Guest guest Posted November 25, 2003 Report Share Posted November 25, 2003 Hi everyone, I live in Nova Scotia, and I'm not sure if any of you heard about our big Hurricane on the news that hit us in September. Anyways, because one of our main hospitals in Halifax had a lot of damage done to it, something like 900 surgeries had to be post-poned. My orthodontist said when I got my braces on " You don't have to worry about anything, I'll be the person scheduling your surgery for a date about 16 months from when you got braces. " I'm a student in university and so I got my braces put on at a specific time so that 16 months from when I got them on would end up perfectly in the middle of summer. I'm also required to do a 6-week co-op placement for school so I need that time at the beginning of my summer before I get the surgery. Anywho, I didn't trust my orthodontist to book a surgery date in time because of all the screwed up surgery dates being moved, so I went ahead and booked it myself. My ortho will probably be mad since he may say I'm not ready for that day, but I thought I'd get my name atleast on the list. After all of that, what I'm really curious to know is how many pre-op appointments most of you had, what kinds of tests did you have done beforehand? The only thing I've been told about is that just before my surgery date, I will spend almost the entire day with the surgeon. What will I have done that will take me all day? Thanks so much for any responses you guys can give me! Kirstin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2003 Report Share Posted November 26, 2003 Thanks for answering my question . The biggest thing I'm scared about is signing the big informed consent form. In university right now, I'm in both a Health Law and Health Ethics course, and I know all the elements of informed consent inside and out. I've learned all about negligence, malpractice, etc. and I've begun to over think things. I feel as though I'll be looking for things that could go wrong now! After reading many, many cases of patients suing physicians for this and that I'm just getting paranoid. I know everything will go great because I trust my surgeon, but I just wish I didn't know as much as I do about negligence and malpractice The biggest risks for this surgery (for upper and lower jaws) are numbness and infection, aren't they? Infection worries me the most since in addition to having my jaws cut into I'll have 4 gaping holes after they take my wisdom teeth out too! (OH JOY! Atleast It'll be killing two birds with one stone, right? ) ~Kirstin~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2003 Report Share Posted November 26, 2003 Hi Kirstin, Wow, that's tough, knowing all of the malpractice cases, that makes it much more for you to worry about. I wallow happily in ignorance! The bottom line, as I see it, is this: everything you do in life is either a risk or a retreat from risk. Nobody can control 100% of their life, risk is inherent, unless you want to live in a cave (and then you get to worry about earthquakes!). So either you back off, or go for it and deal with what comes your way. Informed consent is just that reminder that you accept the responsibility for going forward. That's how I see it anyway. According to my surgeon, the biggest risk is indeed infection, thankfully I had none. As for numbness, well, he's darned good at what he does too, he simply told me when I asked, that it could take 5-7 years for full recovery of nerves. In other words, be prepared to be very, very patient. That's a virtue well worth developing, as I've found, useful in other areas of life. What you will likely discover with the numbness is that most of it doesn't last. It is strange and will manage to attract a lot of your attention for a long time, but it will usually go away, always in its own time. I can describe it as not an unpleasant experience, the residual numbness that takes longer to go away is very much like the last vestiges of dental freezing (or Novocaine in the USA). From my experience here, I would say that it is quite uncommon to have permanent severe numbness, that most recover the majority of their feeling within the first 6 months to 2 years. That sounds like a long time, but in the greater span of one's life, it's relatively short. Well, good luck with your preparation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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