splint: final take

I love my splint. It took months to be comfortable in it, and it still has problems, but it has changed my life dramatically. I have almost no jaw pain now. My range of motion is completely normal (no, not what it used to be, but completely normal).

I've been jealous for a year that so many people "forget" they had jaw surgery and move on with their lives - my painful jaw, small range of motion, constantly shifting bite, slight headaches and sore teeth were a constant reminder of the surgery I had in July of '09.

Now, there are days and days that I don't even think about the fact that I had jaw surgery. I can yawn without any pain (in fact, it feels good!), I can bite into anything I want to (though I still don't bite into anything hard, just force of habit), I wake up and my jaw is in the right place and stays there - little to no shifting. I can move my lower jaw side to side and forward/back (not as much as before, but enough to shift food around in my mouth and I don't notice the difference). I can play the clarinet for a good amount of time before I feel pressure in my joints (although, that's always been there). My flute playing is improving. I've had a total of around 5 migraines in 19 months.

I've been struggling on and off with a cold the past week or so, which makes wearing the splint difficult (since my splint is my retainer connected together, I usually need to breathe through my nose - it's difficult to breathe through my mouth) - at one point last week I spit it out in my sleep for the first time in a long time. I woke up with a dull headache and achy jaw! I even wear it when I take naps, not because I have to but because it makes it so much more comfortable.

I love my splint. It's a wee bit smelly and hard to take care of, but it's amazing. Love it, love it, LOVE it.

So finally... 19 months post surgery, I consider myself back to normal in range of motion, pain, and jaw mobility. My chin and face are still a bit numb, but it doesn't bother me in the least. I'm very pleased with my results - and very glad I went through all of that awful-ness that was jaw surgery and recovery.

orthodontist appointment

I had my first splint check-up appointment at Dr. Molen's office. He really likes how everything is looking. He shaved a few teeth, working on getting my bite to lock into place - because I had two teeth removed on the bottom he says the teeth don't line up perfectly - but that it was completely necessary to remove them for my jaw health.

Another piece of interesting information - the splint isn't for retaining my bite. He says he's not worried about the bite retaining itself or relapsing. The splint is to relieve pressure in my TMJs to stop the pain I've been having. Sure enough, it's worked! I have very little to no jaw pain anymore, and my range of motion has even improved to 2 and a half fingers!

I'm going back in May for another checkup... maybe that will be my last one?

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.

splint: take two

The splint is improving. I played clarinet for a long while today (after taking the summer off hoping to help with jaw pain) and my jaw was quite sore and my head was throbbing - the instant I put the splint in at home my headache lessened.

I still don't like sleeping in it, but I don't wake up on the hour anymore. I do wake up more often because I feel like I'm choking - I'm still a mouth-breather about half the time and I've got wicked allergies right now - but I am able to go right back to sleep. I don't spit it out anymore, and my teeth don't ache when I wear it.

Until tonight, I haven't noticed a large difference in my jaw pain. Tonight I'm feeling quite a bit better with it in. My bite is very confused in the morning, but seems to settle an hour or so after I take it out. When I first remove it my front teeth bump like mad, but by breakfast I have a normal bite again - and the overbite hasn't made an appearance since the first few days with it in. My ROM is still the same - two fingers with some slight wiggle room.

I'm still not overly enthused about it - I'm not sure it's doing all the good it was supposed to. It's also giant and looks quite humorous in - I look like a linebacker. I'll post a picture as soon as I remember.

splint: first impression

I hate the splint. I absolutely can NOT stand it. I feel like I'm suffocating with it in, because it forces my jaw closed at night. It's huge - I look like a football player. It's my retainer as well, now, and my teeth HURT like crazy - it's weird. Most likely because I'm trying to work my way out of the splint at night and it's hard to get my teeth in and out. I have to wear my clear retainers during the day for a few hours because I'm not getting my 8 hours in due to spitting it out so often (which is really difficult to remove, I'm not sure how I'm getting out of it!)

My lower jaw is pulled quite a bit forward to get it in the splint - so when I take it out my jaw is confused about where to sit. This morning my front teeth were bumping like mad, during lunch today I saw a legitimate large overbite, which scares the crap out of me.

I have a headache, I'm exhausted from waking up every hour or so either suffocating, searching for it because I've managed to spit it out, or from my teeth and jaw hurting.

I'm going to give it the 10 days he asked - it's a new thing, and my jaw doesn't like new things. I want this to work - I want the rest of my jaw pain to go away and I want my range of motion to improve and I want to eat normally - but this sucks.

Boo. I had high hopes for this splint.

splint and new retainers!

I got two sets of molds taken at the orthodontist today - one for a Damon Splint, which will work like a retainer and a splint at the same time, hoping to relax my jaw at night (or whenever I need it) and get rid of the last of this jaw pain. I get that on August 23rd. The other molds were for new clear plastic retainers since I have the new tooth. They're so nice and clear and shiny!

I truly hope that's the last set of molds I ever have to take. Ugh, they gross me out. I'm also ready to be done visiting my orthodontist... as much as I adore him and his entire staff, I'm ready to move on with my life.

blogger is a pain!

Blogger issues = I didn't post the picture of the splint itself yet can't put it in there now, after the fact. So here it is, in it's splint-y glory:

And for the heck of it, a picture of my friend Heidi and I after running our first 10k! :) (In all of our sweat-y glory, ah hah hah!)

splint and new progress

Progress pictures! My front teeth are finally starting to look straight! A few nights ago I looked in the mirror while I was brushing my teeth and I realized that my front tooth was no longer sticking out at such an angle. Hooray! My overbite doesn't seem to be getting much worse this time (thank goodness... it's awful).

As I get further into teaching, my jaw is getting less and less mobile. Today during my beginning band class, the last class of the day I teach, my jaw actually locked closed for a little bit. Luckily, the kids were working on note reading, so I didn't need to talk. OUCH! The headache of tonight is incredible.... today was also probably due to the fact that I played my clarinet last night for band rehearsal, the first one since the spring.

I wish you could see it in this picture of my bottom teeth, but my front teeth are starting to get slight gaps in between them. Crazy! The big gaps from my extractions are closing up with a quickness... which is good, but they are becoming quite good at trapping food. Ugh. No more rice cakes for me at lunch. ;)

Anyway, tomorrow during my lunch time I'm going to try to call my oral surgeon's office so they can help me make my decision about insurance. Hopefully they know what kind of a time frame I'm looking at for appeal processes, how likely or unlikely each company was to accept the appeals, etc. Two insurance choices cost me around 250 dollars a month (OUCH, especially when last year it was free), one insurance costs me overall around 50 dollars, and one 30. I'm voting for the lower cost ones, of course, but I'll do whatever it takes to get my surgery to happen. Money might get really tight, but that's okay. We'll manage.

And last but not least.... my beloved splint. It's got water in the pads that go between my back teeth at night, and it rests itself on my upper gums right above my braces - my braces kind of anchor it in place. It's impossible to talk while wearing it, so wearing it while teaching is out. It makes me sleep with my mouth wide open (well, just forces my mouth to be wide open, and if I try to force my lips over it for long periods of time I get worse headaches than I had before the splint). So I have to have water around while I'm wearing it, or I get sore throats. The last negative thing is it's irritating my gums something fierce - which my orthodontist warned me it might. I switch it from upper to lower jaws, but it works best when it's on my uppers. I LOVE it. When I'm wearing it, it feels like my jaw just settles into where it's supposed to be, and instantly I lose tension all the way from the top of my skull into my shoulders. It's amazing. I'm in heaven.

Apologies for the fairly disjointed post... My mind is swimming with an upcoming dancing trip to San Francisco (Friday), missing instruments, teaching stuff, staff stuff, teeth and insurance stuff.... I decided I'd come home tonight and go to bed at eight :) Yay.