Friday, May 23, 2014

Spacer dilemma Part 2

Well, I went back to the orthodontist to see if they could replace the spacer that fell out. Apparently, it's not that easy. Typically, they'll replace the spacer and have no issues. However, the reason my spacer fell out is because it did its job and a little too well! There's now a pretty large space where the spacer used to be. If they try to put another spacer in, it'll just fall out again.
This time, they put a thicker spacer in its place and it was such a BITCH. God it hurt so bad after they placed it. They warned me that it could fall out again though. If it does fall out again, my orthodontist told me to not worry about it. So long as it stays in for a few days, everything should be fine. I was just worried about loosing the space and then having an issue when they go to put the appliance in on the 4th. If the appliance doesn't fit when I go on the 4th due to a spacer malfunction, I'll be really upset. But I'll trust Dr. Klein! She knows best so I'll try not to worry...too much!

EDIT (May 26th, 2014 @ 7pm)
The spacer just fell out again!! Darn thing! I hope it's been in for long enough to do what it needed to! I can't wait until the 4th to get all these stupid spacers out cause they are really irrating me!

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Spacer dilemma

Well, it's finally happened! I had a slight braces malfunction yesterday. And it only took 24 hours for it to happen, haha! Not a huge big deal, but one of my spacers on my top jaw popped out last night while we were hanging out with some friends. It was on my left side and I'm pretty sure it was the very back molar. I'm just happy that I felt it and spit it out before I swallowed it!

Unfortunately, I don't really have the time to put the spacer back in until Wednesday. I have to work Monday and Tuesday from 7am-3:30pm. And Monday after work, I have a dentist appointment at 4pm. I might as well go to the orthodontist on Wednesday when I have a day off work. That way, I'm not rushing around like a crazy person trying to run to an appointment right after work.

After the spacers were placed, my jaw was ok. But later that evening my jaw started to hurt quite a bit. After the spacer popped out, my jaw felt a little better (uh...no duh!). But nothing to worry about, I've got 3 weeks-ish before the appliance goes in and that's plenty of time to get the spacer replaced and do it's thing.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Back to reality

It's been quite awhile since I last posted. But I haven't had much to post about since I haven't gone to the dentist since the beginning of April. Today, however, I went back to the orthodontist for the first time in several weeks. Today was the big day that I got the dreaded upper spacers put back in. I took ibuprofen before the appointment so I wasn't too sore. Now, almost 8 hours later, I'm starting to feel a little sore. I took another ibuprofen a few hours ago so hopefully it won't be too bad overnight.

I think I'm in for a rough night though. I returned to wearing my night guard after my spacers came out the first time. It helped me to sleep easier. But now that the spacers are back in again, I won't be able to wear the night guard since it won't fit. At least I'll get to sleep in if I do end up waking up a ton. Until I get used to these dumb spacers, I'll probably have to do the whole 600mg of ibuprofen 3-4 times a day.

In other news, I found out that my orthodontist is pregnant. I can't believe I didn't notice last time I saw her. However, she was only 4-5 months along and wearing a rather large lab coat. But today, she was definitely pregnant! Haha. The nice thing is that my timeline and her timeline match up quite perfectly. After my surgery in June, I'll need to have at least 6 months of healing before the top braces will go on. She's due to give birth in September which means that she'll be on maternity leave from September thru December. And once we hit January, she'll be back and I'll be ready to continue with my treatment. I thanked her for timing it so perfectly because this means that I won't have to post-pone my treatment or my future surgery. She laughed.

My next appointment is June 3rd and that's when I get the appliance fitted and glued. So I'll have a few weeks to get used to the expander before my surgery. Wish me luck!