insert clever title about surgery here
alrighty... where to begin...
let's start with a reason for all of this. my dad had some bad teeth genetics. they were passed on to me. most of my baby teeth stayed in and never fell out, or the ones that feel out were not replaced by permanent adult teeth. before i go any further let me say that although it's not the best thing in the world to have the teeth genetics that were passed on to me, it is definitely nice that i have parents that can and do take care of fixing the problems.
i can't remember exactly when, but some time before 10th grade i had 5 baby teeth pulled because they didn't fall out. this didn't take care of all the baby teeth in my mouth, but it was a start.
from 10th grade in high school until right up until graduation i had braces. notice that i got them on right when everyone else was getting theirs off. it's a killer on the self confidence... especially in high school. anyway, about a year after college started i got them back on. apparently the orthodontist wasn't happy with the way they turned out, so my parents got the checkbook out and tried again. i wasn't too happy with this plan because i felt i couldn't do any more kickboxing or judo for fear that the braces would go right through my lips, cheecks, and skin, or that i would take an accidently knee or elbow to the face and screw myself up even worse and be in the braces for longer. besides that, it's even worse having braces in college than high school, trust me.
so a little under 10 months later they came off. february of this year to be exact. right after that, i met with my periodontist and prosthodontist. they would be the two that took care of everything else that went on inside my mouth. my prosthodontist made me this neat little upper retainer that i could leave in all day long that had little fake teeth on it. when i had it in no one could tell i was wearing it, and it fill some gaps in my upper teeth and made it look like i had a full set of teeth on top. then it was back to my periodontist for some surgery. the first surgery required in to extract the last two baby teeth that were in my mouth, put bone grafts in those spots to widen the jaw, and then put posts in 4 spaces on my upper jaw so that implants could be placed on them at a later date by the prosthodontist. oh, and because of the location of my sinus, the bone grafts would do double duty and move my sinus up and out of the way of the posts.
the first surgery wasn't that bad. it was long, i had trouble with almost passing out afterwards, but i recovered pretty quickly and didn't even need that much pain medication. immediately following the surgery we had to go across town to the prosthodontist. he filled the gaps of the baby teeth that were pulled that same day, and put new teeth onto my retainer. it's actually quite humorous when i smile without my retainer in, because all i have on my upper jaw is my front teeth, my canines, and two back teeth on both sides.
so then came the second surgery which was last friday. i thought they were going to do some grafts on my lower jaw and then place posts and i'd be done with the periodontist. however, to my surprise i learned that since my lower jaw is even thinner than my upper, they couldn't do the grafts and posts at the same time and i'd have to come back in four months to get the posts. this surgery was definitely the worse of the two. it feels like the pain of brushing too hard and making your gums bleed, but multiplied by 1000. and also the areas they operated on are extremely sensitive to cold, and if i accidently press on the areas with food while i'm eating, it feels like my jaw is going to fall off. or maybe i just wish it would.
so anyway, i go back in 4 months for the lower posts, then around december i'll be ready to have the upper implants put in. i'm not sure when the lowers will go in, but i'm not too worried. the lower gaps don't really show at all. but it will be nice when the upper implants are in and i don't have to wear a retainer. it will almost be like i have a normal set of teeth.
oh, and did i mention that my retainer with the fake teeth on it is pretty fragile? i was eating a sandwich one day and a tooth popped off. i'm glad it happened on a thursday otherwise i would've had to wait until monday to get it replaced... that weekend would've sucked. i would've been walking around with the tooth to the right of my front teeth missing.
let's start with a reason for all of this. my dad had some bad teeth genetics. they were passed on to me. most of my baby teeth stayed in and never fell out, or the ones that feel out were not replaced by permanent adult teeth. before i go any further let me say that although it's not the best thing in the world to have the teeth genetics that were passed on to me, it is definitely nice that i have parents that can and do take care of fixing the problems.
i can't remember exactly when, but some time before 10th grade i had 5 baby teeth pulled because they didn't fall out. this didn't take care of all the baby teeth in my mouth, but it was a start.
from 10th grade in high school until right up until graduation i had braces. notice that i got them on right when everyone else was getting theirs off. it's a killer on the self confidence... especially in high school. anyway, about a year after college started i got them back on. apparently the orthodontist wasn't happy with the way they turned out, so my parents got the checkbook out and tried again. i wasn't too happy with this plan because i felt i couldn't do any more kickboxing or judo for fear that the braces would go right through my lips, cheecks, and skin, or that i would take an accidently knee or elbow to the face and screw myself up even worse and be in the braces for longer. besides that, it's even worse having braces in college than high school, trust me.
so a little under 10 months later they came off. february of this year to be exact. right after that, i met with my periodontist and prosthodontist. they would be the two that took care of everything else that went on inside my mouth. my prosthodontist made me this neat little upper retainer that i could leave in all day long that had little fake teeth on it. when i had it in no one could tell i was wearing it, and it fill some gaps in my upper teeth and made it look like i had a full set of teeth on top. then it was back to my periodontist for some surgery. the first surgery required in to extract the last two baby teeth that were in my mouth, put bone grafts in those spots to widen the jaw, and then put posts in 4 spaces on my upper jaw so that implants could be placed on them at a later date by the prosthodontist. oh, and because of the location of my sinus, the bone grafts would do double duty and move my sinus up and out of the way of the posts.
the first surgery wasn't that bad. it was long, i had trouble with almost passing out afterwards, but i recovered pretty quickly and didn't even need that much pain medication. immediately following the surgery we had to go across town to the prosthodontist. he filled the gaps of the baby teeth that were pulled that same day, and put new teeth onto my retainer. it's actually quite humorous when i smile without my retainer in, because all i have on my upper jaw is my front teeth, my canines, and two back teeth on both sides.
so then came the second surgery which was last friday. i thought they were going to do some grafts on my lower jaw and then place posts and i'd be done with the periodontist. however, to my surprise i learned that since my lower jaw is even thinner than my upper, they couldn't do the grafts and posts at the same time and i'd have to come back in four months to get the posts. this surgery was definitely the worse of the two. it feels like the pain of brushing too hard and making your gums bleed, but multiplied by 1000. and also the areas they operated on are extremely sensitive to cold, and if i accidently press on the areas with food while i'm eating, it feels like my jaw is going to fall off. or maybe i just wish it would.
so anyway, i go back in 4 months for the lower posts, then around december i'll be ready to have the upper implants put in. i'm not sure when the lowers will go in, but i'm not too worried. the lower gaps don't really show at all. but it will be nice when the upper implants are in and i don't have to wear a retainer. it will almost be like i have a normal set of teeth.
oh, and did i mention that my retainer with the fake teeth on it is pretty fragile? i was eating a sandwich one day and a tooth popped off. i'm glad it happened on a thursday otherwise i would've had to wait until monday to get it replaced... that weekend would've sucked. i would've been walking around with the tooth to the right of my front teeth missing.