On the recommendation of LF I made an appointment with Dr. S, an Oral Surgeon, for November of 2008. At this appointment Dr. S took pictures and molds of my mouth, he was able to scan the x-rays that I had from my appointment with LF. I really liked Dr. S he was nice and knowledgeable about Clefts.
The first week of December I went back to meet with Dr. S, this time I took my mom with me since I knew that at this visit Dr. S would be explaining options to me. First he spoke to my mom and I about the state of my teeth. I am missing a tooth on the top where the cleft palate is (my left side) it's the one that should be next to my middle teeth - the lateral incisor. The bridge/crown was adjusted to make the the left canine look like that missing tooth. He showed how my dental line has more of a V shape instead of a rounded shape and spoke about the mobility of the bridge/crown. We also discussed my goals: not to necessarily have a prefect mouth, but to have a more permanent solution to my bridge/crown.
He then went to discuss what I could do with my teeth. He explained to me that he did not think that I needed a palate expander and that the same goal could be reached by getting braces. He said at some point a bone graft would be needed as the bone graft that was done when I was younger was no longer there. Apparently, with a bone graft the bone that isn't used basically dissolves, you can now, on an x-ray, see a gap in my bone where my cleft palate is. Depending on the plan that was developed I might need at least 1 implant. I was a little taken back by all this work, when I walked in to see LF in July I never thought about the idea of getting braces, a palate expander or a bone graft. But ever the trooper since I was born, I went with it and started to really think about doing these things.
My next step was to meet with an orthodontist, Dr. G was recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment