Tee's Teeth

[tee]

I just wanted to start a little thread to post the occasional update in my orthodontic treatment journey (I wish I had discovered this community earlier!). I finally went for an orthodontic consult in June '13, after spending many years ruminating over how much I hated my teeth (I once had a dentist tell me I was an orthodontist's dream. Uh, thanks.) Now I'm about 9 months in. Ceramic on top, metal bottom, and trans-palatal arch.

Currently, I need to make a choice between surgery to advance my lower jaw, or stick to strictly orthodontic work: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... 13&t=46683

It has me super stressed out.

These pictures are from a month or so ago (I never noticed how crooked my entire smile is, or maybe it's just because I can never smile in front of a camera without grimacing) I posture! But I think my jaw is mostly relaxed here, since my bottom teeth don't show:





This is before. Excuse the graininess, I only had copies of the photos from my consult:





It's definitely an improvement. My estimated time in braces was 18-24 months. Get in line, teeth!

[Jamesbcd]

Your teeth look great!

What does the trans-palatal arch do?

[Anna5]

I think your teeth look beautiful!
How big is your overbite? I cannot see it on the pictures, so I think it is not very obvious....
It is a very hard decision, surgery or not, and I wish you lots of wisdom!

[tee]

The TPA acts like an anchor, I guess, maintaining my arch and position of my molars while the rest of my teeth are moving.

I just had an adjustment yesterday,this is my last wire change! By my next appointment I need to decided where I want to go with my treatment. I will try to get a decent picture that shows my profile. Thanks for the positive comments

[tee]

I added some new photos to this post: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... 02#p447502 , to give an idea of my overjet and profile view.

[tee]

Yesterday afternoon, I underwent my lower jaw advancement surgery. I'm not going to lie: I woke up in the recovery room feeling like I had just made a HUGE mistake. I had to convince myself that it's obviously to soon to make that judgement call. One side of my face gradually swelled, as I expected it to based on most experiences I had read. The other side, however, quickly ballooned up to nearly twice the size of the other and my face became 50 shades of grey. The worst part though, as I had also found it to be when I was put under for wisdom tooth extraction, was the sore, scratchy throat from the breathing tube. I panicked a little every time I had to cough or felt like I couldn't swallow. I spent the early evening drifting off to 5 minute naps, then by bedtime felt much more awake, of course. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep, but enough, and by morning I could finally take in more than a miniscule amount of water which made me feel much better. I can even sip from a bottle without spilling now!

I had the option to have this procedure at my surgeon's office, but they offered me a hospital date first. Am I ever glad I spent the night in the hospital. That additional care was needed.



Day 2 Post-Op

Here's hoping the next few days go by fast, and the awful swelling and bruising means I'm well on my way to healing. Wish me luck!

[Mylovedtheeth]

As for this kind of surgery is still small swelling So it will be good, dont worry.

[tee]

Day 6



The swelling is going down. If it weren't for the awful bruising, I might be willing to go out in public. I think this is the best I've felt in the past week, though I'm still trying to adjust to my new diet. I was staying with my mom to help out for the first few days and today I'm back at home. It really does help a lot to get back into a more normal routine. I'm looking forward to my first follow-up on Monday. I just want to know that everything looks the way it should from my surgeon.

[igneous]

Your teeth are looking fantastic! The ceramic color really is your tooth color perfectly.

[cdnbracegirl]

Wishing you a speedy recovery, Tee!

[tee]

Two Weeks Post-Op:



I had my first follow-up on Monday. My surgeon says everything looks perfect. I had been told 2-3 weeks on a liquid/puree diet, and I was optimistically looking forward to 2 weeks... but I wasn't given the go ahead to start soft food yet and my next appointment isn't until March 26th. That's one month post-op. Four weeks on a liquid diet That was disappointing.

This morning I also had my first follow-up with my ortho. He says my bite is looking better than he expected and I'll probably only need to be in braces for another 3-4 months, so that was encouraging! I was also given a get well card from the staff, very kind of them!

[tee]

Just adding a 6-week update:

Two weeks ago I saw my surgeon and was given lighter elastics and the go ahead for a soft food diet. At first, food would just get stuck at the back of my teeth, but my range of motion is getting better. I'm still eating a lot of eggs and pasta.

I went back to work last week.

Today was my appointment with my orthodontist. I'm really pleased to get those surgical hooks out. Everyone had been asking if I had just gotten braces... no... just a lot more hardware. I was given different elastics that I only have to wear at night. No more lisping!

This was the most uncomfortable wire change. The bottom wire they had initially tried wasn't fitting well enough. It took three people to get it back out to put a different wire in. I never wanted to open my mouth again.



The bruising is finally gone!

[BeautifulDisaster]

Recovering from surgery couldn't have been easy, but your smile already looks great!