My First Surgery

You might already know that back in March I got braces (if not, read about it here) to start a long journey to get my underbite fixed. Today was another major step towards that.

I had a periodontal surgery today called, "Osseous Ridge Graft/ Augmentation." Basically, what that means is, I had bone added to my top jaw above my front six teeth.

They way it works is: they recess you gum, drill holes in your jaw and pack ground up bone into the holes and into the ridges between your teeth, then put a membrane down, put your gum tissue back in place, and suture it all back together. Sounds fun right? Oh and I had it all done with just local anesthetic. The surgery took just over an hour and believe or not, I drove myself home afterwards.

So you might be thinking, why did Tony need this surgery? Great question! After the surgery your own bone and gum tissue grows back in the graft area, and this gives you better bone and gum tissue and better foundation for the roots of your teeth.

I had to have this surgery because they need to move my teeth on my top jaw a lot to get them to where they are supposed to be and make my jaw fit right after I have the surgery to fix my underbite some time in the future.

My Orthodontist was worried that I might not have enough jaw bone and gum tissue to support all the movement. So he sent me to a Periodontist to have an evaluation, to see if he thought I might need this surgery. After my Orthodontist and Periodontist consulted they decided it would be best and prevent future problems like the roots of my teeth popping out of my gums. Ouch!

The recovery is fairly simple antibiotics and a mouth wash to help the healing, along with ice for the swelling. Oh and I get narcotics for the pain. I can resume normal activity after a few days, and in a week or so they will take out the stitches.

Anyways, my first surgery of my life is in the books, and although it was minor, it was a pretty strange experience, not to mention I have ground up cadaver bone in my jaw and gums. Weird Right?

For those of you that prayed for me, thanks so much, I appreciate it!

And as always thanks for reading my blog, may God bless you and your family!

PS Here are a couple pictures, just a note they are a little graphic:

You can see some of the stitches, and the swelling where the bone was added behind my gums.

Here is a closer look than above, Sarah gaged while taking this pic, lol. 

My New Metal Mouth...

So...today I got braces. Well, actually I got some of the brackets to hold the wires and some separators to make space for some bands to hold brackets on my molars last week. But today, I got the rest of the brackets and the wires in the brackets.

So, now I'm officially on a several year journey to get my jaw fixed. In a year or so, I will need an oral surgery in which they cut and rearrange my jaw to a proper bite. My top jaw will be moved forward, and my bottom jaw back, and my jaw will be wired shut for six weeks after the surgery. Sounds like fun doesn't it?

But before we go on we need to go back in time...

As a kid, most of my adult teeth grew in crooked. In fact, one grew in almost sideways. My bottom jaw began to grow faster than my top jaw, so I developed an under-bite. At the advice of the dentist, my parents got me braces. Thanks Mom and Dad!

I wore braces for about seven years of my childhood, spanning from elementary to high school. They tried to fix my under-bite with some appliances and the braces, but it didn't really work. We were told that surgery would be the only way to fix it, but I didn't have to do that.

My under-bite was pretty minor at that point. But what we didn't know, was that not getting surgery assumed I was done growing, and that my under-bite didn't get worse. As you can probably guess, I continued to grow through college, and so did my under-bite. My top jaw didn't grow enough and my bottom jaw grew too much.

From then until now I had dentists ask if I had ever seen an orthodontist, and ask if my jaw hurt and such. My last dentist asked me to consult with an orthodontist in his office, so I did. He told me what I had heard since getting my braces off as a kid, that it would take surgery to fix my bite, but if I don't have pain and I can chew, it's not a big deal.

So, I planned to go through life with my under-bite. Besides, I survived the teasing of kids in junior high, high school, and college without becoming a mass murderer, and I learned how to deal with eating problems. You can imagine how fun eating an apple or corn on the cob is for me.

On October 10, 2012 I got new dentist, and seeing him for the first time changed everything.

For the first time in my life, this new dentist explained that I needed to get my bite fixed, or I might not have any teeth in 10 years, and they can't make dentures for my bite. He also informed me that my bite was destroying my teeth and that's why I had so many crowns, fillings, and root canals, despite my good oral hygiene. At least my gums are really healthy! 

On top of that, he told me the stress from my bite can cause all kinds of bone problems in my jaw that could lead to all kinds of problems and surgeries. I was shocked. I told him how I had been on other consults, and they always acted like it was no big deal. To which he said they probably didn't want to deal with an under-bite as severe as mine, because it's hard work. I had never had a dentist be so candid with me before, and more than that, he seemed to actually care.

So my new dentist asked me to go see another orthodontist in town who was one of the best in the country with helping people fix their under-bites. So I did.

The orthodontist said I definitely need to have this surgery, and confirmed everything my dentist said. So, after some fancy x-rays, bite impressions/ models, oral examinations, a treatment plan, a consult with a periodontist, a consult with an oral surgeon, a revised treatment plan, and two more office visits to the orthodontist, we are back to today. Me with a mouth full of metal and sore teeth.

I'm not sure what the point of this blog is other than to inform people who might care. Well, and to say that braces suck, but being an adult with braces really sucks! I would really covet your prayers as I continue on this adventure, because as you might guess it's not cheap and we are not sure where we will get the money for the oral surgery yet (that's the most expensive part and only partially covered by our medical insurance).

If you took the time to read this blog, thanks for caring about me! I pray that God blesses you and your family greatly!

Oh, and just for fun here's a picture of my new metal mouth:

Hey homies, check out my new grillz!!