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Jul. 9th, 2009 05:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sadie_cocopufftoday's adventure: going to the dentist! no, really, it was an adventure. more like a three-hour marathon.
step one: attach electrodes all over my face so i look like the creature from the black lagoon, festooned in plastic seaweed.
step two-through-infinity: bite down. clench. release. slide jaw left. slide jaw right. chew gum. chew sponges. wear funny headgear thing. repeat ad nauseam.
step three: take molds of teeth (ew, ick, gag, though it's gotten much better since my braces days. super-technical non-stick material, or something).
step four: hook up electrodes to electric current! let face and neck muscles twitch uncontrollably for 45 minutes. (that part was pretty fun, actually.)
step five: back to funny headgear (it traces your bite position using an array of sensors around your head and a magnet on your lower teeth - kind of cool). now make the cursor go there. [turns on electrostim machine.] now make the cursor go there! (but...but...my face is all jumpy!) choose new bite position.
step five: finally get dental orthotic i came for. fit, check, sand, buff, refit, recheck, all done!
so, what was the point of all this? my dentist swears he can fix chronic headaches by training the muscles in one's face and neck to stay relaxed, which is achieved by realigning bite position, which is achieved by wearing a "dental orthotic" (basically a clear retainer on your lower teeth, only molded on top too so he can "move" your bottom teeth without actually moving them). so far, it's made me talk with a lisp, and half a day on i'm getting annoyed at having something in my mouth all the time, but the headache in my right temple is gone. i'm hoping the left side is soon to follow. the readouts from the electrodes certainly looked way less tense with the orthotic in, so i have hope that he knows what he's talking about. besides, he's pretty much the only kind of doctor who hasn't yet taken a whack at finding the cause of my headaches, so what can it hurt? i've got my fingers crossed...
step one: attach electrodes all over my face so i look like the creature from the black lagoon, festooned in plastic seaweed.
step two-through-infinity: bite down. clench. release. slide jaw left. slide jaw right. chew gum. chew sponges. wear funny headgear thing. repeat ad nauseam.
step three: take molds of teeth (ew, ick, gag, though it's gotten much better since my braces days. super-technical non-stick material, or something).
step four: hook up electrodes to electric current! let face and neck muscles twitch uncontrollably for 45 minutes. (that part was pretty fun, actually.)
step five: back to funny headgear (it traces your bite position using an array of sensors around your head and a magnet on your lower teeth - kind of cool). now make the cursor go there. [turns on electrostim machine.] now make the cursor go there! (but...but...my face is all jumpy!) choose new bite position.
step five: finally get dental orthotic i came for. fit, check, sand, buff, refit, recheck, all done!
so, what was the point of all this? my dentist swears he can fix chronic headaches by training the muscles in one's face and neck to stay relaxed, which is achieved by realigning bite position, which is achieved by wearing a "dental orthotic" (basically a clear retainer on your lower teeth, only molded on top too so he can "move" your bottom teeth without actually moving them). so far, it's made me talk with a lisp, and half a day on i'm getting annoyed at having something in my mouth all the time, but the headache in my right temple is gone. i'm hoping the left side is soon to follow. the readouts from the electrodes certainly looked way less tense with the orthotic in, so i have hope that he knows what he's talking about. besides, he's pretty much the only kind of doctor who hasn't yet taken a whack at finding the cause of my headaches, so what can it hurt? i've got my fingers crossed...
