Sunday, May 4, 2008

New foods, pain and chain

So I have started to introduce more foods back to my menu. I have had homemade turkey chili, quiche, diced chicken curry(which I had to cut up even more) sliced strawberries, raspberry's, and blueberries. I love fruit so this was a real treat! I plan on having more later over some vanilla ice cream. Yummy! So you say, this is great, right? Well, yes and no. My jaw is killing me! Especially, on the left side. It's not really the joint either, which is good, its the muscle. I was down to taking only 2 Tylenol a day but now I have gone back to taking it three times a day and taking Motrin here and there. I'm concerned because my teeth keep catching on my cheek or rubbing it constantly in the back. I was feeling around and I literally have no gum space above my upper back teeth. The other side is great. So my question is...did they stitch it up wrong and now its messed up? Will it get better? also, I have not been given any exercises to do. The opening is barely one and half fingers. shouldn't I be doing something? On the up side, my power chain has already worked wonders. I have no more space between my front teeth. Another question...my OD has seen me once since the surgery and that is when he put the power chain on. The next time he wants to see me is in 6 weeks. I thought that was a long time considering all the work I just had done and now it really is up to him to correct the rest of my bite. Doesn't that seem like a long time?

2 comments:

ingrid said...

hi there! i love reading your blog because we're at similar stages of this process and i'm experiencing similar things. the top of my upper lip feels like its stitched to my gum, OS says that it is supposed to get better after the stitches dissolve. i'm actually not allowed to have any active orthodontic treatment for 5 more weeks! i'm really anxious to get back with the program so i can get these suckers out of my mouth.

oh! and i'm supposed to exercise my jaw by opening it as wide as possible then close, for 3 times a day. OD also wants me to stretch it open with my fingers as much as possible without severe pain, and get 1mm extra each day.

fruit sounds great! i'm going to try it too.

Katherine (Kate) said...

Hi, Megan, just wanted to let you know I've enjoyed reading your blog, and YAY on your success so far :)

I'm not sure about the 'no gum space' on the one side, but perhaps there's some residual swelling going on in there? Or because your teeth ( and hooks/wires ) keeps rubbing on it (and maybe causing it to swell), it's a bit of a vicious circle? Definately worth mentioning to your OS but hope it stops being so annoying in a hurry!

The time frame for when OS's want you doing stretching & whatnot tends to vary quite a bit by surgeon and the procedures you've had done, so if he's not told you to do anything, I'd wait and ask him what & when you should be doing these kinds of excersizes. Just my 2 cents. :)