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!!

Expander in, SARPE completed!

The expander went in on the 6/18 and I had my surgery on 6/21. The first day with the expander was a little tough. I was making a lot of saliva (since my body thought this new device was food) and was having a hard time pronouncing some words. The worst being any words with "ee" in it like neat, feet, meat, etc. S and N were tough at first too, but by the end of the weekend it wasn't too bad. I would also say the extra spit stopped by day 2.

My first meal with the expander was interesting. I decided to go for Indian food and got a whole bunch of rice stuck in it. I couldn't really finish my meal and drank tons of water to clear the expander.

By the time I had dinner, it was much better. I was able to eat regular foods that weren't too hard. I had fish, cheese, calamari (not the crispy kind) and mashed potatos. Delic! By Sunday, I was talking even better and really only noticed a change in voice when I said those "ee" words. I did hurt my cheeks chewing during that second meal. The brackets they use for the expander have sharp edges. I used wax all day Saturday and even attempted to eat with wax in my mouth. By Sunday my cheeks were a lot better and I just used some orajel swaps to keep the discomfort in check.

Monday morning was my SARPE. My oral surgeon had me take some Valium and Vitamin K (to prevent bleeding) an hour before. By the time I got to the oral surgeon's office, I felt good and was even more relaxed once they started the laughing gas. The whole surgery took about an hour. My mom was with me the whole time and drove me home afterward. Once I got out of the car at my apartment, my nose started bleeding a lot, but I made it into the house OK. I was pretty out of it as the anesthesia wore off, but by 2 PM I was answering the phone. The main thing that first day was making sure I iced my face and had all my meds which includes 800 mg of ibuprofen 3x's per day and an antibiotic 3x's per day. I also have liquid vicodin.

I already have a 3 mm gap in between my teeth which was apparent immediately following surgery. I knew the oral surgeon was going to turn the key to test it, but it seems like he must have done it a bunch of times. I will find out more when I see him on Friday. The main thing that hurt was pressure under my nose and cheekbones. I believe that was from the expanding. The oral surgeon wants me to expand much faster than the ortho said originally. He said it would be 2-3 times per day. Ortho thought it shouldn't be more than 2 x's per day. I'm glad they want to do it faster though because that means expansion should be complete in as few as two weeks instead of six.

The pics above are 2 1/2 days post SARPE. It looks like my upper jaw is already wider.

RPE fitting

This morning I went to the orthodontist to have my fitting for my RPE (rapid palatal expander). I will get this put in on Friday, June 18th in preparation for my SARPE (surgically assistaed rapid palatal expansion) on June 21st. After reading so many ortho blogs, I had a TON of questions for my orthodonist today! I learned that after I have SARPE, I will start turining 4-7 days afterwards. The oral surgeon will turn the key following surgery, but only to test the device. Once I start turning, I will turn 42 times at a rate of one turn per day. The goal is 10mm of expansion. Although I will get a gap in between my front teeth, the ortho said the 10mm would be the amount that the jaw would expand, not the space between the front teeth. Fingers crossed that I only get a baby gap!! After six weeks of turning, I will stop expanding for another six weeks and then get braces. So we're looking at the following:

June 18th - RPE in
June 21st - SARPE
June 25th (?) - begin expansions; 1 turn per day
August 6th (?) - stop turning
September 17th - braces on

I also asked the ortho about needing a "fake tooth" to be put in with my braces and he said that won't be necessary. Once I stop turning, the gap will start to close up and he will use a powerchain on the braces to pull the teeth together to get rid of the remaining gap.

Once I get closer to the surgery, I will take more pictures!!

How it began...

I had four years of braces, from 12 to 16 and eventually got them off because my ortho couldn't fix my crossbite. He suggested jaw surgery, but at the time (1992), it mean being wired shut for six weeks. Thinking the whole jaw surgery thing was basically a huge inconvenience for something that was entirely cosmetic, I decided against it.

Fast forward 18 years...

In April, I went to my dentist for a regular check-up and low-and-behold one of my teeth is loose. I was told it had to do with my bite. Since my teeth don't hit in the right area, the root is being worn down causing mobility. The thought of having to be in dentures made me think that it was worth it now to explore jaw surgery. Plus it would be nice to be able to close my mouth all the way, have my teeth hit in the right place and get rid of my morning headaches.

After meeting with an ortho, then the oral surgeron, then the ortho and the oral surgeon again, it was decided that the best way to go was SARPE, then braces, then another jaw surgery to fix the lower jaw and bring forward the upper jaw. SARPE was necessary to expand the upper jaw first to make sure all the teeth fit into place when the lower jaw was brought over. According to my ortho, all will be completed in 12 - 15 months.

Currently, I have my separators in so I'm anticipating the SARPE surgery which is scheduled for June 21st. I mostly keep myself calm, but am anxious about the surgery and the dreaded gap I'm supposed to get. My oral surgeon said they're shooting for 10mm and I'm hopeful that won't mean a giant gap in the front. I had an RPE in high school and never had a gap, but I'm pretty sure with SARPE it's going to happen. The anticipation of what will I look like and how will I handle it keeps me up sometimes. Above is a pic of my mouth today with my separators for the RPE that goes in on June 18th.