So I received my next appointment in the post which was the 3rd of September. My orthodontist simply checked that the dental work had been carried out and that was pretty much it. I then attended another joint surgical clinic on the 5th September where I spoke with my orthodontist and surgeon. Here I asked any questions I could think to ask, I'd recommend taking in a list of the questions you wish to ask because when your in there, your likely to forget some of them :s
My surgeon is lovely, he's a very little man, I was wondering how he reaches the hospital bed to perform surgery hehe :p But he's such a lovely man, I'm really happy that he will be doing my surgery in 18 months - 2 years time because I feel I'm in safe hands! He said I will be so much better off once I have had the surgery, eating and everything will be so much better for me, yey!
One thing I did find out is that I had to get three teeth pulled out in preparation for my braces! Two molars needed pulled out on the bottom and one on the top. I got this done on the 18th October. I had two molars which both had root fillings and one molar which had a filling pulled out because the orthodontist and surgeon said because I'm young they wanted to get rid of the bad teeth and move the new healthy wisdom teeth forward with braces. This I thought was a great idea. The only down point is that bringing wisdom teeth forward with braces can make the whole process longer because apparently they take longer to move :s
I was put to sleep to get my teeth pulled out. The surgeon wanted me to be asleep because when you have root fillings and you get the teeth pulled out, they can crumble away inside and be difficult to remove, not nice if your awake getting this done eek! Unfortunately the surgeon had to cut out some of my bone when removing these two teeth due to them crumbling away being difficult ad he thought they would! This made the healing time a little longer for these two teeth but the third molar with the filling just popped right out and healed quicker than the other two.
It's not painful waiting for the holes to heal up as long as you take your pain medication for about 4-5 days after getting it done, that was me personally anyway, I guess some people may need meds less time or longer. I tried not to take my disolvables tablets after 2 days as I thought I'd be fine but I wouldn't advise it as I ended up getting an achy pain which wasn't too nice :(
Not being able to really eat was the biggest pain, just soup and soft food for a good two weeks. I couldn't brush my teeth for the first couple of days either, had to use warm salty water to clean my mouth out, yucky!
Anyway I figured all the soft food was a trial run for when I get my surgery, not great, meal times arnt too exciting but still I'm doing it for a good reason so it'll all be worth it!!!
My next appointment was to get braces but I'll put that in the next post!! :))
Friday 8 February 2013
Tuesday 10 July 2012
4/7/12 Dental work requirements before braces
Well well well i had to wait 9 weeks before my dentist received the letter with instructions of what dental work was to be done from my orthodontist. I did speak to the orthodontists receptionist at one point to see if the letter had been sent and she said they were a month behind on paperwork so this explains it. Nevermind he got the letter in the end and i went straight in on Wednesday 27th June to get x-rays done on my teeth. It showed i needed four very small fillings on my back molars. I had to have two seperate appointments half an hour long to get two fillings done each time. I got the first lot done on Wednesday 4th July and just had the second lot done on Monday 9th July, yes I'm keen to get them sorted! And yes i am now officially skint, £60 a go for white fillings these days eek! So now I've had my dental work sorted i am just waiting to receive my next orthodontist appointment in the post. Please arrive sooon!!! :D
2/5/12 Appointment with orthodontists & surgeons
Well yes i knew it didn't i, i waited another 2 months for my next appoinment! :p
This appointment was at a different hospital, not my local hospital where i had been going but one that was just about 20 minutes drive away. I think this is just because they only do the 'Joint surgical clinics' in one place. Anyway i didn't mind, i was excited to get there! I found the hospital and got directed to the area i needed to be then sat down and waited to be called. I was looking around the room wondering if there were any other jaw surgery patients there i could have a spy on hehe. Then i heard my name, the girl who came to get me warned me there would be lots of people in the room. When i went in jeez she wasnt kidding, there was about eight people!! I sat in a dentist chair and my orthodontist introduced me to everyone, yes everyone name by name..
'Ooh sorry i don't think i will be to remember all of your names!' i said hehe. Then they all had a look at my teeth, my bite, my jaw, my cross bite...studied the whole lot and my orthodontist asked me to explain to everyone what bothered me about my jaw. I told them and one man came up to have a close look at my teeth, he said sorry for looking so closely but he wanted to see how bad my cross bite was. He said that my bottom jaw was very far over to one side and when they do surgery they would move my jaw to make my teeth line up. I asked if my nose and chin would be in line and he said because my lower jaw is that far over he wasnt sure if when they moved it round that my nose and chin would be in line or just off. But he said if they cant get the nose and chin to line up when the teeth are in line then he could even do a seperate chin operation to sort my chin out. Eek eek eek i thought, i dont want that i just want my teeth sorted out :( Anyway i just want to let people know everything incase they are sitting worrying about any of these things involved with jaw surgery.
So near the end of the appointment i was told some dissapointing news.. I needed some dental work doing before i could go ahead and get my braces on. There were some very small cavities that showed up on my x-rays. I needed four fillings, i couldn't believe this, four fillings!! My orthodontist said she would write to my dentist to tell him to take some more x-rays of my teeth and get the fillings done. She also said she would send my next appointment out in the post which would be with her. I had written down all of my questions in a notepad ready to ask but my orthodontist said i could attend another 'joint surgical clinic' after i had my dental work done so they were more up to date and i thought i would just wait and ask my questions then.
So now to wait until my dentist receives the letter with instructions as to what dental work he needs to do...hope he gets the letter quickly! :s
This appointment was at a different hospital, not my local hospital where i had been going but one that was just about 20 minutes drive away. I think this is just because they only do the 'Joint surgical clinics' in one place. Anyway i didn't mind, i was excited to get there! I found the hospital and got directed to the area i needed to be then sat down and waited to be called. I was looking around the room wondering if there were any other jaw surgery patients there i could have a spy on hehe. Then i heard my name, the girl who came to get me warned me there would be lots of people in the room. When i went in jeez she wasnt kidding, there was about eight people!! I sat in a dentist chair and my orthodontist introduced me to everyone, yes everyone name by name..
'Ooh sorry i don't think i will be to remember all of your names!' i said hehe. Then they all had a look at my teeth, my bite, my jaw, my cross bite...studied the whole lot and my orthodontist asked me to explain to everyone what bothered me about my jaw. I told them and one man came up to have a close look at my teeth, he said sorry for looking so closely but he wanted to see how bad my cross bite was. He said that my bottom jaw was very far over to one side and when they do surgery they would move my jaw to make my teeth line up. I asked if my nose and chin would be in line and he said because my lower jaw is that far over he wasnt sure if when they moved it round that my nose and chin would be in line or just off. But he said if they cant get the nose and chin to line up when the teeth are in line then he could even do a seperate chin operation to sort my chin out. Eek eek eek i thought, i dont want that i just want my teeth sorted out :( Anyway i just want to let people know everything incase they are sitting worrying about any of these things involved with jaw surgery.
So near the end of the appointment i was told some dissapointing news.. I needed some dental work doing before i could go ahead and get my braces on. There were some very small cavities that showed up on my x-rays. I needed four fillings, i couldn't believe this, four fillings!! My orthodontist said she would write to my dentist to tell him to take some more x-rays of my teeth and get the fillings done. She also said she would send my next appointment out in the post which would be with her. I had written down all of my questions in a notepad ready to ask but my orthodontist said i could attend another 'joint surgical clinic' after i had my dental work done so they were more up to date and i thought i would just wait and ask my questions then.
So now to wait until my dentist receives the letter with instructions as to what dental work he needs to do...hope he gets the letter quickly! :s
12/3/12 Records and moulds ortho appointment
Well i eventually got my next appointment in the post and it was for 12/3/12, yes almost two moths later eek! It's ok i'm getting used to the waiting! At this appointment i had my moulds done for lower and upper jaw by my orthodontist. All she did was get a plastic tool in the shape of your teeth (like a horse shoe shape), put some soft paste into it and pushed it up onto my teeth to take a mould of the top teeth. It was in my mouth for a few minutes just until the paste set and created a mould. She then did this with the bottom teeth aswell. It's not painful or anything, very simple. She had to use the smallest shaped tool for me as my tooth arches and very small, especially the top one, its quite narrow. I think there are three different sizes to fit different sized arches.
After that I took a form from the orthodontist and went on down to get photographs of my teeth and jaw done. The photographer got me to put two plastic spatulas in my mouth to pull my lips to the sides so he could photograph my teeth (lots of photographs btw, pulling your lips around- take lip balm!). I was in the for about ten minutes then that was that, nice n easy. Quite a quick appontment really, my orthodontist did give a dvd to take home though. This i found very useful, it was different people talking about their experiences with jaw surgery and not one of them regreted doing it. One girl did end up with some numbness in her chin which was permanent nerve damage but she said it didnt bother her and the jaw surgery was worth it. It's quite nice to see other people going through the same process and watching their end results, exciting stuff! One of the main reason's i wanted to do this is to help other people in the UK who may be looking into getting jaw surgery as i could never find many nhs patients so wasn't sure what to expect. Well hopefully i will help someone! :p
Oh and i asked what the next step was and the orthodontist said my next appointment would be for me to attend a 'joint surgical clinic' which is where i meet with my orthodontist and some other orthodontists and surgeons. Apparently there is going to be alot of them there all staring down my throat eek! Appointment will be in the post she says....please make it soon, i dont know if i can wait another 2 months!!! :p
After that I took a form from the orthodontist and went on down to get photographs of my teeth and jaw done. The photographer got me to put two plastic spatulas in my mouth to pull my lips to the sides so he could photograph my teeth (lots of photographs btw, pulling your lips around- take lip balm!). I was in the for about ten minutes then that was that, nice n easy. Quite a quick appontment really, my orthodontist did give a dvd to take home though. This i found very useful, it was different people talking about their experiences with jaw surgery and not one of them regreted doing it. One girl did end up with some numbness in her chin which was permanent nerve damage but she said it didnt bother her and the jaw surgery was worth it. It's quite nice to see other people going through the same process and watching their end results, exciting stuff! One of the main reason's i wanted to do this is to help other people in the UK who may be looking into getting jaw surgery as i could never find many nhs patients so wasn't sure what to expect. Well hopefully i will help someone! :p
Oh and i asked what the next step was and the orthodontist said my next appointment would be for me to attend a 'joint surgical clinic' which is where i meet with my orthodontist and some other orthodontists and surgeons. Apparently there is going to be alot of them there all staring down my throat eek! Appointment will be in the post she says....please make it soon, i dont know if i can wait another 2 months!!! :p
17/1/12 First consultation with hospital orthodontist
Well my letter arrived in the post and my first with the orthodontist at the hospital was 17/1/12. Yes i know almost two months later than the appointment with the other orthodontist but it seems you have to wait a while to be seen by the nhs orthodontists, alot of patients to be seen i guess.
Anyway i was so excited but nervous for this appointment as i would get to find out if i qualified for surgery or not...
When i went in the room i was shocked to find there were about three other patients in the same room as me but each part partitioned off with freestanding boards. So be aware if you get this done on the nhs you may not be in a private room just you and the orthodontist. I didnt mind it anyway, i sat in a dentist chair and waited to meet my orthodontist. Once she arrived she asked if she could look at my teeth and then asked me what bothered me about my teeth/jaw. I told her what i didnt like and she made a note of it. She then carried on inspecting my teeth and got a ruler out. I guess this was to measure my under bite and maybe how far over my bottom teeth were in comparison to my top teeth (cross bite). She then said that i definitley had a jaw discrepency and that i actually had a significant 'Class III malocclusion'. She said i would need upper and lower jaw surgery aswell as braces to correct this problem. I asked if i would be able to get this done and she said yes.
My first thoughts 'Wahheeyy i qualify!!' :)
I snapped out of my little floating air bubble and tried to remember all the questions that i had wanted to ask...(I would say write down any questions you may want to ask before you go to the appointment as when you are there you tend to forget them). I asked what would the process would be if i were to get this done, she said about 18 months to 2 years in braces and then surgery to move the lower jaw back and the upper jaw forward. She also said my crossbite would be corrected by moving my jaw round to bring my chin in line with my nose. I asked what the next step was and she said she would send me out another appointment in the post for me to come in and get my records and moulds done. I asked what would happen at that appointment and she said they would take moulds of my mouth and then they send me to the photographer to get lots of different pictures of my jaw and teeth.
At the end of the appointment the orthodontist said i could go and get my x-rays done now if i wanted so i said yes. I took a form from her and went and got some x-rays taken of my jaw, and that was that. A very excited girl left the hospital with a bounce in her step! :D
Anyway i was so excited but nervous for this appointment as i would get to find out if i qualified for surgery or not...
When i went in the room i was shocked to find there were about three other patients in the same room as me but each part partitioned off with freestanding boards. So be aware if you get this done on the nhs you may not be in a private room just you and the orthodontist. I didnt mind it anyway, i sat in a dentist chair and waited to meet my orthodontist. Once she arrived she asked if she could look at my teeth and then asked me what bothered me about my teeth/jaw. I told her what i didnt like and she made a note of it. She then carried on inspecting my teeth and got a ruler out. I guess this was to measure my under bite and maybe how far over my bottom teeth were in comparison to my top teeth (cross bite). She then said that i definitley had a jaw discrepency and that i actually had a significant 'Class III malocclusion'. She said i would need upper and lower jaw surgery aswell as braces to correct this problem. I asked if i would be able to get this done and she said yes.
My first thoughts 'Wahheeyy i qualify!!' :)
I snapped out of my little floating air bubble and tried to remember all the questions that i had wanted to ask...(I would say write down any questions you may want to ask before you go to the appointment as when you are there you tend to forget them). I asked what would the process would be if i were to get this done, she said about 18 months to 2 years in braces and then surgery to move the lower jaw back and the upper jaw forward. She also said my crossbite would be corrected by moving my jaw round to bring my chin in line with my nose. I asked what the next step was and she said she would send me out another appointment in the post for me to come in and get my records and moulds done. I asked what would happen at that appointment and she said they would take moulds of my mouth and then they send me to the photographer to get lots of different pictures of my jaw and teeth.
At the end of the appointment the orthodontist said i could go and get my x-rays done now if i wanted so i said yes. I took a form from her and went and got some x-rays taken of my jaw, and that was that. A very excited girl left the hospital with a bounce in her step! :D
First appointment with an orthodontist
After asking my dentist if I could be referred to an orthodontist I got an appointment sent in the post not too long later. This appointment with the orghodontist was 24/11/11. I went to the appointment and here I got photographs taken of my teeth from different angles. The orthodontist looked at my teeth, how they looked when they bite together and asked me what bothered me about my jaw. He then told me that I definitely had a jaw discrepancy. He said this could not be fixed with just braces, but that I would need surgery to fix my problem. He told me I had an underbite, open bite and a cross bite. The orthodontist asked me if I would ever consider jaw surgery. I said I would have to think about it and do some research but what sort of surgery would I need? He told me he thought I would need surgery on both top and bottom jaws but he would have to transfer me to a specialist orthodontist at the hospital for them to take a look. He said its up to the orthodontist at the hospital whether they think you have a problem big enough to qualify for surgery or not. This made me a little anxious as i thought
'Oh no i'm not going to qualify for surgery and there will be nothing i can do..'. I think your under bite has to be bad enough to allow you to get the surgery, if it's not too bad then they may not do the surgery. So the orthodontist asked which hospital I wanted to be transferred to and said he would send a letter to them. He said I should just wait to get a letter in the post from the hospital with an appointment date. So that was the first appointment with the first orthodontist. I left really excited as i thought this was the beginning of getting my jaw sorted out but nervous incase the hospital say they wouldnt do it...
'Oh no i'm not going to qualify for surgery and there will be nothing i can do..'. I think your under bite has to be bad enough to allow you to get the surgery, if it's not too bad then they may not do the surgery. So the orthodontist asked which hospital I wanted to be transferred to and said he would send a letter to them. He said I should just wait to get a letter in the post from the hospital with an appointment date. So that was the first appointment with the first orthodontist. I left really excited as i thought this was the beginning of getting my jaw sorted out but nervous incase the hospital say they wouldnt do it...
The beginning...my jaw problems
Hello, my name is Toll and i am a 25 year old girl from England. I have known since i was a young girl that i had a problem with my jaw but i guess i was always too scared to think about braces and surgery. When i turned 18 i knew i didnt like the way my jaw looked but i just got on with it. Now that i am a bit older my jaw seems to have got worse, not just the way it looks but how my teeth function. After alot of research on the internet and weighing things up i have decided that surgery could be for the best and asked my dentist to transfer me to an orthodontist...
I have an under bite, an open bite and a cross bite. What this means is my lower jaw is too long therefore needs to be moved back. My teeth when biting together show quite a large gap between them where i can actually stick my tongue through and also my top and bottom teeth do not allign properly. When i bite down you can see that my lower jaw is actually further over to the right which means that my teeth do not line up properly. If you look closely you can even tell that my chin does not line up with my nose.
All of these factors add up to cause me problems. I cannot eat properly because there are only about two or three of my teeth that actually bite together. I wish i had a good bite so that i could eat more comfortably. The gap in between my front teeth means i find it hard to eat any foods like cucumber and tomato in a sandwich.. When i bite the sandwich i cut into the bread but the cucmber is left sticking out as i cant bite through it. This really has an affect on my confidence as i dont really like to eat infront of people. One food i absolutely love and struggle with is spaghetti pasta. I just cannot seem to chew it up propperly...it takes an age! These are just a couple of examples of my chewing/biting problems.
Although my jaw affects my abiliity to eat i do have other reasons why my jaw bothers me. I dont really like the way my jaw makes me look. I feel as though my jaw is really long and not very feminine looking. I cant wear my hair up as i feel my jaw is on show! The way my chin and nose don't line up due to my crossbite bothers me. My boyfriend says he can't really notice it so maybe thats just me because i know its there! I dont like getting photos taken because my teeth do not bite together when i smile and just don't look nice really. My teeth are not the straightest either which doesnt help. How nice it would be to have teeth that bite together!
Well i dont want to yap on too long as this is my first post and i dont want to put people off! :p So there you have the information on my jaw problems and if anyone can relate or is at the beginning of this journey too then please message me, I'd love to hear from you :)
I have an under bite, an open bite and a cross bite. What this means is my lower jaw is too long therefore needs to be moved back. My teeth when biting together show quite a large gap between them where i can actually stick my tongue through and also my top and bottom teeth do not allign properly. When i bite down you can see that my lower jaw is actually further over to the right which means that my teeth do not line up properly. If you look closely you can even tell that my chin does not line up with my nose.
All of these factors add up to cause me problems. I cannot eat properly because there are only about two or three of my teeth that actually bite together. I wish i had a good bite so that i could eat more comfortably. The gap in between my front teeth means i find it hard to eat any foods like cucumber and tomato in a sandwich.. When i bite the sandwich i cut into the bread but the cucmber is left sticking out as i cant bite through it. This really has an affect on my confidence as i dont really like to eat infront of people. One food i absolutely love and struggle with is spaghetti pasta. I just cannot seem to chew it up propperly...it takes an age! These are just a couple of examples of my chewing/biting problems.
Although my jaw affects my abiliity to eat i do have other reasons why my jaw bothers me. I dont really like the way my jaw makes me look. I feel as though my jaw is really long and not very feminine looking. I cant wear my hair up as i feel my jaw is on show! The way my chin and nose don't line up due to my crossbite bothers me. My boyfriend says he can't really notice it so maybe thats just me because i know its there! I dont like getting photos taken because my teeth do not bite together when i smile and just don't look nice really. My teeth are not the straightest either which doesnt help. How nice it would be to have teeth that bite together!
Well i dont want to yap on too long as this is my first post and i dont want to put people off! :p So there you have the information on my jaw problems and if anyone can relate or is at the beginning of this journey too then please message me, I'd love to hear from you :)
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