Happy Thanksgiving and the History Behind My Need for Surgery

[spicedogs]

I want to send good wishes to all the members of my f-list.

Happy Thanksgiving.

As you all know, I underwent a bone graft operation last week. Bones from my right-side lower jaw were placed in my upper jaw, right above my front incisors. The reason I underwent this surgery is because when I was about 5 or 6 years old, I ran into a wall at full force and broke my nose and my sinus cavity, and my permanent teeth, which were fully formed, were damaged internally. When they emerged, they were black and blue and broken. When I was 12, caps were placed on them. Unfortunately, the nerve ending were also damaged and I had to undergo root canal for the four teeth when I was 16. The dentist who worked on my teeth was a quack. (I can't blame my parents, as they sent me to a highly recommended, expensive dentist who catered to celebrities as well. My parents tried to give me the best care. But it goes to show that even the expensive doctor is not immune from being a quack.)

If you never had a root canal done, let me give you  Wikipedia's definition:

 

A root canal is the commonly used term for the main canals within the dentin of the tooth. These are part of the natural cavity within a tooth that consists of the dental pulp chamber, the main canals, and sometimes more intricate anatomical branches that may connect the root canals to each other or to the root surface of the tooth. Root canals are filled with a highly vascularized, loose connective tissue, the dental pulp. This sometimes becomes infected and inflamed, generally due to caries or tooth fractures that allow microorganisms, mostly bacteria from the oral flora or their byproducts, access to the pulp chamber or the root canals; the infected tissue is removed by a surgical intervention known as endodontic therapy and commonly called a root canal.

 This stupid dentist made me do the removal of the nerve ending, which is quite painful, without anesthesia. The removal is done with a screwing device that is illustrated here and shown with the arrow:

The idea was to pull out the nerve as I reached it. Of course, as soon as it hurt, I would stop and not pull out the nerve.  Eight years later, the nerve endings became inflamed, and I underwent 10 apicoectomy surgeries to correct the mistakes made by the quack.

Root canals are very complex, with many small branches off the main canal. Sometimes, even after a well-done root-canal treatment, infected debris can remain in the branches, which can possibly prevent healing or cause re-infection later. So you can imagine how much debris and infection occurred from my "self-inflicted" root-canal treatment.

In an apicoectomy, the root tip, or apex, is removed along with the infected tissue. A filling is then placed to seal the end of the root. Every time an apicoectomy is done, the root is clipped off. I had 10. Consequently,  roots became very short, there was way too many filling material placed inside my bones, which caused lots of bone deterioration and scar tissues, hence necessitating the bone grafts. All in all, I am healing well, despite the fact that I am a diabetic, and we, diabetics, tend not to heal easily.

I went to the surgeon yesterday. Unfortunately, he was not very pleased. My mouth on the right side is not healing properly. He said that due to the number of scar tissues in there, the blood supply is not able to go through and that part of the graft may not heal. He is not very hopeful, but he said that we can only do one thing: wait. Sometimes, miraculously, healing does occur. The worst case scenario will be that the grafted bone may detach and fall out.

He told me that he would not do another graft, as it would be a waste of money and could do me more harm. I had four teeth with bone deterioration. And just one is not doing well. So, all in all, it is not that drastic. There is another trick up his sleeve. It's not the best, but I can live with it. It would mean that the root of the area that is not healing would be extracted and a bridge would be made using the healthy canine next to it. I think I can live with that. There are people who live with far worse that I will have to. And as today is Thanksgiving, I am giving thanks for all the good things that I have going for me.

Comments

[benobsessed.livejournal.com]

It sounds awful but yay for being positive

[mooncove.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for sharing your story. It's amazing to think a six-year-old could run at a wall with enough force to cause that amount of damage! Of course, the quack only made things worse. I hope a few rich celebrities sued him and he didn't harm too many more patients. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers to heal quickly and completely. In the meantime, it's great that you're keeping a positive outlook and that it's not as drastic for you as it sounds! Take it easy, and happy Thanksgiving.

[katje0711.livejournal.com]

OMG! Just reading that made me cringe and I had to skim over most of it. He made you do it without anesthesia???? WTF??

[mine82.livejournal.com]

thank you so much edith!it looks sooo great (the tabel with all the good "stuff"...lol)..i wish you gods blessing and many strenght and joy!!

[greenleaf-y.livejournal.com]

I so feel for you, Edith. I had removal of a nerve without anesthesia and I had a hole in my jaw, too. It was a consequence of dirty removal ;(( Good recovery! Happy Thanksgiving for you and all your family.