In November of last year I had a root canal done on a lower left molar. That tooth continually swelled up my jaw and caused horrible pain repeatedly until April. The dentist always assured me that this was normal and not to worry. In April of this year I woke up and my entire left side of my face and throat were swollen. I could hardly breathe and I was in the most excruciating pain I have ever had in my life.
My husband rushed me to the ER who immediately did a CT scan and placed me on Morphine and very strong IV antibiotics. I had severe Sepsis and they were concerned about my heart. The swelling had come very close to closing off my airway. They told me if I had not come in to see them that day I could have died within a day or two more.
The dentist I was seeing took no responsibility despite the fact that the CT scan showed clearly that I had a massive infection in the tooth he had root canaled that had spread into my left jaw bone. After I left the hospital and went to see him again he simply wrote me a check for the money I paid him for the root canal and told me that I needed to find a new dentist. He would not see me again.
Well, I did find another dentist. A wonderful and caring dentist who has totally changed the game for me.
I had other dentists in the past mention that they thought I needed jaw surgery, but I always blew them off. I have suffered since my teenage years with TMJ and snoring and sleep apnea. I never made the connection of the jaw issues with the sleep apnea until my dentist mentioned it to me.
He sent me to an oral surgeon to get my wisdom teeth removed as well as that offending tooth that had the bad root canal in it, and also for a consultation for jaw surgery to see what he said.
I had all 3 horizontally impacted wisdom teeth removed in April, and had my consultation for surgery. He said DEFINITELY he thought surgery would do wonders for me. I have A class 3 malocclusion with a severe over bite. My top teeth jut out from my jaw to go over my lower teeth. My lower jaw is shorter than the top jaw which gives me a recessed chin. My surgeon thinks that braces can fix the upper issue and surgery for the lower jaw would fix the rest. He has also suggested Genioplasty.
So, in May after healing from my extractions I had Scaling and Root planing done for my periodontal issues, and had several cavities filled. I had a consult with an orthodontist who said that due to the fact that I have a bridge of 8 teeth on the top front she will not put top braces on me until right before surgery because I will only have surgical hooks on the top. On the bottom I will have standard metal braces.
Last week I went and had my molar spacers put in. What an awful experience that was. Yesterday I had them taken out and got my lower braces put on.
Today my teeth are SORE. Especially the ones that have the molar bands on them. Something is tearing into my tongue pretty bad.
Also, she made these little hills of material on my upper molars to keep my molars from touching on the top and bottom. This way my mouth doesn't close fully because my upper teeth were hitting my bottom brackets. Has anyone else had this? It essentially makes it impossible to eat real food since you can't chew if your molars dont touch. It's very frustrating!
Anyways, I am going to be around here for awhile. My ortho says I have at least a year in braces before surgery, maybe longer.
I just hope this gets better because I am so tired of the pain and being hungry already.
Cat
