Just a quick post. This past Wednesday I had my 3 wk post-op visit. Doctors were happy with everything. They tested my numbness which is about the same. I still have swelling even though it's kind of uneven ("no one swells evenly" lol). They did not put me in any guiding elastics. My surgeon told me I can start chewing my food, yay! Anything that is really soft and can be cut with the side of a fork I'm allowed to eat. I left before they could take any more of my stitches out but ended up stopping back there on Friday to get them out. The inside of my mouth is so much happier without those things in there! Some were getting really long and stringy-yuck.
The other big thing they did was give me stretching exercises. The exercises consist of stacking enough tongue depressors and putting them between my posterior teeth unilaterally so that I open all the way comfortably. Then I take two more tongue depressors and wedge them into the stack one at a time until I'm open a little more (this is uncomfortable, ouchy). Then I stay like that for 5 minutes. I do this 4 times a day and it is really helping! Being the dorky dental student that I am, I've been measuring how much I can open each morning and I've been noticing an increase of about 1mm a day (I'm up to 22mm!). I've only added 1 tongue depressor to the stack so far but I can tell it's going in a little easier now so I can probably add another one tomorrow.
Other then during the exercises I have no pain, just numbness and tingling.
Laura
ps- wish me luck; I'm taking part II of my national board exam next week! The exam is two days long and very scary! I've been studying for over a month so I hope I pass!
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| I'm happy Starbucks happy hour is only 2 hours away, caffeine! |
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| unhappy I have to take this test, boo. |
Laura,
ReplyDeleteYou are looking great! Glad to hear that you are feeling great too. Good luck with your exams - think positive :)
Nice to hear you're doing well. You look great! Good luck on your exam
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your exams! How do you feel chewing foods?
ReplyDeleteHi Laura,
ReplyDeleteI hope you do really well on your exam! I can't believe you had the energy to study while trying to recover from surgery. That's amazing!
So glad it's going well! I'm feeling left out...everyone seems to get stretching exercises. I want some cool tongue depressors or popsicle sticks too. Hehe. Good luck on your exams.
ReplyDeleteI hope everything went amazing.
ReplyDeleteYou're looking great. Must be such a relief to be on the other side of surgery.
HA! Those pictures are great. Sounds a lot like the Bar exam I suffered through a few years ago.
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