Diagnosis

Well I have really debated over making a series of you tube videos or writing a blog during these challenging months ahead for my family and I.  After realizing that I am not going to be good at videotaping myself talking, I figured the best way to follow my progress for friends, family and others living with this condition is thru a blog. The best and most comforting information I have received is from other people that have this disease that have graciously put themselves out there to give people like me a place to turn to for information and to know what to expect before and after surgery. So, if I can help give back and be able to explain my experiences dealing with multiple doctors, dentists, orthodontists and maxillofacial surgeons to someone that might feel as lost as I was when I got diagnosed then I feel that putting my personal journey out there is worth it in the end.

Lets see I started having problems several years ago, probably sometime in my early twenties. I noticed that my bite felt like it was off more than usual and was harder to eat. Around that time it seemed like I was having trouble breathing thru my nose, sleep and breath only with my mouth open. It is very difficult to breath thru my nose without feeling like I can't catch my breath but didn't think much about it at that time. Within the last two years my bite is so severely off that I can only bite with my very back teeth, my chin has receded so far back that it is pretty much not existent and what finally prompted me to go to the doctor was my headaches that I had been having for about the last year and a half that I wake up with almost every day. I finally put all the pieces together and knew that this is not normal. My doctor referred me to the oral surgeon here in Rogers, AR in August 2012 that also specializes in orthognathic (jaw surgery that moves your lower jaw forward if it is not not in the right position) I was thinking that this is what I probably need to have done to fix the issues I have been dealing with. When he came into the room to see me he pulled up the most recent x-ray that I had my dentist send over and he pulled up an x-ray of another patient to better explain the disease process that is happening in both of my jaw joints. I have never seen a surgeon so speechless describing a condition that is so rarely seen especially when he is one of the best surgeons in this area that actually does jaw surgery I literally was in shock and devastated. I went into his office and at worst I thought he would tell me that I needed to have surgery to correct my lower jaw but I left the office that day in tears with a piece of paper with the words "Idopathic Condylar Resorption" written on it and he told me to research it as much as I could before my appointment with one of the only surgeons in the United States that could actually do surgery to correct the disease process in my jaw joints.