This morning was my four week post op appointment. The appointment week pretty well. Didn't wait more than a couple minutes and I was in and out in about twenty minutes. My surgeon said that I looked great and so did my bite which surprised me. He explained to me that for my particular case to make it so that my teeth met properly in the front the back teeth won't right after surgery. He was like, that's what the braces are for after surgery. He actually said the bite was actually where he wanted it to be which is reassuring. He is releasing me back to my orthodontist and will send him a note letting him know when he thought was a good time to take off my surgical wire, won't be this Friday that's for sure. When I told him that I had an appointment on Friday with my orthodontist, he's like, I want to make sure everything is good with your arch.
One thing I did make sure to ask him was how much movement did he do to my jaw and I have the answer. He moved my lower jaw forward 10mm, top jaw up 2mm and widened my upper jaw 4mm. Because he widened my upper jaw I have a splint and he told me that I will need to wear it for 10 weeks total, 6 more weeks to go. Thank goodness my splint is not the typical splint people have because I would die if I had to wear that for 10 weeks. Luckily mine is removable so I can clean it and people actually don't see it. The only unfortunate thing about my splint is that it gives me a lisp like any other retainer, guess I'm practicing for when I get my braces off and have to wear a real retainer. I do have to admit that I haven't been wearing it like I'm suppose to lately. I normally take it out before I eat and have been forgetting to put it back in.
I also asked he about my diet and he said he still wants me on a soft food diet for another month. After I'll be able to get everything including raw veggies and steak, at least that's what he said, we will see if I actually can chew that in a month. We were talking about chewing and he said that I'm going to have to basically learn how to chew all over again. To aid me in that task he wants me to chew more soft foods like pasta and such. It feels really weird to chew I have to admit. I find myself concentrating when I'm chewing and that causes me to have a funny expression. Yesterday when I went to iHop for breakfast I noticed a women watching me eat. I didn't let it bother me or anything, I just kept ripping small pieces of my pancake with my hands and popping them in my mouth.
I'm also at the point in my recovery where I have to start doing jaw exercises. He measured how far I can open my mouth, which is 17mm, and he says the average person can open their mouths about 40 something mm. I have awhile to go. He instructed me to do my exercises five times a day and to hold the stretch for twenty seconds. He said that this will also help with reducing the remaining swelling I have in my cheeks.
The last thing I wanted to mention was the pain I've been having pain on the left side of my jaw around where the he broken the bone and it travels up to my ear. Not fun. He had prescribed me an anti-inflammatory and it helped, but then I stopped taking it. The pain started coming back and I've had to start taking them again. I don't know if it's suppose to go away on its own or what. I told him about it, but he didn't seem concerned about it, just told me to keep taking the medicine. I also mentioned to him that I hear a cracking sound sometimes when I bite down on the same side, but he didn't say that was unusual or anything. I have noticed that since I started taking my medicine again I haven't heard it.
Until next time.
