Thursday, February 4, 2010
Been A While
First of all I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It wasn't the best Holiday season for me. I've been kind of bummed since I graduated.... being back home, trying to work out the 'work' situation and of course having braces again :) The braces aren't so bad except they still make me feel super self conscience when it comes to boys. I just feel like relationships aren't going to happen while I'm going through this process. It's unfortunate because I'm so ready to start dating again but yeahhh it is what it is. I'm also really starting to freak out about recovery time. I know it differs person to person but I ran in to someone today and their sister had gone through jaw surgery and she told me it took her 10 years until everything felt okay again. 10 years!!! WTF, like seriously? Maybe she had a more serious surgery than what I'm having but it really freaked me out. I start a new job in 2 weeks. I told them about my surgery and that I would need to take some time off but that it shouldn't be a problem. Honestly I totally sugar-coated it though because I have NO IDEA how much time I will need to take off. For those of you out there going through a similar surgery (upper and lower to correct over bite/open bite) do you know much time you will need before you can go outside and be a more or less normal person? My surgery is suppose to happen sometime in September....but I feel kind of lost. I haven't seen my actual orthodontist since I went in to meet with him at the beginning and get my original scans. Every time I go in for a tune up they have some other guy working on me. He's really nice and in part I don't mind but, and I know he's just following my ortho's plan for me but, I dunno, I'd like to see him every once in a while ya know? I finally asked last time I was in if I should be talking to my surgeon, "do I need to go in for a check up?" They told me no. They said we were on schedule and that there was no need to talk to my surgeon until we were closer to the actual surgery date- also he said that they would take care of everything. I'm like okayyy, that's nice but I'd really love to be included. How is everyone else feeling about their status? Anyone else experiencing a lack of communication like myself? I hope everything is going well for everyone and if anyone has any advice please throw it my way!
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If you want to see your orthodontist when you go in, then ask! after all, you are paying thousands of dollars and if you feel uncomfortable then you need to say so! do you know if you are going to have a splint after surgery? I didn't feel like I could go anywhere as long as I had the splint in, once that came out I felt a lot better but I still got tired quickly. I went back to work after 7 weeks (i'm a dog groomer though, and getting hit in the face was a huge fear not only for me but my employers as well) at about 2 months I started feeling normal again. I still have a lot of numbness in my upper jaw though and sensitivity where I have feeling but that is normal. I hope this kind of time line helps! good luck!
ReplyDeleteRecovery time... depends, but the estimation for me (top and bottom) for underbite is 2 months to get back to soft foods and not looking like a chipmunk. Soooooo. I hope that helps.
ReplyDeletemakay
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI have been reading through your blog ‘My Weird Year’ which I found to be an insightful source of information about braces treatment and also the pitfalls of being an undergraduate in the current market (I myself was in the same position not long ago). I think it is great when people decide to blog about their treatment as gives other readers a real personal insight into treatment and how it can make a real difference, so congrats.
I am writing to you as I feel you and your followers could benefit from a link to the http://www.cosmeticdentistryguide.co.uk/ possibly on your sidebar if you are inclined to provide links, which would give you are your followers access to information concerning a range of orthodontic treatment as well as a host of other dental treatment like teeth whitening.
The Cosmetic Dentistry Guide is the leading provider of cosmetic dental information online in the UK, and includes a forum as well as an expert answers section, so if you or your followers have any questions then feel free to ask.
Our topics include:
Orthodontics - http://www.cosmeticdentistryguide.co.uk/orthodontics.html
Teeth Whitening - http://www.cosmeticdentistryguide.co.uk/teethwhitening.html
Our homepage is: http://www.cosmeticdentistryguide.co.uk/
Good luck with your treatment and the job hunting.
Kind regards and keep up the good work with your blog.
Richard.
Hey Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI started a new job shortly before I had surgery too. I needed 6 weeks before I could go back, but it was mostly because of the splint. Do you know how long you'll have to have yours in? I would say definitely don't plan on making it back with the splint.
I know what you mean about lack of communication, although I see my ortho at least once every visit. For a while before my surgery, I kept hearing VERY different things from my ortho and my surgeon. Sure, maybe they've been through this a thousand times before, but we haven't! It would be nice if they could walk us through it a bit more. Good luck getting it all sorted out!
Sarah, I had upper/lower/genio with pretty drastic movements and I didn't have a splint. About going back to work - I went back to Starbucks after 5 weeks and it felt fine (I was exhausted, but it was do-able). I could have gone back a week earlier with simlar amounts of energy. If you're on your feet talking a lot you'll need more time. If you have a more sit-down job with less talking, you could probably do with 3 weeks. I'm a teacher full time, however, and wasn't ready to go back to TEACHING 8 weeks after surgery - it was too much for me (of course, I went anyway but it was awful).
ReplyDeleteAnd about the ortho/surgeon - if you have questions, ask them! I made the mistake of not asking all of my questions and it caused a lot of unneccessary anxiety.
I had surgery 11 days ago. I'm going back to work on Tuesday. It's going to be tiring, but I'm ready. I've been going out to movies and stuff, but I have to take it easy. I also have the face of a jaw surgery patient, so that prevents me from going too many places. :D
ReplyDeleteMy surgeon seems to think I'll recover in 6 weeks, but I'm skeptical. It's easier when you're younger, I hear.