At a regular dentist visit in Greenville (I go every two months to have my teeth cleaned), the dentist saw some things he didn’t like going on with my bridge work back in August. He told me he wanted me to go to the prosthodontist that created the bridge work in Atlanta as soon as I could. I went the next week, and the dentist at home was right - a seal had broken on the bridge on an anchor tooth. We don’t know when it happened, but just glad it was caught before things went really bad! I went again in September expecting a quick fix, but came away thinking that the prosthodontist (Dr. Sims) would replace the bridge to remake the seal. I went today, and again, it is different than I thought. He went ahead and fixed the issues with my right eye tooth, and I go back mid-November for him to do the other side, just as a precautionary measure to repair the margins between the crowns and gum line.
When I went to Atlanta in September, the prosthodontist told me about a great thing called bone morphogenic protein (BMP). It sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but they inject this liquid material and bone grows! They have regrown complete jaws, faces, and even noses due to accidents or cancer! He talking about this as an option for me in 5 to 10 years, the new bridge would get me by until then.
Today, he said the movement was too great for a crown/bridge system to ever splint the gap and stop movement, and he really wanted me to go to Charlotte sooner than later and talk with the guru of this BMP. Dr. Sims said the bone grafts I had in 1996, 1998, and 2001 served their purposes, but the bone is very spongy compared to what it should be, causing the mobility of my upper jaw. The bone grafts were the best that could be done at the time, but now bone grafts are going more by the wayside as the BMP comes to the forefront. So we are trying to get an appointment with this Dr. in Charlotte sometime in December. Hopefully, Dr. Sims will get to go with us, as he would prefer - we just have to get all the schedules to match up. I don’t know when this procedure will take place, and depending on what this new doctor says, we may back up and punt and finish the new bridge as had been planned. If we go ahead with the BMP - I shouldn’t miss a beat other than being out for a few days, if done during the school year. It will probably take 5-6 months to grow in - I would have front teeth the entire time, but it would be a temporary for cosmetics, and nothing would be permanent until full healed. I would be on soft food for awhile, as I have done several other times.
I am super excited about the possibilities the BMP would offer (such as implants across the front and little to no bridge!), but scared at the same time for the risk it will be as far as the infections I have had in the past - though I have been infection free up there since 2001! All that will be considered going into this by the doctors. When I started this process in 1996, I never dreamed it would take this long (I have been “finished” several times now), but the possible outcome is greater than anything I could have imagined. I ask for your prayers as all of this is figured out.
The below link is an article I wrote as a part of a grad school assignment in 2003 - I have had other things done since then. Dental worked finished up Spring 2005, had some more surgery (nose related) in December, 2005. But the rest is there.
http://www.cleftadvocate.org/ff0103Corrie.html
