Teeth/jaw update
On the 26th I am getting caps cemented to my bottom teeth; just the ones at the side, not the ones at the front. My dentist, who seems like a intelligent, well-informed sort of guy (and clearly has good taste in music, as he started whistling emphatically to "The Passenger", which happened to be on the radio one time I was there) reckons this is the way forward. He has spoken to an orthodontist and the friend of mine who gave me logopaedic treatment (who has now run away to a town far, far away...), so he at least thinks about all the options and then makes an informed judgment, which is all you can ask for really. He reckons the orthodontists I saw just basically didn't do the right thing (should have had some teeth pulled as a teenager as a start), but, well, too late to change it now! He says orthodontists often just make your teeth straight and don't give a toss whether the bite or anything else is right, so basically just make your teeth visually pleasing. Well, so I have really nice, visually pleasing teeth, but I can't really chew and am in a lot of pain. Given the choice, I think I would rather be able to chew and have less visually pleasing teeth, but who would have ever thought that most orthodontists are completely useless... not me! I always assumed that most people were competent, but given the last few years, I have to say that a lot of doctors and medical people in general just are totally narrow-minded and not interested in any new developments in their profession!
The future of my treatment might involve: having my upper wisdom teeth removed (EEEEK! The concept of pulling teeth really scares me, it's just icky!), moving individual teeth and perhaps more logopaedics (though given how last time it just made it about a million times worse, I am not particularly keen on that!). Is "logopaedics" a word? Oh well, it is now! Heh...
He said he is going to cement these cap type things to my teeth; I presume they use slightly different cement on people than they do on bricks! ;)
I guess it will be a bit like getting crowns, except that there is nothing wrong with the teeth themselves (apart from that my upper and lower jaw don't meet properly obviously). I actually have very good teeth and gums, that is something at least (can't have EVERYTHING wrong with me now, can I!). ;)
I hope that this will drastically minimise the amount of pain I am in as well as the resulting headaches I get from my jaw being messed up.
I also get these weird noises in my ears, which I never attributed to my jaw, but I read an article the other day saying that often people with jaw problems have peculiar ear noises, because the ear is close to the jaw (no really!) and a major nerve runs past there, so if your jaw is messed up it will mess with the nerve and the nerve will tell your ear to make strange noises. My special noise sounds a bit like an insect which crawled into my ear and is desperately trying to escape, and failing, and beating its wings rapidly (which was what I thought the first time I heard it, that something had crawled in there, but then obviously noticed this was not the case... unless it is a very sneaky insect! ;).
I also get high pitched "EEEEE" type noises, but I think that has more to do with having gone to so many loud gigs and clubs back in the Healthy Days of Betty.
Generally my jaw pain these days ranges from mildly annoying background pain to quite annoying pain. I used to get stupid amounts of pain, the sort that makes you feel nauseous and like passing out, but I manage to avoid that these days by keeping my jaw warm (and thus looking like a terrorist when I go outside...) and trying not to chew too much. Which is a bit hard when you want to eat something...
My granny enquired about my teeth issues and when I told her about the chewing bit, she said it was pretty much the same for her! Except that she is 90 and has false teeth! Bit early for me to have reached that stage, no???
I guess there is a whole world of liquid foods out there that I have so far managed to avoid, and I hope that I will not have to go there...
The future of my treatment might involve: having my upper wisdom teeth removed (EEEEK! The concept of pulling teeth really scares me, it's just icky!), moving individual teeth and perhaps more logopaedics (though given how last time it just made it about a million times worse, I am not particularly keen on that!). Is "logopaedics" a word? Oh well, it is now! Heh...
He said he is going to cement these cap type things to my teeth; I presume they use slightly different cement on people than they do on bricks! ;)
I guess it will be a bit like getting crowns, except that there is nothing wrong with the teeth themselves (apart from that my upper and lower jaw don't meet properly obviously). I actually have very good teeth and gums, that is something at least (can't have EVERYTHING wrong with me now, can I!). ;)
I hope that this will drastically minimise the amount of pain I am in as well as the resulting headaches I get from my jaw being messed up.
I also get these weird noises in my ears, which I never attributed to my jaw, but I read an article the other day saying that often people with jaw problems have peculiar ear noises, because the ear is close to the jaw (no really!) and a major nerve runs past there, so if your jaw is messed up it will mess with the nerve and the nerve will tell your ear to make strange noises. My special noise sounds a bit like an insect which crawled into my ear and is desperately trying to escape, and failing, and beating its wings rapidly (which was what I thought the first time I heard it, that something had crawled in there, but then obviously noticed this was not the case... unless it is a very sneaky insect! ;).
I also get high pitched "EEEEE" type noises, but I think that has more to do with having gone to so many loud gigs and clubs back in the Healthy Days of Betty.
Generally my jaw pain these days ranges from mildly annoying background pain to quite annoying pain. I used to get stupid amounts of pain, the sort that makes you feel nauseous and like passing out, but I manage to avoid that these days by keeping my jaw warm (and thus looking like a terrorist when I go outside...) and trying not to chew too much. Which is a bit hard when you want to eat something...
My granny enquired about my teeth issues and when I told her about the chewing bit, she said it was pretty much the same for her! Except that she is 90 and has false teeth! Bit early for me to have reached that stage, no???
I guess there is a whole world of liquid foods out there that I have so far managed to avoid, and I hope that I will not have to go there...