Hi, all. I've responded to a few threads in here over the last few years. I try to offer insight through my experience having been negligently screwed over in my first jaw surgery and ortho treatment, and then having to have all of it redone over the last two years. I wanted to kind of put my final thoughts here and a few things that helped me get through this experience so maybe that can help some others through their experiences.
If things aren't right, hopefully your surgeon is working with you to better the mistakes that were made, but sometimes your surgeon either strings you along and tries to say everything is OK, or in my case totally abandons you and refuses to see you. I got left with significant deformity after my surgery. It was devastating to be left all alone with no guidance. Luckily for me I was able to pick up the pieces and be extremely proactive in my treatment. One of the reasons I have my blog and website is to be able to help patients out even through the normal jaw surgery process, but especially to help people out who find themselves in unfortunate revision circumstances.
If things aren't right it can be a terribly scary, confusing, and sad time. Keep your head up. It's SO easy to go to a bad place, especially if the mistakes were negligent ones at the hands of a doctor who is being anything but helpful after the fact. Be proactive. I didn't have an orthodontist that was helping me out either, so I had to take things in to my own hands and by 8 weeks post op I was seeing other surgeons and orthodontists for consult. I started getting other specialists in the mix too like a prosthodontist to monitor the root health of my teeth as my first ortho killed the roots of my lower and upper front teeth from yanking my teeth around too hard and too fast; half of which was unnecessarily done to cover up my surgeons mistakes immediately post op. If you think something is not right, then don't hesitate to start seeing other doctors. Any good doctor worth their salt is not going to care. Not only would they not care, but they would support you doing this and be totally open to it. Get your records. All of them. Keep a folder and take that with you to appointments. Think about seeing a therapist. Jaw surgery is hard even when it all goes right. For the first time in my life I started seeing a therapist after my first botched surgery. Utilize the ears of your friends and family. You need a good support structure through all of this. Stay busy. I took the first year and traveled a lot to take my mind off of things and I stayed really socially active with my friends despite my physical and emotional pain.
Keep a good attitude. I know this is easier said than done. I tend to be a pessimistic and pragmatic person, but in my revision process I stayed determined and positive. My team of revision doctors have complimented me throughout treatment and praised my amazing attitude through all of this. It's essential to a more successful retreatment, and it's just good for your body both physically and emotionally. Don't get me wrong, I had my moments. There were lots of tears. There was lots of anger. Allow yourself to go through these emotions and process what is going on, but do NOT let it consume you. Again, easier said than done, but you have to make a conscious effort to snap out of the bad moments and say, "I am determined to get me fixed, and I am not going to let this get me right now."
This all has been quite the journey for me, but wanted to drop you guys out there needing the support a line and say keep your head up. Stay focused. It's not an easy and uneventful road to travel down, but if you keep going you can eventually get yourself to a better place. It's exhausting, and it won't be easy, but it's possible.
I've got some other tidbits and final thoughts on all of this on my website if you want to check it out:
www.confessionsofametalmouth.com My information is on there as well and people can reach out to me if they ever have questions or just need somebody to talk to who's been through the s**t show with all of this.
