Has anyone abutment "bent" out of alignment?

[jaylogs]

So a while back I had my Oticon Pro on and noticed that I wasn't really picking up voices clearly like it used to.  I thought maybe it just needed a tweak but then later on I was playing around with the abutment (as I am sure most of you do when sitting around with not much to do, like watching TV   )  and I detected a slight angle in my abutment. What I mean is that when sitting on your skull it should be pretty parallel with your skull. You shouldn't feel one side more "up" than another side. Thinking back on how this might have happened, what I might have done was a while back I took off my shirt with my BAHA on.  The shirt snagged on the BAHA, but rather than just popping off like it has done once or twice before, it stayed on, and I REALLY tugged on it.  So much so that I definitely felt sore afterward on that side of my head.  So I am wondering if I "bent" the abutment somehow?  And also, I am just wondering if anyone else had similar issues? Note that the abutment itself is still very tight, rock solid. It doesn't turn, it's just angled in a bit now. It doesn't cause my device to come in contact with my skull, but it did change something acoustically. So tomorrow I am seeing my ENT guy, and then if he blesses everything I'll get it tweaked so it will pick up things good again.  I'll keep everyone posted!
Jay

[leapyrtwins]

Jay -

my abutment has always been angled; it healed that way and my doc said that was the norm.  It's not a huge angle; extremely slight.

The angle helps the processor not lay too close to your skull; in order to work properly the processor needs to get air underneath it.  If it was flush with your skull the sound would be compromised.

And just for the record, I never play with my abutment.  Maybe that's a guy thing    LOL

Jan

[jaylogs]

Hmmm...it may be a guy thing...or I just like to play with metal stuff sticking out of my head! LOL  I do know that this thing just seems different.  I just wanted to make sure all is good...I'll know soon enough!
Jay

[leapyrtwins]

Just teasing ya about the "guy thing" 

I'd imagine though that you'd have to really use some pressure to bend titanium; seems like it would take more than "playing".

Let us know what you find out.

Thanks,

Jan 

[CHD63]

Hi Jay .....

Like Jan, my abutment has always been at an angle for the reasons Jan stated.

About five months ago, I took a tumble and banged my head into our front door, rather strongly ..... right on the processor/abutment.  Surprisingly the processor did not pop off, but it ceased to work.  Since still under warranty, it was replaced free of charge.

I'm not sure how pulling a sweater over it that hard would budge a firmly osseointegrated titanium post.  Sounds more likely you may have damaged the connector.  The hurting afterwards could have been from pulling your hair around it.

If you did loosen the post, it would still be loose now, I would think.

Good luck.  BTW, I do not play with the abutment, either.   

Clarice

[james e]

I play with my abutment...in a way. My scalp sheds the dead skin around the abutment, and by running my finger nail around it, it helps shed the skin. I also like to just tap on it with my nail, just to hear the noise. Must be a boy thing. My abutment has a slight angle also. When the screw is implanted in your skull, a small hole is drilled in the bone, and the screw has self tapping threads on it, and it is screwed in using a water cooled power drill to keep the bone from over heating. I don't think you could even knock it loose even moments just following the surgery.

James

[jaylogs]

So I saw the ENT doc today, he said nothing was hurt and may have skewed just a might.  He took the abutment out (I didn't even know they could do that!) and cleaned it up and put it back in and tightened everything up.  Then I saw the audiologist and she reprogrammed it so all is good now! Oh, on a footnote, I didn't know it but he put TWO anchors in the skull during my first surgery.  He said that if God forbid something happened to the first one, I'd have a back-up. Now that was pretty smart thinkin' there! 
Jay

[Jim Scott]

So I saw the ENT doc today, he said nothing was hurt and may have skewed just a might.  He took the abutment out (I didn't even know they could do that!) and cleaned it up and put it back in and tightened everything up.  Then I saw the audiologist and she reprogrammed it so all is good now! Oh, on a footnote, I didn't know it but he put TWO anchors in the skull during my first surgery.  He said that if God forbid something happened to the first one, I'd have a back-up. Now that was pretty smart thinkin' there! 

Jay ~

Glad to learn that worked out O.K with no real damage or problems for you.

Jim

[leapyrtwins]

Jay -

glad to hear things are good.

You sound amazed that your abutment can be removed with a screwdriver.  My doc mentioned this to me a few years ago.  He was telling me when Cochlear bought out Entific they decided to make their new processors with a different "stem", which meant that everyone who had an Entific abutment had to have theirs changed.

When you say your doc put "two anchors" in your skull do you mean he gave you a "sleeper" as well as the abutment you now use? 

I've heard some doctors do this, but I don't believe mine does.

Jan

[james e]

The abutment can be removed. There are three parts to it...the titanium screw, which is screwed into your skull, and it is intergrated with the bone, and it cannot be removed. There is the abutment, and it is held in place with a gold screw. The gold screw runs through the abutment and screws into the exposed portion of the titanium screw that is in your skull. I find it unusual that the doc put an extra titanium screw in. Do you think that may have led to your long running infection?

My barber put a small nick in my abutment when he was cutting my hair. It has no impact on my BAHA, but I kind of hate that he put a small ding in it. He does not cut my hair any more.

James

[jaylogs]

Jan...yeah, I guess that's what you would call it...a sleeper anchor if you will.  As he said if something bad happens to the main one this is a backup.  Yeah, I had always assumed once the abutment was in, that was it.  Learn something new every day.

James, not sure if that caused the prolonged healing. According to the doc, my previous AN surgery affect that area so getting a good blood supply in there to heal was an issue. 
Jay