Jesse's Emergency Dental Surgery Fund

Hey everyone,

For the past several months I have been enduring incredible pain and pressure in my lower right jaw, neck, face, and head.

After seeing a dentist and having several X-rays done, it was determined that I had an "eruption cyst" that has been growing in my lower jaw for probably a couple years now, caused by an extra tooth growing out of the bottom of my jaw.

The cyst had caused a large hole in my lower right jaw. Half of my jaw is completely gone where the cyst is, and my dentist explained how my jaw bone is on the verge of breaking.

Since it is connected to a few of my other bottom teeth, my dentist advised me to be extremely careful to not apply any pressure, to not bump it, and to be very careful with what and how I eat.

My dentist determined that this eruption cyst was at a point where emergency surgery was needed as soon as possible, mentioning that the stage of everything happening was advanced enough that that surgery alone could cause the bone to break.

I was put on prescription pain medication along with a heavy dose of antibiotics while I awaited an urgent referral to the Okanagan Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Associates in Kelowna. B.C.

My surgery appointment was promptly scheduled for Monday September 25 where my partner and I made the last-minute trip out with our two dogs. I was admitted at 1 p.m. for several CT scans followed by a full bony exostosis/surgical bone excision under IV sedation.

My oral surgeon, Dr. Justin Pierce, believes that this "eruption cyst" is actually an "odontogenic keratocyst" or OKC, an aggressively developmental intraosseous (bone) cyst of the jaw with a high recurrence rate. OKC's most commonly present in the third decade of life and make up around 19% of jaw cysts.

After the excision, Dr. Pierce applied an oral 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) chemotherapy gel to the surrounding roots of my teeth as a "preventative", and a biopsy was taken to confirm whether or not this cyst is in fact a benign OKG or if we are looking at something potentially cancerous. I should be hearing back from Dr. Pierce with the results within the next few weeks, and have been scheduled for another follow-up appointment in January for additional imaging as they would like to continue to monitor the cysts potential recurrence. If this is the case, it is possible that I may have to have several of my lower teeth extracted in the future.

My partner and I drove back to the Kootenays the following morning and I have been in recovery ever since, with more prescription pain meds while continuing my course of antibiotics. The full recovery time for this surgery is 3-6 months for my jaw to fully heal and I will be on a diet of soft foods for the foreseeable future so as to avoid any pressure on my jaw while the bone (hopefully) re-grows to fill in the hole caused by the cyst.

In total, this first surgery appointment came to a total of $2,990, not including expenses incurred by travel to-and-from the Okanagan with my partner, downtime for recovery, bottles and bottles of pain medication and antibiotics, as well as upcoming trips back-and-forth to Kelowna for more CT scans, X-rays, diagnostics, etc.

I have never started a GoFundMe for anything I've come up against in my life as I am a relatively private person. However I have decided to share this experience with my network in the hopes that it might reach a few people in a position to help relieve the unexpected financial strain of not only this recent emergency surgery, but upcoming travel to the Okanagan for further diagnostics, observation and treatment as well.

I can't thank you enough for any amount you are able to contribute at this time. Immediate funds raised will be used to partially relieve the financial strain of the cost of surgery, medication, and downtime for recovery while ongoing contributions will be put towards whatever lies in the future once the biopsy results are back.

I will update donors via the GoFundMe platform on my prognosis as more information becomes available. Thank you so much.