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 :)

Braces on!

OMG - braces suck. I got them on last Friday and about 2 hours later I started to feel the pain. The bottom ones hurt the most. In fact the top ones dont bother me at all but oh the pain in the bottom ones. They were throbbing so bad all afternoon and into Saturday as well. I have already got some lovely sore spots from where the brackets are rubbing on my cheeks and lips. I feel alot better today but I'm still no where near comfortable. And just when I got used to the expander, I now have to get used to something else. Plus I cant chew again which is really frustrating. I think I miss that the most. Being able to bite into something and chew something without placing it in the right spot and avoiding pain. I'll get there though. I know that the end result is going to be great and well worth all of this.

The type of braces I got are a new design called In-Ovation C. The wire clicks into the brackets and are self ligating so apparently this means less adjustments and they work faster so less time in braces! I also got my veneer taken off 2 days before the braces went on so that was a bit of a shock to see that crooked tooth again after 6 years. They hadnt ground it down very much at all which was really surprising - so it doesnt look too bad. You cant even tell with the braces on now actually. My gap has opened up a little again but I dont really care. Its no where near as bad as it was and just looks normal at the moment. Here are some before pics and now with braces. You cant really see them and I havent got a close up of them yet but i'll get one up soon. My mouth is massive now and my lips are fuller which isnt all bad :)

Gap pics

Not much going on... except I think my gap is a tad smaller :) Most of the time I dont even remember the expander is in there so I'm grateful I'm not having a hard time with it. I'm starting to get a small gap between my front and second teeth because my front ones are moving back together. The one thing I miss the most is being able to bite into something - like a sandwich, or apple, or anything! I still have to chew everything and bite everything on the side.

Sitting in limbo

The closing of the gap has started to slow down now. It's still coming together though which is great. Less than 3 weeks til braces... yikes. I only just got used to the expander (well as much as anyone could get used to this thing!) and now I have to tackle a whole new set of problems... at least I'm getting closer to getting the expander out. I cant wait to talk normally and eat without getting half your dinner stuck in there and having to somehow get it out without sticking your whole hand in there! Pfft. Anyway...

Here's more comparison pics to show the gap getting smaller.

Still getting smaller!

I cant believe how much my gap has closed up! Its down to just under 4mm now - it was 6.75 so thats a big difference. Heres some comparison pics from when I stopped turning and now...














You can see that my teeth are coming in faster from the bottom which my ortho tells me is normal. She was happy to hear that they are coming together because it means that my teeth will move easily when she puts the braces on. 3 weeks this Friday until they go on! I have to get a veneer removed the Wednesday before which sits over my tooth beside my front tooth. I know this is going to look horrible but it has to be done. I found out from my old dentist who fitted the veneer if she ground down my tooth much before the veneer was put on and she said no, it was very minimal so I was over the moon to hear that. I was thinking oh no, my tooth is going to be like half the size because I know some dentists really grind the tooth down alot before a veneer is put on. She mentioned why she didnt do it and it was because she thought I would get braces down the trach cos I was so young when I got it fitted (17). Very smart :)
So not much else is going on with my teeth really. I still cant chew some foods like steak, nuts, apple with skin on and stuff like that but I am definitely more used to the expander now. I still dont speak normally but I'm kinda used to that too.
I will post again if my teeth close up more (and I'm hoping they are touching by the time my braces go on!) Woohoo!