Weeks 14 and 15 - The curry incident

10/17---------------------------11/17-----------------------12/17


Hello and happy holidays! The weeks are going by super fast and I realize that this probably the longest I've gone between blog posts! I didn't think my teeth were straightening up, but when I look at the progression, I can see that they've straightened up a ton in the past month. It even looks like the gap up top has closed in a bit so yay for that!

I've read that curry can cause your powerchains / rubberbands to change colors and I can confirm this is absolutely true. Online, I read that silver was a safe choice, but some chicken vindaloo later, my pretty silver powerchains are now a shiny gold. I've actually had curry twice in the past two weeks so clearly I am a glutton for punishment. I can report that the gold color does fade with brushing so over time it's not as bright as say the night you have curry. When this happened originally, I was going to get my elastics changed, but then I figured it blended well enough with my teeth, so I decided to skip it. My next adjustment is the 29th so I'll have to see about getting a different color up top.

For those that haven't entered the braces stage yet, I've decided that in retrospect, the metal brackets are way better than the "clear" brackets. First the brackets aren't really clear, hence the quotation marks and second, they're a lot bigger than the metal brackets. Plus the dark gray elastics blend well with metal and don't stain.

Also, I've tried to cheap out on the threader floss by buying Oral B's brand and I've got to say nothing beats Crest's threader floss. The Oral B floss took twice as long to thread—not worth it when my brushing routine is already such a process.

Weeks 12 & 13

30 days-----------------------60 days-------------------------90 days
Braces timeline

Left side

Right side

It's been almost a month since I posted pictures so I wanted to get a whole bunch up today. As you can see, the gaps between my front teeth and the lateral incisors are almost closed. Yay! I have gotten over any self-consciousness I had over my teeth and now no longer use wax to hide the gaps. I officially went wax free around 11/20. It just got to the point where I didn't want to deal with it anymore and the gaps to me seem not that bad. Plus, I've had about three incidents already where I swallowed the wax. Yuk, right? So far now, the baby gaps still need to close and then maybe this front one will start closing again. In other positive developments this week I started eating sandwiches again. It seems like the front teeth are a lot more sturdy now and it's easier to bite through things.

Week 10 & 11 - adjustment

Right after SARPE, there was a ton going on in my mouth. Every week there was progress on the gap, new foods that I could chew, etc. Now things are a lot calmer. Speaking has returned to normal. I can eat pretty much anything – as long as there is a fork and knife involved. I can pucker my lips and drink through a straw. Yes, the little things. Plus the gap(s) are significantly smaller. My teeth are moving, but not at a super rapid pace so it’s harder to see the progress on a week-by-week basis. So not as much too post – that’s why I’ve been quieter.

On Wednesday, I went to the ortho for an adjustment. They added a heavier wire and new brackets to my very back molars to help them sit down lower in my mouth. I also had these “break pads” put on the teeth next to them so it would prevent me from biting down on the brackets in the back. On the top, they added a heavier wire with powerchains which should help reduce the gaps overall and allow the front teeth to straighten out. Initially it will reduce the gaps between the front and the lateral incisors as the front teeth straighten out. Then the front teeth will start coming together again, but they’ll come in straighter. Currently the teeth are flying in towards one another – making a V shape. The ortho assistant said that the gaps typically close at a rate of 2 mm every six weeks. She said I had 8 mm of space overall. Based on my calculations, it’s looks like I’ll be gap free in May?!

Week 9 - Powerchains progress

10/12/10----------------------------------------------11/2/10

Since I got my lovely silver powerchains three weeks ago, there has been some progress in closing the gaps, but it's been a lot slower than it was with the wire powerchains. If I look at the pic from 10/12 and then the one from 11/2, then click to enlarge and look back and forth again, I do see SOME progress. It seems like the gap between the front teeth has closed slightly and the gaps between the front teeth and the lateral incisors have definitely closed up a bit, but where's the drama? When I look back on my old blog posts, I predicted teeth closed by September, then end of October and now? I'm hoping for Janaury. :) My birthday is coming up in three weeks, but I don't think it'll be no more gaps as a present. Perhaps I'll kick off 2011 gap free??

8 weeks of braces

Week 0----------------------Week 5---------------------Week 8




Front view



Left side




Right side

Overall, the gaps have diminished quite a bit and I have become less self-conscious of my teeth. My smile is starting to seem more normal and I now feel like I look more Lauren Hutton and less hillbilly. :) I can feel that my teeth are moving - particularly at night. They are especially tingly between the front two teeth although there hasn't been any further reduction in my front teeth gap since the wire powerchains came off.

Eating has improved, but I still can't bite anything off with my front teeth. They are far too sensitive! Sandwiches are either ripped apart or approached with a knife and fork.

Fortunately, there are a lot of great products out there to make caring for braces a a snap. Below is my dream team:

• Waterpik Ultra Water Flosser -even has an attachment for braces! 10 speeds that won't let you down.


• Crest Glide Threader Floss - accept no imitations! This is the easiest floss to use and won't fall apart.


• Dentakit Brace Survival Kit - perfect for keeping teeth clean on the go.


• Ortho pro orthodontic toothbrush - makes cleaning teeth super easy! You have to get it on Dentakit.com

Silver power chains!

10-12-10 New grille with silver powerchains



10/11/10 - Wires out before the dentist



10/12/10 Up close - first day in powerchains

The past two days have been really busy tooth-wise. Yesterday, I went to the ortho in the morning to have the wires taken out to prepare for my dental cleaning. I had a pokey wire that I had been a bit lazy about getting cut so it was nice to have the wires out. Plus, I got a chance to dust off my regular floss for the day.

The dentist and hygenist were both super excited that I had taken action to get my jaw alignment issues taken care of. They couldn't believe how much wider my palate was. They took a bunch of x-rays and it was neat to see how the bone is filling in. For the cleaning itself, I was a bit nervous that I would have a lot of plaque build-up because of the braces, but the hygentist said my gums were really healthy and actually looked much better than they did in April. I thought it had to do with all the extra brushing I have been doing with my braces. The hygentist suggested that I purchase a waterpik and start using straws to prevent staining. The dentist recommended that I come in every four months for a cleaning.

To take my cleaning to the next level, I purchased a high-end waterpik from Amazon.com. I had cheaper one before, but the water presssure was too much and after a few months the device was moldy. This new one has 10 different settings! I think that'll be a lot better for my second surgery. I also bought some straws to help avoid staining from my daily blueberry smoothie.

This morning, I got up to make it to the ortho 5 minutes before my appointment at 7:00 AM. Since I was few minutes early, I waited outside with a couple of other adults who had also scheduled 7 AM appointments. It reminded me that I'm not the only 'grown-up' out there going through orthodonture. After I got into the office, I wrote my name on the board and sat in the waiting room. 15 minutes went by and they still hadn't called my name. I went up to the front desk and asked them about my appointment. I was told, "Heather, your appointment is at 7:30." On snap! I got confused because I scheduled my next dentist appointment yesterday for 7 AM. Too bad I had 7 AM on the brain—it would have been nice to get a few extra zzzz's this morning!

I had very good news from the orthodontist. The bottom teeth are already in a perfect arch. The next step is to just to move some of the teeth individually into the correct alignment. The top teeth have moved enough that they can now use a heavier wire and powerchains to close the spaces all at once. Powerchains are a string of ligatures that pull all the teeth togther. This was pretty exciting news! I thought I was going to be dealing with the gaps for a lot longer. Since this morning, the gaps are already starting to close up. The ones between my front teeth and lateral incisiors look a lot smaller than yesterday—you can see the difference between the picture with wires and the one without.

The only thing with the powerchains is that since they move the teeth quickly it causes a lot of soreness. I can feel a lot of pressure in my mouth. I haven't taken any ibuprofen today, but I will load up before I go to bed. As they say—no pain, no gain. :)

Week 6 of braces!

Day 2-----------------------------2 1/2 weeks-----------------------5 weeks

The gap between my two front teeth is now at 1.59. Pretty crazy to think that less than two months ago I had a 11 mm gap between my two front teeth! Things have been coming along with the braces and it continues to encourage me to see how quickly my teeth have moved. On Monday, I'm having my teeth cleaned and I learned that I need to go to the orthodontist first to have the wires removed. So Monday, I'll have super clean teeth an no wires. On Tuesday morning, I'll get the wires back on and have my next adjustment. My understanding of the plan is that there will be powerchains on the next two teeth to bring them more towards the front two. It would be really nice to have all front teeth together. :)

Gap closing in!

Wax On


Wax Off



Day 2------------------------Day 15-----------------------------Day 29


It's been almost a month since the braces were put on and you can see that the teeth have moved quite a bit. The front gap is now at 2 mm. Very soon, my front teeth will touch again. It's pretty exciting stuff from where I'm sitting!

Overall things have been going well. I'm keeping myself busy and pampering myself so that I don't focus in on my mouth (as you can see I've got straight hair!). I'm encouraged by the progress and am staying focused on the positive. The past month just flew by and before I know it, this experience will be behind me. In the meantime, I'm working on forgetting that I even have braces on and am enjoying some of the perks - like having to get three pair of paints taken in. For the most part the braces don't bother me except when I try to eat too much food at one time. If I do that, my cheeks that a beating.

3 weeks of braces!

Day 1 braces------------------------------------------------Day 21

It's hard to believe it's been three weeks since I got my braces. It honestly feels like I've been wearing them much longer! I continue to watch my gap like a hawk and it is now down to 2.38 mm - half the size from where I was on brace day. At this rate, it looks like the front gap will be closed by my next adjustment on 10/12. Although the gaps bother me, I am used to them. At this point, I would be most grateful to get rid of my lisp! With the gaps in my teeth it's difficult to get out "s" sounds.

Having braces overall hasn't been too bad. Most people have been cool about it - either they don't say anything or they ask about it in a nice way. I ran into a coworker I hadn't seen in a number of weeks and he asked me, "What's new?" I said, "Oh, nothing." And he said, "No, not nothing. You've got braces. That's something." I suppose it is something, but it's not something I want to highlight in an update.

Today, I was at the climbing gym and I saw a group of teenagers and two of them had braces. I had to restrain myself from joining them. :) It's always nice to see others in the club.

Tin grin - week 2

Week 2

Day 2.............................................................Day 9

Well week # 2 in braces has proved not to be too bad. For the most part I forget I'm even wearing braces. They're not that uncomfortable and I can eat most things as long as they're not too chewy or hard. I've embraced my new toothbrush and floss and am brushing my teeth 3-4 times per day.

While post-SARPE I had one large gap, with braces I now have three smaller gaps. The one in between my teeth is about 4 mm. The gap betweem the left two front teeth is 2 mm and the gap between the front right teeth is 1 mm. My measurements aren't that precise since the front teeth are swinging in. In the pics you can see that the right tooth is at a bit of an angle. The power chain is trying to get the right tooth to move, but it's being stubbon. It's got about 3 mm to go.

I continue to use wax to conceal the gaps and it stays in pretty securely since the gaps are smaller. The wire from my braces also keeps it in place. Although I'm keeping myself super busy so I don't focus too much on my mouth, I am counting the days until I am gap free. I am hopeful at this rate, I will see my teeth close in October. I don't want to be a Jack O'Lantern for Halloween!

Tin grin!

Monday was the big day! The brackets went on and the expander was removed from my mouth. It was such a joy getting the expander out. I can speak sooooo much better! Plus feeling the new roof of my mouth was so much fun. It felt huge compared to what it had been!

After removing the expander, they took some impressions to fit the trans palatal arch which eventually replaced the expander in the roof of my mouth. Next the assistant glued on all the brackets. While she was working on me, the ortho assistant was telling me about her trip to Vegas that past weekend. Being Monday morning, I was concerned that she may not be in the best shape to work on my mouth. Everything seemed fine until I brushed my teeth that night. First, the bracket on my left front tooth fell off. In the morning I brushed again and the bracket fell off the tooth next to it. I didn't know what was going on! Did I brush too hard? I put the brackets in a plastic baggy and went to work missing two brackets and tried not to grin too much. Since I was heading back to the ortho in the afternoon for wires and the TPA, I figured I'd get them reglued then.

That afternoon, I ran out of work to make my 3 PM ortho appt. The ortho assistant placed four new brackets on the front teeth since it was a matter of time until the other front two fell off. Apparently they needed to use a tougher bond since the front four teeth are veneers. Once they were rebonded the front four brackets, we were in business. They put in the trans palatal arch as well as the wires.

Even with the trans in I can still talk much better than before. I do have a bit of a lisp still because of the gap and some syllables still sound a bit funny, but big big improvement. Food doesn't really get stuck in the trans. The other thing I was surprised was I was sore in my bottom teeth, but not the upper teeth. I think my teeth in my upper jaw are so used to moving with the expander that it's not big deal for them. They put a wire powerchain between the two front teeth to start bringing them together. Literally in the ortho's office I saw the teeth move. I am now at 4.75 mm though I have spaces developing between the next teeth over. The power chain works to move the front teeth really quickly and the next teeth over will just move over on their own. When I come back in October for my next adjustment, they will use a powerchain to bring the next set of teeth over.

Day 2 in braces

Up close and personal

Six weeks post expansion

It's hard to believe that six weeks have already passed since I stopped expanding! On Monday, I went to the orthodontist to get my separators in on my lower teeth in prep for braces. My lower teeth ached a bit the first day, but by the second day they didn't bother me too much. Chewing is a little more difficult with the separtors on the lowers, but not too much has changed food-wise since I'm still on a soft food diet.

When I saw the orthodontist, he said to me, "I hate seeing you with that gap." I think he's as eager as I am to get it closed! It is now at 7.14 mm and has closed 4 mm overall in the past six weeks. The braces go on Monday so hopefully that'll mean that the gap will start closing even more quickly. I have a wedding to go to on the 11th and it would be nice for that gap to be gonzo by then. :)

I found out that while braces go on Monday, I am coming back on Tuesday to get the TPA (trans palatal arch) to replace the expander. Apparently they have to measure it with the braces on before they can have it made.

Below are some pics. My smile today and the progression over the past six weeks. A lot of progress!

6 weeks post expansion


0, 21 days, 42 days post-expansion

35 days post expansion - 12 days till braces!

0, 21, 35 days post-expansion

In the past week, my teeth have continued to line up and the gap has closed another 3/4 mm. I'm now just under 8mm. Each week gets easier and I have a lot more energy. I've gotten back into my exercise routine and I've found that I can eat more crunchy foods - like raw peppers and pita bread. I also realized that with my new soft diet, I'm almost a vegetarian. I say "almost" because I'm not committed to it 100%, but there's no way I want to chomp on a steak right now. I continue to improvise and enjoy my new blender. Last night I made mango ice cream; chocolate mousse has become one of my regular favorites.

Braces are coming up soon and I don't feel nervous about it. I feel I'm already used to orthodonture with the expander and I'm eager to get to my next milestone. To prep, I purchased an Adult Braces Survival Kit from Dentakit.com along with an ortho toothbrush, more orthosil wax, and a lip protector. Hoping the new goodies ease me into braces! The expander also comes out in 12 days - I know the TPA (trans palatal arch) won't be as bulky, but I'm not sure if my speech will be less impaired. My worse sounds right now are "ch", "sh" and "ee".

4 weeks post expansion - 2 1/2 weeks until braces!

5/30/10-------------------------> 8/11/10 (7 1/2 weeks post SARPE)

Time seems to be flying by! Four weeks have already passed since I stopped expanding and my teeth continue to line up. I've been feeling a lot of tingling between my front teeth and I've noticed that my teeth are even a little loose. I suppose that means these teeth are ready to get a move on. Since last week, my teeth have continued to straighten up, but the gap has only gone down to 8.75 mm—just 3/4 of mm since last week. At this rate, I may be at about 6.75 mm by the time my braces come on. Even though the gap is closing slowly, the good news is that since my teeth are coming inward (instead of swinging outward), I can easily close my lips over teeth. Makes drinking out of a glass a lot easier!

Below are pics at 0, 14, 21 and 28 days post-expansion.

21 days after expansion

Things seem to be picking up. My gap is now at 9.5 mm and my teeth have continued to straighten out. I'm encouraged by the progress and am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel - front teeth back together. I figure if my teeth continue to close at about 1.5 mm per week, then it should be all closed up by mid-September. Yay! Amazingly the gap hasn't been as torturous as I feared. I'm just looking at the process as a set of milestones and keeping positive that the end result will be well worth it.

0, 14 days, 21 days

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.

15 turns of the key and taking care of myself!

I didn't realize how tough it would be being back at work this week. Things went well on Monday, but by yesterday at 4:30 PM I was not well. I went home and rested, but couldn't sleep at night. My jaw was aching and woke me up at 4:00 AM this morning. I thought turning the key 2x's a day would be no problem, but it still is a bit tough on the system. I came into work today because we had a recognition luncheon honoring all those that contributed to a $60m deal that we recently closed. Our admin was kind enough to organize a meal for me at the restaurant that was all pureed. The meal was actually really good and the chef even came out to see what I thought! In the middle of the luncheon, my nose started running constantly. I'm not supposed to blow my nose for 10 days after surgery, but I had to today. Considering we're at day 9, I figured it wasn't the end of the world.

At work, I've felt like I am wearing a mask. I am covering up the gap with wax and all my bruises with make-up. Even after 9+ days I still have a bunch of bruising on either side of my chin. Although I felt like I need to portay an image of being OK, I decided that it's alright to take care of myself. I am taking off Thursday and Friday to recover further. I already have a sore throat and I'm concerned if I don't rest, it'll just get worse. I think I will feel much better once I am back on solid foods come Monday. Here's hoping that I don't have to keep expanding past 24 turns! I think my jaw (and my body) need a rest.

Attached is a pic showing 15 turns of the key.

Back at work and 11 turns of the key!

Last night I made mac 'n cheese and used my blender to grind it up. The blender didn't like that too much and started smoking. For future, I will grind up the noodles first before adding the velveta cheese. Apparently velveta cheese is like metal as far as my poor blender is concerned. It did seem to work OK this morning though it took a little longer than usually to blend up my banana.

Before work I went and saw my orthodontist. The oral surgeon told the orthodontist that he did 4 turns during surgery (two more than I thought he had done). So combined with the turns I did over the weekend and today, I am now at 11 turns. I didn't feel too confidant in my turns of the key until last night though. To make sure you're doing it correctly, the key has to be pushed into the device like a key into a lock. Once it clicks, you move the key towards the back of your throat until it can't go anymore.

After the orthodonist looked at my mouth, he thought we already had a lot of space so he just wants me to turn 13 more times. Yay! In a week's time I could be done with both expanding AND the liquid diet!! w00t w00t I have an appointment to see the ortho on July 6th and I will stop turning the morning of July 5th. The ortho assistant said I could skip turns if it was hurting, but I'm just going to press on. The sooner I start, the sooner I finish. I don't think the expanding hurts that much, it just feels like some pressure, but it's not painful.

The first day back at work wasn't too bad. It was busy, but no one seemed to notice my new appearance. I used the wax to cover the gap and I think that seemed to help. The ortho assistant at my doctor's office gave me a ton of wax and said that it was pretty common among the adults to cover up the gap that way. She said she had one patient that covered it up so well she couldn't even tell!

Day 6 - Hide the gap!

After have surgery just over 5 days ago, I decided to go to a party tonight. I still have a bunch of bruising on my cheeks, but it is pretty easily hidden with make-up. I also decided to hide the gap by sticking some dental wax between it. No one seemed to notice it and I didn't receive any comments until I explained to an acquaintance that I hadn't been able to get lunch this week because I had just had jaw surgery. He said, "Oh so that's the reason for the thing between your teeth?" I'm thinking camouflaging the gap is probably better than totally rocking it, but I guess we'll see. I thinking I'll use wax for work and see how it goes. From a distance it seems to make it a lot less noticeable.

So I turned the key by myself twice today. I wasn't sure if I did it correctly in the morning and had to go for an 8 AM run to Rite Aid to get a dental mirror. Between the full length mirror in my room, a headlamp and my new no-fog dental mirror I was able to see the key OK. I also watched a video on YouTube to help. I will try again tomorrow and hopefully I did it right today.

Above is a picture of me covering the bruises with make-up and the gap with dental wax. Not too bad, right?

Post-op visit

Today, I went to see the oral surgeon for my post-op. I learned that he actually turned the key only twice during the surgery. He said that the gap was a result of opening up my jaw. It makes me a bit nervous though. Does that mean the gap is going to be huge??

The oral surgeon turned the key once this morning during the appointment. Starting tomorrow I will turn the key 2x's per day for 2-3 weeks. I will alternate weekly seeing the oral surgeon and the ortho. I will see the ortho for my next appointment on Monday.

Above is a picture with no make-up. You can see I'm still a bit swollen, but the bruising is now yellow. Here's hoping it clears up before I go to work on Monday!!