Gum Grafting Surgery! AHHHHH!

[gritsar]

Way back in the day, the dark ages, I had gum grafting surgery at the same time I had jaw reconstruction. Both surgeries were done at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital at a time when it was considered experimental. They removed my upper jaw, cut two pieces out of it and wired it back in.

The graft didn't take and they ended up cauterizing the palate to stop the bleeding a few days later. To this day, I can eat something that will scratch the roof of my mouth and cause pain. I am now at the age where arthritis has set up in my jaw from the breakage they did.

I was sixteen at the time and my parents had the final say on whether or not I'd have the surgery. If I had to do it all over again, I would have fought my parents harder and not had either surgery done.

I'm not trying to scare you, just sharing my experience. Here's hoping you heal quickly.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Jeesh, Grit..
What happend?

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Jeesh, Grit..
What happend?

Nothing happened Miz Red. They were attempting to correct a birth defect. My spine, my jaw and my ears. I've found that birth defects tend to come in 3s.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Jeesh, Grit..
What happend?

Nothing happened Miz Red. They were attempting to correct a birth defect. My spine, my jaw and my ears. I've found that birth defects tend to come in 3s.

 

[Tylt33]

Quote:
Yeah... I brought this on myself. The unfortunate thing was my options were basically:

1. Let my gums recede until I started losing teeth.
2. Have the surgery done.

I'm assuming since they only covered one side of my jaw (upper left gums), I may need to have the others done eventually. Depending on how this whole ordeal wraps up will determine whether or not have it done again. My boss had it done and she was at work the next day at fine. The pharmacy tech I picked my meds up from (mid 20's?) had it done and said he still had a "sensitive hole" in the roof of his mouth. So.... we'll see.

 

[Tylt33]

Well... as of yesterday it had been two weeks since my surgery. The process was a bit trying at times, but was not as bad as having wisdom teeth removed (for reference I had all four wisdom teeth out, before they attached to the jaw bone, and had grafting done on one-half of my outer gums on the top of my mouth). I can still feel where they took the flesh from, it is smooth on the top of my mouth, but is not sensitive at all and looks pretty good. You can definitely tell where they built my gums back, but they said it will be another month or so until they fully blend in and smooth down. Overall the process went smoothly. Zero pain after the surgery, no bleeding.

 

[silkiechicken]

Great! Success!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:

 

[Sierra pachie bars]

My mother in law had where they put in a cadaver jaw bone in place of hers that was moved from a infection. She went thru it all rather well. Dental work had made major stides. Its amazing. And they seem to be able to do it without to much pain. I do know when i had my wisdom teeth removed I looked like a chipmunk. They said that most people don't have that happen. And my denist told me that most of the people that did have the swelling are hispanic. I never heard of that but thats what he told me

Funny is so far my daughter and my oldest son have no wisdom teeth at all. They said something about a genetic mutated gene. So wish I had it. Lol I have so far not been able to trace family wise where the gene came from. Crazy.
I hope everything goes great for you .

 

[Tylt33]

Quote:
Ummmmm a non-wisdom tooth gene??? YES PLEASE! My friends took me to Taco Bell the night of my surgery... I remember being swollen and cutting a burrito into tiny pieces and stuffing it directly down my throat. My mother just had her jaw reinforced and she thought maybe they used a cadaver bone because that's what they used to use... I told her I'd watch for any personality changes