My top right lip isn't so sneery anymore, it's definitely improving. The numbness isn't so 'solid' feeling either, but it's still there. I do have a kind of light sensation on the very surface of the top right lip and the skin above it now, but there's a numbness deeper down.
I am still pretty swollen on the right hand side.
Below I am opening my mouth slightly, which shows the bite better:
But check out what my bite used to be like! (This one is me trying to get my front teeth together - my backmost left molars were touching). I LOVE my new overlap. And I haven't even got to use it yet.
Wow. Seeing these photos, and comparing to the before photos (see more in July postings), makes me realise what a MAJOR improvement there is! It's just so amazing that the surgeons can do such things. And the way it happens in the space of a few hours, after years of wishing for that nasty extra bone to be gone. It is still hard to hang in there and wait for my bite to be aligned - wait for the midlines to line up - but it really helps to see the overall improvement.
Clenching update: on Saturday night I put 3 bands on either side and I was clamped tight so hard I couldn't do a thing! I did it so I couldn't clench/grind. But I woke up in agony, it was like my teeth were being ripped out of their sockets with the tight bands. So now I'm wearing two on the left and one on the right. It feels like it improves my bite, and the pain is all gone - well sometimes there is the slightest twinge in my jaw joint that scarcely enters my consciousness. Could it be the band configuration or the anti-inflammatory pills my surgeon has me on again? I don't know.
I feel like a renegade doing the different band configuration without my orthodontist's approval. But I can't bear to harrass the poor man anymore, and I see him on Thursday anyway. I wonder what he'll say. Has he ever had a patient who takes matters into her own hands? Will he scold me? Am I being silly doing it? It feels very right so I will just trust myself.
My speech isn't great because the bands are tight. I am still mainly on mush but can jam things like noodles, chocolate brownie and bacon and egg pie through the small gap in my teeth, and mush them with my tongue, so I am managing to eat plenty.
Today I was tired. Very hard to get out of bed and had to have a sleep in the afternoon. But this has become unusual and I'm fairly good most days. Although I can't do as much as I used to. I know that will return.
My sleep is acceptable. I sleep all night but surface quite often. There is a slight discomfort to my jaw. Not really pain. Often a headache still, but not a really bad one. It usually goes when I get up.
I definitely have less numbness. The spot on the right hand side of my nose that hums in a warm fuzzy way when I wash my face has a fair bit of surface sensation now although seems numb underneath the skin. And the exploding tight feeling under my nose has eased a lot.
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to see the changes in your bite! It is absolutely amazing. Your home-made rubber band configuration is awesome!!! (Maybe you should persue a career in orthodontics..LOL!)
Unfortunately, I am not having good things happen to my bite. AT ALL. My teeth don't touch...Not a single one. In fact, my two front teeth are about a millimeter behind the bottom teeth, and the top jaw is shifted to the right. It's very scary. I had my follow up with the OS yesterday. He said the issues seem "minor", and that he would like to see what the orthodontist says.
I'm no expert on this, Andrea, but I am telling you....my gut RARELY leads me wrong. Something is NOT right. I am in the process of perhaps trying to consult with another surgeon. Of course, I will hear what the orthodontist has to say (I will be seeing him on Aug. 20th, for the first time post-op). Dependent upon how much he is able/willing to tell me, I will seek the help of another OS.
It dawned on me a couple of days ago that one of the MAIN reasons why I can close my lips properly, is because the teeth are cranked open, not totally unlike they were PRE-op.
My luck has not been great with this. I don't blame anyone, per se. I am just IMMENSELY frustrated that this is all falling apart.
It will be quite sometime before I post on my blog. I am falling apart emotionally, and I don't want to express a lot of negativity. I just need some time to get myself together.
Again, I am ecstatic to hear/see your great news... The days of biting into a nice, juicy apple are just around the corner!
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try to explain the crazy bite/lip incompetence stuff.
O.K....BEFORE braces, my overbite was RIDICULOUS! It took SO much strain to get my top lip over my top teeth, and closing my mouth made me look insane, because of the obvious strain. The open bite was a real problem, also.
Then, with a combination of orthodontics and removing two teeth from the top, the overbite started closing inward, significantly. So, the problem became that even thouth I didn't have a severe over/openbite, my lower lip became much more droppy. (Because the muscle WERE being used to compensate for the top lip strain). When the lower lip no longer needed to stretch upward, it had no where to go, except downward.
THEN, about a month or so before the surgery, my overbite became a slight underbite, at which both lips were acting strangely, because they had both been stretched overtime to compensate for one another.
IMMEDIATELY after surgery, my front teeth overlapped in PERFECT fashion (when I had those super tight bands on). My lips were SO, SO swollen and blistered up, that they touch each other with no problem.
NOW, a month post-op, the swelling has gone done almost 100% in the lips, but the it's almost as if the top jaw has been moved up TOO far, and I have this open bite. As a result of the upper jaw being up so high, the soft tissue/muscles under there have healed in a very tight, upward fashion. So the strain/lip incompetence has returned.
ALSO, the lower lip has started healing leftward (is that a word??)....Anyway, the lower lip is OBVIOUSLY to the left. OR the top lip is OBVIOUSLY to the right. It's hard to tell which one is off center. But one of them DEFINITELY is. I wonder if it has something to do with the way the stiches were sewn.
Hopefully, I didn't confuse you to death! I'm interested to hear what the orthodontist has to say. I am going to start blogging within the next couple of days. You are right: good, bad, or ugly, I should just put it out there. I just don't want to scare people who are yet to have this surgery.