Tuesday, September 8, 2009

8 weeks post-op photos and update






















I feel good now. That said, I am exhausted tonight, but that's just having a busy life! Lots of my top teeth are super sensitive as the nerves come back. My top gums are totally numb still. My palate has a streak of fairly raw sensitivity on either side of it. My mouth opening is probably 2cm or so. I do my jaw exercises about 5 times a day. The last remaining 'outer' numb bit is the middle of my top left lip but the feeling is coming back. You can see that lip is still not quite closing the same as the right hand side. The surgeon said to massage it to break up any scar tissue. I remember sometimes.
My left jaw joint, with the slipped disc, still hurts, unfortunately. The pain got worse when the tightish bands came off after the last ortho visit a week ago. Just bad at night. I sleep on my back most of the time and it still hurts a bit, and hurts a lot when I sleep on my side (but I have to do that a little bit or I have a very bad lower back in the morning). Also it used to go into a nicely centred, aligned position during the night but it doesn't do that at the moment (although it gets a bit closer to the centre).
It is interesting for me to compare these to photos taken at 6 weeks. I can see that I have become even less swollen. I wonder if I have further to go, or is this it?
Yesterday I saw someone I hadn't seen in ages (and who I never knew very well) and he didn't recognise me and when I said who I was he looked at me strangely. "Have you changed your hair or something?" he asked. I just said no, I've got braces now.
I think the surgery has improved the look of my face. Almost no one has said that though, just a couple of people, compared to about 20 who have said I look different. Strange. I wonder if they are really thinking I look WORSE?

Here are some photos of the 'off to the sidedness'. It deviates more as my mouth opens wider. Unfortunately I can't see any change here since my 5 week photos.



In general I just live in hope that the joint will heal, the pain will go away, the bite will centre itself.

My orthodontist's last band arrangement, seen above, worked FAST, in less than 24 hours. Cusps all fit together nicely now (when I move my jaw over to its centred position).

4 comments:

  1. Looking great! I love your response of "No, I just got braces"...AS IF!!! LOL!

    Seems like things are getting a little better with each post...Wonderful!

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  2. Your continued positive outlook is inspiring! I had a similar situation after a previous surgery, but the surgeon continued to insist that there was nothing off. It was not until years later, when I went to see my current surgeon, someone validated the fact that my lower jaw was still crooked and longer on one side! You are so right that you have to take your health care into your own hands, but it can feel so helpless and frustrating at times!

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  3. I really don't think that your midline looks bad. Most people don't even notice things like that. Have you ever noticed Tom Cruise's midline? It's off about 8-10mm's I think. If you look through magazines at midlines, there are many, many people who do not have centered midlines and we never notice.

    I know how you feel though. Going through something as "big" as jaw surgery really makes us aware of everything. Of course, after all of the time, money, and pain, we don't want anything less than perfection! :)

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  4. Hi - I can sympathise, as a crooked midline is part of the reason for my own treatment.

    I am really impressed at how your bite has improved - and how courageous you are being at coping with all the pain.

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