January Buddies

[I love my teeth]

Hello all! 7.5 weeks post op now!

Saw the surgeon this past wednesday, he was thrilled with himself (and my results, I guess ) He said I looked great and discharged me to go back to ortho. So, on the 3hour drive back I called the ortho to try to get in for Thursday, only to find out they are closed for a conference, so she squeezed me in Wednesday afternoon....delightful to get all of my surgical hooks and wire ties off. I apparently lost a bracket on my lower center tooth (I had no idea!)...so this will be rebonded next week--noone seemed too worried about it, so I am not either.

Ortho was happy with the bite, but of course there is still some tweeking to be done. he put me back in niti wires for 3 weeks. And boy was a sore all day Thursday!! Better today!

Surgeon measured my opening at 36mm (3 good finger widths) and told be no further food restrictions. So, that night a had a ceaser salad---I still have a hard time getting through lettuce, I did a little better today with a salad for lunch!

I am still going to acupuncture 1x/week, and she has been doing micro current on my face--after 2 treatments, I noticed some slight improvement in the feeling of my lip and chin. At this weeks visit she actually connected the electrodes to the acupuncture needles all around my jaw--so I had a current on me while the needles were in--with in 24hours after the treatment I think I got a significant amt of feeling back in the lip and chin. As of now, I have almost 50% feeling in my lip and probably 30-40% back in my chin. I am going to keep going 1x/week for a few more weeks, as I think it's helping!!

Kids started spring break today (2 weeks!!) My oldest has hockey games tonight, saturday, and Sunday, then we head to Whistler Sun-Wed (they will ski, I won't, but I am going to try and do some snowshoeing!!) Then both kids have hockey tournaments March 18-20, then the oldest has another tournament March 23-27. Then they go back to school, then we move back to the states 3 weeks after that!!

Hope all is well with all of you! I am anxious for some updates!

Christine

[suzyscientist]

Hi Christine!

How are you? Sounds like your jaw is doing really well

I've not really got much to report, still lots of numbness (no change really... annoying) and still wearing elastics so it's hard to train my mouth to open wider.

Managing to eat a little more - sandwiches, biscuits, meat etc - but chewing is a real chore so I'm sticking to soft food... I know that's cowardly but I just can't summon the patience to take 30 minutes to eat a sandwich!

My bite seems ok - the problem with eating is the muscles on the left side... just so painful if I open wide to chew. My surgeon said to chew gum to try and train the muscles but gum + braces = a bad idea!

Other than that, things are pretty good. I'm back to teaching, and so far haven't had any problems, but thankfully my classes are small so I don't have to deal with speaking to a big lecture theatre or anything!

Going to start sport next week - horseriding on Monday and basketball on Thursday. I'm expecting to be completely unfit and useless but I gotta start somewhere

Hmmm that's about it. Everything is unremarkable, which I guess is a good thing!

You just be excited about your move back to the US! Sounds stressful though, hopefully everything will go smoothly for you

Suzy

[suzyscientist]

Oooooowwwwwwwwwwwww

CRAMP

This is the most pain I've had all along! Every time I try to eat, the muscles on the left side of my jaw totally cramp up, and I have to keep stretching them out to get it to go away. Annoying thing is that once it has started, guaranteed it will come back every minute or so til I stop moving my mouth.

Trying warm compress to try and relax the muscles, going to try and avoid painkillers...

Anyone else getting jaw cramp?

Anyway that's all, I just had to rant about that

Suzy

[I love my teeth]

Hi Suzy!

Yes, I have had them too! The muscle side of things does not seem to be a huge complaint on this forum with others, I'm not sure why not! I will say, last week when the surgeon give the green light on food, the muscle pain is getting better, I think because I am using them more. Not to say the use is effective--I can move the food around my mouth better, but my "chewing" is largely ineffective on harder foods (like a sandwich on toasted bread)...But I do feel the more I do, the better it gets and the cramping is less. i do think the acupuncture helps as well.

8weeks post op now, and I am finally getting antsy to do some working out, ect. I am missing not skiing with the boys this week, I was hoping to cross country ski or snowshoe, but today was raining in the village (snow on the slopes)-so I didn't, but I did a lot of walking, shopping, and went to the spa for a nice massage.

Good luck, hope it starts to get better for you. Are you cleared for a normal diet yet?

Christine

[suzanna]

Hi Suzy!

Yes, I have had them too! The muscle side of things does not seem to be a huge complaint on this forum with others, I'm not sure why not! I will say, last week when the surgeon give the green light on food, the muscle pain is getting better, I think because I am using them more. Not to say the use is effective--I can move the food around my mouth better, but my "chewing" is largely ineffective on harder foods (like a sandwich on toasted bread)...But I do feel the more I do, the better it gets and the cramping is less. i do think the acupuncture helps as well.

I'm only 4 1/2 weeks post op (a February buddy!). I've been attempting to chew soft foods for the last week and a half or so. I find that chewing is pretty ineffective for me too and usually just revert to mushing everything with my tongue on the roof of my mouth. I've been having a lot of muscle pain as well, especially on the left side (the side I've been chewing on). Do you guys find that you typically only chew on one side as well? My second premolar is missing on the left side so I don't ever chew there. I just hope it's not bad for my jaw if I'm really only working out the one side. I find that if I spent a lot of time chewing, the next day my muscles are even more sore and my opening is really limited.

How much can you all open your mouths now? I'm at 15mm, which to me seems behind but I've been doing my jaw exercises every day. I hope it keeps improving because last week I was only around 12-13mm.

[I love my teeth]

Hi Suzanna!

Welcome to the Jan Buddies!! I am opening approx 36mm. I started at 22mm (2 weeks post), He was happy with 36mm at 7.5weeks, but told me to keep up the exercies. Since I have really increased my chewing (only 1 week since that appt)--I find I can more easily get to that 36mm actively, with less stretch pain. I am still swollen inside my mouth on the left side (probably the right too, just more on the left)....I can chew better and more effectively on the right, and I feel like my molars come together better and I have some power in the bite. Not on the left, I think my molars aren't touching. Ortho said some stuff is still "touching"-I am hoping that's the problem on the left, and after 1 or 2 adjustments it will be better on the left.

I see ortho again this thursday to replace a bracket that came off during surgery, and again 2 weeks later for regular adjustment. Then we are leaving approx 3 weeks after that to move back to Michigan. So, he said at my March 30th appt he'd sit with me and make a plan. Then I will probably see him once more, then I have an appt on May 1 with someone in Michigan---just a consult, but I am hoping it will go well, and he'll finish me up and do my retainers. I wish I didn't have to change, but I do, and that's just that.

my numbness in my left lip and chin (right is fine ) is definately improving. Very little nerve pain and hardly any of those shooting sensations anymore......I am guessing it's about 50% back to normal. Still weird, but definately better.


talk soon!
Christine

[suzyscientist]

Still getting cramp... today I just got really fed up and resorted to mushy food all day.

Suzanna - it's taken me a long time to get my mouth to open properly, and I'm still only managing 2.5 finger widths (I would say about 30mm) at the best of times. Because I wear elastics I don't open my mouth much anyway. I will say that in the last week I got a lot more movement, talking was easier, I could manage more 'advanced' (lol) facial expressions...

For the first few weeks I could barely manage 10mm, and it's only since I've been cleared for chewing (2 weeks ago) that it's really improved. Oh and I only chew on one side also... but that's a habit from before surgery. My teeth met so badly that I only ever chewed on the right side, and I can't quite get used to chewing on the left!

Christine - I found an acupuncture therapist! I went horseriding yesterday and I was talking to my friend at the stables and she actually had acupuncture for a nerve injury in her hand a few years ago, and is still good buddies with her therapist, so I am going to give her a call and see if she can see me soon. I'm desperate to get the feeling back and for this cramp to stop bugging me!

Darn, why am I so impatient? I make this harder for myself

Have you managed to do any exercise yet? Shame you couldn't go snowshoeing Like I said above, I went riding, but couldn't really do much because my fitness is so awful! Think I'll give the basketball game a miss this week, and maybe try pilates or something...

Dinner time here (baked veggies mushed up with tomato sauce.... mmmm tasty!)

Hope everyone is well

Suzy

[I love my teeth]

Hello all!

Got my bracket replaced today, and since that tooth has been out of treatment for a while, he wire tied it in---ouch!! Also--got a SS wire on top, NiTi on the bottom. Seeing him in another 4 weeks for adjustment and transfer records for our return to the US.

The only other new thing to report is how much I LOVE my new smile, even with the braces!! We had some family portraits done in Whistler earlier in the week---amazed by how happy I was with the smile. Got a really good one of all 4 of us (even the 7 year old is smiling!) Will send some pics on a private message----I NEVER like my smile and it's always so forced and hard to get a good one---this was effortless and easy!! We (well, they) were skiing--so Its not a "done up" portrait, it's relaxed on the mountain (if I had my helmut and googles, you'd never know I wasn't skiing!!)

Off to acupuncture!

good day!
Christine

[suzyscientist]

Hello hello

I'm just checking in to see how everyone is.

Things here are good - I'm eating a lot more (put on ALL the weight I lost post surgery plus a few extra pounds!) and the cramp has almost gone. If I open too wide then the muscles will remind me *not* to do that again, but otherwise everything is good.

Still got a lot of numbness Getting a bit worried now - should I have had a lot of improvement already? I can feel a bit more of my chin but still none of my lower lip apart from one tiny corner.

Apart from that grumble... Christine I have to agree when you say you love your new smile! I have put together some pics on my online gallery (which I will PM you the link to) that show my pre-surgery smile and some post-surgery pictures. I haven't taken a post-surgery smile picture yet, but I will! I feel like my face is much more feminine now and my jaw doesn't jut out like it used to.

Last hurdle is the braces - my midline is off so I'm currently wearing a new configuration of elastics to try and move my lower teeth more towards the middle; the top teeth are fine, and now the lower wisdoms are gone there's a lot more room to shift my teeth. I just hope they move quickly! I can make the midline align, but my bite isn't as good then, so I wonder if there will just be a trade-off between bite quality and midline alignment?

Think that's all my news. Hope you're doing really well and that preparations for the move south of the border are going well

Suzy

[I love my teeth]

Just a quick update from me guys!!

So much has happened since I last posted so let's see............. We have successfully moved from Vancouver, BC back home to Michgian...we were 2 weeks in hotels, ect. This is the first full week in our house, kids are in school and I am up to my eyeballs in contractors working, and unpacking boxes!! I did have a consult appt with an ortho out here to see about finishing me up (my ortho in Vancouver thought I was about 4 months away from debanding ) I was worried, as I have read some horror stories on here about ortho transfers...well, this guy was great!! He is keeping my brackets, gave me a 6month estimated time to deband, and is only charging me $400 more than I owed my previous ortho (which was $800)--so I am only about 2months longer than anticipated and only $400 more out of pocket--

I still have numbness in my lip an chin, but it's getting better--I'd say more than 50% recovered....I can feel myself scratch my skin now!! I still have pain in my joints an some muscle spasms...but overall getting better, even through the stressful move. both my old ortho and new said "you are still in the beginning stages of healing, you have a long way to go" so, I trust this is normal??

I am eating pretty normally now, biting into stuff with my front teeth again, able to eat burgers and sandwiches normally (in private only ) I even ate some steak!!

Since I appealed my surgery denial to Cigna, they approved it, and I have recouped most of my costs--which was very, very helpful, as we moved into an old house with lots of updating to do!!

all in all, it's been a good ortho month for me!! hope everyone else is doing well! I hope all the jan buddies update soon!
Christine

[amandapanda]

Hey everyone!

My ortho said that as long as it is not "dead dumb" (i.e. you have felt some tingling or pain), then you should be fine and the feeling is most likely to come back.

My ortho also said that I should be able to get my braces off on the 9th of June (3 days before my birthday!) I'm so excited! I'll be going overseas just after then so I'm really eager to have them off.

I have been eating normally as well... as for the biting into burgers, I have started to do that in public even though it still highly unattractive at this stage

Hope you all are still doing well xx

[suzyscientist]

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the delay - I'm about to move house, so have been going a bit crazy trying to sort out storage for things I can't take with me, packing things I can take... generally sorting out all the nonsense that moving house entails

Well, what's new...

I'm still fighting with my midline! It's about 1mm off and the ortho wants it perfect. So do I, but I also want my braces off by my 30th birthday in September and it's not looking good I guess in the long term it will be worth it but I'm impatient!

Numbness hasn't really changed much. I still can't feel much of my bottom lip, but when I touch it, various other parts of my face go cold! Nerves are weird... I'm hoping that it will get better over time. I still get the occasional cramp in my jaw but only if I've been talking a lot or eating something that requires a lot of chewing.

Eating wise... I can eat most things now (except the usual culprits we can't have while wearing braces!) which is brilliant, but after my awesome post-surgery weight loss (15lbs) I think I got a bit used to eating fatty food, so I've put on all the weight again plus another 7lbs It's making me pretty miserable to be honest... I need to get back into some kind of eating routine, but the psychological effects of not being able to eat for so long are lingering: I get panicky if I'm out somewhere and don't have something to eat in my bag, just in case, and I eat everything on my plate even if I'm full - if I leave something I worry that I'll not be able to eat later if my jaw hurts. Wondering if it might help to see a dietician?

Think that's all the updates here! I'm going to keep the same dentist and ortho after I move - it's only 50 miles away from my new place, so a trip once every few weeks isn't going to be too bad... hopefully

Glad to hear everyone is doing so well, hope it keeps going that way!

Suzy xx