Setback?
I'm not happy.
About 6 weeks ago I saw my Orthodontist and he told me that he was leaving. I was a bit upset at this news, apart from the fact he was a nice chap, he also had been with me from the start, always kept me informed as to what the next stage was, and more recently always squeezed me in for an adjustment every 4 weeks.
Oh well, life goes on.
A few weeks ago I had an adjustment booked, and was quite keen to meet the new person who would be looking after me. I am still really desperate to put some sort of time scale to the op; being self employed means that I will have to put suitable measures in place to make sure I don't miss deadlines, and childcare is always a big issue. I felt pretty optimistic.....
First minor annoyance was that I had to wait for AGES. This was only annoying because I have been going for appointments for quite a while now, have never had to wait 45 mins before. I occasionally take my kids with me, frequently the appointments are just before school run, and on a couple of odd occasions I was forced to leave kids at home for 30 mins, which is usually the time it takes to get there and back plus appointment. 45 mins would just not have worked in any of those situations! No matter, I luckily didn't have childcare issues that day.
I saw an Ortho that I have seen before (after 30 months I've seen pratically everyone at some stage). She explained that they were extremely busy because they were short staffed and had someone off on maternity leave (fair enough) and that they were having trouble finding a suitable ortho replacement for me. Apparently because my case is slightly specialised I need a certain level of expertise, and they just weren't sure if anyone could take me on.
What???
I told her I had a couple of questions that my dentist wanted me to ask, firstly was I going to need any teeth removed on my lower jaw and secondly could she replace some of the cement around one of my molar bands as it had crumbled and had left a potention food trap. She said I would have to take it up with my new ortho. She then proceeded to make some adjustments; she fixed a powerchain all the way from my back left molar, across all of my teeth as far as my canine on my left. This poor little canine has spent a very tender 14 months being slowly moved back to fill the extraction gap (where I had my premolar out, see previous post) creating a hideous gap in front of it (which makes me look like a hillbilly) and for several months had been permanently wired to the remaining premolar behind it. She took one look at it and said 'well I have no idea why your canine has been moved like that....we need to move it forward to close the gap....'
Erm.....seriously?? It's taken 14 months to move it back, and you now need to move it forward??
When I then asked if it would create another gap behind it she simply said '....yes'.
She also mentioned that although the original plan was to create an 8-10mm underbite before surgery 'clearly that wasn't going to happen....'
What does that mean? No surgery?? Has this all been a waste of time?
The final kick in the teeth (haha) was when she took me to make my next appointment. No one suitable was available for weeks, the only slot was 3pm in 7 weeks time. 3pm is possibly the most inconvenient time of day because of the school run, and to go from 4 weekly adjustments to 7 weeks at this stage, when I have absolutely no bite and I'm on the home stretch? It was soul destroying.
I didn't even make it back to the car before bursting into tears. I'm not prone to tearful outbursts but I felt so let down.
Once at home I called my husband and blubbed down the phone about what had happened. He has pretty excellent private health care cover through his job that covers me and he called up the orthodontist to see if there was any opportunity to use it to speed things up. I have no idea who he spoke to, or what he said, but he somehow managed to book an appointment for me with the Head Honcho Lady tomorrow afternoon. PLUS an adjustment a few weeks later. He's clever like that....
SO....we'll see. I just want to know what the new plan of action is, what the rough timescale is, is that too much to expect?
The one positive thing that came out of the appointment was that the powerchain closed up the remaining small gaps on the left hand side within a couple of days. I think the larger gap on the right may have got smaller, it's difficult to tell.
I will report back after tomorrow's appointment!
About 6 weeks ago I saw my Orthodontist and he told me that he was leaving. I was a bit upset at this news, apart from the fact he was a nice chap, he also had been with me from the start, always kept me informed as to what the next stage was, and more recently always squeezed me in for an adjustment every 4 weeks.
Oh well, life goes on.
A few weeks ago I had an adjustment booked, and was quite keen to meet the new person who would be looking after me. I am still really desperate to put some sort of time scale to the op; being self employed means that I will have to put suitable measures in place to make sure I don't miss deadlines, and childcare is always a big issue. I felt pretty optimistic.....
First minor annoyance was that I had to wait for AGES. This was only annoying because I have been going for appointments for quite a while now, have never had to wait 45 mins before. I occasionally take my kids with me, frequently the appointments are just before school run, and on a couple of odd occasions I was forced to leave kids at home for 30 mins, which is usually the time it takes to get there and back plus appointment. 45 mins would just not have worked in any of those situations! No matter, I luckily didn't have childcare issues that day.
I saw an Ortho that I have seen before (after 30 months I've seen pratically everyone at some stage). She explained that they were extremely busy because they were short staffed and had someone off on maternity leave (fair enough) and that they were having trouble finding a suitable ortho replacement for me. Apparently because my case is slightly specialised I need a certain level of expertise, and they just weren't sure if anyone could take me on.
What???
I told her I had a couple of questions that my dentist wanted me to ask, firstly was I going to need any teeth removed on my lower jaw and secondly could she replace some of the cement around one of my molar bands as it had crumbled and had left a potention food trap. She said I would have to take it up with my new ortho. She then proceeded to make some adjustments; she fixed a powerchain all the way from my back left molar, across all of my teeth as far as my canine on my left. This poor little canine has spent a very tender 14 months being slowly moved back to fill the extraction gap (where I had my premolar out, see previous post) creating a hideous gap in front of it (which makes me look like a hillbilly) and for several months had been permanently wired to the remaining premolar behind it. She took one look at it and said 'well I have no idea why your canine has been moved like that....we need to move it forward to close the gap....'
Erm.....seriously?? It's taken 14 months to move it back, and you now need to move it forward??
When I then asked if it would create another gap behind it she simply said '....yes'.
She also mentioned that although the original plan was to create an 8-10mm underbite before surgery 'clearly that wasn't going to happen....'
What does that mean? No surgery?? Has this all been a waste of time?
The final kick in the teeth (haha) was when she took me to make my next appointment. No one suitable was available for weeks, the only slot was 3pm in 7 weeks time. 3pm is possibly the most inconvenient time of day because of the school run, and to go from 4 weekly adjustments to 7 weeks at this stage, when I have absolutely no bite and I'm on the home stretch? It was soul destroying.
I didn't even make it back to the car before bursting into tears. I'm not prone to tearful outbursts but I felt so let down.
Once at home I called my husband and blubbed down the phone about what had happened. He has pretty excellent private health care cover through his job that covers me and he called up the orthodontist to see if there was any opportunity to use it to speed things up. I have no idea who he spoke to, or what he said, but he somehow managed to book an appointment for me with the Head Honcho Lady tomorrow afternoon. PLUS an adjustment a few weeks later. He's clever like that....
SO....we'll see. I just want to know what the new plan of action is, what the rough timescale is, is that too much to expect?
The one positive thing that came out of the appointment was that the powerchain closed up the remaining small gaps on the left hand side within a couple of days. I think the larger gap on the right may have got smaller, it's difficult to tell.
I will report back after tomorrow's appointment!
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