Where I’ve Been, Health Scares, and Why Patient Advocacy is Crucial
It’s been…quite the summer….
--
This is a very difficult post to write, but I’ve finally mustered up the courage to discuss what’s been going on over the past few months.
Firstly, I greatly appreciate the emails, LinkedIn messages, and even texts from those that I’ve met through this platform.
Knowing that people care makes a huge difference when you’re going through a complex health issue.
To get folks up to speed that might be new or have missed other posts about this…I had orthognathic surgery in April 2021.
In layman’s terms, I had both of my jaws cut out from my skull, re-configured, and put back in via titanium plates and screws.
Some of you are probably wanting to vomit reading this.
Why did I do this to myself?
To answer the question, my jaws never grew correctly….as you can see in the photo below on the left….I had a huge class two, anterior open bite. This means my lower jaw was underdeveloped, and my upper jaw had too much bone. As a consequence, my front teeth could not touch.
I’ve read that about 0.6% of the adult population has this issue, so it’s pretty uncommon!
I know it’s not pleasant to think about your jaws being surgically removed, but in all honesty, it wasn’t as painful as I anticipated.
Fast-forward to February 2022….I had my Invisalign removed and was super excited to be almost done with this process.
Since I had the huge open bite, I wore down my back teeth quite a bit, so I booked an appointment with a prosthodontist to get some restorative dentistry done.
Since I’m a surgical patient, I thought going to a specialist was a great idea vs. my general dentist….Oh, how I was wrong!
