on.

I'll probably post some pictures tomorrow!

8 weeks post op (Feb 1 was surgery), and I'm getting close to 30mm (more like 28-29mm). I was at about 25mm last week.

Still a lot of numbness in my chin, part of lower lip... I have a feeling it takes a while for all of that to resolve.

[LAJaw]

DRG,
Just curious but how much lower jaw/lip numbness do you have 30-some days in? And how long did it take for you getting used to being wired shut? I'm asking because I have to make the IVRO vs BSSO decision pretty soon, and at this point I'm leaning towards IVRO because everyone with a BSSO seems to end up with some degree of permanent loss of sensation.

[DRG]

DRG,
(H)ow much lower jaw/lip numbness do you have 30-some days in? And how long did it take for you getting used to being wired shut? I'm asking because I have to make the IVRO vs BSSO decision pretty soon, and at this point I'm leaning towards IVRO because everyone with a BSSO seems to end up with some degree of permanent loss of sensation.

I have no lower jaw numbness, and none in my lower lip either. In fact, my chin was never swollen while everything around it just blew up. Even still I see my chin as "normal size" which points out how swollen the rest of my face still is.

Naturally, I do have numbness from the LeFort, my upper gumline, teeth, and half of the roof of my mouth as well as some of my nose and cheeks. That area is shrinking slowly, but hasn't returned yet. Though I thought I got a bit of sensation in my nose the other night, it was enough to wake me up at least.

I am not sure I ever got comfortable being wired. I spent too many hours before hand worried about how restrictive it would be. Gladly, it wasn't what my imagination made it out to be from a pain or discomfort point of view. I found that being wired shut was 80% mental. There were tough things to deal with physically, a restricted airway for instance (and being overcome with a deathly fear of having to cut the wires when one of my kids caught a stomach bug -- which reminds me to thank my wife again and again for dealing with that trouble). But five weeks later, I'd say I struggled most with things such as not being able to communicate easily (ie. when my kids wouldn't behave), seeing food on television (I only craved some things simply because I couldn't have it), and counting down the days I had left (this made time slow down, I'm sure of it). Compared to the freedom in these rubber bands, being wired with the splint was somewhat reassuring.

I am happy with my choice in the end, while I am admittedly hesitant to say anything that might scare another patient off. I knew going in that I was trading short term pain for a long term gain. Since it's such a fresh memory, I don't think I've put it into proper perspective just yet. And, I should say if I was wired shut while 100% healthy, I think I wouldn't be complaining so much. The added issues of recovering from the surgery, needing those precious calories, and feeling so tired so frequently....it made it more difficult than I expected.

Do you (LAJaw) have an older doctor? Mine is nearing retirement age, and I wonder if it's only the old school surgeons that offer the choice. The BSSO seems so prevalent here that I wonder if I didn't get lucky to find a doctor willing to offer the choice at all.

DRG

[DRG]

I saw my ortho on Monday and got my two loose brackets glued back in place. What a difference that made! Later that evening my bite was already much more comfortable. Looks like these rubber bands are doing their job quite nicely.

Also, I'm very proud to report that today I have dominated some Taco Bell and a box of girl scout cookies. This is what recovery should taste like!

DRG

[I love my teeth]

Wonderful news DRG--you are coming along now!

I had a bracket come loose as well, once it was replaced it made a world of difference. My bite on the right is pretty good, but not yet on the left, my molars are touching, hoping 1 or 2 more adjustments and it will settle a bit!

This week was my best eating week---I bit into and chewed a sandwich and a hamburger.....still very, very small bites, but an improvement. I feel like 8-9weeks was a turning point for me.

The numbness remains and I can tell there is still swelling inside my mouth, best to luck for a speedy recovery!

[suzanna]

Wonderful news DRG--you are coming along now!

I had a bracket come loose as well, once it was replaced it made a world of difference. My bite on the right is pretty good, but not yet on the left, my molars are touching, hoping 1 or 2 more adjustments and it will settle a bit!

This week was my best eating week---I bit into and chewed a sandwich and a hamburger.....still very, very small bites, but an improvement. I feel like 8-9weeks was a turning point for me.

The numbness remains and I can tell there is still swelling inside my mouth, best to luck for a speedy recovery!

That's good to hear! I can't wait to bite into a sandwich! I've done cheeseburgers (with no veggies in it though, too messy) but I had to cut them into stripts so they could fit into my mouth LOL

I saw my OS again today. He said everything looks great and I'm doing really well. I only have to wear my elastics at night now, I hope my orthodontist agrees with that! It would be such a pain to have to wear them at work. I can open about 20mm but he didn't seem too concerned about that. Told me about another exercise to do with my jaw and just said to keep doing what I've been doing because it does take time to come back.

Still have some swelling, mostly just my cheeks and some in my chin still too. In terms of numbness, still have a bit left in my upper lip area, it's still a bit tingling when I touch it. Still can't feel my lower lip at all. I did start to notice some more feeling in my chin though! I can feel it a little when I touch it now, it's like a pressure with tingles so that's good news. My OS told me it could take up to a year for feeling to come back but that if there's any tingling feels it's usually a really good sign that it will come back.

I also asked him about my upper midline, because since surgery it's now about 2 mm off to the left (it was only 1 mm off before). He said that orthodontics can fix that and he'll just recommend that I get some IPR done in between a couple teeth to make more space to shift them over. I don't mind that happening, I was just worried that it might mess up my bite but if he's suggesting we do that then I guess it should be fine. I don't need for my midlines to be perfect, I just don't want it to be so noticeable (even though I'm sure it's only really noticeable to me LOL).

Hope everyone else is doing well! I'm back to work Monday so I'll let you guys know how that goes! Not really looking forward to it.

[suzanna]

I saw my ortho on Monday and got my two loose brackets glued back in place. What a difference that made! Later that evening my bite was already much more comfortable. Looks like these rubber bands are doing their job quite nicely.

Also, I'm very proud to report that today I have dominated some Taco Bell and a box of girl scout cookies. This is what recovery should taste like!

DRG

Congrats!! It looks like everything is going pretty smoothly for you as well! You don't know how lucky you are to not have any lower jaw numbness. I keep biting my lower lip and having food all over my lower lip/chin (at times). I have to always eat with a mirror. I saw someone at the food court giving me a weird look when I took my little compact out and set it up to eat, she probably thought I have some weird obsession with watching food go in my mouth haha

Are you able to chew well with your mouth closed? I find when I close my mouth to chew I bite my cheeks, probably since they're still pretty swollen on the insides.

[DRG]

I bit into and chewed a sandwich and a hamburger

Wow, wow, wow. This is just fantastic news. Congrats!

You don't know how lucky you are to not have any lower jaw numbness. I keep biting my lower lip and having food all over my lower lip/chin (at times)......Are you able to chew well with your mouth closed?

I'm not sure I would call it "chewing" just yet. It depends on the food. My molars aren't quite ready to grind food into smaller bits yet. I had a disappointing dinner last night - open face pulled pork bbq. The bread was no problem, while I just couldn't handle the pulled pork. I'm not sure if it's a my lack of jaw stength, misalignment of my bite, or even a lack of jaw stability that was my problem. After a handful of frustrating attempts, I just quit and had a protein shake for dinner instead.

I don't make a mess down my chin when I eat, so I that's a positive that I didn't realize I had going for me. I chew everything very gingerly still. And I feel like I'm making quite a mess, inside my mouth that is. With my upper jaw numbness I always feel that I have food stuck *everywhere* in my mouth when I'm done eating, which is usually just half-true. I haven't seen a change to my upper jaw nerves yet.

I saw my OS this morning for my quick weekly check up (I'm just shy of six weeks post-op presently). He thought my swelling was reduced from being able to chew and talk lately. He told me to go ahead and reduce my time in the rubber bands by about 6 hours during the day on & off (to this point they've only been out when I eat, that's it). So I have been wearing them at work, which has been a better experience than being wired...but not by much. I have been able to take them out when I need to talk on the phone, which has been quite an improvement.

He said the next time I see him, we will likely move to just wearing them at night only. Since I'm seeing my ortho next week, my OS said that I need to heed my ortho's advice with the rubber bands as the priority opinion, and that he would talk to my ortho before that appointment. I do love that coordination between those two, I think they must play a lot of golf together.

I also asked about the fact that my lower is slightly off from my centerline. I told him that I had followed his advice and tried to regularly push it into position, but my teeth wouldn't hold that spot. He didn't think much of it, and expects the ortho to take care of that issue. He also told me that it might not be perfect in the end, but considering where we started we're not talking about much, which seems reasonable to me. I had the bands in for the whole appointment, so he just took my word that I could open 20mm already, and again didn't seem to think that was a priority. He restated that it would take quite some time, five weeks wired usually equates to a minimum of five weeks unwired before the range returns anwhere near 100%. [I just measured officially, I can open ~25mm!]

My mother-in-law is taking my kids for the night tomorrow, so the wife and I will be heading out to eat with another couple. I'm rather excited, expecting that we will head out for either sushi or some (boneless) wings. My four year old has been asking "when my bones will be fixed" so that I can wrestle around with him and his brother again, so I've also got that to look forward to in the near future. I signed up for a few short distance triathlons this summer, and I've ridden my bicycle a little bit this week (on the trainer). Also, I am going to head to the pool for laps tonight. I've been (lightly) weight lifting since week 3 of my recovery, and what a difference it is now that I can breathe without that splint wired in place. It's still a very slow process to get back to my pre-surgical level of strength and endurance. I feel like my recovery is really gaining some momentum this week.

DRG

[dtdtdt]

suzanna,
I am going to be watching your updates on the midline problem as i have the exact same situation. I would appreciate any details you have. I am on day 17 and haven't seen ortho yet.

thanks and good luck on your return to work.