First day of the dreaded expander

Today was a big day in my SARPE world, the expander has been put in. Today was my third appointment with the orthodontist and I was only expecting to make sure that the expanding appliance (that we took molds of my jaws for last week) was made correctly. It was my impression that I would try it on and then they would give it to the surgeon to put in during my surgery. Well that was not the case at all!

First of all I had to sign my life away stating that I understand the risks of braces and that it's solely up to me to keep my teeth healthy.Then I had to give up $3,600 of my savings, ouch! We decided to do clear brackets on the top jaw and metal brackets on the bottom for my braces when they go on in February.

After they took all my money and all the papers were signed, I was sent to the back room where I spent the next hour getting the expander cemented into place. The glue tasted horrible but the actual process didn't hurt at all. My first reaction when they let my mouth close was the gag reflux symptom. I can feel the expander at all times, even when my tongue is just resting at the bottom of my mouth.It has been incredibly hard to swallow my saliva or any liquid for that matter. I am hoping that after a couple days I will be able to retrain myself how to eat and drink with this thing in there.

After my appointment I realized I had no special cleaning tools at home. So off to the store I went to get dental wax (for the brackets that pinch my cheeks), a little mirror to be able to see the expander keyhole and an extra toothbrush/floss for work.

The orthodontist had already given me the expansion key but fortunately I won't have to do this until after surgery. They warned me that a lot of people can't actually do the tighting process on their own and that so I may need my husband to do it for me. I was also told to expect a nice big gap between my front two teeth...great! From looking at other people's blogs, it looks like they got between 8-11mm gaps which is almost an entire tooth worth. So not only do I sound ridiculous with the expander in, I also get to add a giant gap and braces to make it even better come February. Lucky me!

On my drive home, my oldest son Nolan kept asking me what I was eating because when I talked to him it sounded funny. I had to keep telling him that mommy isn't eating anything and that she is going to sound like this for a long time now. He asked why and I tried to explain to him in the most child friendly way that the dentist is going to make mommy's teeth all better. He seemed to be ok with that and never asked anymore.

When I got home with my boys, I was SO hungry and then reality hit. What the heck am I going eat? So after about 30 minutes I managed to get one of those little Tomato Cup-o-Soup's down. I had to drink/rinse my mouth every few sips because the soup was thick and would get stuck above the expander and made that gag reflux feeling come back. Not fun! But at least I got in some soup. Tomorrow will hopefully be better and I can try more semi solid foods. I am terrified of having to eat like this at work.

In a way I am actually kind of glad that the orthodonist put the expander in now and not during surgery. This way I know what I am in for and will now have ten days to practice how to survive with it. My liquid diet has started much sooner then I anticipated and of course my speech is horrible but at least I am now on my way to a better future.

Expander in

Next step is pre-op on Friday, Dec.7th. Stay tuned for that update and wish  me luck on my eating adventures. I was really looking forward to a pre-christmas meal that my wonderful mother in law was going to make. I really hope that I can eat real food by Sunday.