Metal Mouth Message Board

Congrats Nozzel!!!! 54 months of treatment But now you're done!!!!!

Unfortunately I have a new surgery date: September 14th. After being unable to shake the feeling that something is present under my gums (I thought it was scar tissue, but my surgeon thinks it's either the plates themselves or nerve damage) for 3 years now, my surgeon is going to take out all the plates and screws from one side of my face to see if it makes the feeling go away, and if it does then she'll do the other side a couple months later. I'm not thrilled to be going down this path, but the feeling is ever-present and super annoying. I hope I get resolution by having the plates removed

Best wishes for an uneventful surgery and speedy recovery. Let us know how it goes.

Nozzelnut wrote: ↑Wed Aug 08, 2018 4:25 pm Best wishes for an uneventful surgery and speedy recovery. Let us know how it goes.

Will do! And thanks!

Congrats Nozzel!!!!!!!!!! I'm a few weeks late but congrats nonetheless! How has it been getting used to life post-braces? Will you be in 24h retainers for long?

Picked up the Hawley retainers on Thursday. They were both snug width wise; so I'm happy I got them. They do take up a lot of tongue room; but allow top and bottom teeth to actually touch so my bite can finally settle... There are some gaps on my left side; I hope they close... They both have acrylic over wire for better rotational control.

But; the upper Hawley broke the bonded retainer loose Friday night. Grrrrr. Always something. I'll call them Monday to see what they want to do.

Slowly getting back into regular eating habits although I did cut the kernels off an ear of corn last week out of habit...

Sooooo I got the 3 plates and ~6 screws on the left side of my face removed on Friday. This was to treat a feeling like there was gauze stuck under my skin in those areas. It’s too early to tell if it worked, because I’m puffed up almost as bad as when I had my bimax, and the numbness is intense too. My saving grace is twofold: 1) Half of my mouth is fine, so I can manipulate straws and chew and whatnot, and 2) No liquid diet!!! Soft foods for a bit to prevent anything from jamming into the sutures, but nothing like post-bimax.

Similar to the bimax, I’m 2 days post-op and the swelling has been getting worse. I’m hoping it levels out tomorrow and starts going down from there. I took 1 week off from work with another week or two working from home afterwards, and I’m hoping that’s enough. If this surgery does what my surgeon and I are hoping, I’ll get the right side done in the new year.

Please keep us updated during your recovery from this.

Nozzelnut wrote: ↑Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:45 pm Please keep us updated during your recovery from this.

Will do! I’m pretty much as puffed up now as I was post-bimax except this time it’s only on half of my face, and I can chew and whatnot. I expect it’ll take months for the swelling to go away completely I’ll post updates as it goes along.

snapdresser, did the plate removal help?

Sara123456789 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 26, 2019 7:42 pm snapdresser, did the plate removal help?

Unfortunately the feeling I described has not yet resolved. It seems a bit better, especially where the maxillary plate was, but it’s only maybe 10% better overall. My surgeon told me to wait until February and then let her know if I want her to take out the plates on the other side, but if it feels the same as it does now, that’s probably going to be a “no”. It must be nerve damage causing this sensation

how would you describe the sensation?

Sara123456789 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 4:13 pm how would you describe the sensation?

It feels like there’s pieces of gauze tucked up between my gums and lip right where the 4 plates are/were.

It’s now February and my 4-month alarm went off a few days ago to decide whether I want the other side out or not, and I’ve decided to leave the other side in, unless I get some additional relief in the future, but that seems unlikely. The only way I see that happening is if I somehow start relaxing my face all the time. The feeling does get better when I completely relax all the muscles in my face, but I kind of have to do that deliberately. My surgeon had given me muscle relaxers in the past but I’ve long since run out. I’m considering going back in for a new prescription, but that’s a long haul to reach my surgeon, so maybe I’ll just try to deliberately relax it first, and see how that works out. Maybe I’ll tell a difference between the two sides if my face is always relaxed, or maybe it’ll help on both sides? Pre-op, I didn’t think the tight muscles could really have been causing this.

On a possibly-related note, my dentist told me that I’ve started grinding my teeth, so I ordered a night guard on Amazon a couple days ago. I feel like I clench more walking around in the cold than I do at night tho

Take care of the grinding as quickly as possible!! That's what started the whole ball rolling for me years ago...

If the amazon guard doesn't help; your dentist can make one too.

My dentist said he wouldn’t feel comfortable making a night guard for a sleep apnea patient, and my oral surgeon said they “don’t do that”... The good news is that the Amazon one seems to work fine. It’s bulky and took some getting used to, but works.

Not sure if any of us still check this anymore...

After about 10 months of wearing my retainers religiously , things going OK; not great, with a distracted orthodontist that does things impulsively...

My teeth were shifting due to him making unwanted changes to my retainer (without my knowledge; he just walked away with it and came back and it was modified) back in August. He ground off some of the pointy things from my hawley that keep teeth separated and things shifted within a week. Tried to adjust it; failed. Had a new retainer made that was probably made by someone on their first day on the job... That was horrible. Went back for another impression; he said he was going to make another new spring retainer to try to move teeth again. Took the impression back in the middle of December and haven't heard back. I called twice and they said they'd get back to me when it came in. Guessing he's blowing me off.

Saw a different orthodontist and got his opinion about some issues. Shifting molars, some pistoning of my incisors again, and other smaller issues...

Starting Invisalign and picking up the first trays March 3rd. Of course they mentioned attachments and even rubber bands.

ETT (estimated treatment time) 14 months.

Thrilled.