June/July 2015 Surgery Buddies

[snapdresser]

You too! Yep, I remember how nice it was to get all those elastics off lol

[Nozzelnut]

Expander is out! woohoo! My ortho seems to think the archwire alone will hold things where they need to be. On one hand happy about not having any other hardware; but I really don't want to take any steps backwards at this point. He did say to call if things started to move and we'd go from there. Still in elastics...

[snapdresser]

WOOOOO!!!!! Exciting times! Congrats, Nozzelnut!

[jaime]

Congrats, that's the BEST feeling!!!!

[snapdresser]

Last month I had my 6-month post op with my surgeon and she kept feeling my upper gums and looking at them. She said something about me having bony outcroppings or something. I thought she meant the roots of my teeth or something, maybe due to gum damage or gum loss from the surgery or something. A bit later in the appointment I mentioned that I still have that feeling that the arch-bars are still on. She said it might feel like that forever, but offered no explanation. Just now I've been looking at my upper gums and I think the bony outcroppings she mentioned are the issue. It's the edge of the part of the maxilla that they impacted poking out, I think. It seems that when my upper jaw was impacted and pulled forward, it was somewhat wider than the part of my skull (the other "half" of the maxilla that was cut, if you will) they attached it to. So there's now a bony ridge where it's attached cuz the two sides weren't exactly the same width. I think that bony ridge is what I'm feeling, giving me the sensation that the arch-bars are still on. I didn't realize the issue so I didn't ask what could be done about it. Cut back into the gums and file it down would be the more obvious solution, I'd think. I don't think it's a huge rush tho. And I don't know if my surgeon's dealt with this type of thing before, so maybe I'd want to go to a specialist? I dunno. It's pretty annoying, but it doesn't affect my external appearance or anything and I'd be concerned that it could affect the teeth if they're filing down the bone next to them. Any maybe my nerves will get desensitized to it over time. Just a nice little update there

[KaylaChristine]

Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing great. I'm going to catch up on your posts later tonight. I just thought I'd swing by & give an update.

I still have a little bit of upper lip (and above the lip) & upper front gums numbness from time to time---it comes and it goes. My upper jaw area also feels really tight when the outside temperature is really cold. I last saw my surgeon December 4th and my next appointment is in March (first time it hasn't been at least once a month). As for the soft bone growth between my skull & upper jaw...it's still the same...not as bad but it still moves. Surgeon seems to think it's just the teeth moving now....I don't agree. In other news, I had to have emergency root canal treatment done on December 7th. The bottom molar in question was one that I almost got a root canal done on before braces. Recently, I had been having throbbing pain at night every now and then but then all of the sudden the pain wouldn't go away. The right side of my face swelled up and I was in agonizing pain--worst than the post-op pain I had. My left over pain killers from surgery didn't even scratch the surface of the pain. I was in tears & couldn't do anything. I ended up having to get strong pain meds from my dad to help me make it until I could see my dentist. And of course it happened over the weekend and my dentist was out of town lol. Anyway, my dentist got me in & did the emergency root canal, but unfortunately he wasn't able to complete it. He said he couldn't see far enough down into the roots to get it all. He got out most of the infection and prescribed me antibiotics and pain pills. The pain has since went away. I had an appointment scheduled with a endodontic specialist for Dec. 28th, but I had to cancel it do to severe flooding in their area and heavy sleet & snow in my area. I finally saw the specialist yesterday. The bottom of one of my roots on the tooth has be absorbed due to the infection. He'll have to clean it out and put in a special material to seal the bottom of the root. There is also an abscess pocket on the bottom of that root. You can actually feel the bubble under my gums...which I wasn't even aware of until he pointed it out. It doesn't hurt, just feels strange. Oh, and when I had the emergency root canal treatment done in December, my dentist had a heck of a time working in my mouth since I could only open it 2-1/2 fingers wide. The specialist even had issues taking x-rays and examining me. I'll be given a sedation pill to help open my mouth about 30 minutes before the procedure. Unfortunately the procedure isn't scheduled until the 27th. I'm a little worried having that abscess in my mouth for 2 more weeks but if the specialist thinks it's okay....

[jaime]

Oh wow Kayla, that does not sound fun at all. I had to get an emergency root canal done in 2014 so I literally understand your pain. I realized it was a problem on Good Friday and waited all weekend to call as I didn't want to pay any exorbitant emergency fee. What they say is true, though: the root canal isn't bad, it's all the pain that leads up to it that's the worst part! Hopefully they get that all sorted out for you.

I hope also your ortho is right about your teeth moving and that it's not the bone tissue.

At least you're in good company with things not going totally smoothly since surgery? Both Nozzelnut and I are both not where we thought we would be this far out of surgery.

And since I'm already writing here, I saw my ortho yesterday. Same crap as usual, no changes. My bite on the left side is only maybe a teensy bit more closed than it was. He wants to still keep me in the elastics on my first molars to pull the top town, even though it's seven freaking months later and it's still not closed!!!! I left the appointment really ticked that I'm wasting my time. I'm also moving two hours away in March and don't want to keep coming back every 3 weeks for my ortho to say, "Hmmmm...well, keep wearing your elastics."

The other annoying part and I've complained about this before, is that my ortho's office closes for weeklong "holiday" periods every month or every other month. Almost every single time I go to schedule my next appointment, the receptionist says, "Hmm we're on holidays that week." Yesterday she said, "This seems to happen to you a lot." Yes, yes it does!

[snapdresser]

Jaime - A week off every month or two?! You should get a job there yourself, Jaime! Sounds like a sweet gig! I don't think they do revisions until you're a year post-op anyways tho, so even if you end up with a surgical solution, I don't think you're in a rush. Maybe he's thinking "We'll keep trying this and if it doesn't pan out by then, we'll pursue the surgical route." But you probably have a better idea than I do, and it would suck if you had to go under the knife again

KaylaChristine - Welcome back!!! The abscess sounds really sucky, but at least it's a common issue with an established treatment, so there's no puzzling over what to do about it. The end is in sight for you! So what do you think of your results at this point??


So something new I noticed the other day, since I'm posting anyways, if I bit into something fairly chewy with BOTH sides of my mouth, my right TMJ hurts. It no longer clicks or anything, but I noticed it when I was eating Skittles the other day: if I just eat one Skittle my TMJ is fine, but if I eat two Skittles (one between my right molars and one between my left molars) at the same time, it hurts that TMJ. No idea why. A mismatch in musculature between the two sides maybe? Anyways, maybe you guys noticed something similar? I'm aware that sounds totally lame after reading about you guys' issues

[jaime]

My ortho hasn't said anything about my open bite other than, "it should close." He is convinced I'm tongue thrusting into that space. Yesterday he had me swallow and he said he could see my tongue go in there...yet my mouth was closed? He didn't tell me he had x-ray vision. Either way, I don't see how I'm tongue thrusting into the space either when at rest or when I swallow, considering there are elastics holding my teeth together, I'd probably bite my tongue off! And still even if I am, why does he make no recommendations other than to keep wearing my elastics?

I get clicking in my jaw when I'm doing heavy chewing, but it's the side I chew on. Only happens when I'm really pushing the limits of my ability to chew, though. Which includes trying to chew on the side that's still open. I'm guessing it's normal and will go away eventually. And nah, nothing is too minor to whine about here!! That's why we have this thread.

[snapdresser]

Oh jeez, I hope he doesn't eventually pull a "And because you won't stop that incessant tongue thrusting, now we're gonna have to operate on your again! I hope you're aware this is entirely YOUR fault!!" Wait, once you move, won't you be located close to your surgeon? In which case you could drop by whenever to discuss the lack of closure. That could be good if you're tired of hearing your orthodontist's same old spiel.

You know, I know a lot of plastic surgeons hire their former patients to work the front desk or whatnot, like a walking billboard for their talent. I wonder if oral/maxillofacial surgeons do that too? Hmmm...

Haha, you know, it seems like our posts were whiny before the surgery, then everything got pretty real afterwards. I think I'm the only one back to whining

[jaime]

Whaaaat? We're all whining! Except maybe gruntled because she got her braces off.

I am actually moving even further away from my surgeon. I'm moving double the distance away now...2 hour drive instead of 1.

I don't even care if they want to redo surgery. I just want to know what the plan is. I need to be forceful, I tend to just shy away from asking a bunch of questions because of my ortho's lacklustre personality. Next time I'm going to ask how much longer he plans to keep trying and what the possible next steps are. I'm also mentioning that I'm moving away and so driving 4 hours every 3 weeks (and thus taking time off work) so we can twiddle our thumbs is not going to work.

[snapdresser]

You wouldn't feel comfortable having your husband come in to "be forceful"? I understand wanting to deal with things yourself cuz it's your body and you don't want to feel like a kid whose parent is talking to do the doc FOR them But still, if it helps you get the answers you need, it seems like it might be worthwhile. Just throwing it out there. That sucks that you'll be even farther from your surgeon. If you need a revision that'd be all the more difficult

[jaime]

Well, my husband and I live 100 miles apart so I wouldn't ask him to come here for a 5 minute appointment anyway.

But anyway, I keep forgetting to ask you guys something! Since surgery, my jaw only moves in two directions: up and down. I've lost the ability to push out my lower jaw or move it from side to side. Well, I can push it out a little bit but it veers off to my right, and I can't control it. Is this the same for everyone else or am I just jacked up?

I've been trying to massage the masseter muscle and push my jaw to the side to stretch, but I imagine it'll take some time to see any changes.

[EWUgal15]

I'm not nearly as far post op as you Jaime and I noticed this as well. When I try to push my lower jaw forward, it actually hurts. Which is not something I've said since before surgery.

I've also noticed that I can feel the breaks in my mandible when I run my fingers along my jawline. It was an interesting way to find out my swelling was subsiding.

[Nozzelnut]

Jaime, I have left and right movement; essentially full movement. I've been wearing elastics for a while and it seems my opening has decreased slightly. Still about three fingers; 5-6cm? maybe?

I wonder if this has something to do with your limited amount you can open.... I hope your surgeon would have a way to check and make sure your disks are in the right spot and haven't been damaged. From what my surgeon said, that limited opening right after surgery, is due to trauma to the joint and we're only opening using the space in the joint itself. After the joint starts to heal and the disk starts moving again is where we open a lot more.

EWUgal15; I had a friend run her fingers along my jawline and she said she almost threw-up. It freaked her out a little; this is after I showed her a pic of my xray.