combatting my bad genes with science
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:34 pm
Whenever I get bad news from a dr about some new medical problem, I always call my mom and thank her for contributing her awful genes.
I know that sounds terrible, but I've watched my mother slowly deteriorate since I was in preschool, being subjected to surgery after surgery. The poor woman doesn't have any of her non-essential organs left. The scary thing is, that a lot of the things that have gone wrong with her are now slowly starting to go wrong with me.
I thought that I had dodged the bad teeth bullet. I've always had really straight, really strong teeth -- never any cavities! My mom's teeth were always awful, she had braces forever when I was a kid, culminating in jaw surgery for a massive overbite. Afterward, she got an infection and almost died due to improper post-op care. However, she pulled through and was so happy to finally have a chin.
Fast forward to me being 13 and going to the orthodontist for a very slight overlap of my front teeth that was driving me insane. The ortho told us that I had a pretty bad overbite, but I was too old to fix it with appliances. This came as a shock to both of us because I'd always had a prominent chin and I really had no idea there was anything wrong with my bite. According to him, my only choice was to have the same surgery that almost killed my mother. She flat-out refused to let me go through that, even after the ortho told us that without the surgery my anterior bottom teeth would tilt forward to close the gap until they destabilized and I risked losing them. So i wore braces for 9 months to correct the slight crowding on my upper jaw, my lower jaw remain untouched.
In my early 20s (sorry guys, but it makes me feel so old that i actually can say that now), my wisdom teeth started to come in. The 2 on top began to erupt and weren't really disturbing anything, but the one on bottom became impacted and squeezed the nerve in my jaw, causing part of my face to go numb. Funnily enough, I naturally only had 3 wisdom teeth, which made the necessarily extraction a bit easier. Sadly, the impacted tooth had caused my right 2nd molar to tilt so the biting surface was angled in toward my tongue, making brushing it properly a bit difficult.
Since then, my bottom teeth have done exactly what my childhood ortho predicted. They are tilting outward and starting to splay to try to close the gap in my bite. Luckily, I finally landed a job with ridiculous dental insurance, complete with adult orthodontic coverage. I headed off to the ortho last monday to get this sorted once and for all.
I was told that I had two options: one being the jaw surgery that i was, frankly, terrified of; and the other being to have 2 top teeth extracted and everything on the top pulled back to meet the bottom, which was somehow even less appealing than someone breaking my jaw and wiring it shut for a week, especially after I was cautioned that my overbite was bad enough that the extractions might not even work.
I realized then that I should really just grow a pair and get the surgery because this overbite isn't going to magically get better on its own. After agreeing to the course of treatment, including the surgery they worked me in for a same-day records appointment complete with spacers. When I had my first set of braces, I never had spacers. They have been an interesting experience to say the least. They hurt so much more than I remember braces hurting. I'm hoping that my pain tolerance hasn't just dropped in the past 15 years, or i unwittingly signed myself up for 2 years of hell.
I go in on tuesday to get a full set, upper and lower. This is my first time getting brackets on the lower teeth. I also find it strange that I'm getting brackets on the upper teeth, as they are perfectly straight. I suppose it has something to do with the later wiring shut of my jaw? Also, can I just say that i'm terrified and feel a little sick everytime I think about this impending jaw surgery, even though it's a year away? ugh
Anyways, that's my story thus far! I'm glad I found this forum, I've already gotten tons of great information from it!
I know that sounds terrible, but I've watched my mother slowly deteriorate since I was in preschool, being subjected to surgery after surgery. The poor woman doesn't have any of her non-essential organs left. The scary thing is, that a lot of the things that have gone wrong with her are now slowly starting to go wrong with me.
I thought that I had dodged the bad teeth bullet. I've always had really straight, really strong teeth -- never any cavities! My mom's teeth were always awful, she had braces forever when I was a kid, culminating in jaw surgery for a massive overbite. Afterward, she got an infection and almost died due to improper post-op care. However, she pulled through and was so happy to finally have a chin.
Fast forward to me being 13 and going to the orthodontist for a very slight overlap of my front teeth that was driving me insane. The ortho told us that I had a pretty bad overbite, but I was too old to fix it with appliances. This came as a shock to both of us because I'd always had a prominent chin and I really had no idea there was anything wrong with my bite. According to him, my only choice was to have the same surgery that almost killed my mother. She flat-out refused to let me go through that, even after the ortho told us that without the surgery my anterior bottom teeth would tilt forward to close the gap until they destabilized and I risked losing them. So i wore braces for 9 months to correct the slight crowding on my upper jaw, my lower jaw remain untouched.
In my early 20s (sorry guys, but it makes me feel so old that i actually can say that now), my wisdom teeth started to come in. The 2 on top began to erupt and weren't really disturbing anything, but the one on bottom became impacted and squeezed the nerve in my jaw, causing part of my face to go numb. Funnily enough, I naturally only had 3 wisdom teeth, which made the necessarily extraction a bit easier. Sadly, the impacted tooth had caused my right 2nd molar to tilt so the biting surface was angled in toward my tongue, making brushing it properly a bit difficult.
Since then, my bottom teeth have done exactly what my childhood ortho predicted. They are tilting outward and starting to splay to try to close the gap in my bite. Luckily, I finally landed a job with ridiculous dental insurance, complete with adult orthodontic coverage. I headed off to the ortho last monday to get this sorted once and for all.
I was told that I had two options: one being the jaw surgery that i was, frankly, terrified of; and the other being to have 2 top teeth extracted and everything on the top pulled back to meet the bottom, which was somehow even less appealing than someone breaking my jaw and wiring it shut for a week, especially after I was cautioned that my overbite was bad enough that the extractions might not even work.
I realized then that I should really just grow a pair and get the surgery because this overbite isn't going to magically get better on its own. After agreeing to the course of treatment, including the surgery they worked me in for a same-day records appointment complete with spacers. When I had my first set of braces, I never had spacers. They have been an interesting experience to say the least. They hurt so much more than I remember braces hurting. I'm hoping that my pain tolerance hasn't just dropped in the past 15 years, or i unwittingly signed myself up for 2 years of hell.
I go in on tuesday to get a full set, upper and lower. This is my first time getting brackets on the lower teeth. I also find it strange that I'm getting brackets on the upper teeth, as they are perfectly straight. I suppose it has something to do with the later wiring shut of my jaw? Also, can I just say that i'm terrified and feel a little sick everytime I think about this impending jaw surgery, even though it's a year away? ugh
Anyways, that's my story thus far! I'm glad I found this forum, I've already gotten tons of great information from it!
