Ive been pretty busy recently and haven’t had time to post much of anything. Since my last update I’ve had 4 teeth pulled (12, 13, 14 and 19) and I had my onlay (half a crown) put into place. The pulled teeth have been healing quite nicely and after 2 weeks now are nearly closed.
As far as my music goes, I’ve been practicing quite diligently this past month getting my chops back into shape. I’ve also been making my audition tapes for different summer programs that I’m applying to. If I find a good place to host audio files I’ll post the links here and you can let me know what you think.
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Thank you for this blog. your injuries sound not dissimilar to my own.
I broke my jaw one month ago (one major break fixed with metal plates; another smaller fracture at the top of the jaw). Arch bars are still on, but no wires/bands anymore but I am still on soft foods due to poor condition of teeth…yet to have evaluation on dental repair work needed, but the damage feels bad (I came away from bike accident with 4 pieces of teeth and with teeth obviously in the wrong places) – I suspect 6-8 teeth may be damaged in addition to alignment issues. Toothache starting to worsen and looking forward to being handed over from the maxillofacial specialist, to the orthodontal surgeon and dental repair specialists.
Anyway, enough of my complaining! All I really wanted to say was that reading a blog such as yours (and Patty Dupree’s) gives me some hope that things will start to get back to normal, in time.
Please keep the updates and progress reports coming and I hope that your own recovery has continued to go well.
Thanks for the post. Breaking your jaw can be tough both mentally and physically but when all is said and done It makes you a stronger person.
Thankfully, with the advancement of dentistry in the past decade, nearly any problem can be corrected. Though I have not yet received my implants I will be getting them shortly. I had 4 teeth removed and nearly all of my other teeth touched up in some way but now i can eat without restriction.
As for the jaw, exercise. Keep opening your jaw wider throughout the day to the point where you make a habit of it. I still “fake yawn” because I’m so used to it. Keeping in good shape won’t hurt either and helped me recover quicker.
Because im a musician, my accident was quite mentally exhausting but with the proper mental attitude I was able to make the best of my situation. I am currently playing better than I ever had hoped before the accident and would not hesitate to say this experienced taught me many things about patience, hard work, and determination.
You will be feeling back to normal soon enough, but let me know how things work out for you and don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, I’d love to answer them.
Thanks
Good advice re: keeping the jaw moving. Sounds obvious, but it’s easier to leave it alone rather than potentially induce pain…The exercise thing is something I definitely agree with, my jaw was broken in a bicycle accident and I was back on the bike within 10 days (indoor training, not cycling on the roads) and that really helped a lot with my early mental and physical recovery. I’ve lost about 10 pounds most of which was lost in the week of the accident and operation and that’s not going to be rectified until I can eat solid food again.
One question I do have is, have you experienced problems with ear ache? Whilst the jaw ache has been subsiding and becoming less of a problem, In the past 4-5 days I have been getting a bit of ear ache almost every day. When it first happened it was really unpleasant and the simple painkillers I was using proved to be ineffective. Is that something that bothered you?
Very reassuring to hear the words “eat without restriction”. I do love good food, and blending everything to a pulp just isn’t the same. I’ll be very happy to get back to a normal diet, but imagine that can’t happen until some work is done on my teeth (or should I say those things in my mouth that look like they used to be teeth).
Good luck with getting the implants done, and thanks again for sharing your experience and words of encouragement.