Monday, October 25, 2010

splint: take three

I was supposed to have an orthodontist appointment today, but I am far too sick to venture out to Auburn so I postponed it a few weeks. I am ready to see him, as I'm still a bit concerned about my bite.

My jaw hurts much less - I have very few spasms of pain anymore like I was having. It still hurts to open wide (and I'm still at just barely over 2 fingers) and if I play the clarinet for longer than an hour or two it gets pretty sore. The worry is that my bite rarely lines up. I'm often bumping front teeth and I can't pull my lower jaw back without TERRIBLE pain. The bite wanders around all the time, though - it's very inconsistent.

Attached are pictures I took this evening of the splint and it in - keep in mind that I'm super-duper sick and look a bit freaky. Ah, well.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Stephanie!

So the splint is used to keep your bite in the correct position? I really hope it helps because that would be quite disappointing to go through all that and still have your bite off. Are your doctors concerned or do they think this is normal?

stephanie said...

Hi! Yes, the splint is used to retain the new bite - just like retainers keep your teeth in place. It's not necessary for everyone, but I'm at a high risk for relapse and have been dealing with joint pain (bad joints in the first place, not made any worse by surgery) and the splint alleveiates some of that.

Brent said...

Hi Stephanie!
So glad to hear that your jaw is improving! Do you and Dr. Lee feel like the splints are working in stabilizing your bite? How frustrating for you, hang in there!

Thanks for your post on my blog! yes, Dr. Feldman does his surgery at Swedish and I am so excited I switched back to him!! Swedish has such a good reputation and Dr. Feldman has been doing surgerys their forever!!
Thanks for your encouragement!!

Keep the faith!
Brent

Cosmetic surgeon Atlanta said...

I hope your hurt it's better soon,the pain should cure with time but even if you can not go to the doctor make sure you let him know the developments via phone.

Anonymous said...

omg i have to have a splint and am so scared!!!! LOL so does it hurt at all!?!?!?!?!?