In the world of bets/poker, this is not the bet I would have set out to make in all of this... but it is what it is. I had my appointment with my maxfac today. I got the scans done of my teeth, pano, 3d xray. As I said in my last post, I was cautiously optimistic about maybe getting better news on my upper anterior teeth. Notice I said cautious. I definitely wasn't betting the farm on it, so this isn't devastating to hear that the news isn't good. If anything, it's just solidified what they were already thinking. Tooth 7 has nothing left in the bone. Teeth 8-10 have a little bit of anterior surface left on the root, but in the 3d scans you can see the lingual side where it's gone. Not only is the resorption going strong on the roots there, but also the bone is starting to see resorption too. THAT is exactly what we're trying to avoid and why these teeth need to go sooner rather than later. I need to get them gone before I lose bone that is critical to the implant process being successful. So, any fantasy I had going in the back of my mind of possibly being able to keep these teeth is now put to rest. RIP tooth fantasy. ::sigh::
So....the ante upped of a few more teeth....I've talked in a few blog posts about how I thought my lower incisors also looked short to me on films. Always scratched my head though as to why nobody really brought them up as being in trouble and figured maybe I was just being a paranoid patient. I took the opportunity today to finally ask about them, and sure enough, they're in trouble. Ugh. They kind of wanted to deal with the uppers first before jumping on to the lowers, but the lowers have seen significant resorption too. I only have the 3 teeth down there instead of 4 because I got one extracted as part of my surgical/ortho plan, but as of now at quick glance, the one in the middle is in bad shape. Same as the top, it's lost the bone and root on the lingual surface of the tooth. The two incisors around it are a little better off, but not much. We'll probably be revisiting those two down the distant road, with the middle one needing to be revisited after the uppers are done. FML. So, the grand total cost of doing all the jaw/ortho business here is now at least 5 permanent teeth. All front teeth. That is a tough pill to swallow, but it's going down easier as time goes on and I am getting my brain wrapped around what is going on and what is to come in treatment with all of this. But it still sucks.
So, I got the CBCT, new pano, new ceph, and an iTerro scan to plan the prosthetics I'll wear during the implant process. We were running pretty behind so the pano got taken as I was walking out and I didn't get a chance to hear how the bone healing looks and all, but quick look and some intra oral pics for records and my surgeon said my bite is fantastic and all of the scar tissue and stuff is healing nicely. I do want to check with him on the bone healing though since that was an issue for me after my first surgery. I haven't been back on my road bike or anything yet and I am taking things REALLY conservatively so I don't have a fall and mess anything up. It's totally not worth it at this point!
I stopped at my orthodontists office on the way back home for my appointment to pick up and get fitted for my retainers. I am wearing a traditional old school hawley on the bottom because it needed a fake tooth bonded in the space of my missing molar, and then the clear essix on top. I can get the essix for the bottom after the implant is done there and we don't need to hold the space any more. All I know right now the hawley is NOT fun. It's kind of bulky and gagging me. Ugh. I am sure I'll be getting the top retainer updated sooner rather than later depending on what happens after these teeth are extracted. I really hope all of that doesn't end up being a total mess!
Since this was kind of my final active ortho/jaw appointments today, I bugged my docs to take a pic with me. So, now you get to put names to faces! These guys really did save my bacon in the situation I was in coming out of my first round of treatment.
So....the ante upped of a few more teeth....I've talked in a few blog posts about how I thought my lower incisors also looked short to me on films. Always scratched my head though as to why nobody really brought them up as being in trouble and figured maybe I was just being a paranoid patient. I took the opportunity today to finally ask about them, and sure enough, they're in trouble. Ugh. They kind of wanted to deal with the uppers first before jumping on to the lowers, but the lowers have seen significant resorption too. I only have the 3 teeth down there instead of 4 because I got one extracted as part of my surgical/ortho plan, but as of now at quick glance, the one in the middle is in bad shape. Same as the top, it's lost the bone and root on the lingual surface of the tooth. The two incisors around it are a little better off, but not much. We'll probably be revisiting those two down the distant road, with the middle one needing to be revisited after the uppers are done. FML. So, the grand total cost of doing all the jaw/ortho business here is now at least 5 permanent teeth. All front teeth. That is a tough pill to swallow, but it's going down easier as time goes on and I am getting my brain wrapped around what is going on and what is to come in treatment with all of this. But it still sucks.
So, I got the CBCT, new pano, new ceph, and an iTerro scan to plan the prosthetics I'll wear during the implant process. We were running pretty behind so the pano got taken as I was walking out and I didn't get a chance to hear how the bone healing looks and all, but quick look and some intra oral pics for records and my surgeon said my bite is fantastic and all of the scar tissue and stuff is healing nicely. I do want to check with him on the bone healing though since that was an issue for me after my first surgery. I haven't been back on my road bike or anything yet and I am taking things REALLY conservatively so I don't have a fall and mess anything up. It's totally not worth it at this point!
I stopped at my orthodontists office on the way back home for my appointment to pick up and get fitted for my retainers. I am wearing a traditional old school hawley on the bottom because it needed a fake tooth bonded in the space of my missing molar, and then the clear essix on top. I can get the essix for the bottom after the implant is done there and we don't need to hold the space any more. All I know right now the hawley is NOT fun. It's kind of bulky and gagging me. Ugh. I am sure I'll be getting the top retainer updated sooner rather than later depending on what happens after these teeth are extracted. I really hope all of that doesn't end up being a total mess!
Since this was kind of my final active ortho/jaw appointments today, I bugged my docs to take a pic with me. So, now you get to put names to faces! These guys really did save my bacon in the situation I was in coming out of my first round of treatment.
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