So I finally get in for that appointment I messed up last week and missed (and I brought donuts today for my penance). What was supposed to be a quick in/out adjustment like I've seen for the last few adjustments turned out to get quite interesting today. I had a feeling something was up when the doc himself sat down to start doing all the worker bee RDA tasks like untie me and take the wires out. Of course he goes straight for those front teeth. And he's not super happy. Ugh. I am not even sure what he did to the wire. Almost nothing at this point. I think maybe just one bend in it to help extract that lateral incisor some more. He wanted to see where it was at, but just by feel, he thinks it's ready to be out. And based on the wiggle to my front teeth, his concern is growing there too. He sneaks me in for a quick pano and decides to call my prosthodontist to pow wow and see what the game plan is. Based on what I just saw on the pano, I have a feeling we're revisiting what is going on with these front teeth sooner rather than later. My prosthodontist wants me to swing by to get some PA films and have him take a look at a few things and chat. Took me 90 minutes to get over to his office in AM Bay Area traffic....sucked!
As soon as my prosth took the PA's and I saw the films pop up, I could tell where this was going. Compared to last year's PA's, there is significantly more root gone on my 4 upper fronts. Makes sense based on how much looser they feel on me now. And I shouldn't be surprised. Seriously.... why am I surprised? Or why does this seem harder and harder to have the discussions about all of this when I knew this was coming? Maybe because having to actually do something about it is really not that far off finally, and unfortunately my hopes of MAYBE being able to hold on to 3 out of the 4 teeth for a while is just getting more and more crushed at each visit. The prosth gets more and more pessimistic each time. He really doesn't see any good long term (or even short term) prognosis of these teeth. Even if I chose to try and keep them for a bit, I then risk them being continually loose and inflamed and it could prevent the osteogensis I need to support the implants and stuff that I need. I definitely do not want to lose what already diminished bone that I have. Catch is, now that my occlusion is class I, my upper and lower teeth touch a little bit (as they should), and that is just going to keep wiggling and be inflamed if I leave the teeth. Also, if I replace just the right lateral incisor and wait on the other 3, then I risk uneven gum/tissue ware and recession and could end up with a whacked out looking gum line when we do finally decide to do the other 3 teeth (and we will have to do it. It's not an if, it's a when...and they are saying the when would end up sooner rather than later anyway now). So, there are risks vs. reward to weigh out here all around. Do them all at once vs. a few at a time? Do the implant supported bridge vs. all implants? And depending on what I do, there is a greater risk to the aesthetic side of the house vs. functional with some things and vice versa if we go another way. So, I had to tell my prosth today what is my primary area of concern-- function or aesthetics. As it has been in this whole journey, I am not willing to sacrifice function for aesthetics, so I want that to be his main concern. Obviously I don't want to look super jacked after this, but I am sure he's not going to do that to me and while aesthetically it won't be perfect, it will totally be just fine and dandy for me.
So, my prosth, surgeon, and ortho will all put their heads together again and see what the best option is now and get back to me on everything. Prosth asked me how much longer in braces, and I told him I was tempted to ask today but I didn't, so I don't know. He seems to think I look pretty near done. Like, braces could come off at any time. So, he's more inclined to wait until braces are off to start all of this work since that will probably be happening pretty soon. Same as last time after this appointment, I bawled in my car like a baby. I have no clue why this doesn't get any easier coming to grips with the fact that I am losing these teeth. It's a mixed bag of emotions. I am sad over the act of losing the teeth, but also because of the reasons too. I am angry about the reasons I am losing these teeth. I usually keep it classy on this blog, but quite frankly, this is all bullshit. I shouldn't be dealing with this, especially after having to deal with the mess of having to have this all redone. I went on this journey to save my teeth and instead I've got this to deal with now, and most of it is all thanks to my first ortho and surgeon. And it infuriates me thinking about that. I really need to stop thinking about it because there is nothing I can do about it. I can't change it and I can't do anything legally about it and nothing will come of it. My first ortho and/or surgeon are not going to call and apologize. They're not going to offer to help pay for me to fix their mistakes. So all I am doing is driving myself crazy for no reason if I continue to think about it, but I can't help myself. Ugh.
So, for now next ortho appointment isn't for another 3 weeks. My 6 month follow up with my surgeon isn't until August, but sounds like I'll probably be seeing him sooner rather than later to take care of these front teeth. We'll see what they say when they call me with the news from their meeting on my case.
I forgot to mention one good thing that came out of the ortho appointment-- I am stepping out of rubber band jail! Cleared to try going to nights only again. He said it's OK if my bite slips back a tad. He wants to give those front teeth a break and doesn't want to close them up any more at this point.
Here are some glamor shots from today.
As soon as my prosth took the PA's and I saw the films pop up, I could tell where this was going. Compared to last year's PA's, there is significantly more root gone on my 4 upper fronts. Makes sense based on how much looser they feel on me now. And I shouldn't be surprised. Seriously.... why am I surprised? Or why does this seem harder and harder to have the discussions about all of this when I knew this was coming? Maybe because having to actually do something about it is really not that far off finally, and unfortunately my hopes of MAYBE being able to hold on to 3 out of the 4 teeth for a while is just getting more and more crushed at each visit. The prosth gets more and more pessimistic each time. He really doesn't see any good long term (or even short term) prognosis of these teeth. Even if I chose to try and keep them for a bit, I then risk them being continually loose and inflamed and it could prevent the osteogensis I need to support the implants and stuff that I need. I definitely do not want to lose what already diminished bone that I have. Catch is, now that my occlusion is class I, my upper and lower teeth touch a little bit (as they should), and that is just going to keep wiggling and be inflamed if I leave the teeth. Also, if I replace just the right lateral incisor and wait on the other 3, then I risk uneven gum/tissue ware and recession and could end up with a whacked out looking gum line when we do finally decide to do the other 3 teeth (and we will have to do it. It's not an if, it's a when...and they are saying the when would end up sooner rather than later anyway now). So, there are risks vs. reward to weigh out here all around. Do them all at once vs. a few at a time? Do the implant supported bridge vs. all implants? And depending on what I do, there is a greater risk to the aesthetic side of the house vs. functional with some things and vice versa if we go another way. So, I had to tell my prosth today what is my primary area of concern-- function or aesthetics. As it has been in this whole journey, I am not willing to sacrifice function for aesthetics, so I want that to be his main concern. Obviously I don't want to look super jacked after this, but I am sure he's not going to do that to me and while aesthetically it won't be perfect, it will totally be just fine and dandy for me.
So, my prosth, surgeon, and ortho will all put their heads together again and see what the best option is now and get back to me on everything. Prosth asked me how much longer in braces, and I told him I was tempted to ask today but I didn't, so I don't know. He seems to think I look pretty near done. Like, braces could come off at any time. So, he's more inclined to wait until braces are off to start all of this work since that will probably be happening pretty soon. Same as last time after this appointment, I bawled in my car like a baby. I have no clue why this doesn't get any easier coming to grips with the fact that I am losing these teeth. It's a mixed bag of emotions. I am sad over the act of losing the teeth, but also because of the reasons too. I am angry about the reasons I am losing these teeth. I usually keep it classy on this blog, but quite frankly, this is all bullshit. I shouldn't be dealing with this, especially after having to deal with the mess of having to have this all redone. I went on this journey to save my teeth and instead I've got this to deal with now, and most of it is all thanks to my first ortho and surgeon. And it infuriates me thinking about that. I really need to stop thinking about it because there is nothing I can do about it. I can't change it and I can't do anything legally about it and nothing will come of it. My first ortho and/or surgeon are not going to call and apologize. They're not going to offer to help pay for me to fix their mistakes. So all I am doing is driving myself crazy for no reason if I continue to think about it, but I can't help myself. Ugh.
So, for now next ortho appointment isn't for another 3 weeks. My 6 month follow up with my surgeon isn't until August, but sounds like I'll probably be seeing him sooner rather than later to take care of these front teeth. We'll see what they say when they call me with the news from their meeting on my case.
I forgot to mention one good thing that came out of the ortho appointment-- I am stepping out of rubber band jail! Cleared to try going to nights only again. He said it's OK if my bite slips back a tad. He wants to give those front teeth a break and doesn't want to close them up any more at this point.
Here are some glamor shots from today.
RSS Feed
