Re: Splint disintegration?

[Guest guest]

Hi Katja - I find myself partially relating to your splint

experience. You summed it up pretty well when you said your splint

was ready to come off... that's how I feel with all these cracks. I

think a few more days and the whole thing will come apart.

I've been scheduled to have it removed this Thursday, 1 day short of

5 weeks post-op. There's never any guarantee of course, but at this

rate, I'll need a new splint if I need to keep wearing one! It

sounds like you kept yours for 6 weeks? I'm so paranoid that 5

weeks won't be enough to prevent relapse.. but that's another story.

Perhaps you're right about the pressure points, since I am indeed a

clencher and grinder by night and I've woken up a few times

clenching on the edges of the splint (wakes you up pretty fast early

post-op!) My back teeth don't line up with the splint anymore, so

clenching would indeed stress the splint.

Thanks for the advice - I'll probably call my OS Monday cuz this is

just one more reason I can't fall asleep at night (my body actually

fell asleep on me the other night - I was conscious for a good 15-20

minutes in the paralysis state... at least it was relaxing)

Yann

> > Has anyone's splint ever started cracking or disintegrating?

> >

> > I noticed yesterday a crack running along the bottom of my

splint

> > almost all the way around (from end to end). I wasn't sure if it

> was

> > there before, so I just ignored it.

> >

> > Today, the crack(s) have worsened/widened to the point that the

> > front teeth's embedded metal wire in the splint is now poking

> > through. It even looks as if the splint had melted upwards. I

fear

> > that one more day of this and the hooks themselves will come

loose

> > since there won't be any splint plastic left to hold them snug.

At

> > that point, the tips of my front teeth will likely have come

> through.

> >

> > All I can think of is that the alcohol in the listerine has been

> > melting it away. I started brushing my gums with it just a few

> days

> > ago. I thought I was being smart, but I guess I'll hold off on

> > that. If it is indeed the listerine, one more brushing would

> > definitely melt enough of it away to loosen the front hooks (if

> > they're not already loose).

> >

> > Anyone had similar problems? It's the weekend and I don't want

to

> > bother my surgeon...

> >

> > Yann