September 2011 Buddies!!!!

[underbiter]

Hi marian, i have tried and failed to do my xmas shopping mainly because i cant find anything to buy and my family are being very unhelpful with ideas as per usual. Will try again in a couple of days. A cross stitch i might try that one keep my hands busy and means i dont scoff myself stupid cos im bored! My appetite has come back with a vengence and i want to make sure i dont put any weight on that i lost during these last 2 weeks.

[underbiter]

god i must be the most impatient person alive cos of me heart valve problem im on beta blockers so its seems to be taking me forever to get more energy, to be fair its probably a normal persons recovery rate! And i keep walking past the mirror and swearing under my breath at my swelling cos that seems to be taking forever to go down too! Had a good couple of days but still getting exhausted just sitting doing nothing i never realised how much of an active person i am normally, not exercise wise but just general fidgeting and pottering around and even that tires me out tut! To be fair its only a week tomorrow that i came home from the hospital! Hope everyone else is doing okay, and that your swelling is doing better than mine!

[boatsink]

Hey September Buddies! How's everyone?? Sorry, been MIA. I guess it's pretty consistent once surgery comes most tend to disappear =). Jo - I am super glad you are fine. You've been through so much. You have tremendous spirit and have pulled through such a traumatic experience. I'm so glad Marian was able to give us updates to let us know you are okay.

I saw my surgeon last Monday. We did a post-op photoshoot for his documentation purposes. I also gave him an okay to use it as part of his lectures/case studies. I am super impressed with my results, especially when looking at it in comparison to my before photos. He assessed my bite, range of motion is now at 42 MM. I remember being super paranoid about not being able to get my range of motion back, but looks like I've progressed. Just 3 more mm to be back where I was prior to surgery. For anyone worried about range of motion - I'd say not to worry. if you keep working at it you'll get it back. So, everything looked excellent. He gave me the okay, I've graduated. No need for scheduled appointments with him anymore, yes! I'm thrilled because coming back at the frequencies he had me surely drained my pocket somewhat (copay to see him was the cost of my surgery! (which I guess I could be happy and think that the surgery in itself was cheap?)). It also means I'm good =). He wants me to come back once my braces are off. I'm crossing my fingers and hope they'll be off in a few months. On the other hand, I've been seeing my ortho very frequently, every 2 weeks. I've only changed wires twice since surgery, but every time my c-chains and the configuration of the rubber elastics would be changed. My midline is off currently (they were perfect post surgery). Also, my molars still don't fully touch with one another, but is better than pre-surgery.

Hope all is well with everyone

[Minerva]

Thanks for the update, boatsink. How is everyone else doing?

[gothpenguin]

I was wondering where everybody disappeared off to

I just got back from my appointment with my orthodontist and she seems very pleased with how my bite has settled. So much so that she only has me on one set of elastics(and only at night), and has suggested that the braces may be removed in January .

I'm bouncing off the walls.

Jeff

[Marian]

Congratulations Jeff - this is fabulous news!!!!

I'm a little concerned about my teeth/jaw. I have a new ortho who I met for the first time today - I didn't take to her at all. My midline needs lining up and when I looked at how she repositioned my elastics today she seems to be pulling my teeth in the wrong directions to correct this. (I'm torn over whether to carry on wearing the elastics she put on today.)

Also, when I slightly open my teeth the gap between top and bottom on the right is larger than on my left - like my jaw on the right is lower than on the left.

Also, when I close my teeth two of my teeth on the left (one top, one bottom) touch first before the other teeth can meet - the ortho has suggested filing the teeth down a little to enable the other teeth to meet - this sounds like it would be detrimental to the health of my teeth.

I'm trying not to panic but I have no faith in this lady at the moment.

[boatsink]

Congrats Jeff! You must be so excited to get your braces off that soon after surgery - I know I'm jealous!

Marian - how come you changed orthos? I don't know if I would recommend not following the ortho's instructions as I would hope she has more knowledge than those of us wearing braces (but hey, I could be wrong). Can you call her or se her to let her know your concerns? Maybe she can explain her logic and what the outcome she is expecting. What if it's a purposeful detour to get to the end result? Dunno... Regarding filing teeth down, my ortho filed 2 of my back molars at one point before my surgery. His reasoning was my molars were hitting each other in an odd way that the teeth wouldn't progress in the direction he wanted. It was minimal filing and I don't notice the change.

[Marian]

Hi Boatsink, it's nice to hear from you.

My original ortho has left the hospital to have a baby, so I now have her replacement.

My midline was starting to come together nicely under the original ortho, but since the new ortho re-arranged my elastics yesterday my bottom jaw is going to the right quite noticeably. I have to go back to the hospital for another reason on Tuesday so I'm hoping I can call in then for some reassurance (problem is they are normally fully booked 6 weeks ahead so the chances of me seeing someone is probably slim).

I woke up last night panicing about my teeth - I never had this worry with the original ortho.

Things moving slowly is one thing, but when you think that the work of the last 6 weeks is being undone it is very disheartening.

[Minerva]

I woke up last night panicing about my teeth - I never had this worry with the original ortho.

Maybe the ortho. will have five minutes on Tuesday to listen to what you're

suddenly experiencing. Good luck on Tuesday.

[underbiter]

Hi all brilliant to hear from you, i have been lucky enough to have my bottom braces taken off, so at the moment ive just got the top one still on til some time in january when i will have new teeth made for my top jaw and hopefully this should line up my jaw in the right way, at the moment i am 95% happy with my jaw alignment and so far so good my bottom jaw hasnt started to move back so im hoping that this is my final jaw placement. My surgeon is amazed that it has stayed in place and thinks it is due to the week i was unconscious as my jaw wouldnt have been able to move so hopefully thats the end of it. Coming up to 8 weeks since the final op which is when he predicted my jaw would be safe from further movement. Ive been ill recently, due to some sort of drug we think antibiotics i got a skin condition called erythema multiforme minor which can be quite serious, it was basically a severe allergic reaction to drugs in my system and basically caused me to shed several layers of skin before my body began to settle back to normal. I had to see a dermotologist who prescribed me with 3 different creams, but it took nearly 3 weeks before my body began to settle back to normal so all in all ive had a pretty sesame time of it lol! Still waiting on the swelling on my face to go down but slowly but surely it seems to be going. Hoping the 90 day rule applies so it be gone by 90 days

[Minerva]

Happy New Year, everyone.

That's great news about your jaw, Underbiter.

Finally

[Marian]

...and it was all going so well.

Braces were going to come off in a couple of appointments, but something wasn't right. When I swallowed the left side of my jaw felt like it was being pushed down. And it was clicking on the operation site when I ate.

So off I went for a check up today with my concerns, one x-ray later and it was discovered that one of my plates has snapped clean in half.

Guess who has to go back into surgery on 24th Jan and have a bone graft from my chin to provide some extra bone to fill the gap.

So I am sat here now with a broken jaw - fantastic!!

[Minerva]

Ouch. Do they know what caused it?

I hope you're not in pain.

[Marian]

Hi

Luckily no pain - just the most stomach churning feeling, when I'm eating, of the two pieces of bone rubbing against each other - the feeling almost puts me off my food.

I'm not looking forward to the op because at least in the last op there was nerve damage so I pretty much felt no pain at all during recovery.I get the feeling that this time things will be a little different

Marian xx

[Minerva]

I read that eating lots of pinapple starting a couple of weeks prior to the surgery

helps a lot with the swelling. That's one thing I'd try now. If you don't feel like eating

much, there is juice.

Hey, maybe you're one of those people who recover well