10.27.11 – First Dental Appointment

Finally got into the dentists office today, a referral from my surgeon. He wanted me to get a cleaning first and foremost, then have an exam tooth by tooth to see what stays, what goes, and what work I need moving forward.

The appointment actually went better than I had hoped. They took X-rays and then moved onto going through my tooth inventory. The X-rays looked better than I had hoped, they showed no cracked or dead teeth. He went through each tooth, including the snaggle tooth, and did various tests on some of them. The tests included cold (dipping the qtip in liquid nitrogen), electric stimulation, and knock (basically banging on the tooth with a metal object.) He only went through the lower center teeth and all but the snaggle tooth responded to the 3 tests positively. Not to say snaggle tooth is dead, but the sensation isn’t back yet and he said that could take up to a year. As far as he could tell the teeth were actually in remarkably good shape, all anchored well, and only a couple were even chipped. Best part, no cavities from not being able to brush or floss for almost 2 months while my mouth was wired shut.

What’s next, didn’t get to the cleaning this time, but have a follow up in a few weeks when I get a full 360 mouth X-ray, good cleaning (better as more sensation comes back each day), and the 3 part test on all my teeth. He’s also going to take a mold of my jaw to see what we’re up against trying to straighten everything out. He at first suggested surgery, I quickly said no way, not again, and that the surgeon said braces would work. He saw where I was coming from on that and said if the surgeon was cool with braces fixing things, he was too. Next step after this, to the orthodontist, hopefully sometime late Nov.

But on a positive note each day I get more feeling back in my face, my teeth hurt less, and the swelling goes down more and more. My back feels great and I’m running again, even started lifting and the pull-ups are slowly but surely coming back.

10.18.11 – 12 Week Follow up

Where are we at now, it seems like yesterday that I was laying in the hospital with little hope to be normal, today, I realize I’ve never really been normal. Many of you that know me more than agree with this. But more important, how is the jaw and how is the back?

For starters, had my back follow up last week, great news. The fractured has healed and I got the all clear to resume all normal activities. Describe normal, well, he said the back is healed and the bone won’t break, but don’t do anything to hurt myself otherwise. I did lose 1mm in height, but luckily I don’t do metric.

Since my appointment last week I’ve run 5 times, 5 out of 6 days to be exact. I slowly picked it up each time, a little longer, a little faster. I’m in terrible shape, but hell, I’m running so I couldn’t care less. My hammy’s are extremely sore, my lower back (not L3 but lower) is sore too, but I’m slowly stretching that out and feeling better each day. I can lift like a normal person again, albeit I’m a little more careful nowadays and lifting properly, meaning more with my legs.

Now how about that jaw and the old snaggle tooth? Had my 12 week with the Dr today and things are looking great. All is lined up, the teeth are mostly still alive apparently, and we’re two weeks away from new xrays, CT, and appointment with the endodontist. He’s asked me to start trying to chew with the bad side, to see how it responds. Once again he pointed out not to fall 20 feet off a ladder again, he doesn’t need the practice. Then commented on how I managed to break my jaw worse than a gunshot to the face. I take that as a compliment.

What’s going on with the face? The swelling is way down, still some around the wound but the rest of it is nearly normal. Still slowly getting feeling back in my right lower lip and chin, he is amazed that it’s coming back. He wasn’t sure it would, but sounds like it is. It can take up to a year for it to all come back, another luck is on my side dealio. The teeth, I can really start feeling which ones are toast, meaning root canals or removal. They don’t normally hurt at all, but you can really feel when they’re not alive, it just feels weird. The smaller plate in my upper jaw is still bugging me and he’ll probably yank that out with the endodontist, when he does root canals or tooth removals. Fun, yet another surgery. He also wants me to go to the dentist for a good cleaning, I’d go to mine but she’s a sweet grandma and would probably freak out if she saw my mouth. Ironic part being that I was scheduled for a cleaning on the day I busted my face open.

So more hurry up and wait. I still have no pain, although when I shave the upper plate is annoying. My feeling is coming back, albeit slowly, in the jaw, inside and out. The teeth, we’ll know soon what stays and what goes. The back, it rocks to be starting back to normal, but……….

SNAGGLE TOOTH, YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED!!!