Um...

I am alive and well, I'm just super slack at posting in my blog :)

So its been like 18 months since surgery now, I've only got 7 weeks in braces left, and I've moved back to Brisbane. Oh and I got engaged! So nothing has really happened since my last post. Pfft!

So I changed orthos and its cost me another $1200 and 2 months in braces but I'm happy with the new plan my new other has given me. He is keen on getting my bite perfect whereas my old ortho was ok with settling with less than perfect. Whats another 2 months when you've had braces for 20 months anyway? Well at the moment a long time actually because I could have them off by now! Ah well. Ive been wearing bands for about 10 months now to get my bite in place. One side is being stubborn and isnt conforming like the other side by the bands are slowing doing their job. I just need to close a small gap in my bite then I'm done. Wow. Seems like only last year I had surgery and not 2 years ago. That expander is a long forgotten memory now - thank god! What a hideous peice of shit that was. Bit it did its job and for that I'm grateful to it. But the day that thing came out I wanted to burn it and send it to hell.

My front teeth are getting less and less sensitive which is great. They still arent normal but they may never be which I have accepted. I can now however bite into a steak burger without feeling weird about losing a tooth. Still, the weird sensation is still there to some degree.

I have to admit I am not that diligent with flossing... purely because its a serious chore. Threading it through the wire then flossing the tooth then pulling it out without the thread getting snagged on one of my many hooks is seriously the most annoying and frustraing thing in the world. I do admit its pretty satisfying having a fully flossed mouth. I sound sick saying that but my other braced mates will know what I'm talking about hopefully!

Well thats it for today. I hope to keep up regular posts now until debracing and possibly beyond. So here is a new pic to show my slight bite change...

Moving and changing orthos!

I'm moving back to Brisbane in 5 weeks ! I've been living in Melbourne for 4 years now and I have enjoyed it heaps but I am really looking forward to going home. I miss the warm weather and my family. My fiance and I moved here for his work, and then we had another opportunity to go back for work so we took it. The only downside to moving is changing orthos, and hairdressers :) So I had an appointment last week and I will have my final one with her in 4 weeks. She has been really great and is a no fuss kinda gal which is comforting really. She just gets in there and does what she has to do and doesnt take any shortcuts. She has set me up with ortho that she has met many times when travelling to conferences around the world so I'm glad I get to finish my treatment with someone recommended by my original ortho. She insists on getting regular updates and pictures along the way too which made me feel like she really cares. I had some power chains put on at my last appointment which have been a tad painful. I opted for the silver ones since the clear ones stain and I just cant be bothered worrying about that! They look kinda dirty now with the silver thing on there but Id rather have that than yellow stained ones thats for sure. Its amazing how quickly my teeth move when I get my wired changed too - its only been a few days and already I can feel a difference. My bottom teeth have been really stubborn but are finally giving into the pressure. If all goes to plan I only have them on for another 6 months! I cant believe its been a year this week. Its really flown past which isnt exactly a bad thing.

So here's a new pic... not much change really.

A few changes

Let me see... whats happened since the last post I made? Well, not alot really! Boring.

But at my last appointment which was a week ago my ortho took off some brackets them replaced them in slightly different spots on my teeth. This is to help with straightening them up even more I'm told. I had to get some x-rays before hand so my ortho could see the roots of my teeth to determine where to place the new brackets (it was all very technical). I had a look at my x-rays and it was amazing to see how far the roots of your teeth actually go. They are like 2cm long :\ Another cool thing was seeing the new bone in my palate - she said everything looked great and the bone grew in nicely. Thank god.

So as for the pain associated with taking off the brackets... it was a tad painful but more uncomfortable. The top ones hurt more than the bottom ones but she made me bite down and some hard cotton ball thing which did help with the pain. When she took them off my 2 front teeth I threw my leg up in the air because it hurt and it jolted my head so I freaked out! I almost kicked the light above me :) they all thought it was hilarious but me, not so much. They werent the ones getting massacred. So when they were aboutt to put on my new backets on my front teeth, the assistant dropped one of them on the floor. No big deal right? Wrong. They only had 2 brackets in the whole place that were for a front tooth. They spent a good 15 minuts looking on the floor for this thing but couldnt find it. Im sitting in the chair with those mouth expander things in to open my lips up and expose my teeth (i looked like i was from a horror movie) and I was trying to look as well from the chair... until I started to dribble, then I knew I had better sit back down. So eventually they opted to put a different type of bracket on there... one with a band to hold it in place so I have to be careful about staining now on that tooth. Pfft. It acually looks alot smaller and less noticeable than my normal brackets. But because they stain that would really annoy me because I like to eat and drink things that stain.

So after that I couldnt chew for a few days but it wasnt as bad as I thought. Last time when they put a thick wire on the bottom holy moly, that was hell. I couldnt eat at all for 2 days and what I did eat was mush. Not fun. But thats life with braces isnt it! I know it will be worth it. Only 8 months to go for me. I cant believe I had surgery over a year ago now... I must be getting old because time is going faster and faster. Remember when you were 10 and a year felt like 5. Ok I am getting old because I'm reminiscing...

New pic

I'm slack

Sorry :(

So i've had braces for 7 months now... where does the time go?! My expander is out and I'm on the downhill slide to de-braceville. Not much has happened really except my teeth are getting a little more straight with each wire change, and I'm wearing bands now which is really making alot of difference. The estimated time until they're off is 10 months so thats not that far away at all. I cant believe its been 12 months this June since I had SARPE.

I tell you, the day the expander came out was one of the best feelings ever. Being able to swallow normally and talk normally was such an amazing feeling - something we all just take for granted. I dont even remember what it was like to have that thing in there. I think my brain memory dumped it.

Well theres not much else to tell on the mouth and teeth front. Here are some new pics to show the progress...

This last pic is the day it was cut out so there are a few red marks from where the wire was pressing on my gums. They left the brackets around my teeth in there because she said they were useful. I dont think thats the norm but I spose all orthos are different...

Geez that was a narrow mouth before! And my nose is visibly wider, which isnt a bad thing.

MASSIVE update...

Well, yeah. I havent posted in a good while... but better late than never :)

So I've had my braces now for almost 4 months and I get my expander out in exactly one week today! Holy moly, I cant believe its been 6 months since I stopped turning this damn thing. I havent really struggled with the expander at all, except for the speech, but that isnt anywhere near as bad as it was in the beginning. I've only had 2 wire changes since I've had my braces on and the last was almost 2 months ago so my visits are few and far between (which I dont mind in the slightest) My gap is long gone and my teeth are - I would say - 80% straight. I will post some pics at the end to show comparison...

I think the worst part of having the expander is you cant really have a long conversation with someone because your speech gets sloppy because your mouth gets tired. I had dinner with a friend a few weeks ago and we talk about 100 miles an hour and after a while I started slurring almost - she found this hilarious of course as all good girlfriends do... well mine do :) all in good fun though. She is particularly amused at how I say 'zucchini' or a courgette to all your out-of-australians... and also a 'skinny latte'. Its the 'eee' sound that I have trouble with and those 2 words seem to be the worst. You must be wondering why I say zucchini more than like, once a year, well I eat them about 3 times a week because I love them, and I also give a little diet advice to women around the office (long story - I go to the gym and eat pretty well so I seem to get bombarded with diet and exercise questions) and I normally suggest eating zucchini as one of your vegies for the day. Ok I rambled a bit there, back on track now. So that is probably the only bad part about my expander. Eating is fine, swallowing is fine, exercising is fine, speaking is ok.

Now onto the worst part of having braces... It would have to be flossing. What an effort that is, and so tedious! The food getting stuck isnt so bad because that happened to me before braces anyway - seems to happen to all the women in our family actually! Pretty funny. I think its because we have big teeth or something... but the flossing is by far the worst part. I try and do it everyday but its more like every other day :(

I have to say though that I am so glad that I went through with all of this. It really was an amazing experience with the surgery, then the gap, then the braces. I only had a few moments where I was really annoyed and frustrated with everything. But that soon passed and I was back to normal again. I found the gap amusing most of the time and used to smile at people just to make them do the double take. I must have looked like a real weirdo, but I dont care. I sent my same girlfriend who made fun of me a picture of me doing this massive buck toothed smile with my 10mm gap to cheer her up one day. It worked, and still works :) You cant take yourself too seriously when you have a gap the size of dinner plate between your 2 front teeth. And no one really cares anyway. Nobody even noticed in the beginning until I pointed it out.

Anyway here are my pictures of before and now... and I promise to update more regularly now.

BEFORE

NOW

Got a few more freckles too from xmas holidays at the beach :)

2 weeks in braces

So its been 2 weeks and things have settled down alot. The first 2 to 3 days were pretty painful but after that they just seemed to settle in and I got used to them. I only had to use wax for the first 4 days but now I dont need any which is great because its a real pain getting it on there in the right spot then not aciidently eating it like I have done on a few occasions :)

My top teeth have moved a fair bit but my bottom ones havent budged. I think because my top teeth have been manipulated so much since surgery they are alot easier to move. Eating is almost back to normal (by normal I mean before the braces but with the expander). Nuts, biting into apples, lollies, crusty bread etc are all no nos and pretty much impossible to eat anyway but it was like that before the braces so no big deal. I do miss biting into things though... right now it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! Its hard to explain how my teeth feel right now, especially my front ones but its almost like they are half falling out and have cavities in them so they are sensitive and unstable... not a good combo if you were to bite into something. I mean they arent falling out or have cavities but you get the point.

I see my surgeon tomorrow for my 3 month check up. She hasnt seen me in braces yet so I'm looking forward to her reaction. Alot of people I know find it strange that both my ortho and surgeon are females but I've always had female dentists so to me its not so strange. I never planned it that way it just worked out that my surgeon worked in the same building as my orhto so it seemed silly not to use her. I've been very happy with my choices so far which is really lucky I think. My orhto is the kind of person who just dives in and does what she needs to do then says ok see you next time and doesnt tell you whats going on. I have to actually say ok so what are you doing? I trust her though so I'm not really worried. I am one to research things to death though so when she does give me some info I'm right on it then by my next visit I'm an expert (not really, I just think I am) on the subject :)