This will blow your mind!

WOW, the first thing I have to say is Thank-You to everyone for your kind words and support this year! It is amazing how even a complete strangers comment can chear a person up. So thanks thank thanks! Now lets get to the good stuff.

It is unbelievable that I haven't posted in 4 months and that time seemed to have flown by. The progress that my teeth have made is amazing and you will be able to see in the pictures below how much they have actually moved. I finally got my expander out on July 9th and I couldn't be happier. I have to say though that I thought it would have been a fairly quick and easy process to get that thing out but I was in the or-tho chair for a little over an hour. The assistant tried to pry it off and it was hurting so bad so eventually she called my orthodontist over and he had to cut the bands off my molars. I guess from all the pressure and expansion the wires did not want to come out. After it came out it was like that bright light "Ahhhhhhhhhh" singing kind of moment. I was instantly free and couldn't have been happier until about an hour after I left and my gums above the inside of my teeth started to swell up where the wires had been basically implanted . They swelled up pretty good for about a week and then finally started to go down after that. It has been about 6 weeks since the removal and I can still sort of feel the lines from where the wires were pushing my pallet outwards but they don't hurt to touch anymore, thank goodness.

I did find out that I will most definitely have to go through with a second surgery. This one will be the lower jaw surgery to realign my bite. Right now there is no way with braces and elastics for my bottom jaw to move into the proper position. I am not sure yet when the surgery will be but I do know it will be another 3200 bucks (not covered by any insurances) and most likely at Christmas time again. I have my next appointment this coming week so I am going to try and find out when I need to go back to the surgeon to find out more details about that. I believe they need to make sure all the teeth are nice and snug back together and straight as can be. So for now, I am just going to try and enjoy the freedom of no expander and save save save for the next surgery. If anyone has a magical money tree seed, please pass one on to me!

Food has constantly been an up and down battle of what I can eat and not eat. I find that for about a week after I get the braces changed, I can only do soft foods and then after that I can up it to burgers and hotdogs which have to be ripped into little pieces because there is now way I can bite into anything (even at this point). I do really miss steak especially being summer BBQ season but what do you do? Luckily my hubby is a pro at bbqing so he can make my burgers taste like steak any day.

I still do not have much feeling in my top gums above the front 6 teeth. I can feel a tiny bit when I touch them with my tongue or push on my front teeth but it's a very strange feeling almost like they are fake if that makes any sense. I have heard from multiple people that the nerves can heal over time and it has now been just over 8 months so I've still got some healing to do yet. Overall though, now that I can see some progress, this whole process has been worth it. My jaw joints still hurt the odd time if I smile excessively (which for those who know me, this happens alot) or if I have over done it with chewing and also after all my ortho/dentist appointments from having my mouth open for a long time. I have to say the pain in my joints is no where near as frequent as before all this came about, which is great! So for now I will keep on the up and up and hopefully pretty soon I'll be able to start saving for a nice REAL vacation rather then a "vacation " of pain.

Check out these pics !!

Before Smile (Dec 2012)

Smile now (Aug 2013) HUGE difference

Day before braces went on and 32 turns (Feb 2013)

Now on July 30 2013

Aug 2013 showing how bite doesn't line up

Gap is closing up... yay!

The last 6 weeks have flown by since I got the bottom braces on and I have had another adjustment yesterday. My orthodontist was very happy with the movement so far and I have to say it is nice to see the gap finally closing up. This time around he decided to zig zag tie my four front teeth together rather then just the two. They used the same clear rubber string as last month which was actually stained a nice bright yellow. I swear it is almost impossible to stay away from food and drinks that stain so bad!

 The pain is hard to describe because it's like a pressure/itchy/achy feeling all at once. It's kind of like how your teeth feel when a new tooth is growing in with lots of extra pressure. Ever since the adjustment, my jaw joints have been really sore and at times the pain killers have no effect. But compared to what I went through in December, I really don't feel right complaining too much about this minor temporary pain. 

I have found that heat has been the most helpful for the pain. Things like soup, tea, hot chocolate, coffee and warming up the magic bag have been the most helpful. Anything cold shocks the nerves and makes it worse so I stay far away from anything of that sort for at least the first few days after adjustment. 

I am also very happy to say that I can now start the count down to the expander removal!!! My ortho decided that July 9th will be the magic day so I have officially started the count down of 70 days from today!

I would also like to thank everyone for your comments and encouragement, this is exactly why I love having the blog! I get to hear from people who have been through this and also people who just want to say great job. Makes me smile!

Anyways, enough talk for now. Check out my updated pics:

April.29 - Four front teeth tied together. Apparently the teeth won't look like they are off to one side by the time I am done.

A little blurry but at least can see the shape of the teeth now

Profile pic from April 29

Owwwww :( Bottom braces on...

If there were a pill I could take that would knock me out for the next 18 months - 2 years I would take it in heartbeat! Bottom braces are on and OUCH! :( The appointment took about an hour in total and was actually quite painful. Not so much putting the bottom braces on but changing the wire on the top was excruciating. The orthodontist decided that it was time to start pulling the teeth together so he got his tech to tie my two front teeth together with some clear rubber string. I could literally feel them moving when she was pulling and tieing the string. They also ended up putting a heavier gauged wire on this month which apparently is 3x the size of the original one. The pain right now though on the top compared to the bottom doesn't come close. The reason it is so painful is because of the overcrowding between the front 3 bottom teeth. Two of the teeth have pushed the third one behind so they have put a spring between the two outside teeth. This will push them apart in order to make room for the one behind to fall in line. I was surprised however that I did not have to wear any spacers in the bottom molars and that they do not use the caps for the bottoms like they did for the top. They do my molars with silver brackets and the smaller front ones with clear brackets. Not by choice he just did it that way for his own reasoning I guess.

The spring in the front is kind of shaped outward like a half moon and once there is more room it will straighten out. But because of this half moon, it is digging into my bottom lip whenever I move it. This makes talking, eating, drinking almost literally anything painful! I put wax on it and that at least stops the pinching but the damage was already done the first hour after it was on.  I go back now in 6 weeks and we'll see how much progress I can make by then.  For now, I'd love to go into hibernation if I could. Not only because of the pain but because I am so done with this winter already!

Here are a couple pictures: Check out the pictures I took yesterday of the space between the front teeth and then this one! They literally were tied closer this afternoon. So crazy!

You can barely see the cross tied front teeth but they are almost touching now. The spring on the bottom and the metal brackets on the molars. Day 1 always sucks!

Day 1 of bottom braces

Week 5 of Top Braces - Bottoms on tomorrow

I have actually made it 5 weeks with top braces and overall that time went pretty darn fast. I am however not looking forward to adding more metal to my mouth tomorrow when the bottom ones go on but I know it's another step in going through this process. There has been a lot of movement for the top teeth the last two weeks. The wire is poking through the right side bracket at the back of my molar pretty far now. Sometimes wax doesn't like to stick so the wire goes into my cheek regardless. I was going to go in last week to get them to cut it off but just couldn't find time. My family and I have also been fighting a nasty cold this last week and when you have all this metal in your mouth, lets just say its not very fun when you need to cough anything out. I am however VERY thankful that I have managed not to get sick with any type of cold since my surgery back on December 12th. I have to say that's pretty darn good!

My daily routine for cleaning these things have been that I need to brush right after I eat anything and then at night before bed I brush, use the small cone headed brush to get between the brackets, then floss, then waterpik the rest that got missed and clean out the expander. Once that's done, Listerine rinse and off to bed. The whole process take at least 15 minutes and now I am going to have to add on another 5 - 10 minutes for the bottoms to get cleaned. Fantastic! As if it's not hard enough to get my kids to bed at a decent time! Anyways, I have to keep reminding myself I will get used to it and it's only for a short couple years.

I have taken some updated pictures and will make sure to update you on how the process goes for the application of the bottoms tomorrow. Not looking forward to it at all but here goes nothing...

5 weeks with top braces

Top view of my pallat 5 weeks after top braces - Amazing difference

Top view of my pallat before surgery and braces - You can see in the little flappy part in the middle of my gums how much was expanded in the picture before. Crazy!

View of bottom teeth the day before bottom braces go on

Brace Face - First two weeks

The time seems to be flying by now and I sure hope it continues to this fast. It has now been 15 days since my top braces went on, and 77 days since my SARPE surgery. So far the braces have not been as painful or irritating as I initially thought they were going to be. I guess after what I've been through this part of the process is nothing.

I still find that my teeth are sore off and on each day from the mini movement that is happening but it's nothing a little Advil or Tylenol doesn't take care of. I can't really tell but I have been told that it looks like the front gap is closing up a bit.

I have to admit I am getting pretty tired of this spacer being in but I know I still have a few months to go yet. Considering the darn thing has been in for almost 3 months already is so hard to believe. If I can just hang in there for three more months then hopefully I will be healed enough to get this thing out! I am getting closer one day at a time...

Stay tuned for updates!  I will add pictures again in a couple weeks which will be 1 month from that date braces went on to see if my teeth have in fact moved together some more. Here is where I am at today:

Two weeks braces smile

Gap two weeks after top braces went on

Braces on!

It's official, my top braces are on! My orthodontist was extremely pleased with the progress I have made in the last few weeks since I seen him last. The best part of the whole day was when he told me that I no longer have to expand! After 35 expansion (8 3/4 mm),  I am finally done the part of the process! They sealed up the hole of the expander to make sure it was not able to turn backwards. I have been told that it will need to stay in my mouth for roughly 3-6 months in order to allow time for the bone to heal over. In the meantime, I am not to do anything rough and take it easy until the bone is healed over. I guess that means my late night underground kick boxing career is out the window.  May have to take up sewing instead! 

Also, I finally got the answer to the biggest question I have been meaning to ask this whole time but keep forgetting.  The question: "Is there any chance for my mouth to relapse after all this?" the answer is "NO!" With the cutting of the bone and expanding of the jaw, the gap will be filled in with new bone over the next few months leaving no possible way for my jaw to regress. Thank goodness!

I went to my appointment today prepared for the pain by taking one of my last few T3's that I have been saving. I, along with the dental assistant was very happy that I did this because it made the bracket application a lot less painful then it otherwise could have been. I got clear brackets on the top and originally they told me that I would get metal ones on the bottom but today he said that I am able to get clear on the bottom not metal. My bottom braces are scheduled to be put on in 5 weeks which is March. 18th. At that time he will start to tighten up the top ones as well. Today he put a wire in but did not tighten anything.

 I was also worried about the clear braces staining but they assured me that the only thing that can stain are the elastics which are changed out each month. According to the video I had to watch, coffee, tea, pop, mustard and curry are a recipe for disaster in regards to staining.

Once the Tylenol wore off around 4:30, I started to get pretty sore but it's not any where near what I can expect for pain in the coming months once bottoms go on and they start tightening things up.

The funniest part of the day was when they gave me a draw entry because I have been a good girl with my oral hygiene this month. I felt like a kid all over again! I didn't get to pick out a toy but they did give me a new Oral B sprinbrush pro rechargeable tooth brush with all the accessories to take care of cleaning my teeth and braces.

I had to make sure that it is officially safe for me to use the Waterpik as part of my daily routine and he said all is good so go for it. I think that's all I have to update for now. I feel like I am forgetting to say something important from today but it's not coming to me. If I think of what it is I will be sure to make an update. For now here is the new look:

Top Braces - Day 1

Comparison Picture - Morning of SARPE surgery

Update before braces go on - 34 turns

It has been a couple weeks since my last update and not a whole lot has changed. I have expanded the last two Sundays which actually ends up being a total of 34 turns. Each turn is a 1/4 mm so in total I have expanded 8.5 mm's. That's quite a bit! Now that the orthodontist has be expanding only once a week I have been able to put up with the little bit of discomfort rather then the pain I was experience just a few weeks ago. My front teeth are always a little sore from them naturally trying to move back together. The teeth are kind of straying off into their own way now so it's probably good that I am scheduled to get braces this coming Monday, Feb.11 at 2pm. I am getting a little worried about the whole new kind of pain I will be facing once the braces get put on but I've been through them before and survived so I know I can do it again. Positive thoughts!

Here are some updated pictures:

Expansion 1

Expansion 34

This is how my smile is after 34 turns. The teeth are trying to come back together on their own.

Current smile before braces go on next week.

Orthodontic Visit

The visit to my orthodontist went alright this morning. He double checked to make sure that there was no more infection going on and confirmed that everything looks healthy. I explained to him everything I have been through and he said he was sorry that it has been so painful and that he understands because there is so much pressure in my cheeks/jaw right now. I am supposed to call the surgeon back to get him to do an x-ray if I get anymore sever cheek pain.

He was happy with the expansion but said I still need to turn it once a week from now on until he tells me other wise. I am still scheduled to get braces put on Feb.11 however he wont start bringing my front teeth back together for 8 weeks after the last expansion. So it is still going to be a few months before they will start to bring it back into place. He figured that I would have to wear the braces for about 18 months - 2 years. I am going to ball park 2 years and anything sooner will be a treat.

My goal now is to keep plugging away, one day at a time. Today marks 41 days post SARPE surgery. I've been through a lot and made it so I will stay strong, and get through the next couple years! 

Update before Orthodontic visit - 32 turns

I have been slacking on my blog the last few days. Sorry about that! So here's the scoop. Five days ago I went back to see the surgeon because I was in so much pain and he had told me that there must be something wrong when I talked to him the day before. Well when I go to the appointment it went completely opposite then I thought it was going to go. He told me that there was no infection and that the click/pop noise and extreme shooting pain was my bones moving and that there is absolutely nothing he can do for me at this point. He pretty much just washed his hands of me and said it's now up to the orthodontist for the next step. He said that my expansion looks like it is pretty much at it's max and that the orthodontist will probably say that's good enough. I have been having a hard time controlling the pain and with work and home life, it has been extremely challenging. My boss and team at work have been a HUGE support and I am able to alter my duties to be able to work mornings in the office and then come home to work from home in the afternoons. This allows for me to limit my talking at work (that sounds bad) but also to let me rest when I need to and then log on from home to keep working away the rest of the day.

I have been having a lot of pain/aching off and on but the most of it the last couple days has been in the front between my two front teeth. It is like pins and needles constantly stabbing my gums and not backing off. Part of it is probably all the severed nerves healing and also the expansion process. I get scared when I think of how much the braces are going to hurt once they start to bring everything into place. I am ready to get this over with and I know I need to do it in order to move on so in a way I am looking forward to it as well. I see the orthodontist tomorrow so I will be sure to update what the thinks. I am very much hoping that I no longer have to expand.  Here is an updated pick of what my teeth look like today:

Jan.21 with 32 expansions

Nightmare!

I am starting to feel like this nightmare is never going to end. I had my first full day back at work on Monday and it went pretty good, I was tired and a little sore from smiling by the end of the day but overall good day. Then yesterday (Tuesday) I woke up with a headache that refused to go away all day. I tried Advil which didn't touch it at all and then moved up to the Motrin that the Doc had prescribed to me at the beginning of January. That barely helped so I went to lay down in our wellness room at work for half an hour. Still nothing had changed so at that point it was 3 pm and I left a little early. My gums had started to get the burning and tingling sensation again and the weirdest part was my right ear went really red. The swelling had also started back up a bit. Then last night around 9:00 I was just sitting doing absolutely nothing, no eating no drinking no talking and all of a sudden I heard a click/pop sound on my left upper side of my mouth followed by excruciating pain radiating up into my left cheek. The sound was so loud that my husband heard it across our living room. It instantly brought tears to my eyes and lasted for a little while and then went away but left an ache for in my left jaw joint/cheek area under my eye from then on. I also had a little bit of twitching under my eye. So weird.

I went to bed to try and sleep it off until I could talk to the surgeon this morning. I had a very hard time getting out of bed, I was completely exhausted but I got up and showered and then had to lay back down for 20 minutes and force myself to get back up because I knew I had to try and get to the city to see the surgeon. So I finally got up to work and had to wait for the docs office to open. When I got through they said that he was actually doing surgeries today and not in his office so I still had his cell phone number and so I opted to text him my situation and for him to call me back. Not even 5 minutes after I texted him, he called me back. I explained the situation and that this morning my top lip is now swollen again , my gums are burning, my cheek is radiating pain, headache and the weird incident the night before. He said at this point I should not be feeling any pain or get any re swelling so something is going on and he can't see me til tomorrow morning. But he said for now to turn the expander back 1 (again) and to take the pain meds he had prescribed me earlier this month to try and dull the pain. He figured that the sound we heard was the bones shifting.

I left work shortly after my conversation with the surgeon and tried so hard to fight back the tears. As soon as I got home I took my Motrin and t3 and laid down to rest. My work sick leave program called and told me not to bother going in tomorrow and just to let them know what the surgeon says. I can not wait to get this nightmare behind me and that there isn't something more serious going on in my face somewhere. I really do not want to have to deal with another surgery at this point. Stay tuned for updates tomorrow. I'm going back to bed now.

25 Expansions with Comparisons

So far so good today. Nothing too new to report from two days ago but I did take some pictures of how much my upper jaw has expanded and want to show the difference so far. I was supposed to go in to see the surgeon this afternoon but they are calling for a terrible blizzard again so I didn't want to risk the drive especially with my boys. I rescheduled to see him tomorrow afternoon instead so he can check to make sure all is still going well for healing.

One thing I have noticed in the last week is that my teeth have gone more yellow and it's all because of the peridex rinse that I have to use three times a day. Even thought I brush about 15 times a day (literally) I am told this is to be expected and that the dentist will be able to get it all cleaned off when I am able to go for a cleaning. Another wonderful "perk" of this process.

Check out these pictures though, it's pretty crazy to see the difference so far:

First day expander went in

24 turns (You can see how much the middle of the expander has spread apart)

Here are the pics of my bite before expansion and the bite I have currently:

Bite before this all started

Bite with 24 expansions (almost all the way on top of the bottom teeth now.

Infection - Surgeon Checkup

I had an appointment with the surgeon this morning to check on my infection situation. I woke up with my upper lip a little more swollen then the last two days were. When I got to my appointment he had to lift my upper lip to check the sutures and it hurt like hell when he did that. He said that because of all the scar tissue and nerves being cut everyone has that reaction when he has to check it at this point. He said that the gums are looking healthy and that everything is starting to heal properly. There were no puss pockets that he had to worry about going in and draining (thank goodness), and I have to go back on Thursday to double check that things are continuing to get better.

Apparently they used to use stitches that had to be removed but because they were causing a lot of infections, they now use the dissolvable one. However he said that they can still sometimes not dissolve fully and create an infection. Also sometimes these infections are caused by bone shavings getting inside there so he is monitoring my situation closely. For now I am OK and have to expand once a day rather then the 1, 2, 1 schedule. All the oozing and redness has gone away so I hope that this little bit of swelling is just the natural reaction to expansion again. Little by little, day by day I will pull through.

Here are some pics I took last night before my lip re-swelled:

Front teeth had closed the gap a little while I was not able to expand last week.

The redness is pretty well gone right beside my the gap of my two front teeth where it was oozing

You can tell that there is a lot of expansion already in the shape of my face and how many teeth are showing.

Finally Home

Today I was finally able to come home after 6 days of being away from my house because my family was sick with a horrible stomach flu. It was a really hard time emotionally and physically with my infection that occurred at the same time. The antibiotics that I have been on seem to be working and I get to go see the surgeon on Tuesday morning for a checkup and xray to see my progress. I was able to do one expansion turn yesterday and one today as well. Tomorrow I will only do one again and then we will see what he says on Tuesday if I should go back to the alternating 2 then 1 then 2 turn schedule. I hope this passed week has not set me back too much, but for now I am just so happy to be home.

HUGE thanks for my in laws and my parents for all their support lately. Can't say how much we appreciate everything they've done for us. Pics to follow tomorrow, going to cuddle my kids now.

Infection update

A couple days have passed since I have been on my antibiotics and not a whole lot has changed. My upper lip and cheek swelling has come down a little since yesterday but the oozing between my front teeth is still there and my gum throbbing pain is still noticeable throughout the day. I have had to quarantine myself to my parents place as my family has fallen sick with the flu. It has been a very physically and emotionally miserable week to say the least.

I spoke to my surgeon this morning and he told me not to expand today but if I feel better tomorrow I should do one turn in the afternoon. If I am not feeling better then I have to call him back in the morning and he will be changing my antibiotics to something different. He said that they will be doing an xray next week to see how the healing process is going and if there is anything else going on with my front teeth. For now I have to keep up with my meds and keep trucking. Other then that everything else has been roughly the same. At times I feel like I'm stuck in a nightmare and then I just try to tel myself that this is not forever and it will be better soon. So for now I live day by day and try not to think too much about anything else.

Big setback - Infection

One of my worst fears has come into play, a big setback for my progress. Yes, a dreaded infection. I have been fighting with swelling off and on as well as pains for quite a few days now but yesterday set the bar of reality that I definitely have an infection. Swelling is back up in my cheeks and top lip and my gums are throbbing. I now have some yellowish ooze between my two front teeth. I was in tears almost all night and got about 4 hours of sleep. The first thing I did this am was call my surgeon. Because it is New Years day I had to call him directly. He said I had to turn my expander back one turn and and don't do any tomorrow . I am to call him again on Thursday and turn it once that day. He also put me on antibiotic 4 times a day and I am to use the peridex mouthwash 3  times a day now. He said I will start to feel better 24 - 48 hours and that I am to go see him on Tuesday next week.

This whole process has been a nightmare and I just cant wait to feel "normal" again. To top it all off my boys have been exposed to the flu that his cousins got so I will be quarantining myself away from them. The last thing I need to catch right now is the flu.  Our family and work has been extremely supportive and helpful and I cant thank them enough for that.

Here's to hoping for a better tomorrow and healthy 2013.

Swelling back up in my top lip and cheeks (more so on my right side)

Side view of cheek swelling and upper lip swelling.