Welcome to my nightmare everyone....as of yesterday I am on the ~1-year waitlist for double total Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) replacement surgery.
Dr. P. was fantastic. He is a truly caring, compassionate Dr. who seems really empathetic about my situation. Before I went for the consult yesterday he had already spoken with Dr. T, Dr. T2, and my orthodontist Dr. O about my case. He had reviewed all my tests and come up with the determination that I will need this very serious surgery. I also have to commend Dr. O. I only visited him for 1 initial (complimentary) consultation and he has also been consulting with both Dr. T and Dr. P. on a regular basis. Another truly caring professional. I can't wait to work with him.
The reason that I will need this surgery is that my joints are both not healed and healing badly. The right TMJ is healed in an overlapped and shortened position. This is why my face is shorter on the left side and my teeth meet there many millimeters before my right side. The left side is not even healed at all. The condyle may be "in" the socket, but it's not attached to my mandible (jaw). So that's not great. On top of that, Dr. P. is sure that I have a significant amount of soft tissue damage, including the discs in the TMJs too. The joints and all my muscles are inflamed, basically nothing is right in there. He says there isn't a way to fix what has happened now, it's been too long and my joints are actually degrading. There are other procedures he can try (jaw surgery without joint replacement) but since my jaw isn't connected on one side, the results are very unpredictable and not favourable. So, here I am.
I asked Dr. P. about my previous care with Dr. M. and what was done to repair my jaw initially. While no surgeon will throw another under the bus, and I very well understand that health care is both an art and a science, he did think this is a result of improper treatment. I should have been wired shut from the beginning (I wasn't until 1 month after the injury) and I should not have been left to heal this way for so long. I could have possibly avoided this serious replacement surgery with a less serious (but still serious!) jaw surgery to stabilize the joints for healing. I am not feeling any animosity or anger toward Dr. M. The jury is completely out on the correct way to treat a bilateral condylar fracture, and he did the best he could. It serves me no purpose to blame him. He did what 50% of the surgeons out there would have done....he just let it "not work" for too long. I also understand that my injury and subsequent poor healing is fairly rare.
So now that I'm on the wait list, there's a new (accelerated) treatment plan. Dr. T. has to get all my root canals and temporary restorations (crowns) done as soon as possible. I need to get braces on so that they can move my teeth into the correct positions for when my jaw gets put back in the right spot. This means the braces are going to straighten my teeth relative to the bone they are attached to - but they won't line up to each other until the surgery. This will take time, obviously, but Dr. O. already consulted with Dr. P. and thinks he can get the job done in the year before the surgery. So I need to get them on pronto, so that when surgery time arrives I'm all ready. Then I'll have the braces on afterwards too, in order to fine tune things. I don't know how long...it's probably only an estimate now anyways.
After the braces come off, then Dr. T has to remove all the temporary crowns and put pretty new ones on. I'll also get an implant for the 33 that is coming out, plus any that I might lose between now and then as a result of the damage that was sustained. Teeth can take years to fail...so I am likely in for more implants sometime in the near or far future.
In the meantime, once I get all this dental work done and braces on, pain or no pain I have got to get back to work. I need to start living somewhat normally...this is too all-consuming right now to be healthy. I'm going to get myself into counseling. This is a bit more than I can handle on my own, or ask my friends and family to help me with. Hopefully by January 1 I will be working at least part-time.
So there you have it! I am going to request an honorary DDS after all this. I can honestly say now that I've always been interested in working in the dental field, but now I know I would really love it.
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