I went to see my orthodontist for another splint and retainer check at the end of last year (ie. a week ago haha. Happy New Year everyone!) and I'm still playing the waiting game. Since my last post my bite has opened a bit more but has been relatively stable since September. That's a good sign! My orthodontist still wants to do something to improve things but won't tell me exactly what that is. I'm assuming it'll involve braces since he hinted at it a couple of appointments ago...hopefully nothing more involved than that. I'm supposed to wait another 6 months (seems like forever! ugh) and then get impressions done for study models. He'll then decide what he's going to do with me. He said I was a "special case," which is never something you want to hear from a doctor haha.
I also went to visit my surgeon to make sure that there was nothing wrong with the plates in my lower jaw. They've been sore for a while now but I wasn't sure if it was actually the plates causing problems or just the teeth moving and the additional clenching and chewing that's causing pain in the bone. He took an x-ray and said everything looks good so no need to worry. It's less sore now than it was, though it often feels stiff and a little swollen, especially after lots of talking or chewing.
I'm happy to report that my joints have been feeling better lately! Not perfect, but much better. I feel like my jaw and face muscles are slowly coming into better harmony with each other too which could be helping things. I have some grinding and popping in the left joint when I open wide but there's usually no pain with it. I don't think things will feel "great" until my teeth fit together properly again, but it's a step in the right direction. Until then I think I'll always have that horrible "off" feeling where I know something isn't right and it's uncomfortable but I can't do anything about it. It's very frustrating and discouraging, and I'm impatient for things to be fixed! :( Hopefully this is just a small setback in the journey and everything will work itself out in the end. That will be a happy day!
