i had double jaw surgery on november 27th,spent one night in the hospital and came home for the first 3 days of hell. I was never in any pain ,swollen discomfort,tingling and my lips were so swollen i couldnt close them for 3 weeks. after 3 weeks was out in removable bands and put on soft foods, mashed potatoes never tasted so good!!! i had one bracket come off the tooth at the OS assured me it wasnt a big deal and must have been bumped during operation.
Chirstmas came and i seen the OS on the 22nd and everything seemed to be getting better by this time i could eat soft food fork mashed and life was good, i had a dull ache once in a while, and i could open enough to get one finger in and move it a bit up and down. i was on the road to recovery.
On Dec 30th while brushing i noticed that my lower braces on the right side bottom seemed loose, like i could almost move the whole segment from the back bracket to the canine tooth. one of thise brackets was holding my elastic band to help my jaw heal. i called the OS they were closed till the 4th and called the ortho same thing. Figured no big deal, as the week went on and i could see more and more back there as the swelling went down i found that i had at least 5 brackets off back there.
i called the OS on the 4th and had an appointment for the 7th when he came back off of holidays. I woke up the wed and felt some return swelling on that side and some slight pain.
i went to see the OS in the morning on the 7th and told him i had some pain and he could see and feel the swelling. Told me that the brackets being off my teeth for almost 2 weeks had caused an open bite on that side,my back molars were no longer meeting, and that the strain in the bone and msucle would cause some discomfort. BUT that i needed to get those brackets on ASAP. SO i left there and walked into my ortho's office and they took me right in.He had NEVER seen this happen before, and painfully replaced all 6 brackets. I called the OS and talked to him directly and he told me not to put the bands back on for the weekend and see him monday.
that saturday night i woke up in the middle of the night with SEVERE intense pain on that side.Felt like an infection, throbbing pain that hit a 10 most of the night. I called sunday morning the emergency number at my OS's office and the on call dr called me in a perscription for antibotics and tylenol 3. I started them right away.
Seen the OS that monday morning and he said he doubted infection as there was no sign inside my mouth as well as no hard spots but told me to continue taking the meds just incase, he still figured it was the bone and muscle reacting. He replaced bands so that i was almost closed once again. I told him that once in a while i feel like a shifting tightening feeling and it seems to happen more at night. He said he thinks it is a muscle spasm and that it would bound to happen as the muscle was being pulled back now with the bands now that those 6 brackets were in place. he gave me over the counter muscle relaxants and told me to take advil. he did admit that this was all new as he had never had a patient that this had happened to before. at this point when i take the bands off i can barely open my mouth again, i am stiff and sore.
For the past week i have had several severly painful muscle spasms that feel like an elastic band tightening and letting go in my side, mostly at night. The pain from these spasms lasts for up to 45 mins and then aches for hours after. i havent slept through the night in over a week and am lucky to get a total of 3 hours of sleep all night. During the day the frequency of them is less but i constantly have an achy right side. I am slightly swollen and back to eating very soft strained food as the act of even putting fod in and bringing it back to swallow is painful.
i can open my mouth a bit more but not enough to get a finger in.
I see the OS on tuesday morning and am going to demand that something is done. I think he should do a CT scan to see what the heck is going on in there. This pain is intense and is starting to effect me during the day as i dont sleep. I run a homedaycare and already took 5 weeks pff post op and cant afford to take more time off. To top it all off i am a single parent during the week as my husbands job is 2 hours away.
i am sorry if this sounds like i am whinning as i know there is probably people with worse issues then this i just needed to vent and get my story out there and see if anyone has had anything even like this happen to them. At 7 weeks post op i know i should be better then this and the depressing thing is I WAS and now feel like my recovery is going backwards.
