Had my first wire change on the top teeth a few days ago. I am really not the type to be like, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" But I was really hoping the doc was going to give me just a smidge of insight as to where we are. Or even better, finally send me for a look over with the surgeon, which is supposed to be about at our halfway to surgery mark. He did neither, which is kind of a bummer. Well, he did order up xrays and made it sound like he is going to evaluate some things at this next appointment in 6 weeks, so maybe I'll get some answers then. If I am just only halfway at that point, that is going to push surgery back until April 2016, and that is going to suck. That would give me my holidays and winter snowboarding season back, but I seriously can not tolerate this bite I have right now for that long. I am holding out hope that my ortho is just playing quiet and will send me for the check up with the surgeon and they'll be like, "Surprise! You're just about surgery ready so lets set a date for November!"
Speaking of check ups, I saw my prosthodontist for a cleaning and a quick look over yesterday. He took a few films of my front teeth so everybody can monitor my root health. As always, the news just gets grimmer and grimmer with this issue. I found out in late summer 2014 that I am probably going to lose my 3 main front teeth. One (tooth 7) in the near future, probably right after treatment if it doesn't fall out on it's own before then, and they thought with proper care and caution through my second round of ortho, we could limit the damage to the two main front teeth (8 and 9) and maybe be able to keep them for some time (like, between 8-15 years maybe). I saw the xrays before the doc came in to look at them, and even I knew it wasn't good. I could see more resorption, and areas of black where bone hasn't even had a chance to fill in yet. It looks fresh too, which leads me to think just the act of being in a light wire on my top teeth the last 6 weeks is causing them damage; like the teeth are just primed and ready to keep losing root no matter how light the force is on them. Sure enough, he comes in to look at them, and I could just tell by the look on his face before he even opened his mouth to speak that the news wasn't good. He asked if I understood that the prognosis of these teeth were not good, and I said I completely understand. He said it wasn't looking good before, and now it's really not looking good and we'll definitely be evaluating these teeth after treatment. Before it was just #7 that would probably need immediate attention when we were all done, and now it sounds like 8 and 9 are also going to be on the table for replacement right away. He said we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but he just wants me aware and not surprised when we get there.
Speaking of check ups, I saw my prosthodontist for a cleaning and a quick look over yesterday. He took a few films of my front teeth so everybody can monitor my root health. As always, the news just gets grimmer and grimmer with this issue. I found out in late summer 2014 that I am probably going to lose my 3 main front teeth. One (tooth 7) in the near future, probably right after treatment if it doesn't fall out on it's own before then, and they thought with proper care and caution through my second round of ortho, we could limit the damage to the two main front teeth (8 and 9) and maybe be able to keep them for some time (like, between 8-15 years maybe). I saw the xrays before the doc came in to look at them, and even I knew it wasn't good. I could see more resorption, and areas of black where bone hasn't even had a chance to fill in yet. It looks fresh too, which leads me to think just the act of being in a light wire on my top teeth the last 6 weeks is causing them damage; like the teeth are just primed and ready to keep losing root no matter how light the force is on them. Sure enough, he comes in to look at them, and I could just tell by the look on his face before he even opened his mouth to speak that the news wasn't good. He asked if I understood that the prognosis of these teeth were not good, and I said I completely understand. He said it wasn't looking good before, and now it's really not looking good and we'll definitely be evaluating these teeth after treatment. Before it was just #7 that would probably need immediate attention when we were all done, and now it sounds like 8 and 9 are also going to be on the table for replacement right away. He said we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but he just wants me aware and not surprised when we get there.
PA of my top front teeth. From left to right (teeth 7, 8, 9). The root tip of tooth 9 is completely gone now, 8 has lost some of it's tip too. 7 is still barely hanging on with very little root left.
Ortho wise, I am just a little tender from the adjustment. This was probably the first time that it hurt getting the power chain put on the bottom. But, it was for good reason. This is the last little push to get that extraction space closed....finally! And again, the overbite is just getting worse and worse. This is for sure worse than the overbite that I had to start with before I had any treatment. I was eating fries from Wendy's the other day and I can totally stick a fry up through the hole of my overbite and get it in my mouth without opening at all. Yep, we have officially reached the fry in my face without opening point. lol On the flip side, food falls out of my mouth just as easily. I definitely have my moments where I get frustrated with that.
Few pics of the latest progress. There is just a slight little opening left for the extraction space to close. Somebody talking to me probably wouldn't even notice now, so for all intents and purposes, I pretty much just consider it closed now. So, not sure what the plan is once that space is closed up. I know the ortho said that he wasn't really doing a lot of work with my top teeth. The prosthodontist reiterated that yesterday too and said he was under the impression they were just putting top braces back on me to basically be an anchoring device when I am wired shut again after surgery. So, once that space is closed up and everything else looks good, I am not sure what he would do with my teeth for another 8 months if we really are just halfway to surgery. Really hoping that is not the case. I guess we'll see at the next appointment in 6 weeks.
Few pics of the latest progress. There is just a slight little opening left for the extraction space to close. Somebody talking to me probably wouldn't even notice now, so for all intents and purposes, I pretty much just consider it closed now. So, not sure what the plan is once that space is closed up. I know the ortho said that he wasn't really doing a lot of work with my top teeth. The prosthodontist reiterated that yesterday too and said he was under the impression they were just putting top braces back on me to basically be an anchoring device when I am wired shut again after surgery. So, once that space is closed up and everything else looks good, I am not sure what he would do with my teeth for another 8 months if we really are just halfway to surgery. Really hoping that is not the case. I guess we'll see at the next appointment in 6 weeks.
Bye bye, gaping hole in my bottom teeth!!
Yep... can totally stick fries up in there without even opening. True story. Also a good shot of the dimple on my right (left in the picture) where the one side of my face is sunken in from my lower jaw being yawed out to my left.
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