Creating a Beautiful Mouth

It's out, at least part of it is out

2012-02-07T07:35:00.000-08:00

Dr. D took out the external part of the extraction device. The process went smoothly, or so I'm told. I was under anesthesia. It was so good that I slept through my appointment with Dr. F too. I barely remember all the jabbing and poking that goes with getting a new wire put in. Dr. D did tell me that the bone seemed to be growing and developing nicely from the look of the X-Ray.

At my follow up visit with Dr. D she told me everything was healing well. She did, without saying it, give me the impression that March 8th for my surgery might be too soon. She say she would let me know when she sees me this Friday. Fingers crossed.

A clipping

2011-12-19T16:33:00.000-08:00

Appologies for my lack of posts. I've been to see Dr. F and Dr. D, but it was right before and after taking a vacation and then with the chaos. But here I am.

When I saw Dr. F I complained that my teeth were moving (and they hurt a lot) - he told me that was good. It seems my teeth were moving into place, imagine that. The pain has subsided and I'm able to eat again!

Dr. D was a more interesting visit. On January 20th she is going to clip out the distraction device. Small in the office procedure. She is going to leave the part of the device that is under the gums, under the gums.

Then in late February, early March she is going to do another bone graft in the area that was not covered by the distraction. At that time she will remove the part of the device that is under the gums. She said she would probably take bone from him hip - I can't wait.

When she had initially mentioned doing the bone graft I had thought it would be a smaller procedure, but when you start talking about taking from my hip I know it's not a small procedure.

I turned in my screw driver

2011-10-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

Today I turned in my screwdriver, meaning I'm done moving my distractor! It's always nice to hit a milestone. They didn't end up moving the distractor as much as I thought they would, but it's pretty darn close and now I have so much more bone.

I don't have to see Dr. D for another 3 weeks and Dr. F for 6 weeks. I nice break since I've been seeing them once or twice a week since the surgery. Dr. D said she'll do another x-ray in 8 weeks to check my progress. Until then, I feel like Madam Pomfrey in Harry Potter and trying to grow some bone - it's tough work!

Bones...

2011-10-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

On my last trip to Dr. D she said that the teeth are moving fine and that although the gap in my gums has not cleared up, she said that wouldn't happen until I stop moving the teeth/bone.

Another one of the doctors from the practice was also in the room, he showed me 2 x-rays of my mouth, one from that day the other from a week ago - you could see the difference in where the teeth were.

While the two doctors were talking Dr. D mentioned that she was only going to move my teeth 2 teeth lengths, leaving the gap for the 3rd tooth. The other doctor commented that the way the bone was positioned she probably couldn't go much further anyway. The bone that is moving is more tapered at the gum line, so up in the gums it should meet up with the other bone first, never giving the bone at the bottom a chance to meet next to the other tooth. I hope that made sense.

Then she said I would need a bone graft in that gap. Ick! I'm not sure if only going the length of 2 teeth (instead of 3) is because of the bone or because of the adjustment to slowing down the movement. Either way, yuck, I don't want another bone graft.

One plus side is that I had a very small hole in the roof of my mouth and that seems to have been pushed closed with the movement of the bone and teeth, yea!

I don't like this Dr.'s Appt!

2011-10-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

Monday I went to see Dr. D and it didn't go that great. My gum separated from one of my back molars, leaving a gap and allowing fluid to come out.

Now I'm on an antibiotic, which my body doesn't like.

Dr. D also decided to stop moving the bone for 2 days and then on Thursday she wants me to start turning the screw again, but only twice a day instead of 3 times a day. I'll see her again on Friday.

Ugh, this is very annoying and frustrating! But on the up side my mouth seems to be doing much better now.

Here is a photo of my mouth. In the front you can see a large bar, that is the screw. When my mouth is closed other then looking a bit swollen in that area you can't see the screw. When I open my mouth obviously it's a different story. On the left you can see my two fake teeth and then a gap. On the right of the first gap are the 2 teeth that are being moved. To the right of those teeth you can (hopefully) see another gap, that is how much my teeth moved in 4 days. Above that gap you can also see some metal, that is part of the device that was put in my mouth during the surgery. There are actually two of those ladder like pieces. One is on the right side of where the gap is the other is on the piece of bone that is moving.

2011-10-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I saw Dr. D and let me just say that she is marvelous, I really do love her.

She started by rewiring the work that Dr. F had done. On my upper left there are 4 teeth in the back, then the 3 toothless gap and then the right middle tooth. The 2 left back teeth are staying where they are, the other 2 left teeth are the ones that will be moving into the gap with the bone. She tied the 2 teeth that are moving together and then tied them to my bracket so they are guided by the wire as they move.

Yesterday Dr. D started to move the 2 teeth. She turned the screw once (.3m), then my sister turned it once and later in the night I turned it once. I can already feel the difference in the gap between my teeth in the back. But when the teeth move I don't have any pain, I barely feel anything actually, just an extremely mild strange sensation.

She also took some weird high tech x-ray and showed me what she was doing. I'll admit, there was nothing earth shattering in this but the x-ray was very fancy and a little over my head.

Oh, and she did say the surgery went well.

I have to go back on Monday.

I'll work on a picture or two so you can see what's going on.

First Trip to the Orthodontist

2011-09-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I went to see Dr. F for the first time since the surgery. He seemed happy with how things looked. He also put 2 of my 3 teeth back in my mouth. I'm sure my sister will be very happy (she was concerned after my surgery).

One of the two teeth that is being moved with the bone has moved backward in my mouth a bit. This happened over time since my tooth was pulled back in June. Dr. F didn't bother putting the tooth on the wire, I'm assuming since it has a different bracket on it and I was having surgery 2 weeks later. I'm not sure why he didn't try to move the tooth sooner, but he didn't. So now it was wired to the screw in my mouth to pull it back in to place. I think it might have been easier doing it sooner then later. But what do I know?

Surgery #4

2011-09-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick post since I'm getting really tired, but since I haven't posted since the surgery I thought i should come up with something.

Surgery was Thursday and from what I remember, Dr. D said it went well. I also saw Dr. S - he said he saw the photos and it looked good.

Now I'm just eating mushy food and waiting to see Dr. D on either Thursday or Friday and start moving this bone.

The pain isn't too bad, and the swelling is starting to go down. But I have a screw sticking out of my mouth, that's a little weird. It also makes swallowing a little awkward. Lets just say that I'm working on my drooling problem.

I don't like that answer...

2011-08-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

I saw Dr. F a week ago, nothing really new. BUT, I did ask if Dr. D would be able to take my fake teeth and wire out - I have a wedding the weekend before surgery and Dr. F is away that week. Dr. F said he would have to discuss that with Dr. D, he's not sure she knows how these braces work.
BOOOOO!

I'm still around and still waiting

2011-07-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while because there is either nothing going on or what is going on is frustrating.

The short story is that the Infectious Disease doctor cleared me for surgery, without seeing me. That's fine with me, less running around. And from everything that I have heard (from medical personel) the medication I had taken was the appropriate action and nothing more was needed.

My surgery is now scheduled for Sept 22, a much longer wait then I wanted, but between my schedule and Dr. D's schedule this was the earliest I could get in - darn summer vacations!

So, I'm just waiting...

I'm confused

2011-07-04T05:24:00.000-07:00

On Friday I FINALLY got a call regarding my clearance by the Infectious Disease doctor. He sent a letter to Dr. S clearing me for surgery. Except, I never saw him, he only saw my test results. Basically, Dr. S requested my cases be reviewed with all the information that was available to the Infectious Disease doctor and the doctor decided I was fine. Sounds like my surgery got postponed for nothing.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the delay if it's for the right reasons. But I'm left wondering if Dr. S will be fine with this approval or if he'll push for more. I know he wanted me tested again after I was on medication, which I haven't been, thought the Infectious Disease doctor would do that.

I guess I'll find out on Tuesday, if someone actually calls me then.

I didn't have surgery...

2011-07-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but my Mother got an infection after having her hip replaced, MRSA. It's not a pleasant infection! I've spent a lot of time around her - helping her, keeping her company. Not surprisingly I tested positive for carrying MRSA.

My surgeon decided to postpone my surgery until an infectious disease doctor could review my case. When I spoke to my primary care physician he told me that Dr. S was concerned that maybe I had been carrying it when I had my previous surgeries and that was part of the reason that my bone grafts were not a sucess. But my primary care pysician also said that I had been cultured during the surgeries and didn't show MRSA then. But, Dr. S wanted to have my case reviewed. I'm told that my case was reviewed and I was cleared for surgery by infectious disease. But of course this is a holiday weekend so I wont get an update until at least Tuesday when Dr. S can take a look at the note sent over to him.

It worked out well though, my Mom was pretty sick earlier this week and I wasn't totally comfortable with having the surgery. But I'll feel better about it in another week or so, she is doing much better.

There is no tooth fairy

2011-06-16T01:39:00.000-07:00

On Monday I had an "exciting" day, I had my middle tooth pulled.

The day started with a trip to Dr. F's office, I needed to have the wire taken out of my braces. That went quickly and without incident. He told me that after my tooth was pulled that I could come back and have the fake teeth put back in to cover the span of now 3 teeth.

On the way to Dr. D's office I had a slice of pizza, which was a better idea before I had the wire taken out of my braces. My teeth always feel tender after the wire comes out.

At Dr. D's I was quickly set up for the extraction, some topical numbing cream, novicain (with epinephrine, opps - that doesn't agree with me). Then a yank, and the tooth was out. Dr. D did introduce me to one of the other doctors in the office while discussing if she should put in a little bone. They decided not to. 2 or 3 stitches later my mouth was stuffed with guaze.

After that we discussed the surgery. She showed me where she would put in the distractor, and told me that the bone needs to move 20 cm, which at less then 1 cm per day will take about 3 weeks. But, she will not start to move the distractor for 1 week. After the distractor is in place the bone will need to set for about 4 months before they will take out the distractor. If for some reason they need to take it out earlier she said that Dr. F has some tricks up his sleeve for keeping everything in place. She explained that I will be on a soft food diet since she is concerned about me healing; but, she didn't say how long - ugh, I'm sick of soft food!

After that I left the office (guaze still in my mouth) and went to Dr. F's. I didn't know how long I had to keep the gauze in my mouth so I still had it in my mouth 30 minutes later when I arrived at Dr. F's. This became a problem because it meant I never had a chance to take any pain killers and the novicain wore off by the time I was done with Dr. F - NOT GOOD! This wasn't quick, but it seemed relatively easy for Dr. F to put my wire back in, along with the 3 fake teeth thing. Let me tell you, these teeth looked better then my real teeth ever did! After that he showed me a model of my head, which was cool, explained what Dr. D is going to do. Which was slightly different from what she said she was going to do. I think they are still discussing exactly how they are going to do the distraction. It's really cool and nifty and way over my head, so as long as they figure out what they're doing and are all on the same page, I'm good with that. Then Dr. F took some pictures, I have no doubt I looked completely miserable in these pictures - I just wanted drugs or to cry by then.

Luckily I carry Advil with me, I got in the car and the first thing I did was take Advil, then I noticed I was still bleeding a little. But I needed some dinner (soup) and to get my prescription filled for pain killers. I was never so glad to get home and relax.

In other news... My mother had surgery a month or so ago and got MRSA and is in the hospital on IV antibiotics for that. This leaves the possibility that I have MRSA and on Wednesday went to my primary care physician to get tested. I should get the results from that test back late this week or early next week. If it's positive then I'll have to go on antibiotics immediately in preparation for the surgery.

Oh, and as for the subject - I did get to keep my tooth, but I was affraid to put my tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy. How freaky would it be if she actually showed up?

I seem to have fallen behind

2011-06-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I had some chaos a few weeks ago (mom had her hip replaced), then I went on vacation. Came home to mom having an infection. ugh!

But anway, before my trip I did go see Dr. F. He did a mold of my mouth. When I have my middle tooth removed he will not be able to put a 3rd tooth on my wire so he will make a retainer like device. Depending on how Dr. D closes up my mouth from the extraction Dr. F may be able to give me the retainer on the same day.

He also adjusted the wire on the bottom and I'm really starting to see the tooth Dr. F is rotating move. That makes me happy, it hurts when I bite on harder foods.

A broken tooth and a new wire

2011-05-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Last week I was imbibing some jelly beans in honor of Easter and broke the bracket of one of my fake teeth, but don't tell the orthodontist. I went in that Monday afternoon and had it fixed. We did discuss my middle tooth being taken out, which is going to be a little tricky with timing since Dr. F will be out of the office the week before the week that I go away on my cruise.

I eventually got to speak to Dr. D this week. She hadn't had a chance to update herself on my file since she was away. But she said that with my surgery date there was enough time after my cruise for me to get the tooth out then, instead of before the cruise.

Yesterday I went back to Dr. F for my regular appointment. He didn't seem to remember our conversation from last week. But I have an appt for the week before I leave on my trip to get molds done. He also decided to try and move my bottom right tooth again, this is the 3rd attempt. I figure it must be working because it hurts. I took a picture of how he set this up.

A new surgeon and a new procedure

2011-03-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

On Monday I did meet with Dr. F. We did discuss the option of a bone graft and distraction. While he didn't say it in so many words, he did seem to think another bone graft would not work.

Today I met with a new surgeon from Dr. S's office, Dr. D. She is wonderful! My sister would even let her do surgery on her. I walked out feeling even more convinced that distraction was the right way to go. She would also like to have Dr. F move my middle tooth a bit before it has to come out, allowing it to pull some bone with it.

Then I can go on a cruise and enjoy myself before they put the distraction device in.

From there it will take a few weeks to move my teeth and the device will stay in my mouth for a few months while the bone behind it grows. After that they'll see how things develop in regards to what exactly they will do. But the bottom line is that a few months later I should be able to get implants put in.

A bunch of crappy choices

2011-03-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

I saw Dr. S yesterday to discuss my next steps. I was given 3 choices.
1. Not really do anything, but have a prosthetic put in place for the missing teeth. I didn't have 3 surgeries so I could get a prosthetic to put in my mouth. That plan is out.

2. Have another bone graft, they'll take out my middle tooth during this surgery. Then hope to have enough bone to do 2 implants and bridge the 3rd tooth in.

3. Have Dental Distraction. What the heck is that? Well they put in an appliance and move 2 of my teeth, which will bring the bone and tissue with it. You can read a bit more about this type of procedure here: http://www.bilodeauorthodontics.com/case6.pdf Pictures are included of the device. I need to go meet with another surgeon in the office who specializes in this area.

When I spoke to Dr. F last time I got the impression he wasn't too kean on the Distraction. But looking at my other options, it seems like it has the most hope. I already had 2 bone grafts that didn't get the job done. I should say the last bone graft did work, it just didn't fill in the complete area that needed bone. But if I had all these issues with the first 2 grafts, I question if a 3rd graft will be the answer.

I wonder what's ahead of me

2011-03-06T05:06:00.000-08:00

I got a call on Friday from Dr. S's office, he wants to see me. My appointment isn't until later this month, but has left me wondering what Dr. S and Dr. F have decided should be the next step....

Minor adjustments

2011-02-17T04:26:00.000-08:00

Monday I went to see Dr. F. All he did was make a minor adjustment to my bottom braces, the pain is starting to subside now.

He did also discuss with me what Dr. S had proposed about moving my tooth, some sort of displacement procedure thing. He made it sound a lot more complicated then Dr. S did. Something about an incision and putting in a small metal thing. Umm, ok. But, Dr. F is not convinced this is the best course of action (not sure what he thinks should be done). Dr. F thinks the bigger problem is a lack of blood vessels in the area of the cleft, which is causing all my problems.

Moving my newly cleaned teeth

2011-02-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

I saw my surgeon last week and went for a cleaning this week, just to round out the excitement, I have the orthodontist next week.

Dr. S's next plan is to move one of my teeth. It is the tooth next to the gap in my mouth, he wants to move it forward to help close up the gums. By moving it (using the braces), the gums (which haven't closed up right with my last 2 surgeries) should close up better. I can't wait, I love moving teeth!

The other thing he said is that it looks like I will lose my front tooth, he said the bone just isn't there and he thinks it's part of the reason that the gums aren't closing up right. It doesn't sound like something they're doing for a little while. My dentist, LF, also agreed that the tooth didn't have good bone structure and it's not in good shape internally anyway. But LF is as always, excited about my progress. She however was not too excited that I have been using perodex since my surgery, it's been staining my teeth and I will agree they were looking pretty gross.

Ouch!

2011-01-17T03:47:00.000-08:00

After my last appointment with Dr. F my braces were torturing me. The way he attached my rogue tooth to the wires were really cutting into my gums quite badly. I had 3 teeth constantly covered in wax. So back I went to see Dr. F. I gave it a few days so that my tooth could move back into place, which I figured would make it easier to put on the wire. After a bit of wire clipping and tugging, the tooth was reattached to my wire and I was not in pain! Oh, happy day!

Bracket

2010-12-29T14:44:00.000-08:00

The last time I saw Dr. F he noticed that one of my brackets was loose on my tooth. But because of the surgery he was not able to fix it. It happens to be the tooth next to my gap (not the middle tooth). Well the bracket has separated from the tooth. You wouldn't notice unless you were actually checking the tooth. I just hope the tooth doesn't move backwards - both literally and figuratively.

A Christmas Miracle

2010-12-24T09:45:00.001-08:00

I might be being overly dramatic, but I did have a good visit to Dr. S this week.

He said he likes the development of the bone, YEA!

He doesn't want to touch anything in my mouth for a while, but he wants to see me in early February and then he'll take a better look at the work he needs to do on the soft tissue, basically not all of the closure closed up right, it's better then after the last surgery, but needs more work.

Also, he's still not sure about my middle tooth next to the bone graft. I may still lose that since he's thinking it might be part of the reason for the problems in the area.

Did I mention the bone was developing?

The Orthodontist

2010-12-07T15:47:00.000-08:00

I hope you haven't waited too long for this...

So on Monday Dr. F put my teeth back in. They had a tough time getting the wire back in. My teeth narrowed in a bit since I didn't have a wire in for a month. Dr. F put in a new wire that would help pull my teeth back out again. I hope it works or I'm going to end up with 2 really skinny implants when this is all over.

But he told me to be careful eating since I'm not totally healed up. I did enquire about my overdue dental cleaning, that will have to wait at least 2 months. He did laugh at my question, which I did preface with, "I know I can't do it for a while," which was a little annoying.

I think we have some bone!

2010-12-06T15:47:00.000-08:00

I saw Dr. S today and the bone graft is looking good. YEA!

I do need a little work on the soft tissue, which I had figured out already. But that will just involve some Novocain in the office. That will be some time after Christmas.

He took out some of the loose stitches, which was nice since they area annoying, but it hurt A LOT. I felt like he was just poking me with sharp objects. But now I can feel the roof of my mouth much better.

Also, I can eat regular food again. I had pot roast for dinner!

I also saw Dr. F, but you'll have to read about that later in the week.

The good, bad and the slow to post

2010-11-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

I saw Dr. S last week, sorry it's taken so long to post. I keep forgetting when I'm actually at the computer to post about it. But I'm here now!

So the good news is that I have not lost any bone. Yea!

The bad news is that he didn't seem to like how part of my gums closed up. And I still have a small hole into my sinuses.

We're now at the "wait and see" stage. Oh, I thought I was already at that stage.

I am still on a "very soft" diet, which isn't so great.

I also still have a little bit of pain at times, either that or I'm addicted to tylenol and advil.

1st Doctors Visit

2010-11-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

I had my first Doctor's visit today. I saw an associate of Dr. S. He didn't do too much, did make me properly brush my teeth though. Said that things were healing appropriately. Moved me up to mushy foods - pasta, mashed potatoes, eggs... Originally I thought I would be much more up on my feet at this point, but I'm not. It didn't sound like they wanted me to return to work next week like I had originally planned, so I wont be.

I see Dr. S next Monday, I suspect I will learn a lot more then.

I also saw Dr. F, who basically did nothing. The surgeon doesn't want to have my teeth put in for another 2 weeks until the swelling goes down more. Dr. F decided not to bother putting the wire back in until then as it's not needed.

It seems like they're taking things very conservatively at this point, which is ok. I'm not sure if after the bone loss last time they're feeling more conservative or if there were any issues with the surgery where they are feeling a need to be more conservative.

I will say that today I have had a bit more pain then I have had in the past few days and I'm taking the same amount and types of pain killers.

Oh, and laughing hurts, no more funny sitcoms for a few more days.

Coming along

2010-11-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

So I'm coming along, the swelling is down to a point where I don't look grotesque (or did my sister say I looked grotesque? Ahhh, sisters!) Well, I don't look that bad, but am still pretty swollen. I also have some bruising on my neck and throat, but it's light and hard to see. My mouth still hurts too, but I'm taking mostly just Advil and the Percocet at night to help me sleep.

This morning I woke up with a gross taste in my mouth and it seemed very mucusie mixed in with a bit of dried blood. There also seemed to be bits of something in there. I'm hoping it's just some particles from my smoothie last night, but I'll find out more today when I see the surgeon. But after losing the bone last time I'm a bit nervous about anything that doesn't seem 100% right.

What day is it?

2010-11-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

Since my surgery I have been a bit oblivious to my surroundings. At times I'm awake and aware of things, and at other times my brain is mush.

My pain has been subsiding, but my swelling is up. My head looks like a lopsided watermelon, my lower left side is swollen and my upper right is swollen.

On my lower right I noticed today that Dr. S removed the bracket on a tooth. I don't mind seeing it go since it was the bracket that was leaving my gums irritated, though I'm sure Dr. F will be putting it back on.

I did have some nausea last night, which was cured when I threw up after taking the anti-nausea medicine. I'm not sure that's how that is supposed to work...

Surgery #4

2010-11-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer - I'm writing this slightly delirious after surgery.

Last Friday I saw Dr. S and here is what he said he was doing during this surgery. He was going to mix Bone Morphogenic proteins with a bit of bone from my jaw and something else. He was going to open up the gums more to allow more blood flow and healing. He showed me some pictures of another case with a similar problem and the mouth looked great at the end. He did think he was going to have to take my one middle tooth out and asked permission.

Monday I saw Dr. F and he took out my wire and teeth, which felt really weird.

Tuesday: Surgery was supposed to take 2 hours, it took over 3. The anesthesiologist was able to get me intubated through the nose using the camera. Though Dr. S had to move my tongue, which might explain why my tongue hurt after the surgery. He did not take out my middle tooth, he said it had enough bone around it. My throat hurts and it hurts to talk. My jaw hurts from where he took the bone. My parents are driving me nuts. My face is very swollen.

I'm on clear liquids for 3 days, then liquids for another 3 days.

Not much going on...

2010-10-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't written lately, because there just isn't much going on. I'm just waiting for the next surgery in November. I did go away to England and Scotland for 2 weeks, the food wasn't great, but I was able to eat it and that made me very happy!

This week I did go to see Dr. S, but there wasn't much to report from that. He told me to keep doing what I'm doing. That this sometimes happens with adults and he was confident the bone stimulating proteins would help. I did keep some of the bone, so that's good.

One other good thing is that my primary care physician has opted not to have me come into the office for a pre-surgical clearance, he feels that I'm in good health and he can clear me without seeing me. I think since he did one back in July too helped. So I have one less thing to do before the surgery.

Another procedure...

2010-09-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

I went to see Dr. S yesterday. He cleaned out the wound more, which does not hurt but feels really weird. He said he needs to open up the wound again and put in the BMP/Bone stimulating proteins. But this will involve going under general anesthesia so I will have it in the hospital. He said that the recovery wont be nearly as long, just a few days. Sounds great! But he did say I could eat pretty much anything I wanted, he didn't recommend candy apples and other really hard foods though.

I also saw Dr. F, he put in the last tooth I was missing, which is good. I do not see him again until the day before the procedure/surgery. He said that this delay will delay the braces a bit but otherwise things were going well with my teeth.

good news and more bad news

2010-08-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I saw one of Dr. S's colleagues. The good news is that he said I'm fine to take my trip in September.

The bad news is that it's because it will be a while before Dr. S will be able to put in the bone stimulating proteins. Apparently, I need to heal up before he can put thim in and this doctor indicated it would be a few months. But what was even more interesting was that he indicated that Dr. S might need to put more bone in. I'm not sure if this doctor was seeing more bone loss then Dr. S had initially seen, or if Dr. S was giving me the better scenario hoping that he would be able to just use the bone stimulating proteins. Either way, time will tell how much bone I lose and how to deal with it.

I had thought the bone stimulating proteins would go in sooner, but the more I think about it Dr. S didn't give much of an indication of when they would go in. It was Dr. F who seemed to indicate that they would use them soon.

The most frustrating part is knowing that all this will delay the whole process. I'm not sure if it will delay the braces much since the bone is more for the implants then for the the braces. But this would certainly delay getting the implants.

Overnight in the hospital

2010-08-23T06:23:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write about my night in the hospital for a few days now because it sucked. I hate to be so negative, but anyone who has spent a night in the hospital knows what I'm talking about.

I fall asleep around 10pm and then around 11pm my Mom decides to go home, but wakes me up in the process. I was up for a while after that, in part because the hallway light was shining on my face.

It was like that all night, I would fall asleep and anywhere between 40 minutes and an hour and a half something would wake me up. One time it was the IV machine beeping, then it was my roommate moaning in pain, then they want to take your blood pressure. In the true irony of it all, the longest stretch of peacefulness I experienced was when i was awake and writing emails on my iPhone because something had woken me up and I couldn't get back to sleep.

Ugh, not good news

2010-08-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

I went to see Dr. F today and he seemed happy with the progress I was making and put in one of my fake teeth. My mouth does look better, but the tooth is kinda annoying.

He also explained how the bone stimulating proteins would be put in. There is a bit of an upside down valley in my gums where the bone is supposed to be. The bone stimulating proteins would be put in there and then that valley will fill in. But the bad news is that Dr. F told me to make sure I can fly after they put it in. Ok, he didn't say I couldn't fly. But since I'm going away in the middle of September if there is a restriction I could have an issue.

I did call Dr. S's office and am waiting a call back.

Back to the surgeon

2010-08-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

I saw Dr. S again this week and got some good news. My wound around the bone graft is healing now, similar to how a scab heals over a cut.

I no longer have to rise with peroxide and water, instead I have to use one of those liquid syringe things and clean out the wound with that. I think it's a bit better, but I'm not sure how much better that is.

The orthodontist

2010-08-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

I saw Dr. F this week for the first time since the surgery. It was obvious that he hadn't spoken to Dr. S yet. He did try to call him while I was there, but wasn't able to talk to him. He said he would talk to him that night.

I filled him in on the bone situation and he noticed the missing tooth himself.

He changed my wire in the top, another thick wire which left my teeth quite sore. So just as the pain was fading so I didn't constantly need to take advil, the new wire changed all that.

Dr. F did not put in my fake tooth and is working on another tooth to put in place of the tooth that was taken out. I'm hoping for next week when I go, but I doubt it.

Otherwise, he sent me on my way reminding me to keep the open wound in my mouth clean.

2nd Doctor's visit

2010-08-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

I went to see Dr. S today. I was a little worried about this visit because I got the impression when I saw the covering surgeon last week that things weren't quite right with the healing. I didn't think it was anything major, but something just wasn't right.

I waited a while to see Dr. S and when they brought me back they put me in a different room then I had ever been in before, this one was obviously one they used for in-office surgeries. The chair was much more sophisticated, the room was much larger, there was an IV stand. Then I found the draws labeled for "IV meds," and "emergency meds." That didn't make me feel more confident.

After waiting a little more Dr. S finally came in and said that the covering Doctor said that I had some bone exposed. He asked if I noticed. I said it just looked like a funny hole to me, though I will say that I do sometimes notice a bit of mucus or blood on my front teeth that I think is coming from my sinus area. Though at the time I wasn't sure if that was what he was referring to. He looked in my mouth, but couldn't see much. He cleaned out the wound area and then irrigated.

The Good: The palate and the floor of my nose are "communicating" and healing up fine.
My leg is doing well. He seemed happy that I was walking without a limp, still a little sore and taking it easy with stairs.

The Bad: I still have an open wound from the bone graft and have lost some bone. He didn't seem too concerned at this point. He said it may need to be cleaned out another 1 or 2 times and then he'll put in some bone stimulating proteins (in the office, not a surgery) and take it from there.

My mom's biggest worry - I wont be able to go to Las Vegas next Friday. It crossed my mind, but my mind was running a bit at the time so I didn't ask. I didn't get the impression that it would, unless you puts in the bone stimulating proteins next week. But I'll ask next week when I go, it's not like I can do anything about it now anyway.

My leg still hurts

2010-08-09T06:22:00.000-07:00

The other day my sister and my Mom dragged me to the outlets. It sounded like it wasn't going to be an extended day of outlet shopping like we sometimes do so I didn't think too much of it. But as usual, we were there for hours. The problem is that while I can walk fine on my leg, it was still sore. I woke up in the middle of the night when my pain killers wore off and my leg was hurting worse then it had in about a week. I am feeling better now after taking a day to rest my leg.

Aside from the outlet thing, I thought my leg would be feeling pretty much normal by now, but it's not there yet. I can walk fine, sometimes it feels sore, other times it feels pretty close to normal. Stairs are an issue. I can go up without much problem, I think that is more of an issue of the muscles being weak from not being used. I have not been able to walk down normally though, my knee hurts when I bend that much.

My first visit to the doctor

2010-08-04T15:04:00.001-07:00

My surgeon is on vacation this week so I saw a different one and I didn't really care for him much. I felt like I got berated for blowing my nose, which apparently i'm not allowed to do, even though my doctor said I could do it very very softly.

He irrigated my mouth and cleaned out the wound which felt weird.

He said I could eat some more foods. But I can't bite into anything with my front teeth, but can eat stuff that needs just a little chewing in the back of my mouth. I'm not sure how much more food that is, but I'm sure I'll come up with some new ideas.

I have to say my gums look really weird though. Before I just had a gap in my gums up to the roof of my mouth. Now it looks kinda like a hook or an O with a hole on the edge. It looks like the gums behind my tooth line need to grow forward and that the hook needs to grow to connect to the other side of my gums, which it doesn't really do. It's weird, I thought the gums would look much more complete.

I think I sprung a leak

2010-08-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

Over the last day or two I've noticed that when I blow my nose I can taste it. I think that somehow my nose and mouth are still connected and there is a hole somewhere. This goes back to when I thought liquids where still sneaking into my nose. I thought I was crazy then, but maybe not. I think I have a leak somewhere in there. I go to the doctor tomorrow so hopefully I'll get some answers.

I was a Guinea Pig

2010-08-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

I found for this surgery I ended up as a bit of a guinea pig, which I didn't feel like last time.

Dr. S's resident decided he wanted to refresh his memory of how to do IV's. The nurse let him do it. The IV went in ok, but after the surgery it was killing me, way more then anything else did. It had to be moved to my other arm and even after it came out my arm hurt when the blood pressure cuff would check my blood pressure. Hmmm, maybe he should practice on someone with better veins.

Then after the surgery in recovery my nurse was in training, she wasn't too bad at her job, but she certainly didn't seem ready to care for 2 patients at a time. The good news is that the nurse helping her was very good.

I think much more guinea pig stuff would have pushed me over the edge.

I'm a sensitive little thing!

2010-08-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today I've noticed the roof of my mouth has gotten more sensitive, and it feels quite strange. Yesterday I started to notice that when I would drink it would sometimes feel like liquid would go up my nose, yet it doesn't. I've occasionally gotten the same sensation today but I've also found at time that the roof of my mouth is getting sore so when I touch it, it sometimes hurts. I guess the numbness is wearing off, I guess that's both good and bad.

Fascinating Recovery

2010-08-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

When I woke up from surgery I was fascinated by what was going on around me. The first things I did was check the clock and check to see if I lost a tooth. But then I found everything going on around me to be really interesting. The girl to my right had a double mastectomy and had another wound, she was going home that day. Though interestingly she didn't have anyone there waiting for her, she had some friends meeting her later on - WOW!

A little while later a new patient came in to my left and she had also had a mastectomy. Wow, apparently I need to get on top of my breast self checks!

When I woke up I asked for my parents, I knew that since I was staying overnight they would allow them in for a visit, unlike last time when I had to pull myself together. The nurse said I had to wait until I left recovery, but I told her I was staying overnight and she said I could see them soon. It did take a while to see them though since they had to change my IV first. When my parents had left they told them it would be about an hour until I got my room, it ended up taking closer to 2 hours between getting some drugs (I wasn't in pain so I didn't take medication until after my parents left,) and getting all of my paperwork together.

There was a nurse who had been working recovery for about 3 months and she was my nurse. But after 3 months she was having issues with managing 2 patients. I heard a fair amount of conversation about her and the nurse mentoring her kept having to remind her to do things and keep on top of things and stuff. I'm afraid poor old Sally doesn't have a career in recovery. I hope I don't get to find out from experience though. But who knows the nurse mentoring lives in my town so I could run into her somewhere.

My surgery and stuff

2010-07-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was the surgery and it went well according to the doctors. One of my teeth did have to come out though, one next to my gap, but not the middle tooth. The tooth had no bone so the bone graft wouldn't have set there. I'm not terribly surprised though. As I recall, and mom confirmed this. The tooth didn't grow in itself. A hole had to be cut into my gums and a bracket from the braces attached to pull the tooth down. Owell, it was an ugly tooth anyway.

There was one complication during the surgery though, with anesthesia. When they put the tube in my nose it hit my pharyngeal flap and got stuck. The doctor couldn't see the tube and called in the ENT to scope me. He saw some trauma to the pharyngeal flap, but not damage. They had to intubate me through the mouth and I have a sore throat from it.

Some wacky observations:
I remember being moved from one table to a stretcher after surgery
I was in very little pain for the first few hours after surgery
I'm not in nearly as much pain as last time and that makes a big difference
I'm not very swollen in the face, though that has gotten worse over time.

Well I have lots more to say, but I'm tired so it will have to wait until later.

I can now touch the roof of my mouth

2010-07-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

On Friday I went to Dr. F and had the palate expander taken out. I cannot tell you how happy that made me! The roof of my mouth was so soft and tender, it felt so good to be able to touch it again.

Taking the palate expander out wasn't an easy feat for Dr. F, though it seemed to go fairly smoothly. It did hurt me though, not so much the teeth that held the palate expander, but Dr. F kept leaning on my front tooth that always hurts and really hurt after having the wire taken out. I actually had to complain about it, and I usually don't complain unless something really hurts.

Dr. F gave me the option of having my fake tooth put back in, but I would have to come back on Monday afternoon to have it taken out again. I decided to save myself the trouble of going back on Monday and go without the tooth, I didn't have any real plans this weekend anyway where I would have felt funny without the tooth. I did ask if it would be back in by the time I went away in September and Dr. F sounded sure it would be. I do have to wait until Dr. S gives the ok for that though.

After taking out the palate expander Dr. F put new bracket rings on the teeth that were holding the palate expander. One of those rings feels a little off, I'm not sure if it's the way it sits on the tooth that it feels funny or if it's just hitting my teeth differently making it feel like it's off.

Since Friday my teeth have been quite sore on the top, especially my two front teeth. When they take the wire out my teeth always feel a little sore and loose, like the teeth are just sorda floating within in the bone and aren't really solid in the bone. It makes me wonder how different the damon braces system is to the old way and if part of it has to do with them keeping your teeth from setting into the bones, making them easier and quicker to move.

On another note, last weekend the chain that was moving my tooth on the bottom right fell off and I ate it. I only noticed when I was eating and the tooth felt funny, I looked and the chain was gone. Grrrr. Of course it was a Saturday afternoon and the office was closed. By Sunday morning the tooth had moved back totally. Grrrr. Dr. F did not replace the chain on the last visit.

Surgery is Tuesday!

Pre-Operative Stuffs

2010-07-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I went to Dr. S for my pre-op visit. He outlined my surgery in too much goory detail and we discussed drugs.

Here is how the bone graft works - he doesn't actually put bone in my gap, he puts bone where the teeth should go and bone promoting protein in the gap. At least that was how I understood it. He'll cut the skin the the hole and then stitch it back together to make a base for the sinuses and a roof to the mough. Then he went into the bone graft part and I only got so far as him cutting open my gums in the front of my mouth and lifting them up. I'm guessing then he puts in the bone, but I had heard enough. He'll take a piece of bone from my left tibia and then my leg will hurt and I'll be hobbling around for a week to 2 weeks.

Dangers - biggest concern is infection and banging my leg and breaking it before it heals. ACK!

Recuperation - I have an overnight reservation at the hospital. I'm wondering if I can get an email confirmation of it so I can add it to my tripit app on my iphone. Then I'll be on clears for the first and second day and after that soft foods until I see him again 8 days after surgery.

Wednesday I went for some pre-op stuff at the hospital, the usual stuff - blood work, a million questions on your medical history and pre-surgical instructions. The Physician's Assistant I had this time was a million times better then last time, she didn't even screw up my paperwork!

Another painful experience

2010-07-12T05:58:00.000-07:00

Last week I was back at Dr. F's office and left feeling slightly irritated...

Apparently my wire on the top shifted a bit and had to be moved back. Also, he did fix the wire that was attached to the palate expander, I think I left him wondering how I did that. Also, one of the girls put a shorter chain on the lower right tooth that they've been trying to rotate. It has hurt a fair bit since then so I think the tooth might have actually moved. Looking at it though sometime I think it did move, other times I don't think so.

We also had a conversation about my surgery on the 27th, he's not sure how Dr. S wants to handle it. Then he started to almost think out loud to me about how they usually wait 5-6 months from the time the palate expander finishes expanding - that would acutally be Aug 17. This is the first I've heard the wait time this way. I was originally told by Dr. F 4-6 months and the same by Dr. S, no one added in the rest about after the palate expander finishes expanding. This irritated me quite a bit since it was 3 weeks before my surgery and he decides to bring it up then. At this point I'm pretty much committed mentally to July 27th. But once or twice Dr. S has made comments about Dr. F being conservative, which fits well with my perception of him. But at this point I'm sticking with the July 27th date. My theory is that if the surgeon thinks this is enough time then it probably is. If it was an orthodontic issue then I would defer to the orthodontist.

Two other things that I have thought of/ noticed since that visit. The numbness in my gums has gone away on the right side of my mouth. I'm still dumb a bit on the left side, but being as the tooth on the left side of the cleft hurts I know that the area there isn't still numb. The other thing I thought is that when Dr. F gets me ready for the surgery he's probably going to take the wire out of my braces and it probably wont go back in for a few weeks. My fake tooth is held in with the wires. 3 weeks after the surgery I'm going away with the family for a few days, I can deal with a gap for that trip. However, in the middle of September I'm going away on a 2 week tour and I do not want to have a gap there. I feel funny meeting new people and having to explain the lack of tooth, but even worse is that every picture from that trip will have me missing a tooth and that will drive me crazy for the rest of my life.

I think I broke something and my tongue is paying the price

2010-07-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

At some point today I noticed something felt different about my palate expander. Towards the front of my mouth there was more metal, like something was out of place. There is a piece on it that does move around a little bit so I initially thought it was that. But it wasn't moving and it was hurting my tongue when I would talk.

Giving it some thought I remembered that Dr. F had used some wire to tie it off and hold it in place, I wondered if it was the wire from that. Which left the question of how that happened and what to do with it. But I couldn't see inside my mouth to even look.

I went to my parents house for dinner and Mom looked but didn't see anything, though she's not known for her vision. So I went to the neighbors house since the husband is a dentist. He looked and from what he said the wire used to tie off the palate expander had shifted. He seems mildly concerned that it could brake off and I could swallow it, but otherwise thought I would be ok until Wednesday when Dr. F is back in the office and I have my appointment.

Is nothing easy?

When novacaine goes bad.

2010-07-04T12:42:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went to LF to get 2 small cavities filled. I'm not a fan of the drill, but it's always been more of a nusance then anything else. But this time I was having an anxiety attack. My heart rate went up, my hands started shaking and that drill was driving me crazy! I felt so silly about it that I didn't even say anything. I hate the drill, but not this much, or so I thought. I managed to survive the encounter and the cavities were filled.

Later on that night I was thinking and realized I had the same reaction last time, at the time I thought I was just a little emotional since I was starting this whole process with my teeth, but I certainly didn't feel that way this time. I checked Google - apparently there has been a recent change in novacaine and the newer stuff now has epinephrine in it and I'm not the only one to have had a reaction like this. The "new" novacaine lasts longer, which is good if you can tolerate the epinephrine. If not then it seems you have the choice of valium or different novacaine. I spoke to LF and she's going to give me different novacaine next time.

Sorry it took so long to post this, but nothing is really new with my teeth at the moment - they're all still there but not doing much at the moment. I do see Dr. F this week and my surgery is in 3 and a half weeks.

A cleaning and good news

2010-06-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

Last week I went for a dental cleaning. LF was excited to see me and my mouth. She's always so positive and happy - she thought everything looked good to her. But she did find 2 cavities starting so I'll be seeing her again next week.

Yesterday I went for an adjustment with Dr. F, he didn't do much other then change the chain on teeth on the lower right. The tooth that is sideways doesn't seem to be moving, but what do I know? But I did get good news. Dr. F will take the palate expander out before my surgery and it probably wont have to go back in - oh happy day!!!!

I got a tooth!

2010-05-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

I've been late putting out this post, but on Monday I got a tooth to fill in my gap, YEA!

I was in the chair for about an hour, but it was worth it. The way the tooth is attached is that it is on the wire for the braces. As such, Dr. F put in a really think wire - think steel rod. Then Dr. F used some thin wire to tie it in too. I have to say it seems really sturdy in there. But the girl had a lot of trouble putting the wire in, it was a miscommunication between Dr. F and her - she was trying to feed the wire to my back teeth, but the wire only had to go to the tooth one in from the back. Also of note, Dr. F made the tooth a touch shorter then the ones next to it, so that it wouldn't be taking any pressure from biting on it.

I was in quite a bit of pain when Dr. F was putting the tooth on the wire. It's next to my middle tooth that hurts, so a new thick wire combined with all that movement from tying on the tooth, it was bad. It was the kind of pain that your eye want to cry, the pain doesn't make you cry, but it's so close to the tear ducts that you can't control it. I didn't actually cry, but I felt close to it. But in the next chair was a young girl who I think was crying and in quite a bit of pain. I must admit that I figured me crying wouldn't help her and I had to be tough and that gave me a little extra incentive to keep the tears in my eyes.

But I have to say, the tooth looks great! The picture was a self portrait with my iphone so it's not the best, but I think it gets the point across. I'm a smily happy go lucky kind of person, I now find myself, when I'm smiling, to be totally conscious of the fact that I now have a teeth (and hence not flashing my toothless smile) and it feels much better, I'm less shy about it. It's a good thing.

No new tooth, but I got a wire

2010-04-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to Dr. F, I had hoped to get a new tooth, but ended up with a new wire instead. Although Dr. F did pick a color for the tooth that will be made to fill in my gap, hopefully he can add that when I return in 4 weeks. I did warn him that if I didn't get the tooth my mother was going to be calling him, she is quite eager for my tooth thinking that it will improve my speech. I do not believe it will have any meaningful impact on my speech.

But he did do a couple things during this visit.

He added a rubbery chain to the tooth on my lower right that is sideways, it would seem he's finally trying to rotate that tooth.

He also added a wire to my top row of teeth, while doing that the cap on one of my teeth fell off and had to be recemented. But my teeth really hurt today, I'm taking some good drugs and they still hurt. Also, it appears this morning that the wire has already moved to the left. I'll have to try to go tomorrow to take care of that.

Another milestone

2010-04-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night when I was brushing my teeth for bed I tugged a bit on my last and final stitch that was still in my mouth and it hurt, a lot.

On Thursday in the morning it hurt so much that I had someone from work take a look at it, I was actually on the verge of tears at one point because it hurt so much.

Thursday afternoon before dinner I noticed it finally fell out!!!!! Yea! It only took 6 weeks and 2 days, but who's counting?

So what's the deal with the bone graft?

2010-04-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

I went to Dr. S today primarily to discuss when I would have my bone graft surgery. He said that Dr. F was being very conservative and I had to wait 4 months since the date of my last surgery. February 23 + 4 months = July (I'm guessing that Dr. S is going on vacation in early July so no late June or early July). I scheduled for July 27, but nothing is that easy since that is cutting it close to some vacations I have planned. I'll get back to that in a minute...

I asked Dr. S what the recovery was like after the bone graft - he said for 2 weeks I'll be on really soft food, ugh, I'm sick of soft food already! He said he was going to take the bone from my tibia (shin just below my knee) and that I would be a little sore 7-10 days and wont be jogging for a little while. But he said that if he had to take from my hip then the recover is a lot slower, possibly a couple months to get fully back up and running. He seemed to play that down, but the fact that he mentioned it indicates that it's a possibility. I also looked online, though it's hard to tell what type of bone grafts people are reporting about. Sounds like I'll be fairly sore for at least 2 weeks and the roof of my mouth will be easily irritated and tender for 2 weeks. And I saw that there might be an issue with flying (the whole pressurized cabin thing.)

After talking to Mom, who seemed a little concerned about the time frame and confused as to why I couldn't do it earlier I decided to call Dr. S's office. He said 2-3 weeks to fly, so I'm good, but I'm on the border with that time frame and that stressed me a bit. I asked if there was any possibility of getting the surgery the week before and was told that they are waiting for more surgical space and she'll see next week if they get more room. If they do she'll call me and give me a spot the week before. I would feel much more comfortable with that. While the trip to Las Vegas with my family is pretty relaxing I feel like 3 weeks will be cutting it close, 4 weeks I feel MUCH better with.

The other thing I asked about was my front tooth that I've been having trouble with - it's been sore for a couple years now and finally had a root canal in the fall. It's very close to the cleft but Dr. S thinks there is enough bone. However, he wont know for sure until he cuts open my mouth. Ackk!

I also have a vacation that I'm planning for mid September with Contiki. I think I'm fine with mid to late July and the recovery. Unless, they take the bone from my hip, my solution is to carefully research the reasons I can cancel my tour with travel insurance companies.

Building confidence

2010-04-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

Since I've been back to work I have been feeling much better about my poor speech. Maybe my speech has gotten a little better, but I doubt much. Last week was a little rough being my first days back and then taking a training class - the whole being around strangers in a large group thing. Then over the weekend I had to speak with the executive staff at work and that went well (or at least I didn't hear anything bad.) Then this week I was away for training. I went to Washington DC, and other then a down moment when I first got to DC, I did well. And my down moment was probably more related to my being in a strange place and trying to find food with little success. But the first day in class I told the class that I had had surgery and that if they couldn't understand me to just ask me to repeat myself. I was a little quieter then I might normally be (possibly a good thing), but when I only had a few problems with I did speak and everyone was very nice and respectful. I'm running out of new and intimidating situations to be stressed about.

Felling a little better

2010-03-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

I went to the Oral Surgeon on Monday afternoon. He said everything looked good and that I don't need to come up for follow up. However, he said to keep my appt that's in 2 weeks so we can work out a date for the bone graft. He did think that late June or early July was quite possible for that surgery.
He asked if I would be interested in a fake tooth with some sort of device that would cover up my hole and prevent fluid from going up my nose. I said yes, and he called Dr. F. He didn't speak to him, but plans to. I was so happy I nearly cried, I felt very cared for by Dr. S. He also anticipates that Dr. F will allow my palate to close up a bit before the surgery and said that my teeth are slanted out a bit, which I hear is common with the Surgically Assisted Rapid Palate Expander.

I asked where he gets the skin from for the palate and he said there is always plenty of skin in the cleft (remember it's two separate pieces of palate that are covered. He cuts that skin strategically so that there is enough for my base of my sinuses/nose and enough for the roof of my mouth. That's kinda what I thought, but now I know for sure.

A gross story, but it's almost funny 2 days later

2010-03-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

You have been warned... But I think it's an interesting story if you want to know what it's like to have a palate expander.

I used to go to a place at a local mall that does messages on message tables. I went once after my surgery and with the trouble swallowing and laying on my stomach it was hard to keep the saliva in my mouth for 10 minutes, but I was able to do it. I hadn't been there since the surgery since my face was swollen and stuff and this week I thought I would give it a try, big mistake.

So I go and ask for a 10 minute message. A few minutes in the saliva in my mouth in building up and eventually I end up drooling through the hole in the table. Opps. But I feel a little better. Eventually I try to lift my head a bit to slurp up the saliva and swallow it. Another big mistake. It seemed to have pushed the saliva into my sinuses (not hard to do with the hole in the roof of my mouth.) So now it just dripped out of my nose uncontrollably. It was gross and I totally couldn't stop it. Think of a couple minutes of saliva dripping out of your nose...

I wont be going back there anytime soon, and I wont be getting a message while laying on my stomach either. I wonder if I can do one of those funky chairs?

Full expanded and need a tooth

2010-03-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I went to Dr. F and was done expanding! He put something in the expander so it wouldn't move anymore, took some pictures and an x-ray. He told me I come back in 4 weeks and he'll make me a fake tooth for the gap.

Here's where things kinda went sour and the reason I didn't post this for so long. I asked Dr. F what we were going to do about my not being able to talk. Well, he said I was talking fine and left it at that. I'm not sure if he can do anything, maybe Dr. S made up the thing about the retainer type of thing. But I felt like I was blown off. My speech is fine if you're a 10 year old. But I'm 33 years old and speak to government officials at work. I'm in a position at work where I can't afford misunderstandings. In most cases I can be understood, but it's not uncommon that I have to repeat myself or rephrase things so that people can understand me. I'm quite frustrated with this and am not sure how I'll deal with it for another 3 to 5 months. On top of having issues at work, it doesn't make me want to go out and meet people or go to social events. It's one thing to have speech problems with friends and family, it's another thing when you're with people you don't know. It makes a new social setting even more stressful. I start work again tomorrow, it should be interesting...

If I had known about this I don't know if I would have chosen this route. It's not just about my problems with speech, and at the end I'll probably be happy with everything and all this discomfort and frustration will be forgotten. But the palate expander is quite inconvenient, I have trouble swallowing, eating, taking medication, brushing my teeth. If I knew then what I know now I would have asked a lot more questions and maybe made a different decision. There's a lot of things that weren't in the brochure I got.

Also, I was supposed to get my dental cleaning this coming week, that will have to be put off for 6-8 weeks to avoid getting an infection in my cleft.

Update, including gross stuff

2010-03-12T07:03:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been so quiet lately, I've been meaning to post, but just haven't gotten myself together to do it. I've been healing well and progressing well so all of that is good. I'm not in any real pain. Occasionally, I feel a little sore in the cheeks after expanding, but that's more of an uncomfortable feeling then a pain feeling and it only lasts a little while. I have encountered two problems though... If you don't like gross stuff, don't read past here.

If you look back to months ago where I posted photos of my mouth you can see a light line in the roof of my mouth. That is where my cleft palate was pulled together, closing the hole that was in the roof of my mouth. Think of it as the roof palate being made of two pieces that were pushed together, the crease could always allow liquids to pass through, but it was so tightly fit that it rarely happened. Well what the palate expander is doing is pushing those two pieces of palate apart. Now all those liquids can EASILY (especially if my head isn't upright) pass through to my nose. Food hasn't been a problem though. The good news is that my eating is going better, I'm not back to steaks yet but I'm eating nearly as much food as I was in the past at a meal. It's still softer foods, but it's getting easier to find foods to eat on a menu and I'm not stuck eating the same foods for every meal.

The other problem is with my speech. I'm losing a lot of air through my nose and sound very nasally. I'm having trouble enunciating some sounds, it's very frustrating. To make it even worse I have a tendency to talk fast, which makes me even harder to understand.

Dr. S had mentioned there was the possibility of a retainer type of thing that could be made to help, and I think I need that, A LOT. But it looks like Dr. F will have to make it and I suspect when he makes this it will include a tooth (where the large gap has formed.) I'll ask about that next week when I go to Dr. F for my last expansion on March 17.

Days 4, 5, and 6

2010-03-03T14:10:00.001-08:00

So Days 4, 5, and 6 of surgery were not good days. All the liquid medications were really bothering my stomach and making me throw-up. Not a particularly nice thing to do after having surgery on your mouth. I was prescribed an anti-nausea medication which was only partly helpful but cost me $60, ouch! I ended up switching my penicillin to a pill and stopped taking the Tylenol with codeine.

On Saturday I went to Dr. F (my Friday appointment was canceled due to snow) and apparently the palate expander wasn't tightening quite right, he said it was loose. I was subsequently rotated 4 times at that appointment causing pain to 1 tooth and a bit of dizziness. But otherwise Dr. F said things were looking good and I wasn't too swollen.

Days 1 and 2 - Post-Op

2010-03-01T07:18:00.000-08:00

I'm finally back to report on days 1 and 2 post surgery. They were relatively quiet days, I would take medication every 4-6 hours (I took a total of 5 on top of any medication I was already taking) and was in and out of sleep most of the time. I missed some good parts of the olympics in these in and out of sleep fazes. There was a fair amount of pain, but nothing crazy as long as I was taking pain killers (Tylenol with codeine). The pain was primarily in the area just below my cheek bones, but also a bit in my temples.

Eating was difficult since my mouth didn't open much. Primarily I just had broth, jello and maybe an egg. Eating was slow and I wasn't terribly hungry. I stuck with mostly apple juice to drink.

I slept on my parents recliner/couch, it allowed me to keep my head up without fighting pillows. This was a particular issue since the night before surgery I tried to sleep kinda upright so I wouldn't get too congested and had a terrible time sleeping and had a little bit of a stiff neck in the morning.

On Wednesday I had to use my key to open the expander once. Being the only one who knew how to use the expander I had to do it myself. I got the key in the hole pretty quickly and did it. It didn't hurt much, though I did feel some pressure in my head.

The mean post-op nurse

2010-02-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

Well from the subject you might have guessed that I had the surgery, and if you didn't guess - well I did. On Tuesday morning I went in at 6am and had the surgically assisted rapid palate expander surgery and it sucked. The morning went ok, got to the hospital ok and did all my processing fine. The doctor was a little late, something about a tractor trailer slowing him down. The nurse anesthetist was a girl I went to High School with.

After surgery I woke up and my whole entire head hurt! I asked for my mommy (it's times like these when we revert to childhood) and was told I couldn't see her until I left post-op but I don't remember what I had to do. But she gave me meds and I went back to sleep. Then I woke up again looking for mommy again and was again told I couldn't see her. She was tough, I was pathetic. Finally the pain killers were making me ill and I was actually sitting up when the Dr. S came by who berated the nurse for not having ice on my face. After that I pulled myself together so that I could leave post op and see my Mom and Dad. Probably 2 hours had passed. Then in the get ready to leave area I was still in quite a bit of pain and constantly in and out of sleep. It's all a bit of a blur but once I decided I was ready to go I got a last bit of medicine and then mom helped me get ready to go. I think it was close to 2pm by the time we left. I did get a bit of a chuckle when I was riding through the hospital in the wheel chair with ice packs on my face and people would almost walk into me.

I'm writing this on Friday and am doing ok all things considered. I'll write some more about the experience in the next few days but wanted to give a bit of an update about the surgery and the mean post-op nurse.

Ready to expand

2010-02-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

I went on Wednesday and had the palate expander put in my mouth. I'm not a fan. I spent the first couple minutes trying to figure out how to swallow and in the end needed a tip from the girl in the office. slurp. I've gotten much better at swallowing though it still something that I sometimes have to pay attention to.

Talking has been another issue. I took off of work on Thursday but went in on Friday. I'm pretty self conscious about my speech, though it is steadily improving. Thursday I had to call tech support for my Tivo, then Cable, then Tivo again. I did manage to be understood.

I figure when I finally get this thing out I'll have finally mastered it.

I was taught how to expand it, but will not start expanding until after surgery on Tuesday. A couple teeth are a little sore from either the expander or from the bite being a little off. That will all change as I expand, I think and hope.

But a greater challenge has been that on and off all week I've had a cold threatening me. Earlier in the week I was just tired and a touch of sinus congesting, then I was feeling ok and the sinus congestion didn't seem as bad. I'll never know if I was actually getting better or just wishful thinking. Saturday I woke up with my ear bothering me from congestion. I've continued to baby myself hoping that this will all clear up. I'm feeling better today then yesterday but am quite concerned. On top of all of it I might be starving to death. The first 2 days I was having some real issues with eating, and although doing better I am still having issues which have left me eating less then I should be. Yesterday I really started to feel the affects of starvation. I seriously wonder how the people on Survivor survive with so little food. I've had headaches, fatigue, dizzy spells. I've been doing better at eating today.

Here's hoping I feel better tomorrow and the Doctor says I can continue with the surgery this week.

A fitting of sorts

2010-02-06T12:26:00.000-08:00

This week I was back to Dr. F. He he fitted me for my palate expander. He took out the spacer and fitted my two (one in from the back) molars with rings and took a mold of my upper teeth. It would seem those rings will be attached to the palate expander. Then in an evil twist of fate he put new spacers in. My teeth have been a little tender, though not too bad, but now one of the spacers digs into my gums whenever I bite into it. I suppose that wont seem so bad when I get the palate expander in... That's just a week and a half away.

So exactly how much blood do they think I'll lose

2010-01-16T13:10:00.000-08:00

The other day I got a nifty letter in the mail from Dr. S's office, it has all this info about my appts leading up to the surgery. It also recommends that I take an iron supplement for a month before the surgery. This could very well be a standard procedure since women do tend to have low iron counts, or it could mean I'm going to lose a lot of blood. Losing a lot of blood sounds much more dramatic, though hopefully it isn't true.

I did call my primary care physician regarding the iron because I have hemochromotosis, I absorb too much iron, but my iron levels are on the lower end right now. My doctor said it wouldn't hurt and so I'll be adding some iron to my diet soon.

Wide Open Spaces...

2010-01-15T14:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, Dr. F added some spacers in on the top. It wasn't an easy process, it seems I have some very stubborn teeth, they take after me. The little plastic ones wouldn't go in on the right side of my mouth and I got jabbed a couple times on the roof of my mouth with the several attempts. Dr. F ended up putting in a different type of spacer in the right side.

Up next?

First week of February I am getting fitted for bands, I think. I overheard Dr. F talking to the secretary he didn't actually say it to me. Then the Wednesday before my surgery I go for the palate expander, I can't wait! They really do need to make a sarcasm font.

Did I mention that my surgery was approved by my health insurance? It was and I now know I made the right decision regarding that, I'm thankful that something is working out and not stressing me out.

I can't take the drama in my head

2010-01-12T17:00:00.001-08:00

Years ago I took the Landmark Forum, part of Landmark Education. The short story is that it's a life improvement class, though that makes it sound really cheesy, it is much more then that. One of the lessons in it is about how your brain and mind are always thinking and talking to you. Too bad they don't tell you how to shut it up. They just tell you that it's stuff your mind makes up.

Well my mind wont stop talking and creating all this drama. I mentioned in my last post that I am considering staying at my parents house right after my surgery, and I'm 99% sure I'll do that, I just don't think I'll be able to handle icing my face that first day. I'm thinking this might end up being a good opportunity to listen to podcasts and cheesy movies I know every line to (but I wont mention any names). Today my Dad mentioned me staying for a couple days, WHAT, put the breaks on, who said a couple days? I was hoping to get out within 24 hours!

I'll have to admit that I personally don't enjoy spending large amounts of time with my parents simply because when they are together they fight non-stop. I can't deal with it... But also there is the whole, I'm sick I want my bed, and my couch and my stuff... I've been completely out of my house for 2 and a half years (mostly out for another 3 years before that.) It's my childhood home, but not my home. I love my little apartment, it's warm and fuzzy and has my stuff in it. That's where I want to be when I'm sick, even when I'm moaning I want my Mommy.

In the end I know I'll figure it out as I go and at some point I'll simply demand to go home, my Dad will comply and my Mom will probably yell at me. But in the meantime why can't I stop the fight in my head about how long I have to stay?

Stuff they don't put in the brochure

2010-01-08T08:51:00.001-08:00

First, my wire on the bottom of my braces shifted last weekend so I was back at Dr. F's this week to have it moved back, it seems to be staying place now.

More importantly I was at Dr. S (Oral Surgeon) on Wednesday. The good news - my surgery is approved! The bad news, the stuff they don't say at the first consultation... I'm scheduled for late February. Dr. S went through his whole thing on how he cuts into my gums on the outside side of the teeth at the root line and cuts into the bones to break them - I'm almost adjusting to the concept of this though it's one of those things I think I would rather not know. After the surgery I'll apparently be very swollen and will have to ice my face all day and night and overnight. I'll be in pain for about 3 days, but I'll have pain killers for at night. I'll have to sleep upright the first night. The swelling will last 2-3 weeks and there may be some bruising. I'll start on a liquid diet the first day and then add foods over that next week, but mostly soup, and ice cream types of stuff. Ugh, this was not in the brochure!

I always knew I would be miserable, but this is sounding way worse then I thought. I'm actually considering going to either my parents house or my sisters house that first day and night. But I did place an order with mom for her homemade soup, I'm going to add an order of her apple sauce too. I'll make my own pea soup before hand.

Wires and waterpiks

2009-12-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

I went to Dr. F on Monday and he readjusted my wire, he's not sure why it moved, but it's back in place. He also added some stoppers to keep the wire from moving again. My teeth did not turn sideways over the weekend, but one of my teeth was definitely moving towards my middle teeth and trying to move them. Since the wire was replaced that tooth is no longer pushing the other tooth and is back in place.

An update on the waterpik, I love it. My tooth with the gum problem is still a little irritated at times, but it's 90% now and I my waterpik is the reason. It was worth every dollar. Though it does freak me out when I use it and I see all the stuff that was in my teeth - gross! No wonder they hurt!

Wire you moving?

2009-12-12T11:06:00.000-08:00

My wire seems to have moved. There is a little updent in the wire that should be in the middle of my mouth between my two front teeth. The wire moved a bit to my right. One of my teeth felt a little funny the other day (other then the normal funny my teeth tend to feel from having braces) but when I looked the wire was in place. I noticed Friday that it's actually a little off. I tried calling Dr. F's office today but they were closed.

I'm now getting paranoid that all my teeth are moving wrong, teeth are still feeling a little funny, just in different places. How bad could 4 days of my wire being out of place be? I hope I find out Monday before my teeth regress and start turning sideways (hey, I said I was getting paranoid.)

I got a new wire

2009-12-07T16:53:00.000-08:00

On Friday I went for another adjustment, Dr. F replaced my wire. Now my teeth hurt all over again, braces suck. I don't have to go back for another 6 weeks, but Dr. F said I would need to get spacers to prep the teeth for the palate expander. A new year will bring new dental pain!

I was actually back there today, the wires weren't cut quite short enough and I was getting jabbed on one side.

I still have inflammation of my gums on the lower left from the ring that doesn't quite sit all the way down on my tooth. Things are better then they had been, but I'm still in pain. I decided to get a waterpik and am keeping my fingers crossed. From what I read online I think I should notice a difference in a week or two if it is helping.

Adjustment 2

2009-11-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I went for my 2nd adjustment. I conveied LF's concern over the ring on my lower right back tooth, which is causing a gap under the tooth and making my gum in that area inflamed. I'm out of luck. Apparently, the way the rings are made and the way my tooth were made just isn't going to be a perfect match. LF has suggested that I do a good job with cleaning out that area after eating. This should be interesting since I have 2 years ahead of me...

Dr. F didn't adjust anything, he said the wires are still working and that I should come back in 4 weeks.

Pandoras Box

2009-10-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

My bite adjustment was Pandora's Box...

Well my tooth slowly started to bother me more and more, I was convinced I needed a root canal.

I finally got to LF on Tuesday with my fingers crossed and a couple people praying for me.

LF said my gums were inflamed, she irrigated it and gave me a prescription mouth wash, who knew they made that. The change in the contour of the tooth has made a gap under the bracket on the neighboring tooth which is allowing stuff in and then inflaming the tooth. I will need to get the bracket fixed, lucky me!

My tooth is feeling better sometimes, and is still irritated at other times, but it sounds like this is my solution, it can't be worse then a root canal.

A filling and a bite adjustment

2009-10-16T16:07:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday I went for my bite adjustment. LF didn't adjust too much of my bite, but it's a little better now. She did also redo a filling on my lower right, that tooth is still bothering me. See, this is why I hate getting work done, I always feel like I opened pandoras box. She did mention that the Endodontist had sent a letter to her and Dr. F regarding the tooth that had just had the root canal - the braces are moving the tooth closer to the cleft, part of why the tooth is taking so long to heal.

On a slightly different topic...
I am part of a large medical study and as part of it I get a physical every year, today was my physical. The PA who was conducting the physical went through all of my medical problems and tried to find a solution for all of them, some might have been good but she wasn't really listening to my symptoms first so she ended up just being annoying. For example, she was recommending to me this nasal rinse. I asked her if she knew if I would have any trouble with it because of my cleft lip and palate. I don't think she actually knew what a cleft lip and palate was because she said that it doesn't go in the throat, huh? I just dropped it. Then she was doing an examination of my nose and discovered that my left nostril was small, it blew her mind! She asked if I could get that fixed. I then had to explain that if I do all of this dental stuff, then I can go for an consultation to see if it can be repaired, but pointed out that I had lived for 30 or so years like this. Am I supposed to take this woman seriously?

I bite, but it hurts

2009-10-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

This past week I realized that both of the teeth that had formerly been capped, but then separated for my braces, hit the teeth below them and not in a good way. Their position before never allowed them to hit the teeth below them, but the braces have moved them into a position where they are not hitting and combined with the braces are in pain. The pain has subsided a bit in the last day, but I will be going to see LF on Tuesday to get the bit adjusted.

Apparently I was raised in a barn

2009-10-05T05:18:00.000-07:00

Friday I was back at Dr. F's office. One of the doors on my brackets kept opening. I noticed it one night while brushing my teeth. I did a little investigation and realized I had done it myself with one of those little brushes you use on braces. I closed the bracket and went to bed. The next morning I woke up and the bracket was open, obviously the door was opening itself. So back to Dr. F's. He tied the wire to the bracket using a thin wire. Hopefully the tooth will start moving now.

Root Canal

2009-10-02T07:47:00.000-07:00

I've had 4 root canals and yesterdays was the most painful. The Endodontist was very good at doing the injections so I didn't feel the need to bite him. But I ended up waiting a bit before he started to do the work on the tooth. I think that allowed the novicain to wear off a bit during the process. But also because the root is on the edge of the cleft the soft tissue in the cleft was inflamed apparently making things more painful. The good news is that the root canal was done in one shot and I'm done with it. I took lots of Advil last night since the tooth already hurt when I left the Endodontis, but is feeling pretty good this morning. Hopefully it stays that way.

A lack of adjustment

2009-09-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

I went for my first adjustment with Dr. F, and it was quite uneventful. He took a look at my braces, commented that a couple teeth still need to move and sent me on my way. Yup, that was it. And I was concerned that I would leave in pain. I guess since my teeth seem to be moving on their own anyway though that it makes sense that he doesn't do much, but I really did expect more. But I'm happy with how that worked out.

Why me?

2009-09-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm being a little dramatic, but I am tired of dental problems.

My tooth does need a root canal, my tooth does have resorption. My Endontist didn't seem terribly worried about that though, he said it was incidental. The bigger problem for me is that the tooth is on the cleft, meaning the roots lead to the cleft. There is a small chance of getting an infection in the site of the cleft, which would be bad. The Endodontis gave me an antibiotic to take before starting the root canal to prevent an infection, I go back on Thursday to start the root canal. Seriously, Why me??? But at least I know that when it's done I should be able to eat again with that tooth.

I should enlighten you all on how the exam went... He took an x-ray, then he pushed on my gum above the tooth, which hurt. Then you pushed on another spot which did not hurt. Then another the spot that did hurt, which I felt free about expressing the pain he was causing with a small yell. Then he tested the tooth again and asked if that hurt more at which time I yelled louder - he got the message. About 5 minutes later the pain subsided. It's a good thing I like this guy.

Clean teeth and more problems

2009-09-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

Quick update on the braces - my lower right teeth are feeling better, now the lowing left are bothering me a bit, though at this point they are feeling mostly better. And to think I have to get them adjusted on Friday!

I went to the dentist for my cleaning today, I need to improve my brushing. Also going to have an old filling refilled since that tooth has been bothering me for some time. My upper left front tooth, which has been bothering me, needs to go to the Endodontist for evaluation. As much as I fear what could be wrong with this tooth, I'm glad to know that I'm not just imagining the pain. LF thinks it might be resorption. Since I had no idea what that was before, I thought I would offer a link so you readers could learn more about it. I'm seeing the Endodontist on Thursday morning, I'll come back with a full report.

Health Insurance

2009-09-10T06:39:00.001-07:00

Next month it will be time for me to start really looking at the health insurance plans offered at work. Today I had a few minutes to take a look at a website that rates health insurance plans - http://reportcard.ncqa.org/plan/external/
The website didn't have a ton of information, but my current plan is well rated as is one of the other plans I was looking at. The other plan I was looking at wans't rated quite as well. Since it's also expensive it's looking less likely that I'll go with that plan.

My teeth still hurt

2009-09-09T17:56:00.001-07:00

Late last week my teeth started to bother me again, on the lower right. I'm guessing that some tooth must have moved in such a way that it allowed other teeth to move and now they're moving. My teeth are feeling a bit better now, though are still sensitive. Does the pain ever stop???

To top it all off the upper left front tooth is bothering me and has been pretty much the whole time I've had braces. Something has to happen with this tooth, at this point I don't really even care what happens to it as long as it makes it feel better.

I saw LF last week when my cap fell off, the same cap the fell off the day I got braces. This time I ate the cap with my dinner. She used permanent cement this time, keep your fingers crossed. LF also trimmed the wire on my upper left side that was irritating the inside of my mouth. I've been eating less wax since then.

Wax, it's what's for dinner

2009-08-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

Well I'm finally adjusting to my braces. It took from Friday to Monday for the braces to start hurting. Then until this past weekend for me to really be able to eat. Some teeth are still a bit tender at times, but they feel relatively normal. The brackets are still annoying me a lot. They make eating a little annoying, food catches on them and my teeth just don't feel right. I have a couple spots that are irratating the inside of my mouth, it seems the more my teeth move the more they irratate my mouth. I'm making good use of my wax which sometimes gets knocked off when I'm eating or brushing my teeth. I've been assured it's not dangerous to eat, which is good because sometimes it serves as an addition to my dinner. If anyone has any tips on how to keep the wax on, I'll be happy to hear it.

My rubber band went down the drain

2009-08-22T15:09:00.001-07:00

Less then 24 hours after getting braces I was innocently brushing my teeth and brushed off my rubber band and then watched it get washed down the drain. opps. I called Dr. F and he was actually in today, so in between my 2 other appts this morning I was back at Dr. F's office. He as able to open the door on my brace and get the wire on so that I don't need the rubber band.

I did get the distinct impression from one of the girls in the office that it's very strange to have all your brackets to have the little doors on them, as these are the ones that don't seem to need rubber bands. See, I'm special

My first meal last night went ok, had an omelet which was fine. Bread however was a little more difficult to chew. Today I've stuck with eggs and soup as my teeth hurt a lot.

Here are some pictures of my mouth:

You have glue in your hair.

2009-08-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

I started out my morning with a trip to the dentist to get my cap put back on, it took about 15 minutes with no drama.

In the afternoon I went to Dr. F for my braces. I started with a bit of good news... My bill was readjusted, the price didn't change but my payment options did and I didn't have to leave as much of a down payment. I could have paid the whole thing off and saved 5%, but then I wouldn't have much savings and that was a risk I wasn't willing to take.

Dr. F came and looked at my teeth and played with some brackets. Then a sweet girl came and prepped my teeth. They clamped my mouth open with some strange contraption, it made me wonder? Is this how Hannibal Lecter feels? Then she did the prep work, all I really know is that she sandblasted my teeth. Then Dr. F placed all the little brackets. The brackets didn't feel so comfortable, not that I thought they would. Once Dr. F was done the girl who was prepping my teeth picked the glue out of my hair. After having my mouth clamped open I must admit I had already lost some of my dignity, what's a little glue in the hair? I rinsed out and had the wire put in and things started feeling less comfortable. I wasn't in pain but there was definitely pressure on my teeth. I ended up only having one rubber band. My nephew had wondered what color rubber bands I would get, but Dr. F took away that concern. He used the "clear" braces in the front and the one rubber band was metal colored to match the brace it was on. Based on what the girl said, I either didn't get rubber bands because I spent a lot of money and am getting 5 star treatment (knowing the price tag that might be right), or it's because I'll actually brush my teeth and floss and generally take care of my teeth.

One dental observation. One of the teeth on my bottom right (I think a molar) had grown in sideways, it was never a problem, but I think, based on the placement of the brace, that Dr. F is going to rotate the tooth.

In the next few days I'll post some pictures of my teeth, as requested by my friend Kelley. I just don't have time tonight.

I almost swallowed my tooth

2009-08-20T04:09:00.000-07:00

This morning I was eating my breakfast, a mini doughnut, when I felt something hard. For a second I was going to swallow it as just a hard crusty spot in the doughnut. I thought better of that plan thinking one of my spacers had fallen out. It was the temporary cap on the tooth with the root canal. I've called the dentist on call, who did not answer the phone and am waiting for him to call back. In the meantime the spacer between that tooth and the next one is probably loose and I'll probably swallow it and then my teeth will close in together over night and I wont be able to get my braces tomorrow. Sorry, my imagination got the best of me. Owell, guess I'll be late for work!

Spacers are annoying

2009-08-19T08:00:00.001-07:00

Well, I think the subject says it all. I've had the spacers just over a week and I don't like them. First, they hurt making it hard to eat and just making me uncomfortable. The pain has subsided but the spacers are still annoying. It seems that now that the teeth are spaced out the spacers have just enough room to wiggle around when I eat, leaving me paranoid that they're going to get dislodged and screw up my teeth. Friday I get my braces so hopefully that will resolve the spacer problem while bringing new problems.

I'm spacing out

2009-08-11T08:04:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I got the spacer for my braces, they kinda suck. I'm already on a pain killer right now so they don't hurt too much, but they are uncomfortable and it feels funny to eat. Dr. F asked if I had started to process through insurance yet for Dr. S, which I have not done since I have to change insurance. He accepted that as an answer. But conversations like that make me a bit nervous, what happens in 6 months if I have trouble with insurance?

Taking the first step

2009-07-28T18:22:00.001-07:00

I went to the dentist today to have the root canal tooth finished. Unfortunately I have recently noticed a very slight pain in the tooth, not enough to run and get the tooth looked at (I'm really sick of dealing with this tooth), but enough to make it a consideration when choosing what to do with the tooth. LF decided to do a provisional crown on the tooth and see how it goes, she felt it might even be a better option for the tooth since I'm getting brace next month.

The other thing was that since this tooth would take much less time she decided to do the two tooth cap/bridge today instead of tomorrow. With that LF took a drill to my tooth. My first thought was - there goes a couple grand in dental work. Then I had a moment of almost having an anxiety attack, that panic about taking that first step on a long road... It lasted about a minute and then I just sat there as the bridge was drilled away. I got some good news - the two teeth are in good shape, which was very much a concern. LF said that the mobility in the bridge wasn't from the teeth. She did find that one tooth had a touch of mobility in it, but she thought that would go away now that the teeth are separated.

So how does it look and feel? The tooth next to the middle teeth looks almost exactly the same, though is irritating my gum a bit tonight. The other tooth you can now tell is set back in the mouth a little bit and looks a little smaller, though it doesn't look "bad." That tooth is irritating my tongue and the gum in the front is sensitive, I suspect that part of the gum there had been protected by the old bridge and is now exposed to my mouth for the first time in years.

A filled in

2009-07-14T17:17:00.000-07:00

My tooth with the root canal was filled in this weekend, just in time, I think the temporary filling was starting to deteriorate. LF had wanted to put in a post of some sort in this tooth, but the dentist in the office that I saw (she's on vacation) thought it just needed to be filled and that the tooth was ok otherwise. I'm still need the tooth crowned later this month, which I'm doing with LF. I wonder what she'll think of the not doing the post. Either way the tooth will last until then.

Moving things up.

2009-06-28T10:52:00.001-07:00

I spoke to Dr. F on Friday and it was an eye opening phone call. He didn't have too much to offer in the way of health insurance, though seemed to mention HIP a lot. He did say though that we have to get started with things much sooner then I thought. I had been given the impression that the palate expander would be done early during this whole thing. However, Dr. F needs about 6 months to get my teeth in order before doing the palate expander. I was blown away! He said if I want to do the palate expander in mid February then I need to start with the braces in August. August is right around the corner! This is going to require a shift in thinking and a lot of work I hadn't planned on just yet.

Before he can do the braces though I need to have the cap/bridge replaced, a slight problem since LF is going to be away for most of July. I did manage to get an appointment with her for the end of July, which is good. I also need to finish the work on the tooth that just got the root canal, which is scheduled for the end of July too. I have another tooth that I know will eventually need to be crowned. It now has a little chip in it, I need to find out if this tooth is still sturdy enough to hold up for the braces or if it needs to be crowned before.

My other issue that this is screwing up is that I was planning on taking a little trip to Scotland in September, as a pre-braces trip for myself. I had figured once I got the braces I would scale down my travel to long weekends in the US, so this was to be my last big trip for a while. I'm now considering some other stuff, but money will definitely be an issue once I start everything.

Talking to the orthodontist

2009-06-25T17:45:00.001-07:00

I made a call to the orthodontist today, I wanted to let him and the office know that I was delaying my treatment. I also wanted to ask about health insurance. Health insurance plans will sometimes cover part of orthodontic treatment for Cleft persons. The girl explained that they will submit to insurance after surgery because then it's more apparent the need for braces and they're more likely to cover them. So then I asked about my two choices: GHI and HIP, she thought I might have better luck with HIP. She's give a note to Dr. F and said he would probably give me a call to discuss.

A Memory

2009-06-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

The other day I was thinking about children who are in the hospital for the holidays, and how sad it is to spend those special times in a hospital and how glad I was that I never had to do that as a child. Then I remembered that I actually had a surgery right before Halloween one year, not the same as Christmas, but as a 7 year old girl it wasn't really cool. If my memory serves me I had the surgery 2 or 3 days before Halloween and then was released a day or 2 before Halloween. My mom did buy me a little bunny thing with ears, not really a costume but it was all I go. I remember on Halloween wearing my bunny ears and answering the door for the 4 people who actually stopped at our house and really wanting to go out trick or treating and getting candy. I'm sure my mom gave me whatever candy and treats I wanted, she was always good like that, but it's not the same as getting dressed up and getting candy from strangers.

Visit number 10

2009-06-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

I was back at the dentist this weekend because my tooth was bothering me, again. I waited an hour on a Saturday morning because it was an emergency appt, and the endodontist spent about 5 minutes with me. What seems to have happened is that the bone was soft while it was healing and then hardens again, in the meantime the tooth can float around a bit until it hardens then settles. Apparently it settled in a spot where the bite was off. I got a bite adjustment and am feeling better now. I had to cancel my June 23 appt because of work. It looks like right now I'll end up having another dentist from the dentists office put in a permanent filling and when my dentist returns from Kenya she'll do the crown.

Visit number 9

2009-06-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

In visit number 9 the Endodontist cleaned my tooth out again, applied some more medication and refilled the tooth. That was Monday and although it took about 2 days my tooth is feeling normal now and is happy. I'm scheduled to go for my crown on June 23.

Visit number 8...

2009-06-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

Well I had to go back to the dentist on Tuesday for my tooth since I woke up Monday with a little bit of pain which got considerably worse during the coarse of the day. The Endodontist said that the bad tooth stuff from the root had gotten into the bone. He drilled out the roots, put medicine in at the bone put in a temp filling and sent me on my way. He did want me to take an antibiotic because this is the perfect situation for an infection to develop, though I showed no signs of one. I'm going back Monday to get the roots refilled. Then on June 23 I'm getting the crown done.

I thought I would throw in that my nephew is getting braces and my sister decided to use the same orthodontist as I will be using, so good luck to him.

Health Insurance

2009-05-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

While I'm not trying to turn this blog into a blog about health insurance, the topic has inspired my unhappiness with the health insurance that is offered in this country. As such I thought I would pass along a podcast that I recently listened to about health insurance. It's done by Dan Carlin, he's a talking head, but he's an independent thinker. It's his Common Sense podcast, episode 152 called sick politics. Enjoy...

A tooth with a root canal isn't supposed to hurt

2009-05-26T12:36:00.001-07:00

Last week I was on a cruise to Hawaii, which you can read about on my travel blog: http://travelinggiraffe.blogspot.com, when my tooth that had the root canal started to hurt. On Thursday morning when I was having breakfast I started to notice a bit of pain in my tooth that had just had the root canal, but it wasn't enough pain to alert me to trouble. When I had lunch though it was bothering again and worse. I texted my dentist and she wasn't sure what was wrong and offered to call in a prescription for Amoxacilain. In the end I decided against that and instead took pain medication and went to the dentist this morning. He took out the temporary filling looked inside, filled the tooth and said this - either the tooth was just irratated by something and will start feeling better later today, if not then it has a secondary infection. So far it's feeling a little better, but I only ate one meal so far.

Root Canal

2009-05-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

Turns out my tooth did in fact need a root canal, which I had done this weekend. The tooth is still quite sore. Thursday I get the root canal finished, should be quick and painless, or so they say. Then I need to get a crown on the tooth since there is a crack in the tooth.

On another front I have decided that I will wait until next year to do the palate expander when I have changed my health insurance.

Of course all of this is screwing up my vacations. I really want to go on a nice vacation in the fall, but the more my teeth cost the more I have to scale down my vacation, damn teeth!