June/July 2015 Surgery Buddies

[snapdresser]

Nozzelnut - Haha you're a champ, man. Is that tooth turning at ALL through all of this?

Jaime - Yeah, when I changed jobs I found myself not coming on here nearly as much. Maybe I'm moving forward with life with my new face? Cool I guess, but now I'm all nostalgic for the days of Post-op updates and calming down nervous pre-ops

[Nozzelnut]

I heard a familiar noise from my mouth on Sunday; a very quiet "click."

My upper archwire that's been tweaked, bent, formed, adjusted, bent, shaped, bent and positioned over the last 2.5 years broke. Yes broke.

Over the last couple days the problem area that we've been working on the last several months, that was finally getting close, moved a lot.
The good news is everything is loose so it will move back pretty quickly.

My ortho put some bends in the new wire to get it kinda close, but said it would be easier to reposition brackets than try to recreate all those bends in the wire. My teeth have moved several millimeters since getting braces years ago; and it will save time and make things easier with a better final result with brackets in a better position.

Sooooo, a long appointment is scheduled for next Wednesday. Removing several brackets and replacing.......

Getting so close; I was almost there.....

[snapdresser]

Oof... that’s brutal, man If they’re moving that quickly without the wire, you think you’re in for permanent retainers? Otherwise you’re going to have to be incredibly good about wearing your removable ones every night, I would think. As a teen I lost my retainer a few weeks after getting my braces off and I actually had to have them put on again... I def wouldn’t wish that on you!

[snapdresser]

Well, I got some breaking news! I found out last night that my insurance approved my hardware removal. I don't have a date for the surgery yet, but insurance was the big hurdle. I guess I'll be going back under the knife Hopefully when this is done I won't feel like I have braces anymore. Almost 3 years post-op now...

[PierreDeFermat]

Hey Snap, congratulations on your approval!

Can I ask why you're having the hardware removed?

[snapdresser]

Hi PierreDeFermat, I'm having them removed because I can feel them in there all the time and it's distracting. It almost feels like I have braces on, even though I haven't had braces in 15 years. I don't want that to last my entire life, so I requested that my surgeon remove them. This surgery is significantly lower risk in terms of additional numbness, but of course there are still risks. My surgeon's biggest concern was that this might not fix the issue. I'm very concerned that that might be the case, but I want to at least try.

[jaime]

Hey everybody! Long time no see.

Nozzel, I see you're still in braces. Patience of a saint, I saint. Do they have any clue when they might debrace you?

Next week I have a 3 year post-op appointment with my surgeon. Things are mostly fine. Still some lingering numbness in my palate, and one of my teeth feels like it twitches. It's the strangest thing, it makes an audible clicking noise first thing in the morning and it's been going on since I had SARPE. I'm pretty sure the surgeon is going to refer me to a psychiatrist.

[snapdresser]

Welcome back, Jaime! What makes the tooth click? When you bite down on it? Maybe you have some root resorption or something. Is it one of the teeth close to where the bone was cut?

[PierreDeFermat]

Hey Snap,

Did the doctor say anything about the recovery after having your hardware removed? I imagine you'll just have mouth wash and some antibiotic? Is the procedure under general anesthesia?

I wonder how often people feel the hardware after surgery? I assume it's a lot but they just stop noticing it unless they yawn or something...

[snapdresser]

Hi Pierre,

She said that the recovery would be similar except the swelling will go down faster, and I won't need to have any archbars or elastics. I thiiiink that means I won't be on a liquid diet but I expect I'll have to do the mouthwash and antibiotics. No biggie. It's under general anesthesia because I'm getting all 6 plates removed. If it was only a few screws, she would be doing it in the office under local.

I inquired on here about whether or not other people felt their hardware and only 1 other person did, IIRC, so it must be fairly rare.

[Nozzelnut]

I still have braces... After freaking upper wire broke in March; we removed the upper brackets; the remaining original ceramics (2 or 3 of them, the others had cracked and were previously replaced) and started with a round NiTi wire again... It was probably better that it happened. Instead of trying to bend the new wire to the original bracket position which was a lot different where the teeth are now we had a chance to hit the reset button.

But; the corner I was having a bunch of problems with is finally coming around. The lower canine is rotating into position. I think the bracket position was preventing the teeth from moving into the right place. My bite is a lot more symmetrical; which is great!

I have no idea when I'll be done but it should be soon if everything keeps moving in the right direction as it is.

Snap let us know about the plate removal. Any date set yet?

[snapdresser]

That's just incredible, Nozzelnut. Your resolve never ceases to amaze

No date on my hardware removal yet. Apparently BCBS never sent my surgeon a copy of the approval letter, so they never set up the surgery, even though I had left a voicemail telling them I had received the approval. I e-mailed them a copy of it on Tuesday, so hopefully I get a letter with my surgery date some time next week. I was wondering why I hadn't heard anything in a month...

[Nozzelnut]

I don't think they would have stayed where they were if we took the braces off a while ago; even with retainers. As much as they're moving now, I think they're getting into the places they want to be instead of where they're forced into... A lot more of a "natural" position.

[jaime]

That's great news that things are finally coming together for you, Nozzel.

And snap, keep us updated on your plate removal!

I had my appointment yesterday with my surgeon. They did a quick x-ray and he said I've had zero relapse and that I am officially done; no more appointments. I asked about the twitching tooth and he said he's never heard of that, which I had a feeling he would say. It's only in the morning when I first get up, and comes and goes in phases. It's not when I bite down. Something about waking up triggers something in my tooth and it feels like it twitches. It never happens later in the day or during chewing. That tooth has been weird since I had SARPE so I'm guessing it's just a random flavour of nerve damage.

Well, between my final orthodontist appointment in March and this last surgeon appointment, my journey is finally over. Feels good man.

[snapdresser]

Wooooooo!!!! Congrats, Jaime!