A broken tooth and a new wire

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!