So I was back to Dr. Mazur today. Luckily it was just for my 6-month check-up. Do you all realize I have only been going to him for a year and a half? It seems like it has been at least twice that long! Granted, the number of visits I have had to him would equal that of 6 years of "regular" visits- but boy it seems like we have known each other all our lives! :)
So here's a recap of what happened today though:
1) He fixed the flipper!!! Woo hoo! It was still bothering me quite a bit and not fitting too well! So we did some more adjustments on it and so far so good! woo hoo! Now I am sure it will be great to have for another 6 months! :) That's right- 6 months. My best estimate is that we won't be done with this until April. YAY. But yay for the flipper to be better- I will give it a full test when I head to Chipotle for lunch in a few minutes!
2) Dr. Gomes still has not called him to order the stent they will need when we go to put the implant back in. It is the guide that tells him exactly where to put the implant this time. We want that. :) So... I'll be making a call to Gomes to see if he can get on that right away. :) And did I mention he leaves town tomorrow?
3) Here's where it gets a little gross- So, it has become evident to me that even if we just go with what we have and put the implant back in , when we go to put the tooth on, there is going to be a large gap where there should be tissue, but there's not enough there right now. Hmmm. Thanks to my dear friend Erin who has also had to endure this same series of unfortunate events :-) , I understand that what they typically do in that case is a tissue graft from the roof of your mouth. So I asked Mazur about that today. He said that is a concern for sure... and that Gomes should take care of that for me- that's what he does most of the time afterall. :) And so I should talk to him about building up the tissue around there when I see him next. And yes, often it does require a tissue graft from the roof of your mouth. I've done pretty well with everything else..but that doesn't sound so cool to me. :)
4) And finally.. quite the humbling experience... So you know I am in Mazur's office an average of 1-2 times per month. And it often seemed that I had my own little Cheer's bar going on there where I could walk in and everyone knows my name. They all knew the stories of what was going on every step of the way. Well today, I entered hygienest land. They know nothing of anything except scraping teeth and offering you the option of mint, cinnamon, bubble gum, or cookie dough(?!?) flavored cleanings. It seemed like I was in a twilight zone... this poor girl had no idea of all the drama and fun we have been having. She wasn't there to share our 4 hour visit that fateful night. She was asking crazy questions like "were you just born without a tooth there?" or "did your tooth get knocked out? " WOW! So to her I was just another mouth to clean. No longer was I this legendary figure I imagined myself to be! I thought to myself- I even have a blog about this!!! How could she not know??? So my illusions of granduer are fading- no more visions of appearing on the Today Show to share the story and my blog with Matt Lauer- no more visions of becoming a motivational speaker and influencing the lives of so many youngsters across the country with my story of The Freaky Tooth! So how humbled am I. I am just a girl- with a freaky tooth- and her own blog. :) And a great sense of literary exaggeration. :) LOL!
Keep smilin :) and I'll keep you posted!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
this just in....
So this is actually a picture of Dr. Mazur! He's the one on the left. Do you seem some of the similarities to Rob Flynn??? Now you've got real pictures of the whole team!!!
Freaky Tooth Blog Entry #9
So I had my stitches out 10 days ago. It went well...Dr. Gomes said it looked great I was doing a good job keeping it clean. YAY for me! And yay for no stitches for my sister's wedding! I am sure she was glad to not have white strings hanging out of my mouth in her pictures! It was pretty cool though-Since there is no wound to heal over that site, I could see the bone in the hole. Pretty cool.
But after the stitches came out, so did the bone grafting. Well... not all of it. But starting that night, I would occasionally have a granule or 2 of bone pop up in my mouth somewhere. And this went on for quite a few days. A couple granules a day. For those of you wondering what a granule of bone grafting looks like... I have been trying to decide how to describe it...I think it would best be equated to the size of decorating sugar. So not regular sugar crystals or salt or sand- a bit bigger than all those... but sometimes you have that decorating sugar that is a bit bigger- I'd say it's pretty equivalent in size. So anyway... as the granules of bone started to appear, so did a divet in my gums where the grafting had been supporting the structure. And since I was traveling most of last week, I just continued to tell myself it was no big deal. Couldn't really do anything about it from Columbus, OH anyway. Well... since this kept happening over the weekend, and I could no longer see bone in the hole, just a black hole, and doing a bit of math in my head, I realized that hole isn't so big... and a couple granules a day for a week or so amounts to a quite a bit of bone in that tiny hole, I figured I should probably call Gomes for a normalcy reading.
MAYBE I'LL GO AS A VAMPIRE FOR HALLOWEEN
So I called Dr. Gomes this morning and asked him about the situation. He said some of it is normal, but that I was right and I should probably come in and have him take a look. So the good news is that I am not a hypochondriac. :) Sure enough.. quite a bit of bone grafting had come out. However, the better news is that while it is a bit more than what he would have liked to see, he didn't think we needed to redo it. Instead, he scraped and scratched around in the hole to create a blood clot. It's a good thing I don't mind blood- nor the taste of it. There was plenty of it to clot. YUM. So anyway, the blood clot will apparently heal over the remaining bone so it will stay in there. But I am not supposed to eat, drink, or talk much for a few hours and then I can't brush the area for a couple days either. (You know, as a teacher, I could go from 7 am to 7 pm without drinking a single glass of water and not think anything of it- right now, I am so thirsty I would drink the rainwater in the puddle outside my office window if I could. Guess you don't know what you got til it's gone!!!! ;-) ) Another good thing is that the new flipper covers the hole pretty well though ...so that should help with the clotting. After that, Dr. Gomes was all excited to give me his new business card and map to the new location! And sent me off with the promise to call me the first part of November to get some stuff set up. YAY! I can hardly wait. I go to Mazur next week to my regular 6 month check up- I am sure he will have a few thoughts to share on this whole process...so stay tuned.. I'll keep you posted!!!
But after the stitches came out, so did the bone grafting. Well... not all of it. But starting that night, I would occasionally have a granule or 2 of bone pop up in my mouth somewhere. And this went on for quite a few days. A couple granules a day. For those of you wondering what a granule of bone grafting looks like... I have been trying to decide how to describe it...I think it would best be equated to the size of decorating sugar. So not regular sugar crystals or salt or sand- a bit bigger than all those... but sometimes you have that decorating sugar that is a bit bigger- I'd say it's pretty equivalent in size. So anyway... as the granules of bone started to appear, so did a divet in my gums where the grafting had been supporting the structure. And since I was traveling most of last week, I just continued to tell myself it was no big deal. Couldn't really do anything about it from Columbus, OH anyway. Well... since this kept happening over the weekend, and I could no longer see bone in the hole, just a black hole, and doing a bit of math in my head, I realized that hole isn't so big... and a couple granules a day for a week or so amounts to a quite a bit of bone in that tiny hole, I figured I should probably call Gomes for a normalcy reading.
MAYBE I'LL GO AS A VAMPIRE FOR HALLOWEEN
So I called Dr. Gomes this morning and asked him about the situation. He said some of it is normal, but that I was right and I should probably come in and have him take a look. So the good news is that I am not a hypochondriac. :) Sure enough.. quite a bit of bone grafting had come out. However, the better news is that while it is a bit more than what he would have liked to see, he didn't think we needed to redo it. Instead, he scraped and scratched around in the hole to create a blood clot. It's a good thing I don't mind blood- nor the taste of it. There was plenty of it to clot. YUM. So anyway, the blood clot will apparently heal over the remaining bone so it will stay in there. But I am not supposed to eat, drink, or talk much for a few hours and then I can't brush the area for a couple days either. (You know, as a teacher, I could go from 7 am to 7 pm without drinking a single glass of water and not think anything of it- right now, I am so thirsty I would drink the rainwater in the puddle outside my office window if I could. Guess you don't know what you got til it's gone!!!! ;-) ) Another good thing is that the new flipper covers the hole pretty well though ...so that should help with the clotting. After that, Dr. Gomes was all excited to give me his new business card and map to the new location! And sent me off with the promise to call me the first part of November to get some stuff set up. YAY! I can hardly wait. I go to Mazur next week to my regular 6 month check up- I am sure he will have a few thoughts to share on this whole process...so stay tuned.. I'll keep you posted!!!
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