It's finally here!

Well guys, this is it! Today was my last day in braces. I'm down to just under 15 hours until my braces get removed. It feels weird even just thinking about it! I've had these guys on my teeth for so long that I've sorta gotten used to them. BUT, I'm sure I'll get over it pretty fast.

Thinking about everything I've gone through for the past 3 years is making me a bit emotional. I'm getting kinda teary-eyed just thinking about it now so I'm sure I'll be a hot mess tomorrow.

I'm seriously looking forward to flossing LIKE A NORMAL PERSON. Holy hell, those flossers legit suck. I'm very excited to be able to just floss my teeth without having to look in a mirror every time. I'm also looking forward to eating corn on the cob and biting into a piece of fruit!

I also plan to get my hair done after my appointment. I definitely need it! Then, we are going to a celebratory dinner tomorrow evening once my husband gets home from work. I can't wait to post some photos!

Look for some photos tomorrow!

Home stretch! Almost there!

So guys, I'm sorry. I'm such a slacker and a bit of a liar. After my last post, I promised to update everyone with my orthodontist visit (which was a month ago, btw). I'm the worst. But seriously, I've just been super busy. My hubby and I went on a road trip together (From Massachusetts to Florida and back) and we had a blast. Then, when I came back, I immediately went into crazy work mode since my hospital transitioned to a new patient care/electric record system. I had a lot of overtime last week and this week is just as much, if not more. At this point I'm so overtired that I can't sleep (the thought of this conundrum makes me laugh hysterically) so I thought I'd finally get to updating everyone with all the things that have happened recently.

My last orthodontist appointment was good. I can't remember much about it cause it was so long ago. I do remember one thing though, Dr. Klein told me that it's time for my braces to come off!!!!!!!! I know this day has been coming for a long time and I'm super excited but it definitely feels surreal. She originally told me that I could take them off at my next appointment but I told her that I didn't feel comfortable taking them off before my final surgery. My next (and hopefully this time, final) surgery is officially Thursday April 28th at Mass Eye & Ear in Boston.

Since this surgery is dealing with my nasal cavity and my nose, I'll be forced to have a tube down my throat when I go in for this surgery. This is not a big deal until you factor in that you can't have anything loose in your mouth when they do this. When I get my braces off, I'll still need to wear a retainer 24/7. Since retainers are not permanent, they can potentially get dislodged during surgery and cause a patient to asphyxiate. That's not good which is why they don't allow it.

Dr. Klein was not comfortable with me not being able to wear my retainer for upwards of 4+ hours weeks after getting my braces taken off. I've worked too hard and invested too much time and money into my smile to compromise it now. So after a quick discussion, we ultimately decided that waiting a few extra weeks with braces was worth it.

Friday, May 20th is my debanding day and I can't wait!

My next appointment is tomorrow. It is also my last appointment before the braces come off! WHAA?! This is so crazy, I can't wrap my head around the concept.

I'm so exhausted from work these past couple weeks that I make no promises regarding an update for tomorrow. I may get to one on saturday so look for something (maybe) then!

Almost time to say goodbye to my bling...

Had another appointment, this time with Dr. Klein.

I just realized that all of my doctors have last names that begin with the letter 'K.' What's weird is that I just noticed it after 2 years..... 

My appointment was at 10:50am. It was my day off from work and since the weather was supposed to be semi-crappy (not snow-crappy, just general rain-crappy), I gambled and took my chances on the T. Thankfully, the D line on the green line is fairly reliable so I had no issues. Since I was taking the T, I made sure I left with plenty of time. If I take the train into the city, it normally takes me just under an hour. I grabbed something to eat and then got to my appointment a little early.

Normally, I just drive in because I usually book my appointments to be before my shift at work. I don't really have much time to take the train when I have to be at work right after. And rush hour traffic into Boston, isn't always fun so I normally arrive for my appointment right on time. In the past, when I've gone to the office in Boston, I usually have to wait 10-15 minutes after when my appointment is supposed to start.

This appointment was so different! I walked in about 10 minutes early and was taken into the office IMMEDIATELY. This has never happened to me before! Anyway, I walked in and had a great appointment. Dr, Klein looked at my teeth and told me that my teeth are almost ready to be free from the braces! Like, within 2-3 appointments ready. It's so strange trying to imagine what things will be like without them on. They are part of who I am at this point.

There are a few tweeks that she'd like me to do before she'll take them off and so I'm back into wearing elastics all the time again. These elastics aren't as tight as the ones before, thank god. They are a lot more manageable. She also placed power chains on the upper teeth and double power chains on my lower teeth. When I went home that night, my teeth were so sore, I could barely eat anything. I'm glad I took ibuprofen cause I was very uncomfortable. When I woke up the next day though, almost all of the spaces in between my teeth were gone. They were gone in under 24 hours which is totally amazing! The top teeth aren't as bad but the bottom teeth had large gaps. I went back to a normal diet on Friday, so I was only uncomfortable for a few days.

We talked about my teeth a little bit. I'll need to get a deep cleaning done after the braces come off. One tooth is sorta funky and she's said that she wants to shape it so that it's a little more natural. I chipped my front tooth when I was a kid on my aunt's pool. When they fixed it, they built it up a little bit because my other tooth hadn't grown in all the way and they weren't sure how big it was going to be. Thankfully, since it's not real, they just have to file it down a bit to make it even. Dr. Klein said that I've invested so much time and money into my smile that I deserve to have a "smokin' smile." I laughed and gave her permission to go full perfectionist with my teeth.


I did tell Dr. Klein about the deviated septum thing and after really considering my options, I've just decided to get it over with sooner rather than later. My husband and I talked about the pros and cons and we both agreed that getting it done now would save us headaches down the road. Since this winter has been fairly mild, I haven't gotten sick which is such a blessing. However, I'm not sure I'm comfortable hoping that I won't get sick between now and when I decide to have the surgery. Knowing my luck, I'd get sick and then have to suffer with a cold until I scheduled the surgery.

I've tentatively scheduled my surgery for April 21st. Dr. Kieff only performs surgery on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month. However, he occassionally does surgery on his off weeks if Mass Eye and Ear has the operating room space for him. I'll see Dr. Kieff tomorrow for a hearing test and a follow-up and hopefully he'll tell me about my chances for getting that 3rd Thursday. If not, my surgery will be scheduled for April 28th. At my follow-up, he'll give me more details regarding dos and don'ts for surgery (although, at this point, I'm pretty sure I know what they are) and what I need to have done beforehand. I'm actually excited and interested for the hearing test appointment since I've always had issues with my ears.

My next appointment with Dr. Klein is in 3 weeks so I'll go back and see her at the Danvers office. I forgot to ask her about surgery since it's a possibility that I'll get my braces off before my surgery. Not sure how my retainer will work with surgery but I have a feeling I won't be able to wear it when I'm under general anesthesia. I'll have to ask her about that when I go back for my next appointment.

I'll post an update tomorrow after my appointments with Dr. Kieff. Hopefully, he'll be able to shed some light onto my ENT issues!

Hello 2016!

I had my first orthodontist appointment of 2016 today! The appointment started out with those "wonderful" impressions. They were terrible. Mostly because my jaw could only open so far and the technician didn't really know what she was doing. She was super sweet but it took her twice as long as all the other technicians to do anything. My appointment was at 7:40am and my half hour appointment ended at almost 9am. Hopefully next time, I have a different technician.

After the impressions, Dr Klein came in and took a look at my teeth. As always, she was happy with the progress. So happy that she said I could take a break on the elastics (wahoooooo!). Those elastics are such a pain. I felt like I always had my fingers in my mouth cause I had to take them out and put them back in all the time.

Unfortunately, this elastic freedom is not forever. At my next appointment, I'll probably have to go back into wearing elastics all the time again. ;_; I guess the new wire I have can put too much pressure on the teeth if worn with elastics. TRANSLATION: I get freedom until my next wire change appointment which is in 5 weeks.

She also repositioned a bunch of brackets and fixed a broken (??) band around one of my molars. Not sure if it was broken or if the glue just failed after 2 years. I had that gross glue taste in my mouth practically all day today. Thankfully, that was basically it.

I did get the good news that I will definitely be out of braces before the summer! Yay! Depending on how diligent I am with wearing the elastics next time will determine when I can hopefully get my braces off. It's looking like it could potentially be April or May which is exciting! I'm in the home stretch and I can't wait to be free of these braces permanently.

My next appointment is with Dr. Keith for another follow-up on Feb. 16th. And then I see Dr. Klein 3 days later on the 19th.

On a more personal note, I do have a some what big announcement! Since my surgery is behind me and my recovery is going well, I've decided to finally start pursuing my masters degree. I'm going to Umass Lowell for my masters in Health Informatics and management which is super exciting! My work will help to pay for part of it so I'm starting small for now. It's been awhile since I've taken any formal classes so I'm only taking 1 class. If the course work isn't bad, I can always take more classes next semester.
I do have to apply to get into the program but a few people have offered to give me a recommendation which is amazing. My director at work said he would write me one which I was not anticipating at all. If I do well enough for my first 4 courses, I can bypass taking the GRE which will save me a lot of time and money. My class starts on Tuesday so I may not be posting very much except for after appointments and for status updates.

PS: I ate chips for the first time in 11 weeks today! They were very salty and took me forever to eat but they were so worth it!

The Countdown is on...

Hello everyone! It feels like its been so long since I last updated! However, not a whole lot has gone on dental-wise. Don and I have really been just living life and trying to hold on for the ride. BBQs, yard sales, weekends away, work, it's all just been a little crazy. Not enough time to live this crazy busy life and update the blog constantly. I did have a post that I had prepared but I completely forgot to post it and after re-reading it, it was just whiny and annoying. That was part of why I scrapped it. While I often use this blog to vent, I was just over it so that's why it was deleted.

I did get all my paperwork squared away which was definitely a relief. There was a minor hiccup with my FMLA paperwork but it was worked out. (Hint: this is what the deleted post was about) The paperwork hiccup could have turned into a huge deal if a former insurance coordinator had to deal with it (cough : Mary : cough). I'm happy to report that Viviana stepped up to the plate and took care of me. She turned the process from something I expected to be a nightmare into a piece of cake. Dr Keith has completely gotten an upgrade in my mind. He is a great surgeon and he deserves to have a great staff to compliment him.

I also set up my short term disability which was WAY easier than I initially expected. Compared to the little issues I had with my FMLA paperwork, this seemed almost too easy. The only thing left to do is that I have to call on my last day of work and the wheels will be set in motion.

Today was an exciting day. Today was my last orthodontist appointment before my surgery. Guys, my surgery is 32 days away. The surgery hasn't really seemed real to me until today. Today, I had every bracket ligature tied and I had 6 hooks added (3 on top, 3 on bottom). Dr Klein had told me that it wasn't really that bad and she was right. These surgical hooks are pretty easy compared to the dreaded palate expander. It's just something else for me to get used to. But now that I'm all set with the orthodontist, next comes the pre-op work up, physical and anesthesia meeting. And that's only a few days away!

On a fun note, Dr. Klein asked me about what I'd been up to recently and I told her that my husband and I are doing fantasy football. I told her what my team name and avatar were and she loved them.

For those that can't see, the avatar is a picture of Joan Cusack from 16 Candles. She's the one in the head gear during the movie doing random stuff like trying to drink from a water fountain or this photo, her trying to drink a beer. I thought it was fitting. I need her sweater in my life.

Since I got stuff done for the first time since early June, I finally took some photos! Well, I didn't take them, Don helped me out. But you get the idea. Enjoy!

The 3 hooks inbetween the top teeth are the most obvious however, there are 3 additional hooks on the bottom as well.

You can see how far they stick out. 

Monday is my pre-op where I will get to drop $1500.00 on my surgical work-up. Thank god for flex spend accounts. I'll still cry when I swipe my credit card. Anyway, look for another update soon!

Spacers finally gone and ... YUP still no molar brackets

First things first! After reading through the Common Questions for Oral Surgery section of my blog, I thought that the original formatting I used was a tad bit confusing. I have now changed it to a table format, left side with the questions, right side with the answers. Please click the links above or click HERE to check out the new updates. I had to use HTML coding for the first time in years so I am quite proud of myself. 

Now, onto the update! 

I saw Dr Klein last week on Thursday. I was excited to see her mostly because I was so done with these spacers. They were difficult to clean and hurt like a bitch the first few days I had them. I had forgotten what orthodontist pain felt like (haven't had an adjustment since the end of may since my teeth are straight)  but the memories came back real quick. Spacers really suck. Anyway, I went back and we tried different brackets. Low and behold, the brackets didn't really fit. Dr. Klein and one of her technicians had been going back and forth with the rep who sells them their brackets. What's hilarious is that he told them that there isn't anyone who exists in this world with molar teeth that small. He assured her that these would fit and well, they really didn't. So apparently I'm the only adult in the world with baby teeth sized adult molars. She was able to fit one bracket on the left side but it was legitimately uncomfortable. I don't think giving it a few days would make it any better, I would be uncomfortable for the rest of my treatment. Thanks but no thanks. 

She decided to take them off and not adhere them. She took some models (i'm such a pro at impressions) and said that she'd review them and get back to me. I probably wouldn't need to have them put on but she has to make doubly sure. Thankfully I have lots of time before my surgery so she has time to make the decision. 

Long story short, I attempted to try to do the molar brackets again and they still didn't work. Basically wore spacers for 2 weeks for no reason. 

My next appointment will be my last orthodontist appointment before my surgery. ;( and at that appointment, I will become "jaws" haha. This appointment is right before my pre-op day at MGH on Thursday September 24th. Every bracket will need to be ligature tied and then tiny little hooks will be placed in between each tooth in the front. I've been told to expect to be sore after so I'm definitely going to take some ibuprofen before the appointment. I've taken the day off too since their appointments typically run long. They told me 1.5-2 hours so I'm planning closer to 2-2.5. I really don't want to go into work late and have to rush around. I'd rather take my ibuprofen, grab a milkshake for lunch and then relax for the rest of the day without having to worry about causing a major hiccup at work because I'm late. 

Dr. Klein is so awesome, she really has a terrific bedside manner. We talked a bit about feelings at this appointment which was nice and helpful. She warned me that 95% of patients become depressed during a long surgical recovery like mine. I loved that she was upfront and honest with me. I know this isn't going to be easy. In fact, this will probably be one of the hardest things I ever do. Talking with me about these things wasn't something she had to do but she took time out of her schedule to talk about them anyway. And we talked about them in depth, a good 10-15 minutes extra from what my original appointment was. Once I have kids, if they need orthodontic treatment, I'm going back to her because she's phenomenal. 

I also spoke with Dr. Keith's new insurance coordinator Viviene. She never did return my original phone message that I left her a few weeks ago. However, I'm going to mark that down as her getting settled into her new position. And the phone number I called may have been an old number, who knows. I did speak with her and she was very friendly on the phone. She easily gave me all the information I needed in order to submit paperwork for my work leave. I'm looking forward to meeting her in person come October. I think she'll have settled in by then and hopefully everything will be a breeze. 

I can't believe summer will be over in just about 2 weeks! Pumpkin everything is already here in Massachusetts. Can't believe how fast it went by! 

Speaking of fall, I've recently gotten into canning! It'll be a great way for me to store some food supplies, especially when I may not be able to run out and grab something at the store. In the next few weeks, I may post an update or two with some info about my canning progress! Look for it soon!

It's Official! What I've been waiting to hear...

These last couple days have been quite hectic for me! Lots of annual doctors appointments, dentist visits and orthodontist check ups.
Yesterday, I went to my regular dental visit for a cleaning. Came back 100% clean and with no cavities! This had been like 3 years with no cavities so I'm pretty happy. 
Next, I went to the orthodontist in the city. Got there a little early only to discover an ice cream festival at City Hall Plaza here in Boston. I'm a lover of ice cream so I couldn't say no to that! Only regret is that I wish I could have stayed longer!

Finally saw Dr Klein and she finally uttered the magic words I've been waiting to hear : 

"You are officially ready for surgery."

Ahhhhh! 

There's a part of me that is ecstatic, over the moon, happy to get this over and done with. And there's another part of me that is scared, I'm comfortable where I am right now, and Jesus they are going to do what to my face?! So yea yesterday I had every kind of emotion that a person could have rolling around in their body.
I decided that denial would ultimately win out until I got a phone call from Dr.  Keith's insurance coordinator, Mary. It doesn't exist until things actually start happening, right?! Haha. Last time I had to deal with her, I had all sorts of issues with getting in contact with her. My messages weren't returned and it took forever to get a surgery date scheduled once the insurance approved it. However, I was pleasantly surprised when she phoned me this morning! I've got a pre-op appointment already scheduled for next week! Definitely impressed, that's for sure.

Aaaaaaah! Pre-op already?!?!?!

So many things happening all at once; my brain can't process it! I'm sure my schedule will fill very quickly with all sorts of appointments. Very exciting! And scary too.

I have another orthodontist appointment with Dr Klein just to double check that the wires are all good. They will also be prepping all my brackets for surgery at that appointment. Which kinda sucks but oh well. The surgical wire isn't as bad as I originally thought but we will see.

For now, I'm in a holding pattern. Which I guess means no more adjustments! YAAAAAY! 

My teeth have looked pretty straight for awhile now but here are some photos anyway!

Me looking fine in my hospital bling. hahahaha

Teeth - Straight!! Ta da!

A more natural smile. 

Super long post - sorry in advance!

Here's another update and some good news! I didn't turn into jaws at this appointment!!! While I'm ready to be done with everything and be surgically-ready, not sure I was ready to have an orthognathic wire installed at my last appointment. My most recent appointment was Friday April 24th. I had an afternoon appointment which was very different for me. Usually with my schedule, morning appointments work best. However, this time, it just worked out that an afternoon appointment was best. A lot happened at this appointment so I'm sorry if this post is a tad longer than normal.

Dr Klein and I spoke and she looked at my teeth quite closely at this visit. She kept tilting my face and I constantly had to smile, open, bite down, smile again and then open again. Haha! One of my teeth was remodeled as a kid and I think it's proving to be a little difficult. I swam into a pool ladder and chipped my front tooth when I was 9 years old. It was fixed before my teeth were straight so they fixed it to match my teeth esthetically. Now that my teeth are straight and where they should be, this one tooth is a little larger than the other one. I will probably need to get it remodeled at some point but it doesn't really bother me that much. She said that she is now getting down to fine-tuning my teeth which is good because it means they are almost good to go!
 Dr Klein is so funny, she asked if I minded if she went a little OCD on my teeth. LOL. She wanted to re-position the brackets to fine tune the teeth to make them absolutely perfect. Moving the brackets would make my appointment run a tad longer (since it originally wasn't booked for a bracket re-positioning) so I'm glad she thought to ask. I think the brackets being moved maybe might have saved me from getting my "jaws" installed, so thanks for that! I'm hoping that I can put off getting that wire installed until the very last second. The other nice thing about getting the brackets moved is that they scale back on the wire for the next 4-6 weeks. The teeth can only take so much so they don't want to stress them out too much. So I went with a different wire and I have regular O-Rings instead of the viscous A-Chain. My teeth weren't nearly as sore as they have been recently. I thought I was going to be much more tender the next day but it wasn't too bad at all!

I was a little sore before I even arrived at the office though. Last Saturday, a bunch of our friends invited us to play beach volleyball with them. We had such a blast playing and it really made me remember how much I liked playing volleyball. I'd love to play in an local league or something but not sure it'll work out with my schedule and Don's schedule. However, halfway through our second game my husband punched the ball right into my throat/jaw on my right side. It definitely stunned me and he felt super bad. It didn't hurt at first but slowly started to get sore and very stiff. I think Dr Klein could tell that something was up with my jaw but jaw pain is not her expertise. She told me to call Dr Keith (the oral surgeon) which got me a little bummed. Something like this could derail my progress and slow everything down. She told me to call right away but I woke up on Saturday with less pain so I think I just need some time. If the stiffness/soreness gets worse, I'll definitely call Dr. Keith but I'm sure he'll just tell me to rest up and take it easy which is what I'm doing.

Right before my appointment was over, Dr Klein told me that she has a patient who reads my blog! Wow! I mean, I know that other people besides friends and family read this but it's really crazy to hear it from my orthodontist. Due to HIPPA, she couldn't give him out my information however, he gave her his card and told me that I could take his information and do what I wanted with it. I was so amazed that I couldn't NOT email him so I did that over the weekend. Getting the card made me wonder though, I thought I had set up a way to contact me through the blog. When I got home I took a look at my blog settings and realized that the layout and theme I had chosen when I updated the blog, were not compatible with all the added stuff I had chosen! So I had to redo the theme and layout AGAIN. So I'm sure you noticed that the layout and theme have changed yet again. But now all the stuff works like I want it to!
If anyone needs to contact me in any way, please use the contact form to the right! It works, I swear (i tested it to make double sure!) and all messages get forwarded to my own personal email.

 Now onto some fun stuff, aka progress photos.

I snapped a quick selfie after my brackets were removed but before the new ones were replaced. It gave me a good sense of what my teeth will look like once they are off forever.

These are my models! The yellow ones are the most recent and the white ones are the very first models I took back in 2014. You can really see how different my teeth and jaws are now. The bottom models are my top teeth jaws and the top models are my bottom teeth jaws.

Really crappy morning teeth selfie. 

My next appointment is in May to have (you guessed it) more impressions done. Hahaha. I don't need to see Dr. Klein at this appointment though. I'll see her again the first week in June for another adjustment. So 2 upcoming appointments! 

Braces adjustment and some news!

I had my most recent orthodontist appointment on Friday. The visit went very well! Dr. Klein still can't get over how fast my teeth are coming together. She was extremely pleased. I showed her a few pictures that I had taken. She was astounded, and again, very happy with the progress.

My teeth have been moving so fast that she told me that I would need to come back in 4 weeks and redo my impressions. The models that she had are no longer valid. Impressions are really such a pain but I don't have to pay to redo them so I'm fine with it. They are just a diagnostic tool for the doctor. And getting impressions doesn't really hinder my progress in any way so it's really not a problem. It just sucks that I'll have to redo them again.  

When I went she told me that I'm very close to being ready for surgery. (!!!!!!!!) At my next visit, she's going to put on a surgical wire on my bottom teeth and then reevaluate and decide when to put a surgical wire on the top teeth. I'm not sure what a surgical wire is exactly but I'll find out in 4 weeks. I'm thinking it's a thicker/stronger wire to keep the teeth together during and after surgery. Oh how wrong I was! See this post to find out what an orthognathic surgical wire actually is. 

The only issue she had is that one of my back molars isn't moving in the direction she'd want so now I have to wear an elastic to help encourage it to move in the right way. I only have to wear 1 elastic at night on the left side. It's very weird, it hooks onto the front of the back tooth but then the other side hooks to the back of my bottom tooth. It seems very strange but that's what I'm doing. The past 2 nights have been a little rough. The elastic puts a lot of pressure on that tooth (doing what it's supposed to) so I've been waking up a lot during the night. Last night I took some tylenol before bed and it didn't seem to bother me as much as it did the night before. I've been very good about not taking ibuprofen so maybe that's why my teeth are moving so quickly? Who knows!

After getting both top and bottom A chains replaced along with the bottom wire, Dr. Klein and I talked about surgery. It's now looking like I'll have the surgery sometime around August or early September. It seems sorta like a perfect time to get it done I think. If it's in August, I'll still be able to enjoy the summer (my college bestie is visiting again in July so that's exciting!). And then another friend is having her bachelorette party in October that I'm hosting. If I have surgery in August, that'll give me more than enough time to recover fully. I may not be able to eat much but I'll still have a good time I think. If the date gets moved back to anytime after September though, I'm planning on waiting until the end of October. That will allow me to enjoy the bachelorette party and my own wedding anniversary. Plus, If I get the surgery in October, my recovery will include Thanksgiving and that's all soft foods. It'll probably be one of the first meals I'll be able to enjoy that's not a liquid.

I can't believe that I'm so close to getting this surgery date. I know that August seems so far away but I've been waiting for this surgery since May 2013. I can sorta see the light at the end of this tunnel! 

This winter can suck it.

I am so done with this winter, it's not even funny. Seriously mother nature, we get it. We are very sorry for whatever it is that we did. We apologize.

So for those of you reading this blog NOT from New England, we've been getting crazy amounts of snow this year. So crazy that public transit has been forced to shut down multiple times. In total, I believe we have collectively gotten 6 ft of snow so far this winter with 4 ft the past 2 weeks alone. And we have another BLIZZARD bringing another 2 feet of snow tomorrow night. What a joke!

Because of all this weather, it's really screwed around with my dental appointments. I was supposed to have another appointment this past Wednesday. I didn't want to drive in because I thought parking would be terrible. There are snow banks everywhere in Boston, especially around the Mass General Hospital area (just my luck, the worst place for traffic and snow just so happens to be where I need to go. Figures.). I decided to take my chances with the T and was just about halfway there when I get a phone call from the dentist telling me that my appointment has been cancelled due to the Doctor being unable to make it into the office. GREAT. Thankfully, it was my day off so I didn't need to rush into work or anything but now I had to reschedule my appointment to a different day and that day I would be working. Even better. I was a little irritated because the dental office tried to reschedule my appointment to 3 weeks after this one. I don't want to be a bitch or anything but, in my opinion, it is unacceptable. I'm not a patient getting a routine dental cleaning and I'm not going into the office just for shits and giggles. I'm going into the office to prepare for a major surgery. Even minor delays can really impact my timeline. And the sooner I have surgery, the sooner I won't be coming into their office every 4-6 weeks. They just need to get their shit together. I also maybe threatened the secretary with tooth decay and my teeth falling out (because of the spacers) so maybe that's why I got a better appointment. I guess going into psycho-bitch mode really does work!

I had my appointment today and my orthodontist was so impressed with how fast my teeth are moving. She couldn't believe how much my teeth had moved in just 2 weeks! I got the spacers removed because I was supposed to get bands put around the back 2 top molars. Unfortunately, those 2 teeth are kinda problematic. They aren't fully down all the way. Half of them are still underneath the gum (WTF teeth!). She tried putting a band around one of them and it just wouldn't fit without totally destroying my gum around it. She decided to omit the back brackets for now and thinks that 6 more weeks of straightening might give them some more room to come down so that she can put the bracket on. Why can't the gum recession happen back there?! Geez. But she was so impressed that she told me that they were going to do some impressions and then she would look at the models and give me a better idea of when I can expect to have surgery. Once they dry and she gets a chance to look at them, we'll talk about surgery. !!!!!!! She told me that I'm very "close" to almost having straightened teeth. And now I might have surgery sooner rather than later. Wahoo!

This whole roller coaster of emotions is a little exhausting. First being told Jan-Mar 2015 for surgery, then told Jan-Mar 2016 for surgery. Then the disappointment. Now it's looking like potentially August or September 2015 for surgery? Maybe? I don't know! Now my spirits are up just a little bit. It's very tiring and almost impossible to plan anything life-wise.

My next appointment is in 5 weeks and that's when we'll talk surgery. I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing until then. I ended up getting an appointment at the Danvers office next time so I refuse to go into Boston proper again until winter is over.

I know I don't say it often, but I really couldn't go through this experience without my family and friends. Their support means a lot to me, even if it's mostly me bitching and complaining. Either way, thank you to everyone who listens to me with a sympathetic ear.

I'm trying to keep my promise of posting photos along with my updates but it's hard. I always write something and then forget the pictures. Here is one new photo taken today. I've also reposted 2 other photos so people can see the difference. I've only gone back 5 weeks so check out my recent progress!

Taken 2/14/15

Taken 1/30/15 (two weeks ago)

Taken 1/7/15 (5 weeks ago)

Ok, let's try this again...

After winter storm Juno ruined my dental plans for last Wednesday, I finally had my appointment on Friday. They ended up having to fit me in during the office lunch break so the place was very quiet. It was nice and refreshing. Dr Klein was very excited to see the progress of my teeth and wasn't disappointed. She said my teeth are coming along beautifully which makes me happy. It makes everything I'm going through sorta kinda worth it. Haha!

I asked about maybe getting a better idea of when I can expect to have surgery. She laughed and told me that all her patients have that in common. We just want to know a date! (Well... duh!) She told me that at my next appointment, we'll do some impressions and molds and then she'll have a better idea by looking at the models of how my teeth are moving. I'm excited even though I hate doing impressions.

Some not so good news is that I have some gum recession going on. My aunt and cousin warned me that there was a high probability that gum recession would happen and my orthodontist has told me that it's started. She told me that it happens sometimes which is unfortunate. However she said she wouldn't have changed my treatment had she known this would happen. She told me to think of one thing at a time. Surgery first and then after I've recovered, I'll probably need to do a gum grafting procedure to fix the gum recession problem. Ugh. I'll worry about that later. 

Now that my teeth are starting their straightening journey, they need to close the gaps that the palate expander created. So she tied 2 sets of teeth together with some wire and put a criss-cross band on my top teeth. Holy hell, my mouth was sore even before I left the office. And I took pain medication 30 minutes prior to my appointment. A technician that I haven't seen before worked on my jaw. She kept asking me if I was ok which was very sweet. I think she got a kick out of me cause at the end, she asked me how I felt. I told her I felt, "Awesome.". She laughed. Apparently, she appreciated my dry humor.

On top of my teeth getting pulled together, I also had spacers put around my upper back molars. So my jaw is really freaking sore. It hurt to eat a banana this morning. I eventually had to mash it up and eat it that way. I've got some mashed potatoes and plan on making some squash too. So I should hopefully be set for a little while. 

So, I've promised some progress photos so here they are! 

Right Profile

Left profile

Frontal View with my off center bite. It's hard to see the criss-cross band because it's silver.

That arrow shows my gum recession. It sucks. Fortunately, it's not visible when I smile. Also, don't mind my stained teeth. I've been using chlorhexidine again and it does a number staining your teeth. I have another dental cleaning soon which will take care of that. 

Guess what....?!?!?!?!

The palate expander is GONE! Outta here! I saw my orthodontist yesterday and she was quite pleased with how well my bottom teeth looked and with how much space the expander gave her to work with. She also put on top braces (SO EXCITING!!!!) so I now have a mouth full of bling. I was so happy that I almost started happy crying in the chair. 

My jaw and teeth are pretty sore today. Along with saying goodbye to PEA 2.0 and getting the tops put in, I had to take a couple pictures where my lips were stretched back using these plastic grip things. I've used them before and they can be pretty uncomfortable. I've been on a diet of mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, oatmeal and ice cream for the past day and a half. I'll probably continue on the soft food diet for a few days until my teeth calm down. 

I haven't had time to take any photos (my bailey burrito had surgery today so I've been a nervous wreck!) but I will post them either tonight or tomorrow. My top teeth are pretty jacked now, haha! You can really tell how much smaller my lower jaw is compared to my upper jaw now. I will definitely post some pictures very soon! 

A very merry dental halloween

I had my long awaited orthodontist appointment yesterday. The tech who I worked with was a lot of fun. He kept trying to convince me to get Halloween colored bands put on my braces. And when I said no to orange and black, he spent the rest of the appointment convincing me to get brown because brown is the color of thanksgiving. Haha! I ended up getting red.

Since my orthodontist is out on maternity leave I had to see a different orthodontist (Who I can't remember the name of unfortunately). She was very nice though! She looked at my teeth and saw that one of them wasn't moving the way it should have. She had to tie wire around it to stabilize it a bit more and to direct it to move where it's supposed to.

It didn't hurt when it was happening but I always take some ibuprofen before all my appointments. I sometimes walk into an appointment not realizing that I have to have a lot of work done. Later that day, my left side (where they had worked) really started to hurt. It started to bother me in the afternoon and has persisted all day today. I haven't had much of any dental work done since the end of July so yesterday was a little bit of a wake-up call. I had almost forgotten about my braces and PEA (I said ALMOST, not completely haha!)

The nice part is that my next appointment is in another 6 weeks which is December 10th. There was something in my file about "bracket" work to be done at my next appointment which means that I might (MIGHT) be able to say goodbye to PEA. !!!!! Very exciting. I'm going to try to not get my hopes up but it's very difficult! The appointment is only 30 minutes long though so I don't know if that's a long enough appointment for bracket installation and PEA removal. I am so ready to get rid of this thing though! I just can't wait!

No more key for me and a question!

I had my orthodontist appointment this morning and I can gladly report that I am DONE with cranking PEA 2.0! Hurrah! Dr. Klein is confident that she has enough space to move all my teeth around which is wonderful! For now I just play the waiting game.
My next orthodontist appointment is Halloween and I won't be having any work done that visit. It's basically just a check up to make sure everything is going good with my bottom teeth and bottom braces. Dr. Klein will be on maternity leave during this time so it's great I'll only have to see someone different once. After that, it's another 6 weeks and Dr. Klein should hopefully be back by then. She was so super sweet and gave me her email and told me to email if I had any questions while she is gone. She's just an awesome lady.
We talked briefly about what happens when she comes back and it's looking like I'll get top braces on in December. This is exciting because when the top braces are put on, I'll be that much closer to scheduling my next and final surgery. Apparently, once the uppers are on, straightening them should be very quick. Since there's a lot of room now, she won't have to squeeze the teeth into alignment. They'll all just kinda fall into place. And I guess the upper teeth could be straight in as little as 4-6 weeks!
She also mentioned something about leaving PEA 2.0 in until January (;_;). I kinda gave her the sad face and told her that I had hoped to have PEA 2.0 removed before my birthday and Christmas. She told me that getting it removed a few weeks early shouldn't be an issue (^_^) but that she'll evaluate me in December and make the decision then. If all looks good, then I'll have it removed. If not, it'll stay in until she says so. Basically, I was told it shouldn't be a problem but to not get upset if things change. I can respect that so I'm cautiously optimistic. I'd rather deal with food getting stuck in my braces than having food stuck in the back of my throat.
A question for people out there reading this blog: does anyone have the nutri-bullet? I've been contemplating getting one for myself, especially since I know I will be using it next year after my surgery. I've read reviews online but most of them are very vague ("It works great!" just doesn't cut it for me) and  I want details! Did you buy yours in store or online through a retailer (like amazon)? I have a ninja blender but it is just a little TOO big, especially if I'm the only one using it. I really want something I can use on-the-go and with easy clean-up. Is there something else out there that you recommend instead of the nutri-bullet? I really want to use it for making smoothies and blending small quantities of fruits/veggies. Let me know here in the comments section or on facebook! I'm very curious!

Unless I have another braces malfunction, I'll probably keep the posts down to a minimum until Halloween. The hubby and I are super busy starting in September so I probably won't have time to post much anyway (weddings/vacations/more weddings/family gatherings/etc) until Halloween. I do have another dental cleaning coming up in a week or two so I will probably post again after that. Don't forget to let me know about that nutri-bullet if you know anything about it!

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! ;_;

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!

So many dates!

Now, I'm not upset because I have a 2nd surgery date. But within 2 days, I now have 3 appointments in less than a week.

Here's my calendar so far (note: this is far from complete BTW):

Tuesday May 13th @ 3pm - Doctor Appointment

Friday May 16th @ 1pm - 5 week Orthodontist Check up

Monday May 19th @ 4pm - Regular Dentist appointment (check up/cleaning)

Wednesday May 21st @ 8:30am - Ortho Appointment to replace spacer
Wednesday May 21st @ 1pm - Cavity filling with dentist
Wednesday May 21st @ 2pm - Pre-Op Appointment with PCP
Wednesday June 4th @ 2:40pm - 3 Week Orthodontist Check up (Appliance Installed)

Thursday June 19th @ 11:30am - Surgery @ MGH
Tuesday June 24th @ 10:30am - Post-Op Appointment with Oral Surgeon
Wednesday June 25th @ 9am - Occupational Health Evaluation to Return to Work

I'm probably going to need at least 2-3 more Ortho appointments after the initial 5 week ortho check up too. 

My calendar is soon going to be too full to have much of a life.

Day 1 - Getting Bottom Braces put on

Well, today was the day that I got braces... sorta. A small hiccup at the dentist's office yesterday is the reason why I have to wait 2 more weeks for the top braces to be put on. I have a couple cavities that the orthodontist wanted filled before the top braces went on. But that's ok, not a big deal. It'll give me time to get used to the bottom braces that I had put on this morning. Neither the brackets or the wire hurt. What hurts the most is the spacers I had placed for the back molars. God, those elastics are such a bitch! I was told to try and do all my chewing on my back teeth. However, the teeth are really sensitive now so I could barely eat any of the dinner I made tonight. Bummer. This will probably happen fairly often from now on. Le sigh.

Also, apparently, getting colored O rings (the little rubber bands that hold the wire to the bracket) is no longer cool anymore. The technician automatically put grey bands on my teeth. I asked for colored O bands and she seemed surprised that I had even asked. She told me that they were thinking about not ordering the colored ones because no one really uses them anymore. Not even kids! Last time I had braces, I had all the colors! But she told me that she'd redo the bands if I wanted colored ones. I figure that I might as well have some fun with it! I got pink for Valentines Day HAHA. I think next time I'll either get purple or teal. Depending on what they have. Hopefully they don't stop ordering the colored ones because I want to have fun with this stupid braces thing.

Here is the first of many photos.

Day 1 - Getting Bottom braces on (pink)

Next Steps...

Hope everyone had some happy holidays! I got The Little Mermaid on blue ray so of course was Christmas was great.

But, back to reality! Right before the holidays, I had my 2nd appointment with the orthodontist. It included getting some more x-rays, pictures, and the dreaded impressions. After Dr. Klein and I spoke, she told me that I would have to schedule an Orthognathic Work-Up with my oral surgeon. I'm still a little unsure of what exactly will happen at that appointment, but I was told that my surgery team will form and they will decide exactly what type of surgery I need. They told me that I can expect anything from blood work to x-rays to an EKG. Unfortunately, it is not covered by my insurance (GRRRR) so this will have to come out of my own pocket. And it's not a cheap appointment. $1500 for a single appointment! Ridiculous! Thankfully, it's a new year and my FSA has just started. I opted to get the max my company offers. With the $1500 work-up and braces, we will definitely use it up no problem.

Speaking of braces, I have my appointment to get them on. Wednesday, February 12th is the big day. Now all I need to do is decide on a sweet color. Hmmm, decisions, decisions! I'll have to search online and see what all the cool kids are doing.

Well, hopefully I'll update again in a few weeks after my work-up!

Next Steps, Surgery, and my doctors

It's been quite awhile since I've last posted. Within the last 2-3 months, my range of motion in my jaw decreased quite a bit. I was able to eat small pieces of chicken and a bagel (if i ate it one quarter at a time). But about a month an a half ago, it just became too hard and painful to open my mouth as wide as most foods require.

I was told by my oral surgeon that an arthroscopic procedure would really help with my range of motion and would help dub my pain down a bit. I was not sure I wanted to do it at first but once my condition got worse and I was told the exact same thing by a second opinion, my mind was made up.

I had a little hard time finding other blogs out there talking about the same procedure I was going through. I knew there must be a different name people were calling it cause there was no way that I was the only person going through this. Well, yesterday, all the nurses kept calling it a bilateral tmj procedure. Guess I know what the other name was!

Since I had such a hard time finding blogs about this procedure, I knew I had to write about it. Cause if I had issues finding stuff, then I knew other people must have as well. I'll go over all the things that I went through, the questions I had, the answers I got, and my recovery. In my next post I'll go over all that good stuff so that this post/disclaimer isn't super long.

It also occurred to me that people might want the names of the doctors/dentists/oral surgeon I dealt with. I'm from Massachusetts right outside Boston so I'm spoiled with the amount and quality of healthcare. I'll put their information here to not clutter up the next couple posts.

Primary Care: Wellesley Primary Care (781-431-2345) : I see Dr. Alan Glaser MD and Elizabeth Dewire NP. They are both wonderful and really care for their patients. Dr. Glaser actually called my phone one evening when I was really sick to check up on me. I really appreciated that he took the time out of his busy schedule to call me after my visit to see how I was doing. Really wonderful service. And Liz is just wonderful. She's so sympathetic and a great listener. I feel that some doctors hear their patients but don't necessarily listen. Liz does both which is great. 

Dentist: Wellesley Dental Group (781-237-9071) : Dr. Femina Ali and Dr. Ejaz Ali are a husband and wife team of community dentists. They are wonderful and are the people who realized that I had all these problems. They're committed to going on this journey with me and get my jaw working like normal. 

TMJ Specialist : Dr. Emad Abdallah : He is a part of the team at the Wellesley Dental Group and he has been helping me with my TMJ problems. He's actually one of the only dentists in the country that is also an orthodontist. He's great and will really tell me like it is. Doesn't sugar coat anything which I like. He's also very supportive of my decisions and is on board with my long term medical plan. 

Oral Surgeon: MGH Dental Group Danvers/Boston (978-882-6600) : I visit Dr. David Keith at the Danvers office. He is a world renowned oral surgeon specializing in TMJ and Orthognatic Surgery. He's super nice and again is a great listener. 

Orthodontist: MGH Dental Group Danvers/Boston : I've recently been referred to Dr. Katherine Klein by Dr. Keith. I've only visited with her once but she was extremely nice and knowledgeable. She also made a medical plan for me on my first visit which I liked. 

Ok, so that's it! If anyone out there wants to call any of these doctors and set up an appointment, I highly recommend any of these professionals.