Updates on Random Issues

Once again, I wrote such a long post last time that I had to break up my thoughts into three posts. Sorry about that! I swear if you read all my posts without quickly scanning through them, you are a saint and the reason why I write so much 😅. I know I was starved for any detail before my surgery.

But anyway, I just thought I would update you on a few random issues I brought up in my posts over the year but never quite addressed fully later on, just in case you're interested (you can scan quickly through this post, I won't hold it against you).

- Gum recession. The recession at the back of my front lower teeth never got worse. I saw a periodontist and he said it was definitely not a big deal and no grafting would be necessary. Just to remind you guys, the orthodontist had recommended a costly gum graft before the surgery to avoid the risk of gum recession, but I declined because I could not find information about such an intensive gum graft for preventive reasons. I'm glad I did, but maybe I tempted fate and got lucky? I do have a little more recession on the upper molars, but nothing dramatic.

The recession looks exactly the same today.

- Pimples/oiliness. I had a major case of oily skin and oily hair that eventually developed into Pimpleland on my face for MONTHS, but it eventually cleared up completely. The oiliness went away fairly fast, I would say in the first 3 months, but the acne stuck around for longer than I expected. I'd say it was completely gone by month 5. Don't despair if you're struggling with acne for so long; I'm 100% sure it was related to the surgery in my case, and it did go away and didn't come back.

- Nighttime slack-jaw. I mentioned before that when I fall asleep, my jaw has a tendency to open up super wide. I'm happy to report that this has improved a lot since month 10! I still sometimes sleep with my mouth open according to my husband, but not as wide, and I don't breathe through my mouth. I asked the surgeon about it and he said it's completely normal. Everyone's jaw slacks open when they're in deep sleep. So there you go!

- Pain when pressing on a specific spot on my right bottom jaw. This never went away. The surgeon thought it was a knot in my muscle, and maybe it is, but it's still there. There is no bump or anything weird in that spot, it just hurts when I place a finger there and push. It's not an issue though, and hasn't gotten worse, so I'm just going to chalk it up to a quirk. It only ever hurts when I press there, and I never need to press there, so I just... don't?

The spot.

- Lisp. That's pretty much gone. My tongue is finally used to my new mouth!

- New glasses. I finally did get new frames, and it's a totally different shape to what I would normally buy pre-surgery. I've gotten tons of compliments on them, so it must mean that they fit my new face! Although to be fair, I first bought a pair with very round lenses, and it DID NOT fit my face at all. I was thankfully able to switch frames, and went with a subtle cat-eye, but still much bigger than I'm used to. I love them!

I chose these; it's the Scarla model from Oliver Peoples.

- Salivary stone. Thankfully, I did not have any other salivary stone since that one occurrence during month 5. I recently started getting a weird cramping feeling near the left ear whenever I put food in my mouth for the first time after a few hours without any food. It's very similar to when I eat something sour, but only on the left and even if the food is not sour. It's been happening for three months now and it does it every time, but it only lasts a split second and goes away. At first, I thought it was another salivary stone, but nothing came of it. I asked my dentist and the surgeon, and they both have no idea what it is, but they don't think it's anything bad or a salivary stone so... good? I'm used to it now and barely notice it. Not a big deal!

- Bite. My bite is "perfect" in theory, but my teeth haven't settled completely yet. I would say almost all of my teeth are touching on the right, but on the left, only two or three teeth are touching near the front. I feel like this could be one of the reasons why my left joint is so unhappy, but my surgeon doesn't seem convinced it is. I just stopped wearing my retainer during the day (I only wear it at night). I'm hoping it'll help my teeth settle in a natural position, as the retainer forces my bite into a weird position because it's so thick. I might also have to visit the dentist because I think one of the teeth that touches is the brand new filling I recently got, so maybe it's just a bit too high and it needs to be adjusted. I couldn't tell when the dentist did it because of the retainer, but now is a great time to fix it.

My upper retainer.

- Palate bump. This hasn't gone away and even grew a little more. Before I stopped wearing my retainer during the day, it was starting to hurt again. I saw my dentist and he thinks it's an exostosis, which is the formation of extra bone material on top of the bone. He said it can sometimes happen with trauma or irritation, so we're pretty sure it's from the upper retainer. My dentist wondered why the retainer was so thick and so high, so it seems like it's not normally like that. We're guessing the retainer put too much pressure on my healing bone, and to protect itself, it just grew a bit more bone in that spot. However, I also asked my surgeon, who seems to think it's just tissue irritation and not bone, but also believes it's from the retainer. We'll see if it goes away after months of only wearing the retainer at night.

- Bone "dents". The notches are still there. The bone filled up completely on the side, but there is still that small dent when I pull the skin tight underneath or feel it with my fingers. Not a big deal and nothing to worry about; just thought I'd mention it!

Bone dent.

So that's it for the random updates! Let me know in the comments if there's anything else I brought up that I never resolved.

I have one more post prepared, which will be my last tips & tricks for those of you about to undertake this journey. I'll for sure update you on the status of my left joint as well, but I don't know when that will be. Probably a couple of months at least.