Wednesday, February 22, 2012

My appointment with the surgeon

I realize my last post was very short and didn't really explain much of what happened.
Anyway to start I got to my surgeons office earlier. I have to take the 401 to get there and you never know when theres going to be an accident that will delay you. My appointment was suppose to be at 2:30, then they thought it was 3, but didn't know.

To avoid as much misunderstanding as possible I went early. 2;30 passed and then 3:00 passed. By 3:30 I was about to get up and ask when I going to see Dr. C, and then someone came and called me in.

I went to his office, waited a bit longer. He came in and asked what Dr. G had said, and I told him he thinks May is ideal for surgery. I saw on one of those dental chairs and Dr C took measurements, looked at my bite, opened it, closed it, opened it, closed it. Made me stand up, opened it, closed it. He had this funny look on his face like he was trying to understand something.

He finally started to explain what was going on. He said that my bite had closed, and it should have been opened more, or worsened, as he words it. Apparently my bite got better, which is bad for surgery purposes.

I made a post about this last summer and everyone was sort of reassuring me that my bite closing mean't it was getting worse. Well sorry bloggers, you were all wrong. My orthodontist f#@$ed up, and closed my bite, or rotated my top teeth inwards. I sort of wish I had gone with my gut feeling and called them about it, because now I can't have surgery on my top jaw with my teeth in this position.

He offered to do surgery on just the bottom jaw, but since the top jaw is retrognathic, I still won't be able to breathe through my nose, or place my tongue where its suppose to go.



This is what my bite looks like now.

Well anyway I just feel disappointed. My surgeon also said that the orthodontist should have sent me in for an evaluation halfway through the presurgery braces. That would have avoided all this, but now its too late for anything.

Because of this, I have a surgery date booked for October 5th. I'm very grateful my surgeon allowed me to book a date, and trusts that my orthodontist will fix this problem and have me surgery ready in time. 

Now excuse me as I go lock myself in a room and scream. 
Another summer with my stupid jaw. 
Well, lets at least hope I'm out of braces by summer 2013. 
But I really don't want to hope. 
...........................

5 comments:

  1. Oh Terra, I'm so sorry. It's very disheartening to put your trust in a dental professional who totally screws up. I've been there, done that too many times. It's so unfair and there is no recourse - nobody ever apologizes or gives you a refund. I want to cry for you. :-(

    The good news is that your surgeon caught the error before surgery and was honest with you about the reason. Waiting until October will definitely suck, but at least your teeth will be in the best possible position to get a great result after surgery. You will be happy you waited to get upper jaw surgery - I can breathe SOOOOO much better now and my tongue fits on the roof of my mouth with room to spare.

    I know they can't determine the surgical plan for certain until a few weeks before surgery, but do you know what the tentative plan is at this point? And is your surgeon going to communicate that to your orthodontist or are you left to play go-between (and if so, GRR!)?

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  2. who is your orthodontist and surgeon.

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  3. Terra, this is beyond words. Have you talked to (screamed at) your orthodontist since your surgery appt? It just seems like too big an error for an orthodontist to make - especially one who has prepped patients for surgery in the past. Maybe get a second opinion from another surgeon - it couldn't hurt and at least you can be assured of your plan going forward. Ugg. Hang in there.

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  4. Oh my gosh terra! This is so unbelievably annoying you poor thing you must feel so let down, I'm sure it will work out! xx

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  5. Terra - I'm sorry to hear about the OD's mistake. I swear, this whole process is a big test of patience. I am almost 3 months post op and not even begun to get back to the orthodontic work due to the abscess and 2nd surgery which I just had on Monday. I feel I'll be in braces forever and I'm much older than you haha. I am getting married this summer but can't do any facials or facial treatments on my skin due to the swelling and nerve sensitivity. I'll still be wearing braces by then and I doubt they can come off for the two weeks now that I had problems which has set me back. But at the end of the day, oh well I guess it could be worse. I think this process is teaching me to laugh at myself a little more.

    If it's any consolation, you look cute in braces, and I swear you have the whitest teeth of anyone I know. Who knows, maybe your OD will be able to get you ready before October 5! Fingers crossed :-)

    Tara

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