Mum's jaw replacement goes horribly wrong

All mum Tamara wants to be able to do is read to her little girl without being in constant pain.

For four years Tamara Minge, from Mt Gambier South Australia, has been in and out of hospital after waking up one morning unable to open her mouth.

“I went to open my mouth and it was stuck. I was in so much pain I physically couldn’t open it more than a finger width,” Tamara tells Be.

After visiting a dentist who referred her to a facial surgeon, Tamara was told she had degenerative arthritis in her jaw joint, and it was too late for a reconstruction. She had to have a jaw replacement.

However, despite the surgery going well, within a few months Tamara, 29, started having a bad reaction to the metal joint in her jaw. She was allergic to the nickel and cobalt within the joint.

"It was unlucky and frustrating because I've been in constant pain ever since," she says.

Just last year Tamara had the joint in her left side replaced with a pure titanium jaw joint and she has had no problems on that side at all.

However after shelling out $17,000 for the first surgery, and $10,000 for the second, she is now facing two more surgeries to replace the right side.

“You can tell the difference when you look at my face – the right is just painful and swollen,” Tamara tells us.

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“And it is dangerous to keep it in. Metal allergy long term could lead to auto-immune disease and all sorts of horrible things so it needs to come out.”

Tamara must find at least another $20,000 for the two surgeries she needs to correct the issue in her right jaw – the first to remove the old joint, the second to put the new one in.

“In between the two I’ll have my mouth wired shut for a minimum of six weeks to allow the bones to heal. But we have no idea what damage the metal allergens have done,” she says.

And because she is doing all this while looking after her seven-year-old daughter Ayva, her friend Kristyn Norton has set up a Gofundme to help cover the medical costs.

“The support has been fantastic, I’m blown away by just how many people are out there that care and are generous and want to help. It’s such a nice feeling,” Tamara says.

Although she will likely need more surgeries in the future - as the replacement joints last between 10-20 years - she is looking forward to not being in constant pain.

“It would be amazing to get back to normal, just things like being able to read my daughter a book because right now it just hurts.”

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