June/July 2015 Surgery Buddies

[snapdresser]

Not sure if any of us still check this anymore...

After about 10 months of wearing my retainers religiously , things going OK; not great, with a distracted orthodontist that does things impulsively...

My teeth were shifting due to him making unwanted changes to my retainer (without my knowledge; he just walked away with it and came back and it was modified) back in August. He ground off some of the pointy things from my hawley that keep teeth separated and things shifted within a week. Tried to adjust it; failed. Had a new retainer made that was probably made by someone on their first day on the job... That was horrible. Went back for another impression; he said he was going to make another new spring retainer to try to move teeth again. Took the impression back in the middle of December and haven't heard back. I called twice and they said they'd get back to me when it came in. Guessing he's blowing me off.

Saw a different orthodontist and got his opinion about some issues. Shifting molars, some pistoning of my incisors again, and other smaller issues...

Starting Invisalign and picking up the first trays March 3rd. Of course they mentioned attachments and even rubber bands.

ETT (estimated treatment time) 14 months.

Thrilled.

Nooooooo!!! That’s absolutely brutal to still be in that position what, almost 5 years post-op? I really hope the Invisalign works out much better. What did your ortho say when you told them you want your braces off? I suspect they won’t want to hear that.

Good luck Nozzel, keep us updated! I still check on here from time to time, I’m not sure about the others.

[jaime]

I still pop on every couple months.

Nozzel, that super sucks you have to get Invisalign after all you've already been through! Hopefully things go better this time with the new orthodontist. Keep us updated!

As for me, my TMJ has been acting up lately. After the surgery in 2015, my jaw naturally pulled to one side. It was always a fight to keep it aligned. It's back to veering off to the side while I sleep and then being uncomfortable when I yawn. If you're looking for it, you can see my chin isn't centered under my nose. Not sure if it's worth talking to anyone about, especially now that I don't live in Canada anymore (I don't qualify for Canadian healthcare anymore).

[snapdresser]

Ah, I sent you that DM before I saw your reply Jaime. Yeah, I suspect you’d have a tough fight to get fixing that covered by insurance here. Still, maybe it’s worth a consult? Some of the surgeons here are insurance wizzes (or their front office folks are) so you might be surprised. But if it’s not causing functional issues besides a little pain in the morning maybe it’s not even worth it

[Nozzelnut]

Funny how this stuff never really ends...

I got the first round of aligners last Wednesday. Attachments and rubber bands... At least I got to see where my teeth should be when I get through all the aligners.

Jaime; sorry you're having some TMJ issues. Speaking from experience; it can become really bad. Might need to see an Ortho with some additional TMJD training. That's how I picked my first one years ago. He did a great job treating the TMJD; that just involved a flat plane splint to I couldn't close enough to clench.

The saga of shifting teeth continues...

[Nozzelnut]

Actually had an appointment last week; covid restrictions have been lifting near me. Slowly things are getting back to the way they were.

A couple weeks after I started the Damons and elastics; I had a pop in my TMJ on my right. That shifted my bite about 2mm in that direction. I guess something was out of place...

Only wearing elastics on the right side to keep pulling the lowers back; so the correct teeth line up with their respective upper and lowers. (I tried to tell my new ortho that the previous ortho also tried elastics for a very long time and they might not work; but what do I know.... Only 16 more months and I'll have my 6 year ortho (treatment) degree...)

Next appointment is in the middle of July; I do like the Damon brackets for that.

[snapdresser]

I missed something. What happened with Invisalign?! You seemed thrilled to get the braces off!

[Nozzelnut]

I like the idea of invisalign; but in reality they didn't work for me all that well. Take them out to drink coffee, to eat, brush them, brush your teeth; then put them back in, put the elastics back on.... It was a pain. I was brushing my teeth at work in our bathroom and dropped an aligner on the floor. That was at the beginning of the covid thing. Just the thought of putting that back in my mouth made me cringe.

So I went back to regular stainless brackets; Damons this time around. Stainless steel brackets work better for me. They are always working; no take them out; put them in; 4-5X a day. Something to think about if anyone is interested in invisalign treatment. It would probably be best for people that had office jobs or a regular schedule.

This ortho is taking a better look at function and treating that; hopefully gaining some width in the process.

[snapdresser]

Wow... So back to the braces. How long is your treatment supposed to be this time?

[snapdresser]

Btw, I had nose surgery this morning to clear up chronic congestion. They reduced my turbinates, cut out a piece of my deviated septum, and I think used it to create a cartilaginous “spreader” so that my soft nose doesn’t collapse so much when I breathe heavily through my nose. I’m hoping this is the last step for me to finally breathe easily through my nose at all times! Breathing issues are why I got orthographic surgery and why I resumed allergy shots. Crossing my fingers!

[jaime]

Popped on here to see what's up and was surprised to see so many new posts!

Nozzel, sorry to hear you're back in braces but fingers crossed this is it for you after this round! You have the patience of a saint.

Snap, glad to hear the surgery went well. I hope all your breathing problems are resolved now.

Not much new with me. My TMJ pain went away for several months but is back a bit now. It's been difficult to open my mouth fully. Sigh. I need to be better about stretching it. My ROM never fully came back after surgery.

I'm wayyyyyyyy overdue for a dental cleaning at this point. It's terrible. I said I would stay on top of all that after everything I went through and then ...didn't. And now I'm not about to go to a dentist office and have people breathing in my mouth right now (even with masks).

[snapdresser]

Popped on here to see what's up and was surprised to see so many new posts!

Nozzel, sorry to hear you're back in braces but fingers crossed this is it for you after this round! You have the patience of a saint.

Snap, glad to hear the surgery went well. I hope all your breathing problems are resolved now.

Not much new with me. My TMJ pain went away for several months but is back a bit now. It's been difficult to open my mouth fully. Sigh. I need to be better about stretching it. My ROM never fully came back after surgery.

I'm wayyyyyyyy overdue for a dental cleaning at this point. It's terrible. I said I would stay on top of all that after everything I went through and then ...didn't. And now I'm not about to go to a dentist office and have people breathing in my mouth right now (even with masks).

Heyyyy wb! I stopped stretching too, and my ROM never fully came back either. In fact, I was never great about the stretching Haha I’ve been getting emails from dentists saying “We’re open! Make an appt!” Yeah right...

[jaime]

I’m back.

For starters, how are things with you both? Do you still have braces, Nozzel? And how’s your congestion, snap? I hope you’re both well.

I finally saw my dentist today for a LONG overdue cleaning (it had been longer than I remembered, eep) and to talk about my TMJ issues which surprise surprise, have gotten much worse.

We talked about my issues, he looked in my mouth, stood back and told me sternly I need to see an orthodontist. Ugh.

I checked and my orthodontist in Ontario has retired, and others have taken over the practice. I’m not sure whether it’s worth it to go back there, or just start fresh here in Michigan.

I’m trying to stop myself from imagining the worst case scenario, where I end up needing revision surgery and more braces, but that’s my fear at this point.

[snapdresser]

We talked about my issues, he looked in my mouth, stood back and told me sternly I need to see an orthodontist. Ugh.

I checked and my orthodontist in Ontario has retired, and others have taken over the practice. I’m not sure whether it’s worth it to go back there, or just start fresh here in Michigan.

I’m trying to stop myself from imagining the worst case scenario, where I end up needing revision surgery and more braces, but that’s my fear at this point.

Nooooooo!!! What did he say is causing the TMJ issue? You discussed it with your ortho before and they didn’t suggest getting back in braces, right? If you have a choice between potentially fixing the issue with braces and a revision and leaving it and suffering, which would you pick?

WB, by the way! I miss the old recovery crew

Regarding my nose surgery, it seems to have worked about 70%. I can usually breathe through my nose now except when it’s really dry which apparently causes night-time stuffiness so I have to breathe through my mouth from time to time

[jaime]

The dentist thinks my jaw is shifting back to where it was before the surgery and that the symptoms I have are caused by the fact only a few of my teeth touch now. That's basically what I figured, since my chin is off-centre now, where it was post-surgery/pre-elastics.

I had complained to my ortho and my surgeon about a few things back in 2016 but they both reassured me all was well and would be fine.

I would get surgery again if I had to. Neither my nor my husband's dental insurance cover orthodontics, though (my insurance is a once-per-life thing for it) so I'm probably going to be on my own for this if the treatment involves orthodontics only. I'll do it again if I have to, but ugh.

I ended up making an appointment with an ortho/TMJ specialist in the city where I work (in Ontario) for next week. This guy's been an orthodontist and TMJ specialist for decades.

It blows that all three of us went to more drastic measures to fix our issues and then needed extra treatment. That's good that your surgery did help, even if not fully. I get a stuffy nose at night somewhat often too, so I sympathize with you about that.

It is kinda nice to be back!! I wonder how the others are doing.

[snapdresser]

That’s a great idea getting the opinion of the TMJ doc. A fresh pair of eyes is good especially if you’re considering taking the plunge again

I thought you were 100% in the US now except for your appointments? If you’re still working in Canada you can’t get free national orthodontics or something?

TBH that whole “years in elastics” thing seemed pretty weird to me. I really hope you get some resolution! Is it causing issues for you with chewing too? Or the TMJ pain is the main issue now?