So it's now been two months since my wisdom tooth was removed, and I have been waiting (im)patiently for my two appointments. In my head two appointments a week apart could only mean one thing – braces are go! I was 100% convinced that at my first appointment I would either have some new moulds made or spacers fitted, and appointment number two would be the big day, the day my braces would be fitted.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. I've had my first of two appointments, in which rubber band were fitted around four of my back teeth to make space. In the next appointment those bands will be replaced by metal brackets and then, hopefully then, in my next appointment I will get my braces fitted.
Showing posts with label teeth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teeth. Show all posts
Friday, 7 August 2015
Monday, 1 June 2015
How I got this show on the road and my story so far
When I first started googling about adult braces and jaw surgery on the NHS, I noticed a lot of people who wanted to look into it but had no idea where to start. I thought I'd let you know how I got the whole process started.
I got to the point in my life where I realised that I wanted to get my teeth fixed. I'm 28 and at the stage where I'm in a secure enough place that I can handle braces. At this point in time I thought that I would have to go private and pay for the braces, as most of us know that braces on the NHS are usually only for those under the age of 18. My first point of call was booking in for a check up with my dentist. I went along to my appointment where they did the usual thing of checking my teeth and giving me a polish and scale. I mentioned to him that I wanted to get braces. He told me "You know you'll probably have to go private for that?" he said, to which I said that I had expected that and it was fine. He then started measuring my teeth and bite and told me that it would be covered by the NHS. He explained that it's all to do with measurements. If you are over those measurements then you will be covered by the NHS, whatever your age or employment status. At 12mm overjet I was well within those measurements. He told me that he would send a referral letter to Kings College Hospital.
It took a few months for my referral letter to come through but eventually I headed over to Kings College Hospital to have my assessment. This is the point where they had a look at my teeth, gave me x-rays and let me know that I would need lower jaw surgery. I had a feeling that I might need jaw surgery, as honestly I couldn't see how my lower jaw could be brought forward so much by braces alone, especially as an adult. I did not know however, that you are only eligible for braces as an adult on the NHS if your case is bad enough to warrant jaw surgery. I was given leaflets, and a DVD to watch about the surgery and told to make another appointment for moulds to be made. I headed downstairs to give my letter to the appointment area where they told me that there was actually an appointment available for next week. They looked as surprised as I was!
At my next appointment I had moulds and photos taken. I then had to take another letter downstairs ready for my next appointment. This time my appointment was for 4 months in the future. Not quite as speedy as last time, but I had expected the progress to be very slow seeing as this was on the NHS. Plus, the next appointment was the one where I was to tell them whether I want to move ahead with the process or not. As this is not a decision to take lightly, a few months to research is not a bad thing. However, a little later I got a letter saying that my next appointment had been pushed back another month. I was disappointed, especially as I had already made the decision that I wanted to move forward so was itching to get started.
Finally my next appointment rolled around. I spoke again to the orthodontist and the surgeon, who were both brilliant. It is so good to be able to meet the team that will be working on you. I told them that I was ready to get moving, and by the time I left the hospital I had three appointments booked over the next 5 weeks! One to discuss my wisdom tooth removal (the incisions for jaw surgery are made where the wisdom teeth are, so if you still have them they need to be removed in preparation for surgery, and at least 6 months in advance to let the bone heal) and two appointments a week apart for the orthodontist.
Well last week I went for my wisdom tooth appointment. The dentist there was very nice and said that he had worked with a lot of the surgeons who perform the jaw surgeries and they are brilliant. He said it really as life changing and he was very excited for me. That was nice and really put me at ease. He asked me if I was nervous about having my wisdom tooth removed, which of course I was, so we decided that the best course of action for me was IV sedation rather than a general anaesthetic. With an IV Sedation you are still awake when the operation happens, but you are so doped up that you don;t remember a thing. You get very sleepy and relaxed, and don't have the recovery of a general anaesthetic. Sounds good to me! I left the room with my usual slip of paper to take to the reception to get my appointment set. Keep in mind that my first orthodontist appointment was set for two weeks time, not he 16th June. The receptionist asked if the 13th was ok for my wisdom tooth removal! I told her that I had an orthodontist appointment a few days later, so no, not really! She asked what is was for. I said I didn't know, but surely it would be something to do with my mouth! She told me that the next appointment after that wasn't for ages, so pushed me into booking in a few days earlier, the 10th, which would give me a week to heal. The 10th?! That's only a couple of weeks away! Wow, this is really starting to move fast.
As the appointment for my wisdom tooth removal is so soon, and so close to my next few appointments, I called the hospital this morning to check everything was ok with having my tooth removed a week before my first orthodontist appointment. Nope! The woman said that there should be at least two weeks o recover after the wisdom tooth removal to allow the swelling to go down. That made a lot of sense to me, and I was thinking that that would be the case. So now my June orthodontist appointments have been moved back to August. I'm a little disappointed I must admit, as I wanted to get my braces on as soon as possible, but honestly, this process seems to be moving much faster than I anticipated so I can't grumble.
Phew! What a long post! At least we are up to date now with my journey so far, so any appointments in the future will get their own posts.
I got to the point in my life where I realised that I wanted to get my teeth fixed. I'm 28 and at the stage where I'm in a secure enough place that I can handle braces. At this point in time I thought that I would have to go private and pay for the braces, as most of us know that braces on the NHS are usually only for those under the age of 18. My first point of call was booking in for a check up with my dentist. I went along to my appointment where they did the usual thing of checking my teeth and giving me a polish and scale. I mentioned to him that I wanted to get braces. He told me "You know you'll probably have to go private for that?" he said, to which I said that I had expected that and it was fine. He then started measuring my teeth and bite and told me that it would be covered by the NHS. He explained that it's all to do with measurements. If you are over those measurements then you will be covered by the NHS, whatever your age or employment status. At 12mm overjet I was well within those measurements. He told me that he would send a referral letter to Kings College Hospital.
It took a few months for my referral letter to come through but eventually I headed over to Kings College Hospital to have my assessment. This is the point where they had a look at my teeth, gave me x-rays and let me know that I would need lower jaw surgery. I had a feeling that I might need jaw surgery, as honestly I couldn't see how my lower jaw could be brought forward so much by braces alone, especially as an adult. I did not know however, that you are only eligible for braces as an adult on the NHS if your case is bad enough to warrant jaw surgery. I was given leaflets, and a DVD to watch about the surgery and told to make another appointment for moulds to be made. I headed downstairs to give my letter to the appointment area where they told me that there was actually an appointment available for next week. They looked as surprised as I was!
At my next appointment I had moulds and photos taken. I then had to take another letter downstairs ready for my next appointment. This time my appointment was for 4 months in the future. Not quite as speedy as last time, but I had expected the progress to be very slow seeing as this was on the NHS. Plus, the next appointment was the one where I was to tell them whether I want to move ahead with the process or not. As this is not a decision to take lightly, a few months to research is not a bad thing. However, a little later I got a letter saying that my next appointment had been pushed back another month. I was disappointed, especially as I had already made the decision that I wanted to move forward so was itching to get started.
Finally my next appointment rolled around. I spoke again to the orthodontist and the surgeon, who were both brilliant. It is so good to be able to meet the team that will be working on you. I told them that I was ready to get moving, and by the time I left the hospital I had three appointments booked over the next 5 weeks! One to discuss my wisdom tooth removal (the incisions for jaw surgery are made where the wisdom teeth are, so if you still have them they need to be removed in preparation for surgery, and at least 6 months in advance to let the bone heal) and two appointments a week apart for the orthodontist.
Well last week I went for my wisdom tooth appointment. The dentist there was very nice and said that he had worked with a lot of the surgeons who perform the jaw surgeries and they are brilliant. He said it really as life changing and he was very excited for me. That was nice and really put me at ease. He asked me if I was nervous about having my wisdom tooth removed, which of course I was, so we decided that the best course of action for me was IV sedation rather than a general anaesthetic. With an IV Sedation you are still awake when the operation happens, but you are so doped up that you don;t remember a thing. You get very sleepy and relaxed, and don't have the recovery of a general anaesthetic. Sounds good to me! I left the room with my usual slip of paper to take to the reception to get my appointment set. Keep in mind that my first orthodontist appointment was set for two weeks time, not he 16th June. The receptionist asked if the 13th was ok for my wisdom tooth removal! I told her that I had an orthodontist appointment a few days later, so no, not really! She asked what is was for. I said I didn't know, but surely it would be something to do with my mouth! She told me that the next appointment after that wasn't for ages, so pushed me into booking in a few days earlier, the 10th, which would give me a week to heal. The 10th?! That's only a couple of weeks away! Wow, this is really starting to move fast.
As the appointment for my wisdom tooth removal is so soon, and so close to my next few appointments, I called the hospital this morning to check everything was ok with having my tooth removed a week before my first orthodontist appointment. Nope! The woman said that there should be at least two weeks o recover after the wisdom tooth removal to allow the swelling to go down. That made a lot of sense to me, and I was thinking that that would be the case. So now my June orthodontist appointments have been moved back to August. I'm a little disappointed I must admit, as I wanted to get my braces on as soon as possible, but honestly, this process seems to be moving much faster than I anticipated so I can't grumble.
Phew! What a long post! At least we are up to date now with my journey so far, so any appointments in the future will get their own posts.
And so it begins...
Where to start? Well, I guess with why I've started this blog. I'm 28 and just starting on the wonderful path of braces and dental surgery, courtesy of the NHS. Deciding to go through with this has been a really difficult thing for me, and I've found myself scouring the internet for blogs from people who have been through this journey. There are a lot of them, but I can honestly say that every one helped me when coming to a decision, so I felt that I may as well document my journey too. Particularly as a lot of the blogs I found were based on dental procedures in the US. In the UK the process is quite different so I really think that taking you guys along the journey with me will help you if you are in the Uk and are considering braces and jaw surgery.
I'll start by telling you what's up (doc) with my teeth. I have gappy teeth but also a large overbite. I had braces when I was younger, just to correct the gaps, but unfortunately back then the information given about wearing retainers was different to how it is now. Now we know that retainers have to be worn as long as you want your teeth to stay in the same position (I.E. the rest of you life). When I had my retainer I was told to gradually phase it out, which resulted in my teeth moving back to how they were. These braces however were not to correct my overbite.
Why do I want to go through years of braces and jaw surgery? It's a bloody big decision. I guess my main reason would have to be for the eating aspect. When you have a large overbite such as I do, eating can be difficult. Because my teeth don't shut together biting through food is impossible, so anything I need to bite through (like pizza or a sandwich) I kind of have to grasp food between my teeth and sort of tear it like a dog. This can get very messy as you can imagine! It also leaves me with the roof of my mouth feeling sore and burnt if I'm eating something hot. It means my teeth are wearing down in a way that they wouldn't normally. Plus I grind my teeth at night, although that may or may not be due to the position of my teeth. Plus, my teeth are something that have always embarrassed me. Just little things like avoiding having my photo taken, being really unhappy with my profile. It's not nice and something I would like to fix. I'm so lucky to be offered this treatment on the NHS that I feel it is something I should do.
That's it for my first post. A little (a lot) of information on how I'm starting out. I will probably post some pictures at a later date of how my bite looks at the moment.
I'll start by telling you what's up (doc) with my teeth. I have gappy teeth but also a large overbite. I had braces when I was younger, just to correct the gaps, but unfortunately back then the information given about wearing retainers was different to how it is now. Now we know that retainers have to be worn as long as you want your teeth to stay in the same position (I.E. the rest of you life). When I had my retainer I was told to gradually phase it out, which resulted in my teeth moving back to how they were. These braces however were not to correct my overbite.
Why do I want to go through years of braces and jaw surgery? It's a bloody big decision. I guess my main reason would have to be for the eating aspect. When you have a large overbite such as I do, eating can be difficult. Because my teeth don't shut together biting through food is impossible, so anything I need to bite through (like pizza or a sandwich) I kind of have to grasp food between my teeth and sort of tear it like a dog. This can get very messy as you can imagine! It also leaves me with the roof of my mouth feeling sore and burnt if I'm eating something hot. It means my teeth are wearing down in a way that they wouldn't normally. Plus I grind my teeth at night, although that may or may not be due to the position of my teeth. Plus, my teeth are something that have always embarrassed me. Just little things like avoiding having my photo taken, being really unhappy with my profile. It's not nice and something I would like to fix. I'm so lucky to be offered this treatment on the NHS that I feel it is something I should do.
That's it for my first post. A little (a lot) of information on how I'm starting out. I will probably post some pictures at a later date of how my bite looks at the moment.
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