Thursday, January 27, 2011

FOLLOW UP - WEEK FIVE into SIX

So...my postings haven't been weekly as I'd hoped but here's to catching everyone up on the progress

January 13, 2011 - I had my weekly routine follow up with my oral surgeon and facial surgeon.  This marked week five.  I was taken to the surgical room...to have the upper surgical splint removed.  I was slightly nervous when I learned I would be awake during this procedure.  They used wire cutters and other surgical tools to remove the splint.  I won't say it was painful, more like uncomfortable and awkward.  At this point, I still had the dissolvable stitches all the way across on the top...most of the bottom stitches have dissolved. 

It was a very strange feeling at first to try to open my mouth.  My range of motion is small but will continue to improve over time.  I was able to brush my teeth for *real* all of them, including my tongue and the roof of my mouth.  Although I still couldn't feel much due to tooth numbness, my mouth felt clean for the first time in more than five weeks.

I left my oral surgeon's office to make the next appointment of the day....my orthodontist.  My orthodontist seemed pleased with my progress, my overall profile, etc.  I was switched to full-time tension rubber band wear during the day, with additional bands at night time.  I have to admit...I sure am glad they give you a diagram on band placement!  This arrangement is slightly easier...I no longer have the triangle, octagon, etc placements...now diagonal only which makes it easier to figure out what goes where.  Although the placement is easier...the lower 6 to upper 4 and lower 5 to upper 3 on both sides really pulls my lower jaw forward... OUCH!!...will take some time to get use to this!

To my meals I was able to add:
pasta, tuna fish, salmon, chicken salad, bread, York peppermint patties - just to list a few

1 comment:

  1. Hey Cheryl, I just came past your blog. I am having lower jaw surgery in January 2013, to be honest I wasn't as nervous as I was before reading your blog but I found your blog very informative.

    I wish you continued posting so that I could see the after result and how it all turned out.

    ReplyDelete