Don't count your brackets before they've been removed

Remember when I said my braces were supposed to come off on August 8?

Well, scratch that. One of my brackets came loose before my last appointment and a gap opened up big enough that food was getting impacted in it every time I ate. Fun!! Also, there are some other gaps that need to be closed as well. When I asked if my braces will come off at my next appointment, I was told with a laugh, "Oh, no. It will be longer than that."

I may not make corn on the cob season this year. Oh well, I may have to head down to the Farmer's Market, buy a bunch of corn, and freeze it until I'm brace-free. I am determined to have corn on the cob, and I will have corn on the cob, damnit!!

In other (good) news, I went to the Folk Festival again this year and had a pleasant surprise. Last year, I had to leave once Michael Franti took the stage, as the heavy bass in his music vibrated the screws in my jaw and gave me a raging headache. I was less than impressed, as Michael Franti was rocking it. Not fair!

This year, I was weary of the same thing happening, but when k-os played, with just as heavy bass, if not more, I was fine! So, no more worries about loud, rock concerts with generous amounts of rumbly bass - my jaw and I are good to go!

Wooo hooo! Bring it on!

Bad vibrations

I'm a big fan of live music and shows, when I'm feeling well enough to go, that is. Since my surgery, I've only had the chance to go to two performances (a burlesque show and an outdoor folk festival), and I'm beginning to see a pattern emerge that concerns me a little. It's only a hypothesis at this point, but I'm curious to know if anyone else has had a similar experience.

When I go to live shows, I carry a pair of ear plugs in my purse. That way, if the sound system is too loud, I can take the edge off instead of getting a nasty headache from the noise. (You know you're getting old when...)

Anyway, I had my earplugs at the ready but was surprised when it wasn't the noise that bothered me this time; it was the bass.

I was enjoying myself at first, but as each of the shows went on, it felt as though the vibrations of the heavy bass guitar were reverberating through the speakers and straight into my jaw. They then travelled up the sides of my face, causing me to get a splitting headache and leave early.

My hypothesis is that the heavy bass is vibrating the screws left in my jaw from the jaw surgery, which irritates the healing bone and gives me a headache. The area where the screws are located seems to be the focus of the initial discomfort, before it spreads into a full-blown headache.

Has anyone else experienced this? I wonder if it goes away once the bone is totally healed, or if this is what I can expect anytime I go to a show for the rest of my life?

I really hope not. Because earplugs are a simple solution to loud music that hurts your ears. But what's the solution to music that vibrates your jaw screws?

X marks the jaw

I'm still working on all of my post-jaw surgery entries, but I thought meanwhile, you'd be interested to see the inside of my face once again. Because who doesn't want to see that?

So, here are some after and before X-rays for your viewing pleasure.











The first one is the after-surgery X-ray.

You can't see a huge difference in the bite from pre- to post-surgery in this shot, but you will notice the surgical hooks between each of my braces in the post-surgery shot as well as the three screws the surgeon put in either side of my jaw.

It's still hard for me to believe that I have screws in my face.

I'm permanently screwed.

Hah.

Moving on...

Post-surgery is up first, again. You can see the screws in my jaw in this shot as well. You'll also notice that my teeth fit together better than before, and if you look very closely from one to the other, there has been a slight shift in my chin.

My profile is a bit stronger and my chin is a bit further out.

It's subtle. The surgeon only moved my lower jaw forward 4 mm, but every day as the swelling goes down, I notice more changes. It's kind of neat, really. How often can you see your face transform before your very eyes?