One year post-op

Today marks one year since surgery! I wish I could say that everything is hunky-dory and that I've happily moved on from my teeth issues, but this isn't true. I've been struggling with increased pain and tension in my jaw muscles and joints since the braces came off, and my bite has shifted and opened up a bit again. :( I've been really depressed about it and very discouraged. I've talked to both my surgeon and orthodontist and they're both surprised at the changes and baffled by what's causing it. Apparently it seems to be a tooth movement issue rather than a surgery relapse issue even though I wear my retainer faithfully and it still fits! (I guess this is good news...I don't need further surgery at this point). My upper arch is getting wider and/or my lower arch is getting more narrow so that my teeth no longer mesh together properly. The molar cusps hit each other when I talk and chew and this is causing pain and sensitivity, along with jaw pain since I'm constantly trying to find somewhere comfortable to bite and to rest my teeth. My OD said this is really strange because I didn't have much tooth movement with the braces. My teeth were pretty straight to begin with so there shouldn't be any issues with arch width relapse...

So, the plan is to get a lower splint to wear at night for a few months and to wait and see if things change any more from how they are now. I believe the splint is to help protect the joints and to make it easier to track any tooth movement. I will then most likely have to wear braces again and/or some sort of appliance to correct things. Honestly the idea of braces (for a 3rd time!) doesn't bother me too much (I'm definitely beyond any embarrassment related to braces, haha), I just want things to be fixed! I'm really worried that my bite will never feel comfortable and that my joints and bite will never be stable. I'm also (maybe irrationally) afraid that there will come a point when my OD says there's nothing that can be done to improve the situation and I'll just have to live with it. I've been failing miserably at keeping a positive attitude lately with all the uncertainty. :(

On a happier note, I'm rather pleased with the aesthetic results of surgery. I'm still struggling to fully accept my face (it doesn't help that my bite keeps changing) and I'm still overly critical of certain features, but it's definitely a big improvement! I don't think I've posted side-by-side before and after pictures yet so here are a few in celebration of being one year post-op!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Braces are off!

I got my braces off today!!! It feels great!

After getting the braces off I spent most of the afternoon at the dentist's office having my teeth cleaned and a cavity filled in one of my molars. He also found three more small cavities that I should have filled eventually. I guess that's what you get when you can't floss properly for a month after surgery? Haha.

I've noticed since surgery that one of my lower front teeth has turned a light grey color. I hoped it was just staining, but all the while I knew in the back of my mind that it probably wasn't. Well, I pointed it out to both my orthodontist and dentist today and it looks like that tooth is dying. :( It must have been injured somehow during the surgery. My orthodontist said that it's not very common for a lower tooth to be affected and that if a tooth dies it's usually an upper tooth. Maybe it happened during the genioplasty somehow? It's not infected or causing me any pain, and it's not very noticeable to other people so I'm going to take a "wait and see" approach for now. However, there may be a root canal in my future. Does the dental madness ever end? :)