The Tooth Fairy Owes Me

I have mouth issues.  I had braces put on during my 8th grade year in an effort to avoid jaw surgery to correct my mouth issues.

It didn’t work.

I had my first jaw surgery the summer before my Senior year of high school. They broke, reset and wired the top and bottom of both sides of my mouth (think all four corners). I was wired shut for 5 weeks and 6 days.

Less than 6 months after the jaw surgery I had a tooth extracted.  I had a bum tooth who didn’t play well with the others.  The extraction required me to have tooth implant put in.

But I didn’t have any jaw bone where the tooth used to be.

They cored a piece of bone from my hip to graft into my jaw. I couldn’t walk for days. It took the bone about 4 months to fuse in my jaw at which point they placed the dental implant.  The surgery was a success and I’ve lived happily ever after for about 12 years.

Last March, I went into the dentist for a routine cleaning.  They noticed a problem with one of my teeth.  In fact, it was the tooth directly next to the implant.  They decided the best course of action was to extract that tooth and fit me with an implant.

But I didn’t have any jaw bone where the tooth used to be.

They proceeded to give me a bone graft.  But this time, I wasn’t lucky enough to have the bone cored from my hip.  Again.  This time, the source was cadaver bone.

I taste dead people.

Anywho, after waiting 4 months during the fusion process, I found out that the first bone graft didn’t take.  But they didn’t realize it until the had already DRILLED INTO IT to fit me with the implant.  So they took the implant OUT and gave me another bone graft. That one was cadaver bone, too.

I then waited another 4 months to find out that the second bone graft wasn’t successful either.  So they referred me to an oral surgeon.

Today, I am scheduled for another bone graft.  The bone source this time will be me, though!  But it won’t be from my hip.  It’ll be from my jaw.  They are taking a sliver of bone from the right side of my jaw to put into a tooth socket on the left side.

It should make eating kind of fun for the next couple of days, don’t you think?

Each of these procedures has taken me (and Dave) out of commission for 2 or 3 days.  Plus the antibiotics after each procedure (probiotic yogurt is my friend). Plus the lack of solid food for several days after (it’s a good thing I like oatmeal).

I’m really hoping this one takes.  I’m not sure how much more my poor jaw can stand!

Just to be on the safe side, though, we’ve started saving for my dentures.