Saturday, May 19, 2007

First Blog

Hopeful bite after surgery, of course its not exact because im just pushing my lower jaw forward, but as you can see i have a chin!!!


Current bite, no chin and puffy cheeks, ew



current bite...check out that overbite!!!




close up of models





models and my 8mm overbite/openbite


So here I am, my first blog! Bear with me and have some patience as I am new with this and it is a learning process. Hopefully by the end I will have learned some new computer skills and will have helped you all with information that might assist you through your journey's as well.


My name's Kristy Clucas. I will tell you my story, ill make it short and simple since i don't really remember all the medical terms since this goes way back.


I had braces on when i was around 12-13, something like that. When i was around 15 i had upper jaw surgery because i had TMJ and was having a lot of pain, cracking, lock jaw, etc. I was told i had to have this procedure done, thats all i really remember. I was supposed to have upper and lower, but on the day of the surgery the surgeon decided the braces had worked so well they only needed to do upper.


Within the first week my jaw had shifted and i had probably a 3mm overbite. It was discussed a few years later if i wanted to go back into surgery to correct this but at the time i was not having any problems or discomfort and decided to leave the matter.


Well not over 10 years later, HUGE problem. I now have a 8mm overbite(open bite) and my teeth barely touch. Im having a lot of clicking, pain, headaches again and have decided to go ahead and do the whole thing over again, braces, surgery, uggggggggggg.


So they say the reason this happened, is i have a rare case where the joints re-shaped themselves and are now oval instead of circular, causing the shift and the open bite. Hopefully the surgery this time will correct this problem, because ive been told next step if it doesnt it joint replacement, OUCH!!!


So the appointments have been made. My first ortho appointment is jund 4th, where i will get my spacers, and current permanent retainer wires out. Next is the 13th where i will get the whole shabang on. Surgery is planned for November but we will see closer to the time.

So thats my story, tried to keep it simple, but feels like i just told my lifestory in a short novel, haha. Ill post some pictures so you can see what im talking about.


Thanks all for listening!