I went to the OD twice this week. I initiated the appointment, and am so glad I did. I wanted to remove the surgical lugs. Yippee!
Bad news? My OD is concerned my condoyles have sagged. Uh huh. NOT what you want hear after surviving two weeks of what I’m coining as “the darkness”. His concerns worried me for several days. Really, though, what can I do except wear my elastics and wait for the swelling to go down? I think this is pretty common. I’ll speak to my surgeons about it on Monday. My assessment is that the OS was very pleased with my bite while the OD preferred my teeth to be set end-to-end to compensate for the settling in process.
My left side looks great. My right side is slightly class II, so that side has stronger elastics. The plan is to correct my bite while the mouth is still settling. Then, around the six week mark, we’ll start tweaking rotations, mid lines and such.So, new flexible wires are in as well as a lower power chain. My little persistent gap finally seems to be closing. Prescription is to wear the Fox elastics on the left & Ram elastics on the right 24-7 for the next three weeks. I feel more pressure than pain from these, though my cheeks are still puffy and catch on the elastics whenever I speak.
Since I cannot chew any food, the additional pain hasn’t slowed me down. Well, perhaps it’s made me grumpier than usual. I am definitely more focused on comforts than I used to be: warm socks, smooth puddings, hot showers, fresh sheets. As long as I don’t have to chat much, excursions help me distract myself from the discomforts.
Last night, my husband and I taught an NFP class. Oooh, I paid for all that talking today. Every muscle in my jaw aches, even under my chin. My face also swelled back up. Grrr.
Oh, I cannot for these babies to come off!
1 comment:
Awesome fo getting lugs removed: hip-hip,,,! And persistent gap closing, I'm always first in line to cheer those on :)
I'm of mixed emotion regarding your OD's comments on the condoyles
so I'll try to make even a bit of sense. First impression is to yell "shut up!" (which is harsh indeed, as these are forbidden words in our house) because: a) It's a bit early for a reasonably low-instance complication diagnosis b) I would think that the OS is much more qualified to make this call c) everything is being yanked in all directions as muscles are settling into new positions d)I find it in poor taste for the OD to disagree with the OS in front of you, after the fact. If he felt that strongly about the degree of over-compensation, why not lobby for it to the OS? ~ they're supposed to be a team. YOUR team!
Good night, I'm sorry for ranting in your space. I'm off the soap box. It is possible that he could be just thinking out loud and making you worry unneccessarily....
I'm glad you see your OS Monday and hopefully he can completely put your mind at ease one way or the other.
The positives? It IS early and things are settling still. You're in elastics to make sure the bite eventually setlles in the right space. Your OS is the guy who should know about joints and relapses. This is HIS area of specialty. If he's pleased with your bite, that's wonderful. The need for fine tuning afterwards is completely normal.
I'm sorry you're still having quite a bit of discomfort still with everything. You're probably sick to death of hearing that it will get better when you're tired of feeling uncomfortable... You can drive me nuts with the same platitudes when roles are reversed, okay? haha.
Here's to a better week than the one before, and keep focusing on those warm socks, smooth pudding, soothing showers and crisp sheets *hug*
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