Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello,

I posted on here a while ago at the beginning of my consultations with my Orthodentist.

I am 29 years old and have an anterior open bite:


It wasn't really an issue for me until I realised how bad it actually was and I was also worried that it had/ would get worse.

I was having a regular check up with my dentist when I mentioned to him about this issue I was having when trying to eat sometimes, he looked at my jaw and agreed that the problem needed to be looked at so a referral letter was drawn up and sent to my local Hospital (Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berkshire)

Within a few weeks an appointment was sent through for me to see an Orthodentist to discuss what options were available to me.

I was told that I needed to have braces fitted and also an operation to correct my jawline, it was suggested that I go away and think about it as it was a very long process which would take at least 2 years (at very best).

I decided that I had to go ahead as I was nearly 28 years old at the time.

I returned to a follow up appointment and said that I wanted to go ahead with the procedure. I was told that I needed to have all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed in order to make room for the "adjustments" that were necessary. I had my wisdom teeth removed and was surprised at how little pain/ discomfort I had after the op. I was only swollen for 2 days and was eating properly again in 3 days.

I then had another appointment with the Orthodentist where various x-rays and photo's were taken of my jaw and teeth.

After about 6 months I had an appointment to have my brackets fitted:




The appointment took about 45 minutes. It's quite strange having someone glueing pieces of metal to your teeth and the glue has a very sour taste but there was no pain involved at all. I was expecting to wake up the following day with huge ulscers all over my mouth but this was not the case at all for the week when I had just the brackets on my teeth. I also had to have some "spacers" inserted between my back teeth as they needed to have metal rings put around them rather than just brackets stuck to them and the teeth were too close together to be able to fit the rings between them. I'm not sure if this is normal for all brace wearers or not but it was explained to me like this "the teeth at the back are a lot stronger than all the other teeth and they have 3 roots, the metal rings are needed to ensure the wire stays connected to these teeth while they are being moved about and they also use the teeth to re-align the jaw during surgery so obviously it's very important that the wire holds it's position on the teeth.

Yesterday (30th May 2008) I had my wires fitted along with 4 rings (2 on each jaw), 2 more rings will be fitted to my very back teeth at a later stage:




You can just about see the rings on the back teeth.

This morning (31st May 2008) I have woken up to a sore cheek where the rings are rubbing on the inside of my mouth. My teeth feel ok at the moment and I can definately feel that things are moving already.

I have to go back to have them adjusted on 11th July.

Thanks for reading and I welcome any comments/ suggestions.

eybic

Sorry about the picture size. I just resized them to "website" size in photobucket but they are still massive on here???????

edit: they seem ok now.

Hi eybic,

Welcome to AW and congrats on getting braced! They look terrific! Glad to hear your extractions went well. I didn't have spacers as I don't have molar bands(metal rings) but I hear they're the worse part of braces so sounds like you're doing well. If things are rubbing, don't forget wax. It was a life saver for me when I was first braced. Good luck on your journey!!

Thanks for the comments guys.

3 days in and I'm just about eating normally (although very slowly) It's amazing that I have to actually encourage myself to eat as I just can't be bothered with all the hassle of eating slowly then the cleaning afterwards but I'm getting used to it. Only 2 years minimum to go

I managed to dip some chocolate biscuits in coffee so they just melt in my mouth, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm chocolate

Does anyone else find it nice to bite really hard? Not sure if it's me being sadistic or not but I think it feels lovely, I even got myself a teething ring

eybic wrote:
Does anyone else find it nice to bite really hard? Not sure if it's me being sadistic or not but I think it feels lovely, I even got myself a teething ring

Hullo there, fellow anterior open-biter.

And yes, it does feel great to gnaw on things after an adjustment. Chewing (sugarfree) gum with slow, hard bites makes me sooo unbelievably happy when my teeth are sore. Also, I find that massaging the gums with the fingertip is very relieving for sore teeth.

Not been on here for ages but I am now suffering

I had a "bimaxillary osteotomy" and "mandibular midline split" carried out on 30/04 and I must say I feel like crap, I just want to cry.

I can only "eat" liquids through a syringe about 5ml at a time and the same to "drink". Luckily I have no pain as most of my face is numb. I cannot close my mouth due to a plastic thing attached to my bottom jaw to hold it together so my mouth gets very very dry which makes things 10 times worse.

Thanks for listening and any advice is appreciated.

Nathan

I'd hoped I would have had some encouragement etc from other users but hey ho. In case anyone else is going through the same thing, that day was the worst i've had and things are looking and feeling a lot better so hang in there. Day 3 is the worst.

Sorry your post was unanswered for so long - very unlike this message board. I haven't had surgery yet but found your post because I will be having done what you just had. Glad things are getting better, and if you can post some post-op pics I'd love to see them.

The difference already is amazing. I will post some post op pics tomorrow. It looks like my nose seems to have moved slightly and my chin has come forward. When they took my splint out and showed me in the mirror I nearly cried :0)

Oh dear a bimax and mandibular split is prob the most invasive procedure for dental work. You must've been so miserable. Are you able to open your mouth more now? Are you still on a liquid diet?
I won't be going through surgery, but I know you must've gone thru hell...the swelling, the pain, the secretions...Glad the worst is over for you, do show the pics soon!

OK here goes

7 months in (notice how the bottom teeth have straightened out)



2 days prior to surgery



latest pics so 9 days post surgery







I do have some that were taken the day after surgery but they show my whole face and I dont think I am allowed to post those am I? the swelling was amazing, my whole face was round

I am still on a liquid diet at the moment but am finding it a lot easier than the first few days. My weight has plummeted and Ive monitored it:

pre op: 84.7kgs (186.7lbs)

2 days post surgery: 83.5kgs (184.08lbs)

4 days post surgery: 80.3kgs (177.03lbs)

5 days post surgery: 79.4kgs (175.04lbs)

6 days post surgery: 79.3kgs (174.82lbs)

7 days post surgery: 78.9kgs (173.94lbs)

8 days post surgery: 78.4kgs (172.84lbs)

9 days post surgery: 79.2kgs (174.60lbs)

So today I have not lost any weight, I suspect this is down to me having quite calorie heavy milkshakes yesterday and this morning (around 500 calories each) I was suprised how little calories are in things like soup compared to yoghurt 200 calories in 1 tin of soup and just over 100 in a small pot of yoghurt.

I will try and update again tomorrow.

Just wanted to drop a note and a "hug"...to get well and "gain weight" soon. I might be looking at jaw surgery in the future...I wanna lose weight...maybe not this way though..lol..Good luck to you and keep us posted!

Wow - the difference is amazing! I know you're probably still in pain and feeling hungry in itself is enough to make anyone miserable, but you seem to be making a great recovery. I'm flipping from confidence (it's just an op, no big deal, I'll get over it in a few days) to absolute terror (oh my god, I'm going to let someone chop a chunk out my skull!!). It's good to see pics and hear real-life stories to help keep a grip on things - you're really inspiring me thank you!

I'm very worried by all the reports of weightloss so thanks too for the tip on yoghurts, milkshakes etc. I'm a skinny gal only weighing 114lb so really can't afford to lose any weight - will definitely up the dairy pre-op now!

May each day continue to be better than the one before.