- M

Not to worry — compared to what your brother endured, this is nothing. I’ll be fine in just a few days.

Thanks for the good wishes, though!

Well, this is rather a first for me also!

Many thanks — first, for stopping by to visit my modest website, second, for clarifying the medical record (my view of things was admittedly rather victim-centric), third, for the splendidly restorative medicament that you offered postoperatively. But most of all, thank you for working so assiduously, and with such great skill and care, to rid me of this foul affliction.

I’m very glad to have the worst of this behind me, and will see you soon.

And for the record: “your gums were not peeled away from your teeth” but rather, a gentle reflection of full thickness mucoperiosteal flaps….

As for “scraping and blasting exposed bone”, how about the careful and meticulous debridement of the root : bone interface allowing irradication of the periodontitis infection

Re: “Bone grafting”, why not Bone Regeneration

Re:”Drilling a titanium implant into my jaw”, how about the precise preparation of a site in your lower jaw allowing the atraumatic placement of a titanium dental implant fixture

Re: “Suturing your gums back on”…firstly they were never off, but why not the careful repositioning of the soft tissue flaps achieving optimal primary closure for patient comfort… gee, doesn’t that sound better?

The procedures went very well and lasted as long as they did since Malcolm and I both love to chat about topics as diverse as the “Penfield Pain Map” to Derek Trucks carrying on the spirit of Duane Allman. Also, I can confirm that Malcolm is an excellent patient especially when coaxed with therapeutic levels of nitrous oxide.

So Malcolm, this is a very unorthodox post op check in, and quite frankly my first in “blog format”.

Please call me on my cell #, which I left on your mobile voice mail.

Thanks Louis

You and my brother David would make a pair: almost ten years ago, David had to have extensive jaw surgery to realign his teeth. This was something he’d been wanting to do for years. The doctors essentially cut his upper jaw free, manipulated that horsehoe of bone until everything fit right, then stapled his jaw back in place.

The end result of all that cutting and rooting around was that David looked as if he’d been in a terrible fight. His face was swollen and unrecognizable. Because of the extensive bleeding, he had to have a suction tube snaked into his stomach to collect and expel the blood pooling in there. Ultimately, David turned out fine, but those first few weeks were hard. If I recall correctly, he also had his jaw wired shut and was forced to take food through a straw.

I hope you recuperate quickly. Your procedure gives new meaning to the idea of “a million-dollar smile.”

Kevin