My story

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#1 Post by **MikeCordell** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 3:59 pm

Long time lurker, never registered. Little background info I've had terrible teeth my entire life. Right now I'm 23 years old, married, and I have two children. I'm active duty military serving in the Air Force. I almost got braces when I was 11 but I literally told my orthodontist "no" and left. My parents didn't feel the need to show up so I didn't feel the need to press the issue. Fast forward eight years and I'm in the military now (surprised they took me with my teeth!) I had seven teeth pulled my first year in the military. Four of them were wisdom teeth, two of them were my baby canines, and the last was an adult bicuspid that never fully developed from somewhere in my sinus. The adult canines had come in well above the adult canines and one of my bicuspid had come in on the inside of my gums at a terrible angle.

Much to my fortune the Air Force employs Orthodontists (about eight) and one was at my base! Somewhere around November 2004 I had my first appointment with him and by January 2005 I was in braces! It was around this time that I was informed that I needed a two piece lefort 1. My orthodontics from this point until around March of 2006 were based around preparation for this surgery. Somewhere towards the end of this period of time my orthodontist left the military and a new one moved to my base. At this point the Air Force brought in a new maxillofacial surgeon as well (world class at that, the O-6 type) and the change was made to a three piece lefort 1 and my ortho treatment was adjusted.
Fast forward to September 2006, I now find myself in Iraq with steel ties on my braces and a good five months of no treatment ahead of me. 2007 comes around and I'm back to the real world and back into my orthodontist for treatment again. I'm informed that he will be leaving (why do they keep doing this to me?) and that I will be going off base from this point on to see a civilian orthodontist. Great. So we press on with preparing me for the surgery (I think I've had 10 impressions done by this point).

Alright so again we jump down the line to September of 2007. I'm told I only need a two piece lefort, which is fine by me. No more ortho adjustment needed. October comes along and suddenly I am in need of having my lower jaw moved as well. Might as well, right? This guy knows what he is doing. So November 14 comes and I have my surgery (upper impacted 1mm, rotated, and widened (can't remember exactly how much, probably in the area of 10mm) and my lower was moved out 5mm on the left and 6mm on the right. I was also given a septoplasty to open up my airway.

I don't know if anyone has ever told you but wow, these surgeries are terrible. I remember going in thinking, well, nothing I can do but lie down and let them do what they have to do but when I woke up I was coughing up blood, my O2 sat was deathly low, and my BP was deathly high. I lost in the area of two and a half units of blood total. I spent three days in the hospital working day and night to get my O2 sat up and my BP down and was finally released the afternoon of the third day.

This is where the really fun times begin. A week after surgery I am banded shut. Up until this point I didn't think life was so bad. Come to realize I fit my splint like a glove. My orthodontics had gone so well there was only one gap (and it was small) in my teeth. There were no gaps in the back where my wisdom teeth were as they were impacted when removed. Basically my mouth was almost completely sealed shut.

Once again, all I can do is press on, even though eating took about an hour to get down a bowl of soup with plenty of rinsing. All was fine and dandy until 4 days in and the gentle "sucking" of food between my teeth peeled back my gums around one of the teeth (or maybe it was all the bands that pulled the tooth up out of it, who knows or cares). Pain ensued. I thought I knew pain. The second the cold water I was trying to rinse with hit that tooth I was writhing in pain on the floor. I thought I would die right there. That pain lasted for about a week. I ate strictly room temperature foods and was really slow and deliberate about doing so. Doing so somehow kept the pain at bay, though the slightest deviation (hot or cold) in temperature would leave me on the floor in tears (if you need an image, I'm a 220lb 5'11" guy that tolerates pain well).

Again, moving along, this puts us at about two and a half weeks. The bands stayed on until the three week mark (two weeks banded shut). At this point my OS took off the bands and let me breathe a little only to threaten to band me shut again if my bite wasn't looking good in two days. He showed me how to put band myself shut so I could do so at night and sent me on my way...and back to work.

Mind you, my job requires TONS of communication. I'm sitting here at work right now with three radios, about two dozen phone lines, a crash phone, a centracom, and a uhf radio to communicate with aircraft. I went from not talking for two weeks to talking a lot. I've never been so sore in my life. My lower jaw actually has a dull ache where the cut was made and my splint is still in so I sound terrible when I do talk.

The two days came and went and I wasn't banded shut. My work was so excited they made me work the weekend. So here I sit, 24 days post op, at work, sore and hungry. Still can't chew. Still have the splint in. My OS says the splint can come out at six weeks. That happens to be the day after Christmas and my orthodontist (civilian) is closed. I'll probably end up in the splint for around seven weeks total.

If anyone is on the fence about the surgery, it's not bad. The recovery thus far isn't bad either. It's like the first two days of braces combined with the first two days of spacers and having your wisdom teeth out all combined, for weeks on end. Nothing most everyone hasn't been through already.

#2 Post by **zou** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 7:15 pm

Mike - welcome and we're glad you finally delurked. Sorry to hear that you had so many adventures getting to and through surgery. However, it sounds like you are on the right track and it is great to hear that after everything you still think it was the right thing to do.

#3 Post by **ohmyjaw** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 7:39 pm

Hey Mike,

Welcome to the board! I enjoyed reading your story and am sorry to hear you had some rough times. I was wired shut for 10 days after surgery, so I know what it's like not being able to eat, sucks. I also had low O2 after surgery, and in my doped-up confusion I accidentally pulled my mask off. I remember feeling a squeezing sensation in my chest, and starting to see black spots, and then I suddenly realized what had happened. Those first few hours after surgery were pretty rough.

You seem to be in good spirits, so that's good to hear! I hope the rest of your recovery is smooth sailing.

#4 Post by **mmh** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 5:13 am

Well Mike, that is some story. I know what you mean about the surgery being pretty full on - I had upper and lower, and that first night in the hospital is something I would never want to repeat. The way I look at the recovery process is that it isn't worse than that first night, and the days are going by, one day closer to finishing the journey. Hang in there, just think of it as a day at a time, and at least you're out of hospital! mmh.

#5 Post by **MikeCordell** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 6:52 am

I'm definitely glad to be out of the hospital. I would pull my mask off in the hospital every few minutes. The cold was so intense from the mask that it physically hurt. I wasn't able to sleep with it on and I wasn't able to stay conscious with it off. Go figure. I still do think it was the right thing to do. I can't believe it's all over. I've been told to expect around six months in orthodontics after my surgery. I'm figuring around eight since they told me I have to wear a transpalatal appliance to "maintain the space" that was created by the surgery. I think both my OS and ortho are erring a buit on the overkill side. 6 weeks or more in the splint, banded shut for so long, then I still have to wear an appliance for six months? But I can plead my case once it's been on for a few months I suppose. I'm applying for Officer Training School and have given a seven month window for the ortho to do his work before they can subject me to training. Hopefully he knows how to stick to his word.

#6 Post by **smile2006** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:51 am

I just wanted to wish you alot of luck in finishing up, it sounds like you have been through so much. Sorry about the splint, I had an upper splint for 6 weeks after surgery and it was no fun. Hope you can get that out soon after Christmas. Would they let you get it out before Christmas? That would be a great gift!

#7 Post by **MikeCordell** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:44 pm

My oral surgeon is dead set on not taking it off any shorter than six weeks. He's fine with anything over though. The closest we would be able to get prior to six weeks would be the 21st and that would be five days short. He'd consider that "significantly" shorter. Thanks for the encouragment!