Owww!

Had my ortho appointment on Monday and they jammed 8 separators (tiny thick rubber bands) in between 4 of my molars on each side, upper and lower jaw. They are to remain in place for a week to create spaces for the metal straps on Saturday. These straps will act as anchors to pull my teeth in their proper places.

OUCH!

YES, I am getting braces and YES, I am getting them this late in life.

I had retainers on when I was in College and my ortho back home went gung ho and pulled all of my first molars which created all these gaps in between my teeth. So now it's creating a problem because my teeth had started to shift and my bite is quite off. My friends here think there is absolutely nothing wrong with my teeth. In fact, I think it looks fine superficially but lately I feel I've been clenching my jaws too hard it's giving me a headache.

Now before I even allowed myself to be tied up for this, my good ortho here, wanting to be thorough, had referred me to another dentist who specializes in gum surgery. I was told that I've lost some bone on the spot where one of my first molars used to be. Most probably when the tooth was originally pulled, it broke the bone that held it as well.

Great.

So off I see this other dentist and the appointment went this way:

dentist: Interesting case. The bone lost is bigger than I've expected, you need an oral surgeon who specializes in actual bone grafting.

me: what does the oral surgeon do in a case like mine?

dentist: (shows me a dummy with removable gums) In surgery, they will pull open your gums and will transplant bone into that open spot,close it up and see if it will assimilate with the surrounding bone (somewhat in that premise, technical words forgotten). It will take a year for it to heal.

me: (shocked), and do I still get to function normally during that timeframe?

dentist: yes, well, of course maybe with some discomfort, bruising and swelling. They will prescribe something to help you with the pain (here in the US, painkillers seem to be the answer to everything and oh, he forgot to tell me that maybe infection may be another factor, right?)

me: (double shocked and after a brief loss for words) er, so did you tell me where they will exactly get the bone from?

dentist: oh anywhere from your back jaw or from your chin where there is more bone.

me:(EGAD!!!!)I see.

Copyright 2004 Wandertrekker