Re: Heart Condition and Anesthesia

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I have a very minor heart murmur, nothing of any real significance

except that I have to take antibiotics before routine dental

appointments. (Not before each ortho appt., though.) And if you've

been told take antibiotics before dental appointments, be sure to do

it. (I had a friend who had an undiagnosed heart murmur. He had an

infected tooth, and it abscessed, and some months later he died of

endocarditis. Made the point very effectively to me. What happens is

that the bacteria in the mouth really like to set up light

housekeeping in a defective valve of the heart if they're dislodged,

and then you get an infection, which can be fatal.)

I told my surgeon, and he said he was not at all worried about the

heart murmur -- he said that you have so many antibiotics in your

system during the surgery that nothing's gonna be dislodged in your

mouth and travel to your heart (nothing meaning bacteria).

He was concerned because I had some carotid bruits, and had me get an

echo study to be sure the cardiologists were happy with my having a

procedure in which he might have to turn my head considerably.

I had no problems at all.

Do keep in mind, though, that these procedures are major operations.

They are elective, meaning you choose to have them, or not, but

having general anesthesia means that you turn your breathing over to

the anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist. Most of these people are

highly skilled, and in fact, you will be under more trained and

careful supervision in the OR than practically at any time in your

life. And people sometimes have quirky reactions to one drug or

another..

Still, there are always some risks. You have to weigh the risks and

benefits, and make your own choices.

In the years I've been on these boards, I cannot remember one

instance in which we found that a patient had died during the

surgery. Of course, if we were to know, that would mean some family

member or friends would have to have known about the group, and that

the patient had been posting. That seems pretty unlikely to happen,

to me, for several reasons.

But many, many people have come back after the surgery. Often the

sequence is something like this:

I'm scared. I am SO scared. I can't think about anything else but

this surgery. I have a strange calm. I go for surgery tomorrow.

I'm back. Why did I do this to myself? I am miserable and look like

a black and blue watermelon!

It's getting better. The swelling is beginning to go down. WHAT can

I EAT? I am so hungry. How long will I be numb? When will I look

normal. Gee I'm feeling better. I still swell occasionally. HOW LONG

will I be NUMB?!!!

I got my splint/wires out. What a relief! I had a scrambled egg this

morning, and it was WONDERFUL! But how long will this numbness stay?

I'm almost totally recovered now, and I'm so pleased with my face.

But how long will I be numb?

Gosh, my face/bite/smile have changed, and I am so pleased with my

profile! I still have a little numbness, but most of it is gone.

Thank you all for your help, and btw, newbie, here are some

suggestions I can offer.

Doesn't that ring true to some of your experiences, veterans?

Best,

Cammie

>

> Hi all,

>

> Does anyone here have any advice on having surgery done when you

> have a heart murmur or anything similar? Honestly the reason I was

> originally hesitant to look into this surgery was because of my

> heart murmur, and the fear that I wouldn't wake up from surgery. I

> read a story about 8 years ago about a 20-something year-old guy

> having this surgery done (which they emphasized was for " cosmetic "

> reasons, grrr) and he had a heart attack during surgery and

> died...something about the anesthesia and his body's reaction to

the

> surgery.

>

> I'm still a year out from surgery, and I just had an echocardiogram

> done in Dec. (which I haven't heard results from, but it must not

> have been too bad or my doc would have called me.) I'm sure the

> surgeon and anesthesiologist will know what to do for me, but I'm

> just a little nervous and curious if anyone else has a similar

> situation.

>

> I don't know why my fear has subsided in the past few years,

> allowing me to move forward with getting the procedure

> started...probably the overwhelming desire to get my jaw fixed and

> trying not to think about any risks like having a heart attack,

> heh. But I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this.

>

> Thanks!

>

[Guest guest]

> Doesn't that ring true to some of your experiences, veterans?

>

> Best,

>

> Cammie

OH YEAH !!! Hundred of times I think! Myself, I must have been the

worst of all (guys are always more complaining.. haha!) And here

I am today, 8 months later, with a splendid smile, and most importantly,

a fully functionning bite (pizza anyone ? YESSS!!)

I thank the Heavens nothing serious happened during the surgery. Sure,

it was painfull after. That's particular to my case, having had a piece of

bone taken from my hip and grafted to my upper jaw. I was depressed, at

times. I was mad, sad. Then came the reality. Things looked brighter.

And brigther. Untill, a few months later, ortho removed my braces.

And now, next step is when I take the pliers and remove that ? & $#% !! wire

he left behind my six front teeth, top and bottom. Oups, I meant to say

when he will be politely asked by me to kindly and promptly remove the

very delicate, almost non detectable wire he left upon removing my oh so

lovely braces...

Fact is, this wire is cutting my tongue and he asked be to bother him with

it in March so that he would envision the possibility of putting me on the

night retainers. yeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!

So, Cammie, that's all so true. We fear, we live, we complain, we survive,

we triumph! But the most important is : We grow.

Usually in this order

Ray

[Guest guest]

Congratulations, Ray, on your arrival this far! Never doubted you

would get there, myself.

But I wouldn't recommend do-it-yourself ortho. (Believe it or not, a

guy in another group got as far as having the braces put on, then

decided he couldn't stand them, and got his girlfriend to use a pair

of pliers and take them off! To me, that's one of the more incredible

stories I've heard.)

I know quite a few folks who have those " permanent retainers, " and

most aren't seriously bothered by them, except for initially, or when

it's time to floss. Sorry yours is giving you so much trouble. Surely

there are other alternatives you can explore, I'd think, but I'm no

ortho.

I can tell you that there are times when even my little acryllic

ones, which I usually wear almost all the time, now, 2.5 years after

removal of the appliances -- anyhow, there are times when, for some

reason, some of their edges start chopping up my tongue or cheeks.

Generally I leave 'em out for a few hours to let things heal over a

bit, then can go back to them with no problems.

Hope you can find a solution. Is it possible that your ortho could

put some more acryllic glop over the offending sections of the wire?

Maybe that could give you a smoother surface to work with...

best,

cammie

>

>

> > Doesn't that ring true to some of your experiences, veterans?

> >

> > Best,

> >

> > Cammie

>

> OH YEAH !!! Hundred of times I think! Myself, I must have been the

> worst of all (guys are always more complaining.. haha!) And here

> I am today, 8 months later, with a splendid smile, and most

importantly,

> a fully functionning bite (pizza anyone ? YESSS!!)

>

> I thank the Heavens nothing serious happened during the surgery.

Sure,

> it was painfull after. That's particular to my case, having had a

piece of

> bone taken from my hip and grafted to my upper jaw. I was

depressed, at

> times. I was mad, sad. Then came the reality. Things looked

brighter.

>

> And brigther. Untill, a few months later, ortho removed my braces.

>

> And now, next step is when I take the pliers and remove that ?

& $#% !! wire

> he left behind my six front teeth, top and bottom. Oups, I meant

to say

> when he will be politely asked by me to kindly and promptly remove

the

> very delicate, almost non detectable wire he left upon removing my

oh so

> lovely braces...

>

> Fact is, this wire is cutting my tongue and he asked be to bother

him with

> it in March so that he would envision the possibility of putting me

on the

> night retainers. yeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!

>

> So, Cammie, that's all so true. We fear, we live, we complain, we

survive,

> we triumph! But the most important is : We grow.

>

> Usually in this order

>

> Ray

[Guest guest]

Ouch !!! Removing the stupid wires is one thing (they're not actually

attached the same way as braces), but removing all the braces, that's

.... painful !

I will entire in negociation with my ortho for the night retainers,

if he's in the mood. If not, I'll leave his office. But my wires won't

Ray

>

> Congratulations, Ray, on your arrival this far! Never doubted you

> would get there, myself.

>

> But I wouldn't recommend do-it-yourself ortho. (Believe it or not, a

> guy in another group got as far as having the braces put on, then

> decided he couldn't stand them, and got his girlfriend to use a pair

> of pliers and take them off! To me, that's one of the more incredible

> stories I've heard.)

>

> I know quite a few folks who have those " permanent retainers, " and

> most aren't seriously bothered by them, except for initially, or when

> it's time to floss. Sorry yours is giving you so much trouble. Surely

> there are other alternatives you can explore, I'd think, but I'm no

> ortho.

>

> I can tell you that there are times when even my little acryllic

> ones, which I usually wear almost all the time, now, 2.5 years after

> removal of the appliances -- anyhow, there are times when, for some

> reason, some of their edges start chopping up my tongue or cheeks.

> Generally I leave 'em out for a few hours to let things heal over a

> bit, then can go back to them with no problems.

>

> Hope you can find a solution. Is it possible that your ortho could

> put some more acryllic glop over the offending sections of the wire?

> Maybe that could give you a smoother surface to work with...

>

> best,

>

> cammie

>

[Guest guest]

I think it would have been painful to me -- I didn't try it -- if

only because of the $800 I'd just paid to have them cemented on!

Cammie

> I removed my braces the first time around with pliers. Actually, it

was

> not painful at all! The type of brackets I had just popped off when

you

> squeezed them. I popped them all off in about 5 minutes. There was

a

> little cement there but it wasn't too bad and I had the bands

removed

> by the dentist a few months later. The braces I have now are

different.

> If I was inclined to yank those off- which I'm not- I think it

would

> hurt a lot more.

>

> Tova