April 2011 surgery buddies!!!!!

[twinmom]

Good to hear @happy teeth!

[happy teeth]

Yea so I'm on day 4 and the swelling is starting to go down a little bit. Still virtually no pain buuut the reality of 6 whole weeks of recovery is really starting set in. This whole process has been pretty uncomfortable and ugly. I do feel lucky that I had a successful surgery and I'm not in much pain but at times this process can be pretty miserable. I've been getting more sleep by cranking a humidifier throughout the night which helps with the congestion. I've started to try and keep up some sort of oral hygiene though its hard. Overall this process has been hard in ways I hadn't expected; hopefully it gets easier. Also it seems that my surgeon decided in surgery only to operate on my top jaw.

[LAJaw]

Hang in there happyteeth. The first few days was by far the worst for me, and at times I really didn't think I could take much more, but I turned the corner around Day 7. After that, everything seemed to improve really rapidly - I'm Day 10 now and starting to get back into my normal life routine.

[twinmom]

I will be 4 weeks post-op on Wednesday, and I got my splint out today! It was 2 weeks early. I had broken some small piece of it, so the doc decided to just take it out. He said I was healing very well and am about 50% of where I want to be in regards to opening my mouth.

It feels very strange without the splint, I am so happy I can speak (mostly) normally again!

However, my teeth hurt like heck now that they are touching each other and the bands seem tighter than ever. I feel like I've had the mother of all adjustments. Doc did say that right now he can still adjust my bite what would take orthodontics at 30-60 days to do, since I am still healing. Guess I better suck it up because it could mean a shorter time in braces after I'm done.

Now where did I put that bottle of liquid pain meds...

[rayray]

Went in yesterday for my two weeks post op (actually only 12 days, but close enough!). My surgeon says everything looks good and I will get the splint out next Monday and progress to and I quote "extreme soft foods". I guess this is food right before soup constancy?!? Anyways, just getting this splint out is progress enough!

[happy teeth]

Yea so I'm on day 5 (promise I won't be updating every day) and I think I've turned a corner. Ironically today has been the first day that I had to take pain killers. But overall things are much better because my swelling has gone down considerably, my speech has improved, and my stamina has improved. I feel good. I've been able to really take care of my oral hygiene which is great. I took a look at my bite today and it seems that I have an overbite at this point. But from what I understand my bite will continue to shift during recovery so I'm not particularly worried. Hopefully my oral surgeon can clue me in when I see her in the next couple of days.

[twinmom]

Minor freak out today! This morning, I noticed that one of my front teeth had shifted and was crooked and now a little crossing the other front tooth! It had been perfectly straight before.

I assumed the bands were pulling it out of place, so I took the front 2 bands off and sure enough the tooth went back into place. In doing so, the surgical hook that was between the two front teeth came off!

I put the bands back on using a different hook, hopefully it is enough to do the trick.

However, I continue to have a feeling that something is just "off", but don't know if I am overreacting or what. I don't go to see my OS for another 3 days, should I call the office and see what they think?

The only issues are that 1) the hook came off 2) my tooth moved and 3) is the position I have my bands in now OK, since I"m not using the surgical hook that we'd been using for the past 2 weeks.

I have been staring at my teeth all day and trying to compare to recent pictures to see if anything else has moved! I would hate to have messed up my teeth after all this!

[Bullfighter]

Minor freak out today! This morning, I noticed that one of my front teeth had shifted and was crooked and now a little crossing the other front tooth! It had been perfectly straight before.

I assumed the bands were pulling it out of place, so I took the front 2 bands off and sure enough the tooth went back into place. In doing so, the surgical hook that was between the two front teeth came off!

I put the bands back on using a different hook, hopefully it is enough to do the trick.

However, I continue to have a feeling that something is just "off", but don't know if I am overreacting or what. I don't go to see my OS for another 3 days, should I call the office and see what they think?

The only issues are that 1) the hook came off 2) my tooth moved and 3) is the position I have my bands in now OK, since I"m not using the surgical hook that we'd been using for the past 2 weeks.

I have been staring at my teeth all day and trying to compare to recent pictures to see if anything else has moved! I would hate to have messed up my teeth after all this!

During surgery one of my braces came 'unlocked' from the wire and the tooth went out of alignment. The orthodontist fixed it on my first visit after surgery, about six weeks post op. Probably not a big deal. Your teeth move pretty easily after a year in braces.

[rayray]

It pure torture here! I'm only 3 days from getting my splint off and progressing to food without the use of a straw or syringe. It feels like I'm gonna lose it sometimes... The though of taking the emergency scissors they gave me and go to work on my mouth! Anyone else go through this extreme before being unbanded/unwired?

[happy teeth]

It pure torture here! I'm only 3 days from getting my splint off and progressing to food without the use of a straw or syringe. It feels like I'm gonna lose it sometimes... The though of taking the emergency scissors they gave me and go to work on my mouth! Anyone else go through this extreme before being unbanded/unwired?

Hang in there rayray. The diet sucks but hopefully

I met with my surgeon yesterday. Apparently I was wrong when I thought my surgeon only operated on my top jaw. She did both I guess there has just been a lot less swelling in my bottom jaw. My surgeon OK'ed me for eating soft foods as long as I don't chew any of it. My surgeon gave me the OK to take my bands off when I need to eat and brush my teeth. She said I may be switched to a bands-only-at-night plan next week. I feel pretty normal during the day, except for the swelling. I'm not congested at all but I still have some difficulty sleeping. All in all, I feel lucky because my recovery process has been pretty easy.

BTW for those who had an underbite corrected, has anyone had more difficulty drinking with the new bite? With an underbite I could kind of just drop the liquid into my mouth. But now I actually have to sip on my drinks.

Also it seems like I have a bit of an overbite now.

[twinmom]

Hang in there rayray! I had the same urges! Give yourself something to do so that you're not thinking about it!

[LAJaw]

happyteeth, I had an underbite corrected and I've definitely had the same weird experience having to learn how to drink from water bottles. Previously with my underbite, I would just tip the water bottle up and have it effectively pour into my jutting lower jaw. But now that my bite is fixed and I don't have a jutting lower jaw, I have to tip my whole head back along with the water bottle to drink properly. It took me a few times spilling down my shirt before I figured that out, hah.

[rayray]

Another milestone today! I went in for my 3 week post op visit this morning. Hoping to get both the bands and splint taken out today, I only got un-banded. I was sad about another week in the splint, but I am on longer restricted by the elastics! The good part out of this is that I can open my mouth far wider that my surgeon had expected, so he cleared me to eat any food that didn't require chewing, hence why I am gumming down a mashed meatloaf/mashed potatoes mix! Oh, this is pure goodness compared to Ensure and protein shakes! I think I may gain a pound or two back ! I doubt that, but I am defenatly going to pace myself back to normal.

Cheers!

[happy teeth]

So my surgeon confirmed that I do in fact have an overbite now. She said that it might correct itself. Also my teeth on the right side do not line up but my surgeon told me that was my orthodontist's problem at this point. overall not really thrilled with these developments but not much I can do at this point. Still wearing bands and I look like a normal human being at this point albeit not quite myself.

[twinmom]

Six weeks for me this week, so thought I'd post an update.

My surgeon is basically done with me, said to just keep on with it, working up on foods as I feel like it. He said there's nothing I can hurt, it's all just muscle pain if I have any. Also just learning how to work food around with my new bite. Really not a big deal but I overthink it as I'm eating!

I went back to the orthodontist for the first time since surgery. Both the ortho's in the office had to come see, plus some of the girls who've worked on me before. The all thought it looked great. I was worried the ortho would have me hurting afterwards, but they must not have tightened anything up. They took out all the surgical wires and accessories, so that is much more comfortable now.

The ortho put me in 2 elastics to wear for 24 hours a day. I was worried about these, too, but the ortho elastics are a joke compared to the ones the surgeon had me in! I barely notice they are there.

Hope everyone is doing well!