So excited to get braces!

[parsleysage]

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that I'm cheering you on. I love how you are pushing through and not changing your mind!

Thank you Sunshine!!!

[parsleysage]

Welp, my dentist and ortho had a pow-wow last week and she (my dentist) really wants to do something more permanent about this large filling in my tooth before she clears me for getting braces. So, brace date was canceled. (Temporarily!)

I am disappointed, but not mad or anything. Waiting a few weeks until we get this tooth taken care of is far better than having to have some kind of emergency fix halfway through orthodontics! I'm not sure if she will do a crown or what she will do, but I see her tomorrow so will get the tx plan then.

I think the only reason I am disappointed is that making the decision to move forward with treatment relieved so much of the anxiety I had been having with trying to figure out if I was willing to do surgery and if I should get braces at all. And now I will have an extra month or so to second-guess (more like 18th-guess!) myself haha which might bring the anxiety back. Just lock me up in the psych ward...

[parsleysage]

The treatment coordinator emailed me back and let me know she had my surgery referral ready so I stopped by the office today to get it and then gave the oral surgeon's office a call. I have a consult in two weeks!

[Matilda]

Best of luck on your journey! You're a great addition to this forum!

[parsleysage]

Best of luck on your journey! You're a great addition to this forum!

Thank you Matilda!

I wish I could be a tad more "go with the flow," but the analytical side of me wants ALL THE INFO. This forum has been so helpful. And I hope that if anyone finds this and is going through the same thing that all my crazy analyses will help them make a decision.

I canceled my appointment with my dentist yesterday - it's rescheduled for Monday. I am working an off week this week - I work nights and usually don't work on Mondays or Tuesdays, but I worked both those days this week. So I got home at 1am on Monday (technically Tuesday...) and was supposed to be at the dentist at 9am Tues... then back at work again at 1pm Tues... that wasn't happening. So still don't yet know what will happen with this tooth she wants to do something with. I am in a waiting game.

[Hash]

Hi, I am new here so haven't found your other threads yet but your story on here is fascinating so wanted to wish you good luck and I will be following your progress.

[parsleysage]

Hi, I am new here so haven't found your other threads yet but your story on here is fascinating so wanted to wish you good luck and I will be following your progress.

Thank you Hash!! Welcome to the boards! Glad my story has been interesting. It has been for me too! I will see you around on the boards.

[parsleysage]

Went to my appointment today and as suspected my dentist would like to crown #5 (top right first premolar) before I get braced. She is also going to put a filling on the outside of tooth #3 (top right first molar) because the enamel is chipped. I go next week for the temp crown and the filling. 2-3 weeks after that, the permanent crown will be cemented. I'll probably give that a week to settle in just in case anything needs adjusted and then I WILL BE BRACED!!!!!!

My goodness. It has been quite a journey.

Feb 26: Tooth #4 extracted. Braces research begins as I don't want a bridge or implant.
March 25: Dental exam and x-rays. Tx plan: 4 fillings plus fixing a front tooth chip. Dentist says she's cool with braces and recommends Invisalign but I call and insurance won't cover it.
March 28: First ortho consult. Surgery recommended, ahhhhhhhh, whatwhatwhat, anxiety sets in. Told I can't close the gap with braces and will need a bridge or implant anyway.
April 3: Second ortho consult, first ceph x-ray and analysis. Surgery recommended and more info provided as to why so I start to feel better and research ramps to level 10.
April 4: First cleaning in 5 years. All's well except 4-5mm pockets present around 3 teeth in UL quad, no bone loss. Root planing in that area and regular cleaning on the rest. Dentist starts talking with second ortho office.
April 11: Third consult. Surgery rec'd 3rd time in a row. I already decided on working with the second ortho even though he's the most expensive. Schedule brace date for April 24!
April 15: 3 fillings on left side. Dentist hints she's not ready to clear me for braces yet due to tooth #5 having a large filling she's concerned about.
April 21: Ortho's office calls and cancels brace date since my dentist said she's not ready. Feel sorry for myself for a few minutes but remember how much I love and trust my dentist.
April 28: 1 filling on left side and fix my front tooth. Dentist says tooth #5 needs a crown.
May 5: Oral surgeon consult.
May 6: First part of crown appt. plus fixing enamel on tooth #3.
May 19-26th?: Permanent crown fitting.
June 2nd-10th?: BRACES FINALLY!!!

Hard to think we're looking at 5-6 more weeks! And my summer 2015 surgery is looking more like a fall 2015 surgery.

Wow... I've barely had more than a 7-day stretch without setting foot in a dentist's office! It's weird because while I'm sure it seems like I'm totally obsessed with braces, there are days that pass where I'm totally immersed in other things that are going on (family drama back home, paying off debt and trying to figure out how to retire early, learning to cook and eat low carb, taking a sick cat to the hospital and vet multiple times) and then I see archwired on my phone or email and I stop and think... braces? Surgery? What? Am I really gonna do something this crazy?

Sorry for the loooooong entry but before I go, I wanted to say I visited my best friend and her new baby today and found out she also had upper jaw surgery when we were teenagers! I mean, I knew she had surgery, I visited her at home, but I had forgotten it was related to braces and that it was the same surgery. She gave me some tips and we talked about it for awhile and it made me feel good to personally know someone who went through the surgery and what she looked like before and after.

[Hash]

Wow when i read it wrote down you have been busy! Even life without braces is busy! Great for ya to be able to chat with someone re surgery.

[parsleysage]

I see the surgeon tomorrow! I wonder what we will talk about. I guess I should research a bit about what to ask

[parsleysage]

I'm back.

Insurance covered my consult so I just paid $60 copay. They took my BP, look at the pics and x-rays I brought, and then the doc looked in my mouth and we had a 15-minute conversation.

I liked the surgeon, he was really nice. He was very soft-spoken. I am used to doctors being opinionated and, not "loud" exactly, just... authoritative. (Which they should be, since they are the authorities!) He said the same thing as all the other doctors. Lower jaw is "relatively" too large - it's actually normal size and my upper jaw too small. He recommended a 1-piece LeFort I. Insurance code D7946.

We talked about the alternatives to surgery and he asked if my ortho had talked about "camouflage" with me, meaning trying to disguise the malocclusion by moving only the teeth. I said that he did, and he said he could even try it out with just rubber bands, but that he didn't think it would work, and I didn't want the expense or frustration of still needing surgery anyway and having to reverse all the movement.

We also talked about sleep apnea. I'm not sure if I have it or not - I know I can't sleep on my back because right before I fall asleep I make an involuntary noise that wakes me up. I have chronic back and neck pain caused in part by stomach sleeping, so believe me when I say I have TRIED AND TRIED to learn to sleep on my back. I don't know if this is apnea or not. Depending on the insurance approval I may try to get tested for it. But even then, I am overweight, so I am sure if I was diagnosed insurance would say I should lose weight first to see if that helps before they would approve the surgery. (Which I would agree with, but just saying hypothetically, if it was declined based on my occlusion and related difficulties alone.)

Here's something that was weird... he said ONE WEEK of recovery!!! lol, I mean, I guess that's good news, but gosh, I thought I'd still be getting nose bleeds at 1 week. I would still be on a liquid diet at that point, with its associated weakness and lack of energy. I work 11-hour days in a call center. I'm not sure at all I'll be up for going back to work after 1 week. I asked him about going back so soon since I talk for a living and he said, "That may or may not affect your recovery, but you could maybe take a week and a half." Everything I've seen online says 3-6 weeks. I saw one girl on YouTube who went back to work at 2 weeks but couldn't make it through a single day and decided to take another week. We will cross that bridge when we come to it of course, but if I do take time off I will need the surgeon to sign short-term disability paperwork so I don't lose my salary during recovery.

All in all it was a good consult. They are going to submit the preapproval with the surgeon's letter and I should know in a few weeks. I told him the timeline I'm on for getting my braces on (about one month from now) and he said I should know by then.

It should be a quiet month. Getting my crown started tomorrow and then it will be a waiting game.

[parsleysage]

After another great appointment with my wonderful dentist, my temporary crown is on! I am getting the permanent crown fitted May 22. Then I'm going on vacation the following week... and THEN!!!! MY BRACE DATE!!!!!!!!!! I called as soon as I got out of the dentist's office.

Thursday, June 5!

Now THAT is the official brace date... NOTHING, no wild horses, no high water, no nothing will stop me from getting my braces on that day!!! lol! That will be more than 3 months since I started this journey. Which really isn't that long, but has felt like an eternity.

Countdown is officially on again. Woohoo!!!!

[parapian]

Wow!! What a story!

Can I just add one little silver lining to the elastics?

I was told from the beginning that my bite could ONLY be fixed with surgery. No other way. None. None at all.

But guess what? A year into my treatment and I'm getting everything fixed with elastics alone. Surgery is now no longer on the table.

Naturally, things could have been worse. I've been lucky that my teeth are moving smoothly and my bones are not hardened enough to need surgery.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: when it comes to orthodontics, if I learned anything at all it's that only very little is predictable in the long-term. Chances are your orthodontist will be looking at your progress and adjust his treatment according to how your teeth are moving.

[Hash]

Well 2 good appointments for you so well done. I am only jealous about your upcoming holiday and 3 weeks will fly by. Hope all goes well with your crown too.

[parsleysage]

I was told from the beginning that my bite could ONLY be fixed with surgery. No other way. None. None at all.

But guess what? A year into my treatment and I'm getting everything fixed with elastics alone. Surgery is now no longer on the table.

Very good point! I think a lot of that hinges on what my teeth do once they are straight - right now, to compensate for the jaw issues, they flare out and meet up. Once the braces go on, a few months after that I will know my true bite. According to all three ortho's and the oral surgeon, it'll be an underbite. But, even so, I guess there is no KNOWING until it actually becomes visible.

Thank you parapian and Hash! I'm super psyched to get my braces on.

SO psyched, in fact, I called and moved my appointment up to Tuesday the 3rd! LOL! I know, I said "OFFICIAL BRACE DATE" up there, but I realized I really wanted to get it done on a day I didn't have to work because I just know I will be staring at them and taking pictures and trying to eat for the first few times, and so I wanted to be off work. I actually wanted Monday the 2nd (I'm off Mondays and Tuesdays) but they don't take patients the first Monday of the month and I didn't want to wait until the 9th. (No way, no how!) So Tuesday the 3rd it is! Oh wait, hold on...

Tuesday, June 3!

NOW it's official