Hot Stuff

I know this has nothing to do with actual teeth talk, but since my jaw (open bite) is causing extensive neck pain, I thought I would share:

It could be the fact that I just had a hot shower and I'm drinking hot tea, but the heating patch is working a little better today than the last time I tried. I have been too lazy to go get some better ones so I gave these ones a second chance to redeem themselves. My neck is hurting a lot today and it doesn't help that I'm trying to get a lot of work done before reading week is over.
I apologize for the mirror image but thats the box. Basically they have these little pockets of some kind of exothermic substance. Since having it on my neck is cracking like crazy in every direction I move it. I'm not sure if this is relieving it or making it feel worse.

And the list goes on and on

Take a look at the space that has appeared over the past few years. I have always had permanent retainers and I had braces about 9 years ago.


So it is nearing the day that I go for my first orthodontic appointment in 8 years maybe. It's been a long long time.
this is how my holistic pain management is going so far lol:

I have discovered that sleeping with a pillow under my jaw, so keep it from falling to the side makes a huge difference with the neck pain.

I don't know what this has to do with it but my tongue doesn't rest nicely in my mouth, probably explains why I happen to sit with it between my teeth when I'm concentrating. People may think this is funny and amusing, but its really out of my control unless I'm constantly aware of this.

I have given up on the heating pad, its actually become a good cuddle buddy for Mr Fluffy, he likes to sleep next to insanely hot objects despite the fact that he is covered in fur.

Yeah so thats that, other than that I have always been gifted with abnormally large tonsils and limited airway when breathing through my nose. I did you go to a specialist for this, who scared the shit out of me and made me avoid the issue to this date. He was really to the point and decided to ignore the fact that I had sleep apnea and would wake up in the middle of the night not being able to breathe. When I say I couldn't breathe, it was like there was no air going in or coming out and no matter how hard I tried it wouldn't help. It only lasted maybe 10-20 seconds from what I remember, but it was scary as hell. I did go for a sleep study in which I didn't sleep at all because I was not only hooked up to 30 wires, but it was also freezing in the room. It was August! Thats just some more medical history to add to the list of things that just didn't go right.
Story of my life.

I think now that I'm older, 24, but still older than I was when I was a teenager dealing with these issues the first time around, I'm more prepared to face them.

I can't wait to create some positive blogs, with all the good stuff to come, and all the changes that will make everything much better.

Finding temporary relief

So it has been about 5 days since I have taken any advil and it is so hard!!. My neck pain and headaches are reaching a peak. I will not give in! I will save my liver from the advil and I will find a better way to relieve the pain.

So today I got Thermacare heat wraps, and I also got a heating pad that you put into the microwave.
The heat wrap is adhesive. the directions say not to apply any pressure and to watch for overheating. I have had it on for around 50 minutes and it feels more like slight warmth, not heat. I actually just ended up placing the heating pad on top of it and it still does't feel that hot. I'm hoping the heat does something though because I have got to do an essay and right now I am seeing stars. the heat pad seems more promising, oh and btw, the adhesive on the heat wrap sucks, if you don't get it on right the first time, forget about it sticking at all.

So I ended up just wearing the heating pad thing with the adhesive and i wrapped a scarf around my neck to keep it on, yes this is the best I can do. BTW this is my fluffy bear

My bite in 2007

Hey!

So here is a picture from about 4 years ago, as you can see my teeth came together much more than they do now
Don't mind Ricky Martin, he just happened to be in the picture :s

Pre consultation update

Hey readers

So I wanted to just post a little more information up until this week to help clarify why after so many years I am considering correcting my bite.

After having my braces off,my open bite was not as severe as it has become, my front teeth actually touched but I still had no overbite at all. I have always had speech issues due to my bite but I tried harder and harder to talk in a way where it wasn't as obvious. Over the years I noticed little changes that were so gradual it was hard to connect them to my jaw. These are basically the changes:

My front teeth no longer touched at all and this progressed all the way to my back teeth
I started getting a lot of pressure in my teeth
I started getting severe neck pain and headaches about a couple years ago that have become more and more common
It became harder to pronounce words with certain sounds
I noticed that my jaw appeared slightly larger on one side, which lead my to notice that my teeth don't align and my jaw looks like it shifted.

There are probably more things, but like I said, its so gradual that I didn't notice many of these things until they became very hard to deal with.

I have an appointment with a new orthodontist in a week and I am very excited about that.

Once again I am so appreciative of all the people who have answered my questions and have given me advice regarding this situation.

It will be very interesting being in university with braces, never thought this day would come lol

Thanks for reading :)

A great jaw surgery blog, please check this out, very informative

Double Jaw surgery blog

My first blog video

I'm sorry the sound is all off

Welcome!

Hi everyone!

I'm a 24 year old Canadian who has just begun the process of correcting my open bite. Here is a little background information:
I had braces when I was 14-15 for about a year to correct overcrowding
I had 4 teeth extracted, the ones right before the big molars.
I still have permanent retainers on top and bottom

So basically about 10 year ago, I was told that I had an open bite. I had no idea at the time what that mean't and that a normal bite was an overbite. I was young and didn't understand the effects of having an open bite so I had braces to straighten my teeth but never had my bite corrected.

Since having the braces off, by bottom jaw continued to grow and my open bite got much worse and progressed into a cross bite. I will try to find some old pictures with my braces to show you what my bite looked like, and also what it looks like now.
The above picture is my smile now, just so you can see that even though I have straight teeth, and I love my smile, my bite is far from perfect and has made my life hell.