I was again anxious to get my adjustment done. I think because its such new territory for me and I don't know what is what now that maybe it's getting me a little riled up for these appointments. I think I also get some anxiety over hearing more news about my front teeth as well as experience them out of the bands/wires and feel the full power of how loose they are. And I can see the looks on the assistants and doc's faces, trying to be so delicate handling my front teeth. Really wish I wasn't in this position dealing with them, but it is what it is.
I get my wires out, and I'll be damned if the bracket on tooth 7 fell off again! What is it with this tooth?! And it just stays in place so well that I can't even tell it's broken, so who knows when it broke since the last appointment a month ago, but I have a sneaky suspicion it had to be early on because that tooth was still hung up (shorter than the rest of the teeth being extruded around it) and it feels looser since it's not supported by the wire. So, we again rebond the bracket on tooth 7. Doc looks at my bite and is VERY happy and said I must be really great with wearing my elastics because everything is more than where it needs to be. Yes, I am really good with complying with rubber band jail. And I figured everything was where it needed to be because I could feel my bite really click in a few weeks ago. Only thing I would say is that I feel like I could be closed up a smidge more on my right side still, especially in the back. He must have noticed this too, so he did some polishing of a few teeth on my left to make them sit better, and I noticed it gave me more play on the right side too. So, new bends in the wire. He tells me we're "orthodontically extracting tooth 7." That is a new one for me. I knew we were going to extrude it, but I didn't think to call it an orthodontically assisted extraction, but that is really what it's going to end up being. Pull the tooth out some more. There is barely any root left to it, so when it gets to a point where it's extremely loose, he said he is going to put a splint on the back of it to help keep it supported. Doing this will allow my natural bone to fill in where the root was, and this will set me up for my implant better. So...goody. I get to watch tooth 7 have a slow painful demise. Ugh!
No adjustments on my bottom teeth otherwise. New c-chains back on. Tooth 7 has been disengaged most of the last few months at this point, so getting the new bracket on that and having it extruded has made it a touch sore this morn, but really not bad. I feel like it's irritated when I bite down though. I don't think the lower incisor is touching it, but I think the K9 next to it is touching the lower bracket below it when I bite down and I can see the whole tooth segment between the lateral incisor and that K9 moving when I bite. Gives me the heeby geebies looking at it. It feels worse when I am in the bands, which makes sense since the bands are pulling down on the teeth there. Might have to reach out to my ortho today and ask them about it and see if I need to come in to have them take a look. I leave for a backpacking trip tomorrow for the weekend and don't want this getting worse and risk irritating those already fragile front teeth with bite trauma. Nothing like being out in the woods and then having bite issues that keep you from eating the required calories on a rigorous backpack trek.
On a different note, I was talking with a few of the girls who work at the office, and I kind of found out through conversation that my ortho still does quite a few cases with Dr. O'Ryan. They've never had an issue with her like what happened with my case, so I guess from their stand point, there is no reason to not do business with her. I have mixed emotions on this. The rational/practical part of me understands. It's just business. But then on the personal/emotional side, I guess maybe I feel like after them seeing what she did to me and still referring patients out to her is a little... well, I don't even know what to call what I am feeling really. Like, are they OK with that kind of treatment for another one of their patients? Even though they haven't seen it happen to one of their patients before, they've now seen my case and know it's a possibility that it can happen. Another jaw patient in the area told their orthodontist what happened to me, and that orthodontist stopped referring out to Dr. O'Ryan after he heard the story. But yet my own orthodontist is still working with her? I'm not even the other guys patient and he stopped referring patients out just after hearing my story! I really hate to think negatively in any way about them because of this, but I can't help myself but feel a little put off by it. I think it's normal and human to feel that way though. But, I am going to try to keep an open mind about it and latch on more to that rational/practical side and remind myself that it's just business. I still love my ortho and he has done right by me in every way possible so far in my revision treatment. It's very difficult to remove emotions from a situation like that. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a little sour taste in my mouth over it, but like everything else, it is what it is.
I see Dr. Karas next week for my 3 month check up. 3 months post op-- time flies! I'll get a new pano and hopefully get some updated records from him. I think I am going to ask him what the plan is for my deviated septum down the road in the not too distant future. I am not sure if he can do it or if he'll send me to an ENT. If he can do it, I might ask him to take out all of my top hardware while he's in there. The top plate/screw sets, similar to last time but better still, are tender and I know they are there. The bottoms I can't tell, so they can stay. I'd just rather have the top ones out. And if all of this gets done after braces, then I might as well have him take tooth 7 while I am under too. Kill 3 birds with the one anesthesia stone. So, we'll see what he can do!
I get my wires out, and I'll be damned if the bracket on tooth 7 fell off again! What is it with this tooth?! And it just stays in place so well that I can't even tell it's broken, so who knows when it broke since the last appointment a month ago, but I have a sneaky suspicion it had to be early on because that tooth was still hung up (shorter than the rest of the teeth being extruded around it) and it feels looser since it's not supported by the wire. So, we again rebond the bracket on tooth 7. Doc looks at my bite and is VERY happy and said I must be really great with wearing my elastics because everything is more than where it needs to be. Yes, I am really good with complying with rubber band jail. And I figured everything was where it needed to be because I could feel my bite really click in a few weeks ago. Only thing I would say is that I feel like I could be closed up a smidge more on my right side still, especially in the back. He must have noticed this too, so he did some polishing of a few teeth on my left to make them sit better, and I noticed it gave me more play on the right side too. So, new bends in the wire. He tells me we're "orthodontically extracting tooth 7." That is a new one for me. I knew we were going to extrude it, but I didn't think to call it an orthodontically assisted extraction, but that is really what it's going to end up being. Pull the tooth out some more. There is barely any root left to it, so when it gets to a point where it's extremely loose, he said he is going to put a splint on the back of it to help keep it supported. Doing this will allow my natural bone to fill in where the root was, and this will set me up for my implant better. So...goody. I get to watch tooth 7 have a slow painful demise. Ugh!
No adjustments on my bottom teeth otherwise. New c-chains back on. Tooth 7 has been disengaged most of the last few months at this point, so getting the new bracket on that and having it extruded has made it a touch sore this morn, but really not bad. I feel like it's irritated when I bite down though. I don't think the lower incisor is touching it, but I think the K9 next to it is touching the lower bracket below it when I bite down and I can see the whole tooth segment between the lateral incisor and that K9 moving when I bite. Gives me the heeby geebies looking at it. It feels worse when I am in the bands, which makes sense since the bands are pulling down on the teeth there. Might have to reach out to my ortho today and ask them about it and see if I need to come in to have them take a look. I leave for a backpacking trip tomorrow for the weekend and don't want this getting worse and risk irritating those already fragile front teeth with bite trauma. Nothing like being out in the woods and then having bite issues that keep you from eating the required calories on a rigorous backpack trek.
On a different note, I was talking with a few of the girls who work at the office, and I kind of found out through conversation that my ortho still does quite a few cases with Dr. O'Ryan. They've never had an issue with her like what happened with my case, so I guess from their stand point, there is no reason to not do business with her. I have mixed emotions on this. The rational/practical part of me understands. It's just business. But then on the personal/emotional side, I guess maybe I feel like after them seeing what she did to me and still referring patients out to her is a little... well, I don't even know what to call what I am feeling really. Like, are they OK with that kind of treatment for another one of their patients? Even though they haven't seen it happen to one of their patients before, they've now seen my case and know it's a possibility that it can happen. Another jaw patient in the area told their orthodontist what happened to me, and that orthodontist stopped referring out to Dr. O'Ryan after he heard the story. But yet my own orthodontist is still working with her? I'm not even the other guys patient and he stopped referring patients out just after hearing my story! I really hate to think negatively in any way about them because of this, but I can't help myself but feel a little put off by it. I think it's normal and human to feel that way though. But, I am going to try to keep an open mind about it and latch on more to that rational/practical side and remind myself that it's just business. I still love my ortho and he has done right by me in every way possible so far in my revision treatment. It's very difficult to remove emotions from a situation like that. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a little sour taste in my mouth over it, but like everything else, it is what it is.
I see Dr. Karas next week for my 3 month check up. 3 months post op-- time flies! I'll get a new pano and hopefully get some updated records from him. I think I am going to ask him what the plan is for my deviated septum down the road in the not too distant future. I am not sure if he can do it or if he'll send me to an ENT. If he can do it, I might ask him to take out all of my top hardware while he's in there. The top plate/screw sets, similar to last time but better still, are tender and I know they are there. The bottoms I can't tell, so they can stay. I'd just rather have the top ones out. And if all of this gets done after braces, then I might as well have him take tooth 7 while I am under too. Kill 3 birds with the one anesthesia stone. So, we'll see what he can do!
RSS Feed
