I had an orthodontist appointment today to start working on closing the gap left when they pulled teeth before surgery. And it was full of surprises. The first surprise came when I learned I would not be seeing my orthodontist, but her partner, who I will apparently be seeing from now on. I didn't ask why this was... maybe I'm just that annoying as a patient??
He came in to take a look before any of the wires came off. And the next surprise was, after looking around for a minute, he pronounced me ready for surgery! I said no, the oral surgeon said the gap would need to be closed orthodontically partway before surgery, so it won't be until December. Apparently when the surgeon and the *new* orthodontist talked yesterday, he said he would just take some bone out during surgery to close the gap. So I walked out of there with surgical wires and hooks still on, waiting for a call today or tomorrow after he checks in with the surgeon.
Of course, the possibility of going ahead with surgery is very good news. The sooner I get into surgery, the sooner I get out and get rid of the braces. But I am a serious planner, and this throws a SERIOUS monkey wrench into my plans! I really don't know what news I want to hear when the phone rings!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Goodbye Bicuspids!
Well, today was the day for me to lose my top first bicuspids, and I have to say, it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. My surgeon took a few minutes, first, to show me exactly why he needed to do this. I wish I had a copy of the X-ray to post, but basically, the roots of my canines and bicuspids are very, very close together. During surgery, one of the cuts is going to go between the canines and first bicuspid, so there was a high probability of damaging both teeth if some space wasn't made. When he pointed that out, I couldn't imagine how the surgeons I'd had previously were planning to do it, there was absolutely NO room! Normally, they'd use the braces to make more space, but there just isn't any in my mouth. So that was the reasoning behind this whole ordeal.
I hadn't researched this at all because the idea of having teeth yanked out of my mouth was just so gross to me I couldn't even think about it! But it wasn't all that bad. The Novocaine was probably the worst part. Then he clipped the wires and scraped the bracket off. He poked around the tooth for a minute or so, and when he started pulling I couldn't even tell. There was pressure, but not so intense that I couldn't pretend he was still just poking around. I was afraid there would be terrible sounds, like the roots cracking or popping out, but again, not bad. It was over in just a few minutes, and a lot less traumatizing than I'd been afraid of!
The pain really hasn't been bad either. They prescribed tylenol with codeine which has probably helped! The bleeding did last a lot longer than I expected. And was more intense than I expected. My friend texted me about 2 hours afterwards to ask how I looked. I checked the mirror for the first time and texted back "Like Edward freaking Cullen after dinner!" (He's the vampire in the Twilight series, extremely popular with the middle school ladies I teach. Okay, okay, I've read them too.) Until about 9 I was still getting up every 10 minutes or so to spit out a mouthful of bloody saliva (sorry, gross, I know). Of course, spit is a relative term... we're talking more like drool. Anyways, I had a smoothie for dinner once that tapered off, because really, who wants a blood flavored smoothie?
So that's the story. I'm a little nervous about going to sleep, because I remember after having my wisdom teeth out, waking up in the morning was the worst. Fortunately, I told the kids I'll be working with tomorrow that I might look like a chipmunk and talk like, well, someone that just had a few teeth pulled out of their mouth. And that they'd better work hard to understand me. I'll be trying their patience, for once, instead of the other way around!
I hadn't researched this at all because the idea of having teeth yanked out of my mouth was just so gross to me I couldn't even think about it! But it wasn't all that bad. The Novocaine was probably the worst part. Then he clipped the wires and scraped the bracket off. He poked around the tooth for a minute or so, and when he started pulling I couldn't even tell. There was pressure, but not so intense that I couldn't pretend he was still just poking around. I was afraid there would be terrible sounds, like the roots cracking or popping out, but again, not bad. It was over in just a few minutes, and a lot less traumatizing than I'd been afraid of!
The pain really hasn't been bad either. They prescribed tylenol with codeine which has probably helped! The bleeding did last a lot longer than I expected. And was more intense than I expected. My friend texted me about 2 hours afterwards to ask how I looked. I checked the mirror for the first time and texted back "Like Edward freaking Cullen after dinner!" (He's the vampire in the Twilight series, extremely popular with the middle school ladies I teach. Okay, okay, I've read them too.) Until about 9 I was still getting up every 10 minutes or so to spit out a mouthful of bloody saliva (sorry, gross, I know). Of course, spit is a relative term... we're talking more like drool. Anyways, I had a smoothie for dinner once that tapered off, because really, who wants a blood flavored smoothie?
So that's the story. I'm a little nervous about going to sleep, because I remember after having my wisdom teeth out, waking up in the morning was the worst. Fortunately, I told the kids I'll be working with tomorrow that I might look like a chipmunk and talk like, well, someone that just had a few teeth pulled out of their mouth. And that they'd better work hard to understand me. I'll be trying their patience, for once, instead of the other way around!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Waterpik inventor for president?
#1 piece of advice I've taken from blogs so far: get a Waterpik. I had never heard of them before I started reading, and I went out and bought one a few days ago. It. Is. Amazing. They should give you one free with every set of braces (they cost enough to cover the price of the waterpik, for sure...) Seriously. Best investment you'll make in this whole process. (well, besides the process itself, I guess) And they have them at Bed Bath and Beyond, where you can use one of those million or so 20% off coupons they send out every week. Then not only do you have the most helpful braces-related gadget ever, you also have a good deal. :)
Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
The Good- Finally actually got my surgeon on the phone yesterday!
The Bad- Less than excited about what he had to say. He says there's no way he'd reccomend this surgery with as crowded as my upper jaw is (which makes me wonder why two surgeons hadn't said anything about this...) Soooo he wants to pull a few teeth, get the rest of them all lined up again, and then start thinking about surgery. This would put off surgery at least another six months. I REALLY appreciated that he at least said, "I know this isn't what you want to hear, since you've already had your braces on for over a year." Whoah... this guy a) remembers my story and b) cares! Anyway, I was SO frustrated at first, but at least it's a medical setback and not insurance again. I'm hoping for Christmas so I don't have to take time off classes, and the good news is that I'm now back on for my summer job. Unfortunately, it means another year of substitute teaching...
The Ugly- That would be me. Yesterday, while working with a kid in a special education class I work in a lot, one of them looked intently at me and said, "Are you wearing braces because they make you look good? Because I don't think they're working."
Yes, folks, even a 12 year old with autism knows that braces at 23 are not a great fashion statement. I'm not even gonna lie, I almost died laughing.
The Bad- Less than excited about what he had to say. He says there's no way he'd reccomend this surgery with as crowded as my upper jaw is (which makes me wonder why two surgeons hadn't said anything about this...) Soooo he wants to pull a few teeth, get the rest of them all lined up again, and then start thinking about surgery. This would put off surgery at least another six months. I REALLY appreciated that he at least said, "I know this isn't what you want to hear, since you've already had your braces on for over a year." Whoah... this guy a) remembers my story and b) cares! Anyway, I was SO frustrated at first, but at least it's a medical setback and not insurance again. I'm hoping for Christmas so I don't have to take time off classes, and the good news is that I'm now back on for my summer job. Unfortunately, it means another year of substitute teaching...
The Ugly- That would be me. Yesterday, while working with a kid in a special education class I work in a lot, one of them looked intently at me and said, "Are you wearing braces because they make you look good? Because I don't think they're working."
Yes, folks, even a 12 year old with autism knows that braces at 23 are not a great fashion statement. I'm not even gonna lie, I almost died laughing.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
A Very Long Introduction
Hey there everyone! I came across this great ortho-blogging thing last week while googling “orthognathic surgery nerve damage,” which, of course, is a VERY popular topic. Anyway, since then, I’ve been reading through tons of people’s blogs and just really enjoying getting some REAL stories. It means so much more to read about people surviving this whole process than just hearing that they really do! I wasn’t sure about blogging myself, but I’ve had a very frustrating time with this whole thing, and there are only so many times that you can complain about insurance with people with naturally perfect mouths and still expect to have friends. So here we go!
My first orthodontic adventure was when I was a kid, when I had the expander, braces, retainer sequence. Most people tend to stop there, but I’ve always liked to be an overachiever. So, despite religiously wearing my retainer, by the time I was a freshman in high school, my teeth were once again crooked. So we went to a new orthodontist (we’d moved) who realized that my jaws were all sorts of messed up. She put braces on again, but warned us that I would need surgery by the time I was in my 20’s to correct that.
Fast forward a couple years and here we are. I got my braces on in January of 2008, at age 21, a year and a half ago. From that point on, not a whole lot has gone smoothly! My orthodontist is wonderful. She had me ready for surgery in August of last year. If only she could do the actual surgery! With the surgeon, it’s been not much but problems. With my first surgeon, I tried to schedule a consultation for about 6 months before they actually gave me one. This was because they said insurance had to approve the surgery before he would consult. Yet every day when I called to see if they had started on insurance, they said they would get right on that. They lost my records multiple times. It was just a mess, all the time. Finally, though, I got a consultation. (This was in January of this year, I’d had braces for a year and been deemed ‘ready for surgery’ by my orthodontist for 6 months) The surgeon came in 50 minutes late, spent 5 minutes with me, literally yelled at me for not opening my mouth exactly as he wanted it, and said that my teeth weren’t ready and wouldn’t be for at least 6 more months. I left the office crying (I can be a little overly sensitive!) super depressed, and really not wanting to see this man ever again, much less have him tooling around in my mouth while I was unconscious!
Since the first surgeon had recently dropped my parent’s insurance, we would be going out of network with him anyway. So we decided to go to another out of network surgeon, and he was wonderful. He spent so much time with me, answered all my questions, and gave me a date within a week. The office staff knew me by name and was SO on top of things. Surgery was supposed to be May 28. I got the surgical hooks on and everything. But on May 18, we got a letter from the insurance company saying that since we were going out of network, they would only pay $3000. We would owe $17,000, plus hospital fees. It seemed the first surgeon hadn’t dropped our insurance after all, so we would have to go back to him. After considering every other option and deciding that winning the lottery wasn’t a feasible plan, I went back to the first surgeon.
But there was good news! He had decided that my surgery wasn’t “financially worth his time” so he pawned me off on someone else that has much better bedside manner! This guy seems great. Unfortunately, I’m dealing with the same generally friendly but overworked office. So it’s been 2 weeks since my appointment, and I’ve started calling them every day, only to hear, every day, “Let me check into it and call you back later.” Needless to say, I never get a call back.
It’s been hard, too, because I’ve put my life on hold this past year waiting for this. I graduated from college last year, and, besides 2 unforgettable months working in Honduras, have been substitute teaching, knowing I needed a job that I could take off from. For a special ed teacher (I was hoping to get a job teaching while working on my certification) that just won’t work. That hasn’t worked out, so I’m going back to school full time next year while working whatever job I can find, and would prefer not to go back looking like I’ve been beaten! So I know this needs to happen by early July, at the latest, but how can I hurry it along more than by calling daily? Not having surgery in May has already forced me to cancel my summer job, which was how I was going to buy gas to get to school, haha… I know I’ll be happy when it’s over. It’ll be so nice not to get headaches, to be able to eat pizza and sandwiches without tearing them into small bites, and, not gonna lie, to have a profile I don’t mind seeing in pictures! The road is seeming so long and hard, but I already feel better sharing, regardless of whether anyone ever reads this.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences! I’ve learned so much that the surgeons don’t tell you already! Nothing like hearing the real story, without all the sugarcoating!
My first orthodontic adventure was when I was a kid, when I had the expander, braces, retainer sequence. Most people tend to stop there, but I’ve always liked to be an overachiever. So, despite religiously wearing my retainer, by the time I was a freshman in high school, my teeth were once again crooked. So we went to a new orthodontist (we’d moved) who realized that my jaws were all sorts of messed up. She put braces on again, but warned us that I would need surgery by the time I was in my 20’s to correct that.
Fast forward a couple years and here we are. I got my braces on in January of 2008, at age 21, a year and a half ago. From that point on, not a whole lot has gone smoothly! My orthodontist is wonderful. She had me ready for surgery in August of last year. If only she could do the actual surgery! With the surgeon, it’s been not much but problems. With my first surgeon, I tried to schedule a consultation for about 6 months before they actually gave me one. This was because they said insurance had to approve the surgery before he would consult. Yet every day when I called to see if they had started on insurance, they said they would get right on that. They lost my records multiple times. It was just a mess, all the time. Finally, though, I got a consultation. (This was in January of this year, I’d had braces for a year and been deemed ‘ready for surgery’ by my orthodontist for 6 months) The surgeon came in 50 minutes late, spent 5 minutes with me, literally yelled at me for not opening my mouth exactly as he wanted it, and said that my teeth weren’t ready and wouldn’t be for at least 6 more months. I left the office crying (I can be a little overly sensitive!) super depressed, and really not wanting to see this man ever again, much less have him tooling around in my mouth while I was unconscious!
Since the first surgeon had recently dropped my parent’s insurance, we would be going out of network with him anyway. So we decided to go to another out of network surgeon, and he was wonderful. He spent so much time with me, answered all my questions, and gave me a date within a week. The office staff knew me by name and was SO on top of things. Surgery was supposed to be May 28. I got the surgical hooks on and everything. But on May 18, we got a letter from the insurance company saying that since we were going out of network, they would only pay $3000. We would owe $17,000, plus hospital fees. It seemed the first surgeon hadn’t dropped our insurance after all, so we would have to go back to him. After considering every other option and deciding that winning the lottery wasn’t a feasible plan, I went back to the first surgeon.
But there was good news! He had decided that my surgery wasn’t “financially worth his time” so he pawned me off on someone else that has much better bedside manner! This guy seems great. Unfortunately, I’m dealing with the same generally friendly but overworked office. So it’s been 2 weeks since my appointment, and I’ve started calling them every day, only to hear, every day, “Let me check into it and call you back later.” Needless to say, I never get a call back.
It’s been hard, too, because I’ve put my life on hold this past year waiting for this. I graduated from college last year, and, besides 2 unforgettable months working in Honduras, have been substitute teaching, knowing I needed a job that I could take off from. For a special ed teacher (I was hoping to get a job teaching while working on my certification) that just won’t work. That hasn’t worked out, so I’m going back to school full time next year while working whatever job I can find, and would prefer not to go back looking like I’ve been beaten! So I know this needs to happen by early July, at the latest, but how can I hurry it along more than by calling daily? Not having surgery in May has already forced me to cancel my summer job, which was how I was going to buy gas to get to school, haha… I know I’ll be happy when it’s over. It’ll be so nice not to get headaches, to be able to eat pizza and sandwiches without tearing them into small bites, and, not gonna lie, to have a profile I don’t mind seeing in pictures! The road is seeming so long and hard, but I already feel better sharing, regardless of whether anyone ever reads this.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences! I’ve learned so much that the surgeons don’t tell you already! Nothing like hearing the real story, without all the sugarcoating!
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