Infection

Well, my jaw is feeling completely better, but on New Year's eve my left socket started hurting pretty badly. The next morning I woke up spitting blood and it hurt even worse than on the day before. It's progressively gotten worse and worse until I finally called my dentist yesterday (I was hoping to make it until my appt. on next Tuesday since he's out of the office and I had to call him at home).

He says he's pretty sure it's dry socket or some kind of infection, prescribed me more pain meds (ugh, I don't like taking them) and some crazy antibiotics.

So, I'm up at 3:30 am because I have to take them every six hours on the dot, and am not allowed to lay down within a half hour of taking them.

At least they haven't made me sick yet.

teeth pictures, post extraction

Finally, I get my camera out of Nick's car, where it's been held hostage for the past month or so. First, the obligatory pre-everything-except-for-extraction photo of my nice big gummy smile (sometime I'll post one of a BIG smile - this one is pretty conservative).

Next, my amazing bite! The orthodontist, oral surgeon, and dentist kept talking about my open bite. Truthfully, I never really thought about it being really open until I took these pictures - and now I notice that the only teeth that touch in my mouth are on my right side, my back three (oops, now two) teeth. Odd.

I look a little tired (okay, a lot tired and slightly dramatic), but this is my biggest problem with my stupid mouth/jaw/bite/everything combined: My lips don't cover my teeth. So, if I'm not paying attention and I space out during the day, I get a slack-jawed, stupid look that's completely unattractive. Such as the picture to the left.

My lower jaw sans two teeth. The hope is that the Damon braces system will widen the lower arches enough that the extra step in my jaw surgery won't be necessary... Hence I said goodbye to two teeth, as the crowding is pretty insane. Also, my teeth lean too far inwards, which will be fixed first off.

My upper palate. Please ignore the multitude of cavities, as I'm pretty embarrassed of them. My teeth aren't too crowded, but my arch is very narrow. They'll widen this as much as they can with the damon braces like my lower jaw, but then they'll widen it during the main surgery as well. (Though, if it doesn't look like they will be able to get enough widening with the damon system, I'll have to do the SARPE thing - I'm crossing my fingers to avoid it!) My teeth on the top side really lean towards the inside of my mouth, as well, which should be fixed straight away.

Side profile with my lips relaxed (it's a bit weird from the shadows, but you can see how my lips don't even come close to touching, and how long my profile is from my nose to my chin.

Anyway, in closing, it all starts here! My jaw is still pretty sore, but I'm able to open it today. The weirdest thing is, is my lower teeth really hurt today - and in looking at them in the mirror, they're already becoming less crowded, and edging into the recently vacated space.

teeth extraction

Ugh, what a day yesterday. I went to my teeth cleaning on Wednesday, and they found the beginning of cavities between two different sets of teeth. He said that because my teeth are so crowded, and because they've been moving so much, the enamel is rubbing down and forming cavities. (No wonder I've had so many cavities as an adult, even though I take really good care of my teeth). They had an appointment open for the next day, though, so I was glad I could get it over with right away.

Zoom to following day [yesterday]. My ortho appointment went well, he confirmed everything the oral surgeon said, and said I was fine to get braces on January 21st, unless I didn't have my two teeth pulled by then. I flipped out a little bit (my dentist is really busy and I have a difficult schedule), so my receptionist called to see if I could get in over break. They said that if I could show up at 10am instead of 11:30 (my cavity appointment), I could have it all done at once.

Luckily, Heidi is amazing and gave up our day of Christmas shopping and cookie making and holiday movie watching to take me to the dentist, where we spent 3 and a half hours. Seriously. I was in the chair for most of that time. After one of the most horrific local anesthesia experiences ever (the needles were four inches long, just let me say), they drilled the cavities first, then pulled the two teeth, then filled the cavities. My teeth are so crammed together that it was almost impossible to fill the cavities, and the wedges to hold my teeth apart kept breaking off. Remember, also, that I have TMJ, and by the end of the appointment the pain from my jaw was shooting into my neck and back and right arm. I was numb until around 9pm last night (11 hours!!).

Today, other than speaking ("s" sounds are painful because they send my tongue into my open sockets), my teeth aren't really painful - it's my jaw that's out of control. I can't open my mouth more than about an inch, and that's a stretch. The joints are throbbing, I have a massive headache, ugh. Note to self: know what I'm getting into before I agree to anything like that again. Yikes.