I know it has been an incredibly long time since I have updated this blog. Honestly, after getting my braces off and making it past the year mark surgery stopped being something I remotely thought about. I have maintained yearly check-ins with both my surgeon and my orthodontist, but things have held steady until this year.
I'll start with all the good news. I no longer experience any side effects from surgery except for some minor sinus issues that may or may not be related. I do not experience any jaw pain or stiffness. My range of motion is great. I can eat pretty much whatever I want. The scars from surgery have faded substantially, and although I still know that they are there by touch I can't really see them. So, everything seems great! I have moved on with my life, graduated with a master's degree, and started my own private practice. Here are a few before and after pictures to show what I looked like prior to surgery and where I'm at these days :)
2017
2012
2012
Big difference, right? So, all is good, but there is a bit of bad news.
I went to see my surgeon, Dr. L, for my yearly check-in and after a bunch of x-rays we now know a few things. 1. My bit has re-opened just a bit. It's hardly noticeable, but the fact that it has opened at all is terrible in my book. 2. My condyles have continued to resorb, and the one on my left side is now basically gone. This would explain why my bite has re-opened a bit. 3. It is likely that this process will continue, and my bite will get worse.
All of that is some pretty awful news I was just hit with yesterday. However, there are still a lot of unknowns. My bite has stayed relatively stable over the past 5 years. Dr. L said he would expect my bite to be MUCH worse than it is considered by lack of condyle on the left side. So, there is no way to know how bad the situation could get. It is likely that I will need total joint replacement surgery at some point in the future, but at the moment it is up to me when to explore that avenue. Currently, I have no pain and my jaw function is totally fine. I just don't want to let the situation get out of hand. I also don't want to go back through a major jaw surgery. So, we are on hold for the moment.
I also checked in with my orthodontist, and a few of my teeth have moved. This is entirely my fault, because I stopped wearing my retainer. This movement could lso be making the slight opening in my bite worse. So, he has offered to put one bracket on m upper teeth to fix that situation. Currently, we are going to just do the orthodontic side and hold off on surgery. I will be doing lots of research over the next year about what a total jaw joint replacement would look like, and I will of course be documenting that journey in this blog where it all began :)
I won't be updated as regularly as I did in the beginning, but I'll post new info as I learn. I knew this was a possibility going into the first surgery, but it is a major bummer that it looks like there is another surgery in my future.
