Braces and Open Bite Surgery

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

OROFACIAL MYOLOGY FOR TONGUE THRUST

"Orofacial myology is the study of normal and abnormal patterns of use of the mouth and face and their relationships with dentition, speech and vegetative functions."

The most common oral myofunctional disorder is the tongue thrust.

I stumbled across the term "orofacial myology" while doing research on my open bite surgery. I found a journal article that stated treatment for anterior open bite should include orthodontics, surgery and orofacial myofunctional therapy.

So then I started researching orofacial myology. Basically it is therapy to help treat your tongue thrust. I am currently working with a therapist who is teaching me to correct my tongue resting posture, swallowing and mouth breathing. It is really important to know that these issues CAN BE CORRECTED. It is all about learning the new, right way to do things and then making it a habit.

I think this is a really important thing for anyone having this type of surgery to know about. I did not hear about this through my ortho or surgeon, i had to find out about it by myself.

A really good resource is the International Association of Orofacial Myology (IAOM). You can search for a certified myologist in your area and read about the field. Here is their website: http://www.iaom.com/IAOM/

See picture below. The pic on the left is from 12/2/13, before I started myofunctional therapy. The pic on the right is from 3/18/14, after having 4 sessions with my therapist and doing daily practice on my own.

You can see on the right that my lips are closing easier and my chin is less strained. More relaxed/natural. I absolutely recommend this type a treatment from a certified orofacial myologist!!!

New Wire

I had an ortho appointment this morning. They ended up repositioning 4 brackets and putting in a new bigger wire. This wire has squared off edges, my previous wires were round. So he said to come back in 8 weeks and then he should put me in the surgical wire and take initial molds. That was kind of scary. I am not sure how long I will have to stay in the surgical wires before I can schedule surgery.

Anyway, my teeth are really sore right now. I have been taking ibuprofen all day...

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Bite Opening more on right side

About 2 weeks ago I noticed that my bite had opened up on the right side. I could no longer feel my molars touching when I bit down. I tested this by trying to bite down on a piece of paper, I was able to pull it right out when biting on my right side, but when biting on my left side I was still touching and could hold the paper in place while pulling. I know that my bite would be changing and it is possible for it to get "worse" before surgery, but I still called my orthodontist to let him know. He wanted me to come in so he could take a look. So I went in today and he confirmed that I was no longer touching on my right side. He said there was about 1mm of space between those molars. He said the brackets on my LEFT molars were really close to the bite-line and he was going to move them to allow the teeth on my RIGHT side to come back together. I don't totally understand this. But he removed/ repositioned the 3 brackets on my upper LEFT molars.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Bracket Repositioning

On 1/29/14 I had my second ortho appt since my braces were put on in September. During this visit they took off some brackets and repositioned them. I'm not really sure how many he actually did. I would say at least 4 or 5, maybe more. I thought it was going to hurt really bad, but I couldn't even feel most of them. He did try to take off one on my upper second tooth and that one hurt BAD. It felt like my tooth was loose and he was ripping it out. So he didn't end up doing that one.

I'm just starting to feel back to normal after that appointment. My teeth were really sore for about a week. It was like I just had my braces put on. So I was eating soft foods all week and taking ibuprofen or tylenol as needed.

Anyway he put my current wire back in after he was done (I'm in Damon Clear braces and still in the light round wire). I will have this wire for another 10 weeks. Then I'll get my wire changed to a heaver wire and 10 weeks after that they will take my initial molds to see if I'm ready for surgery. So that should be around June. He also said i might only need upper jaw surgery. That is kind of exciting because that would probably mean a quicker surgery, less trauma and faster healing. But I'll try not to get my hopes up yet...

PS. Next time I go to get my regular dental cleaning I'm going to stop at my ortho first to have them remove the wire. That way the hygienist is able to clean my teeth easier. Just a tip for anyone else in braces because I had a cleaning last month with the wire in (didn't even know it was possible to have it taken out for cleaning) and they didn't use the scaler on my teeth to scrape the tartar off on the bottom front teeth. She just used a high pressure water jet and that really didn't remove much.

Monday, December 16, 2013

First Wire Change

I got a little behind on posting...my first wire change was actually on 11/20/13 which was 9 weeks after my braces were put on. I have Damon braces so they just had to slide the doors open, take the wire out, put the new wire in and shut the doors. I was surprised that the actual process didn't hurt at all. It did feel very tight once they put the new wire in and my teeth were sore for a few days. I am still in a light round wire. Last week (3 weeks after wire change) the wire started sticking out of the back of my last bracket and poking me in the cheek. Now this was very painful. It tore up my tissue and it hurt to eat. I had to go in for them to trim the wire.

This is a pic of my new wire. Not sure if you can tell, but it is a little thicker than the first wire.

Here is the first wire for comparison:

Monday, October 21, 2013

X-ray from the day braces were put on

I just saw this email from my ortho's office, it landed in my Spam email folder. I requested a copy of my x-ray and this is what they sent. It is a picture of the x-ray. Not the greatest.

Anyway, this is from 9.18.13 before I got my braces put on.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Week 4 with Braces

Yesterday was officially my 4th week in braces, although I feel like I have had them forever already. I am pretty much totally used to them at this point. They no longer feel "weird." However, I do feel like I have to concentrate when I'm speaking and talk more slowly because they kind of give me a lisp.

The only thing I am noticing is that a different tooth is sore every few days. Last week when bit into my toaster strudel for breakfast my front top right tooth wiggled like it was loose and it hurt! Same thing happened at lunch when I bit into an already cut, bite-sized piece of sandwich - loose/wiggly and sore. The loose sensation freaked me out, I have felt soreness/pressure before, but never this loose feeling. I called my ortho's office and they said it was normal and should firm up within a few days. She said to watch for red/inflammed gums or a bad taste in my mouth.

So that front tooth did get better after a few days, next it was my lower right-side molars and a few days later it was my lower left-side molars. Currently my upper left-side molars are sore. It sucks because it's making me go back to a softer diet and I am hungry all the time but it hurts to chew.

On the bright side of things I have noticed movement in my teeth.

This pic is Day 1 with braces. You can see the wire is bent a lot along my top teeth. Also, my second teeth are much higher than my first and third teeth.

This picture is from yesterday, Day 28 with braces. You can see the wire has really straightened out and those second teeth have moved down a lot!

Also wanted to add some pics of my face/profile:

This is me forcing my lips closed. You can see there is still even a little hole in my lips. And its kind of hard to tell in this pic, but my chin is puckered from pushing my lips closed.