3 July 2012

My Appointment with the Surgeon!

Hello everyone!
I had my apointment with the surgeon today. This was the appointment that they had forgotton to do before, that meant my surgery had to be delayed. It was a really exciting appointment!
He did a mould, but it was a bit different to the other moulds I've had before, and he also gave me this piece of wax to bite into which was to see how my jaws come together at the moment. He basically has to construct this mini model thing of how my jaws currently open and close and how my bite is. He showed me someone elses one, and it's like a cast of the persons top and bottom teeth, but then they are attatched to this metal cage thing that opens and closes in the same way that persons jaw joint does! It's quite hard to explain.. ha:)
He looked at my face in such close detail today and spent probably like 15 minutes just getting me to open and close my mouth and bite together and things, I could tell he was really concentrating and imajining what my face will look like! He also just measured all the dimensions of my face, and at one point he put this metal cage sort of thing on my face that was for measuring the distances between my jaws and nose and mouth, it was so strange it went in my ears and 3 people had to help him put it on my face! I felt like I was in one of those films because I could just see this metal cage and 3 peoples faces looking down on meee!
I also asked lots of questions which was really useful, because until now I could only ask questions to my orthodontist and receptionists and nurses, so it was great to ask the person whos actually going to be doing the surgery! and he was really patient and answered every single thing I asked.
I asked him about the whole tongue thrust issue, and he said that was normally a problem for people who have overbites and 'anterior open bites' and that he doesn't think it'll be a problem for me. I said I'd seen that people had needed speech therapy after surgery to help them adjust to talking with their new jaws, and he agreed that maybe I would possibly need that as my bite really affects my speech and it makes my pronounciation sound quite unclear and muffled. So I'm going to see a speech lady before my operation and probably after too! So thats, cool and he said they make a recording of your voice! wow!
He also warned me about how different I was going to look, which no one has really said to me before. He said,
'You do realise you are going to look incredibly different after the surgery don't you? Friends will walk past you on the street and not recognise you'.
I think I'll be ok with that, but it is really strange to think about. It's going to be alot to get used to... because your face is so integral to your identity so for it to change in such a dramatic way, will be hard to adjust to. He also stressed that he thought I'll look really good though, so I'm not really worried!:) And I think my friends will get used to it really fast. I asked him as well, if I'd still look like myself and he said I definately would so thats good:)
Another thing he said was that hes going to move my jaw slightly to the left! He says my chins a bit wonky! I had no idea.. haa! but then afterwards I looked at it in the mirror and it does actually veer to the right slightly! So thats interesting. He says the movements of my jaws will be:

top jaw- 3 mm forward and 3 mm up

bottom jaw- 6mm back and slightly to the left

He also said I'd have a splint between my teeth for 1-2 weeks after surgery. I think it was a splint anyway, he actually called it a 'wafer' but he showed me one of them and it looked exactly like the splints people have had in the blogs I've seen:) The wafer thing is to make sure your teeth are in the correct position.
He said as well that I won't be banded or wired shut for the first day after surgery, and then on the second day he'll put elastic bands on. I thought this was strange because I'd imajine the first day would be when your jaws would be most vulnrable but I'll be able to move my mouth straight afterwards so that'll be nice. And it will also mean I probably won't struggle to breath when I first wake up which is something that was worrying me because I'd read that a lot of people get that when they first wake up!
I have another appointment with my surgeon in 2 weeks time so I'll do another post then:)

4 comments:

  1. How exciting! You are almost there!

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  2. Hi Rosa :) I just wanted to tell you how inspiring this blog is! I have an underbite that looks so similar to yours and I know exactly how you feel, especially when angles of photos make it look even worse! I feel like I have a moon face from the side! anyway I had a consultation when I was 17 (I'm now 21) and the orthodontist told me he wasn't sure my bite wasn't severe enough to be done on the NHS which upset me so much, as Id already had x-rays showing my bite and my dentist told me in the last few years my bottom jaw had grown at a faster rate and referred me, but since then its got worse and my jaw has actually begun to ache! I just want to be able to not think about my jaw like everyone else, or be able to close my teeth without feeling piranha ish!
    Anyway I feel like I'm brave enough to get this done now! I just wanted to ask how you dealt with the year of braces? its so scary that they make it worse first. Id be scared incase my bf didn't find m attractive anymore but I suppose anyone like that isn't worth it anyway! I wish you all the best with your surgery and hope you get the result you want. you must be so excited!! I'm sure it'll make me even more determined to get it done :D
    xxx

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  3. hey Emily!:) thats so good to hear that you've found my blog useful, thats what I hoped people would get from it so that makes me really happy! It sounds like you should be able to get surgery on the NHS, you should definately make another appointment if you think its gotten worse since the last time, and really emphasise the functional problems and any pain you get:)
    I was also really put off by the fact the braces made everything worse first too! but honestly, you really don't notice it getting worse that much because its so gradual. Like looking back on photos I can see that it's definately gotten worse compared with before braces, but as it was happening, I really didn't mind or notice that much! and also about your boyfriend noticing, I think the people closest to me didn't notice at all because they saw me all the time and because the changes were so gradual, they didn't realise my bite was getting worse!:) Really, the only people who noticed my bite changing were me and my orthodontist!
    You're right I am sooo excited about my operation, I can't wait until this whole thing is in the past and I have perfect teeth! xoxoxo

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  4. I'm so excited for you! After reading this post and the previos, I made my mom call my surgeons office to make sure that I had an appointment for my labs and molds and everything before surgery. I'm way too excited for my surgery to be pushed back due to a planning error. You're lucky you're only going to have the splint for 1-2 weeks. My surgeon said 4-6 weeks =/ ohwell. Perfect teeth, here we come!

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