Post-expansion! Gap closing progress.

It's been over two weeks since I stopped expanding and I have a few things to report. After two weeks post-expansion, 5 1/2 weeks post-SARPE, the feeling has returned to my gums.

My teeth have straighted out a bit. You can see in 0 days post-expansion that the teeth were going out to opposite sides. Particularly this was noticeable with my left-hand teeth. The left-hand front tooth was at an angle. Now both sides have straighted out and you can see even in just two days (day 14 to day 16) that there was additional straightening with that left-hand front tooth. I was so focused on the gap itself that I didn't notice that my teeth had been lining up. Always good to look at the whole picture. :) The gap is now down to 10 mm from 11 mm.

Here's hoping the gap closing continues! Braces in one month exactly.

0 days post-expansion, 14 days, 16 days

10 days post expansion!

Long time, no blog. Well, there hasn't been a ton to report since I finished expanding last Wed. The good news is I feel TONS better. I am finally weaned off of the Ibuprofen and my jaw rarely aches. I also have much more energy. I made it through the week without feeling utterly exhausted. I also started getting back to more of my regular activities such as working out and staying out past 9:30 on weekends.

In gap news, the gap is still around 11 mm. I've woken up a few times where my teeth felt tingly, but when I've measured the gap I haven't seen much change. Possibly the gap has closed 1/3 of a millimeter, but I'm not sure if that's just wishful thinking. Here's hoping some closing starts happening soon!

I have been enjoying the new blender a lot! I made hummus, blueberry sorbet, egg salad, chocolate mousse, gazpacho and many smoothies. So happy together!!

In a new addition to my blog, I give you a celebrity who rocks the gap:

Louis Oosthuizen, 2010 Britsh Open winner

One and done!! 38 turns and RIP to my blender

38 turns

Hiding with wax

Another day, another appt. This morning I had my second post-op with the oral surgeon. He took a look and said that the bone was healing really nicely. "Well done," he says and extends his hand, "See you in six months." So it looks like I am done with my teeth until I see the orthodontist the end of August. In the meantime, I'll be watching this 11mm gap and hoping it starts to close-up. I've seen blogs where the gap closes in 5 weeks and others where it takes months. It'll be interesting to see what my body decides to do with all this new real estate. I'm hoping it starts to close because I really feel like I am Mega Teeth right now.

In other news, I had to say goodbye to an old friend tonight. My blender, always there when I needed her, lost her fight with my smoothie this morning. Mid-blend she couldn't crush my fruit anymore. I decided that my need to blend is not going away any time soon and with pending big double jaw surgery, it was time to stop effing around and go for a major upgrade. I got a Blendtec Total Blender Basic. It even comes with a huge recipe book. I'm pretty pumped. I had no idea I could get this excited for a blender!

On Monday night, I was watching my fave reality show The Bachelorette and saw that Kirk's mom had a mouthful of braces. Soul sister!! Here's what Reality Steve has to say about her:

Something tells me that a family can just sit around watching TV in Wisconsin and just gnaw on sticks of cheese until their heart explodes. I figured that Kirk’s family would stick to kind of the more softer foods since his mother couldn’t possibly have anything hard with that mouthful of metal she had going. Good Lord, don’t they make clear braces in Wisconsin ? She looked like the “Jaws” character from the James Bond movies in the late 70’s. With all the wires and metal running through her mouth, she could probably pick up a few radio stations in California if she was facing the right direction.

I feel you sister, but LOL about not making clear braces in Wisconsin. Fortunately, my OD is hooking me up with those (not to be confused with Invasalign).

34 turns - 4 more to go!!

This morning I went to the orthodontist. My OD was pleased with the expansion and said that I had to turn only six more times. Since I hadn’t turned for two days, he said I had to turn the key immediately. So the ortho assistant turned it twice for me in the office. That was a bit of shock to the system since my body was enjoying the break it had from turning. I took four ibuprofen tablets after that.

I turn again twice tomorrow, twice Wednesday and then done, done, done. Yahoo!! It’ll be 38 turns total.

So here’s the new plan:

7/14/10 – finish expanding
8/23/10 – separators in on lower teeth.
8/30/10 – braces on, RPE (Rapid Palatal Expander) out, TPA (Trans-Palatal Arch) in.

After about a week on real foods, eating is getting easier. The tough thing is that my jaw feels achy so I don’t really like to eat anything too chewy. The other challenge is that I now have a 10mm gap between my two front teeth. I use wax to hide the gap when I’m out and at work, but I can’t eat too many foods without the wax starting to crumble. To compensate, I’ve been eating larger breakfasts and dinners and then having a lighter non-chewy lunch at work.

Expanding also makes me really tired. At night, I wake up from crazy dreams or I find that my jaw aches or hurts because I’m clenching my teeth. I had one dream that my loose tooth fell out even though I’m working on fixing my bite. I woke up pretty irritated! I thought, I can’t go through all this and STILL lose my tooth! Supposedly dreams about losing your teeth reflect your anxieties about your appearance and how others perceive you. I suppose considering the changes going on with my appearance that makes sense.

Up close - my extra front tooth. The wonders of wax. :)

Full picture. A little change of scenary. OUTSIDE the apt! Yeah natural light!

My new jaw thanks to the RPE!


Gappy photos - 32 turns. Check out how my left tooth is moving out to the side.

Wide angle - 32 turns of the key.

25 turns and a way with wax!

Yesterday was my first day back on solid foods. I still can't eat something really hard, but I did gorge on sushi last night. It was simply divine. I also went and played golf yesterday. It went fine - I just had to be careful not to clench my jaw when making a shot.

This morning I met with the orthodontist. He was impressed by how I covered the gap and said, "You have a way with wax." Indeed.

The ortho wants me to do 8 more turns. I did one tonight, so that's 7 left. w00t w00t. Let's hope I can retire the key.

My jaw is feeling huge to me. We'll see what a couple of extra millimeters do!

I was supposed to meet the oral surgeon on Friday, but he had to reschedule. Now I'm seeing the ortho on Monday and the oral surgeon on Wed. I have questions for the oral surgeon. I wonder what sports can I play now? If you have jaw surgery you're not supposed to play contact sports or sports that involves balls (I know Clueless, there goes you social life, achem), but I need to find out if that's the same for SARPE. I'm in a volleyball league, but I have a feeling that I'm out for the season.

20 turns of the key! Hiding the gap 2.0

I've turned the key 20 times now and if all goes well on Tuesday, I'm in the home stretch of expanding (4 more to go!). Yay! As you can see, the gap has gotten much bigger over the past week.

As the gap got bigger, I found that hiding the gap with clear wax was less effective. It looked liked I was wearing some sort of clear retainer. So to solve the problem, I started looking online to see if there was tooth colored wax I could use, but couldn't find any that I could purchase. So I decided to get a little creative and make my own tooth colored wax. I mixed some make-up into the wax to make it blend better with my teeth. It seems that a combo of white eyeshadow and physician's formula yellow concealer does the trick.

Some new food tricks - heated brie with jam works well for a soft food diet. Also, pasta in the blender with ground beef and tomato sauce provides extra protein. I've been told that I've lost weight, but since I don't have a scale, I'm not really sure how much. It is important to keep eating / consuming calories though. I find I'm a lot less grumpy when I'm full.

Attached are some pics of the gap and the pics with the gap hidden. I'm also attaching the pics of my tricks of the trade for hiding the gap.