Seriously, if I had a dollar for every type of “ist” I’ve seen this week. But, this is progress. This is what all of this is going to take, so I better get used to it. First “ist” was the orthodontist, who I saw for my second appointment. Regarding this second appointment, let me first get this out of my system: HAVING THE MOLDS DONE SUCKS! Seriously. Like, not like it tasted awful, but brutal in different ways. For the bottom, it felt like she was ripping my teeth out when she went to take the tray out. I guess the mold came out good, because it was really molded and stuck to my teeth. The top felt like it was choking me to death. Part of the goo started to slide down my throat and just about close off my nasal passage in the back of my throat, which is what I was mostly breathing through with that tray in my mouth. I figured just hold my breath and get through it since it’s only 30-60 seconds. After she took the tray out and saw how much goo was hanging down the back, she said I should have said something. I guess I’m just that much of a bad ass ;)
Anywho…..I got my xrays transferred over from the other ortho I had my first consult with. I got to chat up my new ortho for a few minutes during my appointment and I asked him particularly what kind of jaw surgery he thought I needed. The verdict: Lefort I (upper jaw surgery that basically cuts the top jaw off your face, shaves off some of the bone that helps give me that gummy smile, and it’s attached in its new position with plates/screws). He said it’s possible the angle they reattach the jaw at will make my lower jaw rotate up more and I won’t need the lower jaw surgery to move that jaw forward, but he wasn’t sure. Only the oral and maxillofacial surgeon will be able to answer all of those questions for me once he sees my xrays and molds. I’m wondering if the surgeon will veto the Lefort plan. It seems like from my research, most people who get this surgery have a bad underbite, so I’m wondering if that is really what I need since I have the opposite problem.
I got to talk to a patient who had double jaw surgery a few months ago to correct her underbite. She was scheduled in the appointment right before mine, so my ortho allowed us to talk in his office for a few minutes. She was really shy and hard to chat up, so he had to facilitate the conversation. About all I got was that she had the surgery, everything is great, he bite is all lined up, and she’s not having any nerve problems.
I also signed my contracts and paid my first chunk of money down. $2,000 bucks. Ouch…. Just ouch. But, they are allowing me to pay in chunks so I can maximize this year’s FSA, and then next year’s FSA for both Matt and I. I am thankful for the FSA, but damn…. Still an ouchy.
Next stop was to hop over to the periodontitis’ office (another “ist” in a few days) to have him look over the missing molar that my ortho was worried would need the implant first so I don’t lose anymore bone there. First of all, the perio was awesome. Got a good vibe from him, and he told me that my ortho came over to talk to him personally about my case earlier that morning. Man, I am so glad I went with this group of doctors. I love that they chatted about all of this face to face! Lots of good news from the perio—he thinks the bone should be OK to hold out 2 years while I do ortho, and he also said my gums are in pretty good shape. No signs of inflammation and disease, and the 4-5mm pockets I come up with around my back teeth are probably more so because I have a ton of gum around those teeth, and not because of infection. This was seriously fantastic news for me since I’m always coming up with 3-5mm pockets on those back teeth and I just felt like it was a losing hygiene battle.
I have an appointment with the jaw surgeon on April 17th (that was the soonest they could get me in L ). I still have to make the decision of surgical vs. non surgical before I go back to the ortho office that week to get braces. I am still doing a ton of research and reading a ton of other blogs, but I guess I’ll have to make that decision by the end of April. I still don’t know what to do. Some days I feel like, “great—lets do this!” and then days like today where I read a few not so great experiences on blogs and it really has me wondering why the hell I am even considering this. I know why—I want my bite to be lined up, I want to bite into a sandwich and be able to cut through the lettuce and tomato in it, and I want my mouth to be in the prime health, which includes getting everything in alignment. One of the other issues my ortho mentioned was the uneven wear on my teeth. He noted in my case work up that a few teeth have moderate to severe wear and will eventually need restoration. I wonder if he means need it as of now, or will need it if I don’t get the surgery to fix the uneven bite which is producing the uneven wear.
Some new glamor shots. …. Sorry for the flash in the one. I took these with my phone since I don’t have the digital copies. This newest pan is after I got the molar out on valentines day.
Anywho…..I got my xrays transferred over from the other ortho I had my first consult with. I got to chat up my new ortho for a few minutes during my appointment and I asked him particularly what kind of jaw surgery he thought I needed. The verdict: Lefort I (upper jaw surgery that basically cuts the top jaw off your face, shaves off some of the bone that helps give me that gummy smile, and it’s attached in its new position with plates/screws). He said it’s possible the angle they reattach the jaw at will make my lower jaw rotate up more and I won’t need the lower jaw surgery to move that jaw forward, but he wasn’t sure. Only the oral and maxillofacial surgeon will be able to answer all of those questions for me once he sees my xrays and molds. I’m wondering if the surgeon will veto the Lefort plan. It seems like from my research, most people who get this surgery have a bad underbite, so I’m wondering if that is really what I need since I have the opposite problem.
I got to talk to a patient who had double jaw surgery a few months ago to correct her underbite. She was scheduled in the appointment right before mine, so my ortho allowed us to talk in his office for a few minutes. She was really shy and hard to chat up, so he had to facilitate the conversation. About all I got was that she had the surgery, everything is great, he bite is all lined up, and she’s not having any nerve problems.
I also signed my contracts and paid my first chunk of money down. $2,000 bucks. Ouch…. Just ouch. But, they are allowing me to pay in chunks so I can maximize this year’s FSA, and then next year’s FSA for both Matt and I. I am thankful for the FSA, but damn…. Still an ouchy.
Next stop was to hop over to the periodontitis’ office (another “ist” in a few days) to have him look over the missing molar that my ortho was worried would need the implant first so I don’t lose anymore bone there. First of all, the perio was awesome. Got a good vibe from him, and he told me that my ortho came over to talk to him personally about my case earlier that morning. Man, I am so glad I went with this group of doctors. I love that they chatted about all of this face to face! Lots of good news from the perio—he thinks the bone should be OK to hold out 2 years while I do ortho, and he also said my gums are in pretty good shape. No signs of inflammation and disease, and the 4-5mm pockets I come up with around my back teeth are probably more so because I have a ton of gum around those teeth, and not because of infection. This was seriously fantastic news for me since I’m always coming up with 3-5mm pockets on those back teeth and I just felt like it was a losing hygiene battle.
I have an appointment with the jaw surgeon on April 17th (that was the soonest they could get me in L ). I still have to make the decision of surgical vs. non surgical before I go back to the ortho office that week to get braces. I am still doing a ton of research and reading a ton of other blogs, but I guess I’ll have to make that decision by the end of April. I still don’t know what to do. Some days I feel like, “great—lets do this!” and then days like today where I read a few not so great experiences on blogs and it really has me wondering why the hell I am even considering this. I know why—I want my bite to be lined up, I want to bite into a sandwich and be able to cut through the lettuce and tomato in it, and I want my mouth to be in the prime health, which includes getting everything in alignment. One of the other issues my ortho mentioned was the uneven wear on my teeth. He noted in my case work up that a few teeth have moderate to severe wear and will eventually need restoration. I wonder if he means need it as of now, or will need it if I don’t get the surgery to fix the uneven bite which is producing the uneven wear.
Some new glamor shots. …. Sorry for the flash in the one. I took these with my phone since I don’t have the digital copies. This newest pan is after I got the molar out on valentines day.
Ceph. This one creeps me out!
Any resemblance? ;)
New pano, sans tooth #19
RSS Feed
