Progress Update #1 with Photos!

It's been exactly a week since I got PEA 2.0 and things are becoming more normal. However, certain teeth are now seriously sensitive. I'm hoping that they are just cavities that have become revealed since my teeth have been moving a lot recently. I'm hoping and praying that I don't need a root canal because I don't see how I'll be able to afford it. I have temporarily changed my toothpaste to Sensodyne until I can talk to my dentist about it. I have a dentist appointment Tuesday morning so I will post an update after that.

Other than the sensitivity, I'm really good. I had a week off for vacation and had tons of fun with my friend from college. We went up to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont while she was here. I had a great time and hope she did as well.

It's been awhile since I posted any pics of my progress. Here are the most recent photos that I took yesterday.

This is me with my 'normal' smile. As you can see, my teeth don't touch.

A closer view of my jaw. Again, doing a 'normal' bite down.

View of PEA 2.0 and teeth movement

Today also marks 6 weeks since my surgery! It's unbelievable how much can happen in such a short time! To most people, my teeth don't look like they've moved a lot but to me and my doctor's the progress is really good. My front tooth (the one slightly behind the other) used to be hidden much more. Now it's more visible which is exciting!

Pea 2.0 and yet another mini-rant

Things have been pretty busy for me this past week. I've had 2 doctor's appointments since Tuesday (both routine, nothing wrong). I'm also on vacation since my college friend is up here visiting for a week. 

Yesterday, I had a routine orthodontist appointment which went a lot better than the one I had a week before. 

Now, I understand that the office is busy and they see a lot of patients. One of the technicians comes up to me with my new palate expander and says, "Ok, let's try this one on and see how it fits." and then has a very confused facial expression when she sees that I already have one installed. It really irritates me because it makes me feel like I'm just another patient that you are working on. It doesn't kill you to take a quick 2 seconds to look at my chart and see what work I've already had done. That way you don't have to go and search for my orthodontist and ask her while she's in with another patient. My orthodontist does a great job of knowing what's going on with my case and just knowing me on a personal level. I don't feel like I should have to tell the technician (who I've been seeing for almost a year now btw) that I already have a palate expander installed. In fact, I think she was the one who helped to install the palate expander the first time! 

Ugh, I'm sure I sound ridiculous. Just wanted to get that off my chest. 

Yesterday though, I got PEA 2.0! Apparently, I found out that I "graduated" to an adult sized palate expander. The one that I had before was so small that it was child sized. So now I have a full sized PEA. And this one sits a lot better on my teeth than the last one. It also is practically flush with the roof of my mouth so I haven't had as much problems with food getting stuck up there like I did before. I've been instructed to amp up my expanding. I turn the key 3 times a day for 1 week, then 2 times a day for 1 week, then once a day until I see my ortho again. The space in between my two front teeth has kind of closed. But that is a good thing! It means all the teeth are moving to accommodate the added room I have now. Since the crowding is so bad, I won't really have a huge space between my two front teeth which makes me happy. Who knows, my teeth might even been pretty straight by the wedding we are attending in October! Very exciting! I also got my bottom wire replaced and some new colored o rings. So my teeth are a little sore today. 

Well, time to go and have more fun on my vacation!

More impressions and PEA 2.0 is on it's way!

Well, on Thursday, I had my 5 week post-op check up with my orthodontist. She seemed happy about my progress with PEA and told me that I would need to graduate to a bigger palate expander. In order to get a new one, they needed to take another impression. (Which makes this impression #17 since I started this journey) This involved taking PEA out, doing the impression, then reinstalling PEA.
I'm not going to lie, it was actually pretty uncomfortable. Getting PEA taken out sucked. A lot. It's glued in place and just didn't want to come out. Apparently, the technician didn't use anything to help remove PEA, she just yanked him out. That's probably why it hurt so much! My orthodontist ended up yelling at her though (since I just had oral surgery but NBD). And when she took PEA out, she bent one of the brackets a little making it almost impossible to put back on. They finally got it on but it sits lower on my teeth than it used to so now it's been irritating my lips and getting caught on my upper lip.

Thankfully, I'll only have to deal with PEA until Wednesday. My new palate expander should be in and they'll take the old one out and replace it for me. Can't wait to deal with the pain of getting it removed again! ;_;

142 days left!

Well, I've had PEA for a little over a month now and I can happily say that I am totally over it! I'm sick and tired of food getting stuck up in there. I'm tired of flossing 5+ times in one day. I can't stand that all the foods I used to like, now suddenly leave a metallic taste in my mouth that never really goes away. Mexican and really spicy food are the only things that really taste the same. And the WORST is that my lips are constantly getting caught on the two brackets on my canines.

UGH. Only 142 days left!

Sarpe Recovery - 3 Week update

Well, the last of my stitches finally fell out! It's been roughly 3 weeks since my surgery and I'm so happy that all my stitches are finally gone. The last two stitches were in the center of my incision and have been really bothering me the last couple days. I really wanted mother nature to just take its course and wait for them to either dissolve or fall out. But if they hadn't fallen out by next week, I was going to mention something to my orthodontist at my next appointment. Thankfully, they fell out on their own so I don't need to mention it to Dr. Kline.

I can now sorta use my tongue to feel the scar around my upper jaw and it sorta freaks me out a bit. I try not to do it a lot but most of the time I can't really help it. I also got some feeling back into my upper right teeth which is good. Makes me feel like I might not accidentally drool on myself as much anymore.

Still cranking PEA but now only once a day. I initially did it 4 times a day for 1 week and then 2 times a day for 1 week. Once I get fitted for PEA 2.0 then I'll probably go back to 2 times a day until I'm completely finished.

surgery weight loss

Recovery has been going really well. The bruises are all gone and almost all of my stitches have fallen out. I just have 1-2 more stitches left near the center of my top lip. I really just want to yank them out but I'm trying to be good.
Some of the stitches fell out over the holiday weekend. I was drinking a glass of juice and felt something in my mouth. Apparently, I had a huge giant clot near the top of my mouth. It fell out while drinking my juice and it even had a few stitches still in it. Totally grossed me out. I ended up throwing my juice out and brushed my teeth for a good 10 minutes after. Thankfully, I didn't vomit. Can't imagine that throwing up with PEA would be any fun.
Since my surgery,  I've lost roughly 10-12 pounds. And I've kept it off too! Its made me realize that I should try and make healthier choices. Since the weather is nice and its july, I want to try and fix up my bike. I might not be able to do much but I can ride a bike! And Don's parents have an old stationary bike that I might be able to use. That way I could use it all year long. I've been good and stayed away from bread and I think it's working. I can't say no to pasta all the time but I can say no to bread. We shall see!