April 2010 Buddies

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#166 Post by **crumble** » Mon May 17, 2010 3:19 am

I'm not an official April buddy as I didn't discover this forum until after my op but just realised this morning that its been a full 4 weeks since surgery (well I was still on the operating table this time 4 weeks ago). Where does the time go! The first 2 weeks it was constantly on my mind, the final 2 weeks have just flown by and it already feels a life time ago.

Last night I had my elastics off to brush my teeth and realised my opening has increased to 2 fingers width and side to side motion is pretty good. A week today I meet my ortho and surgeon and I'm hoping they can give me an estimated timeline for having my braces off as I've had them on nearly 4 years already!

#167 Post by **descantus** » Mon May 17, 2010 3:40 am

Hi Crumble,

Team April is open to everyone! If you had surgery in April (or even postponed to May like me) you're in

Congrats on reaching the 4 week point, sounds like everything's going nice and smoothly. 4 years is a long old time to wait for surgery so you must be thrilled! Do report back and let us know what your surgeon/ortho has to say about a big unveiling date

#168 Post by **Audra** » Mon May 17, 2010 7:14 am

Crumble - like Descantus said, everyone welcome in our group. Your timeline is very close to mine. I'm 4 weeks and 3 days. I have also discovered I can open my mouth 2 finger widths as well - I have small fingers.

Descantus - have looked more closely at your blog. You really bruised pretty good didn't you? You look great though. I had Graham over for lunch on Saturday as he was in my city to meet up with one of his friends. As he's still on a blended food diet, I made him some shepherd's pie and we both had it blended out of a cup with baby spoons. My husband thought it was cute. It was nice to be able to sit and chat in person with someone who's had the same thing done.

#169 Post by **descantus** » Mon May 17, 2010 8:39 am

Hi Audra,

Yes, the bruising was pretty harsh at first, I looked more like i'd been in a fight! Didn't mind though - bruises are preferable to pain, even though half my neck has now turned a greeny yellow colour as they fade

It's really cool that you had another jaw surgery survivor over to visit and chat to! Without the internet it's likely that most of us would never encounter anyone else going through the same thing (let alone meet up!). I think only other people going/who have gone through it can really understand what it's like sometimes...

#170 Post by **nineeyes** » Mon May 17, 2010 3:56 pm

Sounds like everyone is doing well, thats good to hear.

I need to remember to take my elastics off to eat, I've probably swallowed a dozen of them since they come off when I start chewing.

#171 Post by **cvn** » Mon May 17, 2010 5:27 pm

My surgeon had me start opening and closing 15 min am and pm after two weeks and doing left and right and forward and back exercises during those 15 min after 3 weeks. You should probably just ask your surgeon!

I'm starving and tired of gross soup and ensure. I'm ready to be able to at least eat pasta and some nice fruit! My 5 weeks is wednesday i guess, but my appt is tomorrow. Hopefully they're still happy with stuff. I've been working on my opening and closing stuff and I'm at about a finger and a half at the moment, and that was hard work to get to...but now i can sorta brush the inside of my teeth and that makes me happy! I'm a little worried about my bottom teeth because the surgeons ground down the front two brackets to make room for my top teeth and so they arent holding the wire anymore, and now my bottom teeth are going all wonky - probably no big deal, but feels uuuuuugh when I run my teeth over them!

#172 Post by **Audra** » Mon May 17, 2010 5:48 pm

That's good that your surgeon is letting you do the jaw exercises. I hope to hear that you can eat some soft food soon. It really makes a big difference in your outlook when you aren't stuck with just blended liquids anymore.

I betcha the teeth that are going wonky will straighten back up in no time when they fix the brackets.

#173 Post by **cvn** » Mon May 17, 2010 6:04 pm

I think I have to wait till the end of june to eat. Torture!

#174 Post by **Audra** » Mon May 17, 2010 7:03 pm

Oh that sucks. You will be more than ready by then. I look forward to hearing all about it

#175 Post by **descantus** » Thu May 27, 2010 11:06 am

Hope everyone in team april is getting back to normal - strange how the surgery seems so long ago already!

Just wanted to report back about jaw exercises. I asked my surgeon about this the other day, and he said specific stretching exercises were not needed as practicing normal speech and chewing will rehabilitate the jaw just fine. Have to say I was pretty glad as i'm petrified of opening too wide, hearing a huge CRUNCH! from my jaw and causing some sort of terrible damage (far fetched maybe, but hard not to think about these things when examining one's jaw every 5 minutes!)

#176 Post by **nineeyes** » Thu May 27, 2010 5:09 pm

Hi descantus,

Sounds like you are recovering well, you should be back to normal in no time!

I'm about 8 weeks post op and I feel like everything is pretty much back to how I was before the surgery, but this time my teeth meet properly.
Swelling and numbness are gone. Range of motion for my mouth is back to where I was before surgery, can get it open a bit over 4 fingers wide.

I'm semi-careful about what I eat, but I've been able to eat burgers, steaks, fruit and veggies with no problems. Teeth feel a bit loose, from the elastics I think, but so far so good.

#177 Post by **Audra** » Thu May 27, 2010 5:49 pm

Hi guys. Looks like you two are doing OK.

I will be 6 weeks post op tomorrow. Till have some tissue swelling at the back of my mouth on both sides, which is annoying. My molars meet on the left, but not the right, so still having trouble chewing as I have a missing lower molar on the left so can't chew there anyway!

My face feels normal, but my mouth - definitely not. I have pretty good range of motion. Can open 3 finger widths when not wearing the elastics that are meant to close my bite.

I get my surgical hooks removed on June 14th when I get a new wire. I have a suresmile wire in right now, which has all sorts of bends so they couldn't replace it with a straight wire or my teeth would have moved. So I get the same wire again at the next appointment - without the hooks attached. I'm hoping my right molars have come together by then. I'm wearing 2 elastics on each side: class II elastics and also a triangle on each side. I was expecting box elastics.... but nope.

#178 Post by **Hyrule** » Sat May 29, 2010 2:48 pm

I'm an april buddy ! I got my surgery the 28th ( SARPE ) now going on 5 week post op. Everything is going relly well. My orthodontist is really satisfied with the expansion and as i good news i might not need he second surgery i was supposed to go thru when all my teeth will be place with braces. My upper jaw came forward enough during SARPE expansion that my underbite is gone and my profile is really beautifull from what my ortho told me. he told me that my teeths are now flush up and down and when we are over we might not have to go thru second surgery but we will continue as if we are just in case.

#179 Post by **24braceface** » Sun May 30, 2010 4:55 pm

How long after surgery do you have to wear braces?

#180 Post by **nineeyes** » Sun May 30, 2010 5:55 pm

24braceface wrote:How long after surgery do you have to wear braces?

I'm pretty sure its gonna vary based on the person, average seems to be around half a year though.