Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! I really hope that 2009 is a much better year than 2008 was. 2008 was a really crappy year for me and my family. I'm looking forward to a clean slate in 2009 and hope it will be a happy, healthy, productive, and prosperous New Year! By this time next year I should be done with my surgery and have my braces off. Speaking of braces, I had an adjustment the other day. The ortho repositioned 3 brackets and put on lighter wires. I didn't have much pain until today. He said that since my surgery is so far away in July, he will do as much as he can to my teeth before surgery so that I can get my braces off as soon as possible after surgery. The surgeon's office called me last week and asked me if I could have the surgery on February 7th. I wish I could, but I can't. School. Happy New Year!

Christmas in braces, Part Deux

Happy Holidays! I thought I'd put up some recent pictures that my friend Stephanie took. I chose a picture with my mouth closed for our Christmas picture. Next year I'll be able to smile ~ with no braces on!!

A Totally Unexciting Post

I went to the ortho today and got the upper front bracket put back on. The tech was supposed to change my bottom wire, but as he was taking it off, he popped off a bracket on my back molar. I guess he didn't want to irritate the doctor, so he said we would put it on at my next appointment in 4 weeks. They leave at 12:30 on Fridays, so everyone was in a tizzy to get out of there and start their weekend.
I talked to the surgery coordinator and told her the details of my appointment with the surgeon. She said if it were her, she would rather have the surgery in April instead of going back to school. I've decided it would be a waste of time not to finish a semester of school and will go ahead and plan to have the surgery in July.

Decisions, decisions...

I had an appointment with my surgeon yesterday. It was rather awkward.
I'm wondering how the doctor would have reacted if I had arrived for my appointment an hour late. I'm sure he would have said that I need to reschedule, right? Well, I waited for him for over an hour because he was behind schedule. I am always on time for any appointments I have, so this really rubs me the wrong way. So after having to wait an extra hour, I was stuck in work traffic -- an hour and fifteen minutes to get home. I wasn't in the best mood.
So when I was finally called in to see the doctor, we exchanged the "Hi, how are you's?" "Fine." "Good." I gave him my molds that my orthodontist had given me and he proceeded to scrape away at them and try to get them to fit together in the way a normal bite would fit together. I sat there thinking he might explain what he was doing. But no, he continued picking away and marking on the molds with his marker. He then asked me to show him my bite as he looked at me from both sides and examined my profile. He was talking aloud to himself, saying that maybe my top jaw didn't need to be operated on. (We already went through this before when I saw him the first time and then he decided to do both jaws) So here we were doing this again. I was getting irritated. I know that my top jaw is too far back and bringing it forward would look better. Though I was thinking this, I didn't say anything. He then says to himself, "Well, the top jaw is deficient." Um, okay. So he walks out of the room, comes back and puts my molds and a letter in a box to give back to my orthodontist. He says, "Okay, you can go to the front and schedule a surgery date." So I ask him if he is going to be doing both jaws. He says "Oh yes, didn't I say that? I guess I should have thought that out loud." That's it. That's all the information I got from him. No specifics. No nothing.
I go to the front desk and tell the girl that I need to schedule a surgery date. He's booked until April. Well, I should be starting back to school in February, so I have to make a decision.Do I go back to school in February, finish my semester and then have the surgery on July 15th (his soonest "summer" appointment). Or do I have the surgery in April, waste months May, June, July and August and go back to school in the fall? Any advice? I'm not good at making decisions. If I go to school in February, that would be one more semester of nursing school under my belt. I am dying to have the surgery asap, but I feel like it's wasted time to have it in April. If my orthodontist had PLANNED accordingly, I could have had it this month. He knew that patients were booking months and months in advance. Ugh.
I'm waiting to hear back from my school to see if they can tell me with any certainty that I will be invited back for spring semester or if I will have to wait until fall. That will change everything. Then, of course, I will schedule the surgery for April. I also asked the girl to put me on the wait list in case someone cancels. Fat chance. There are 30 people ahead of me.
I took some pictures of myself yesterday. They are a bit grainy ~ taken from the camera thing on my computer. Nothing exciting, but you can see what I look like "before" in different angles. I really should have my friend Steph retouch them :) but here they are. Some are frightening.

P.S. The bracket on my front left tooth came off, so I'll be going to the orthodontist on Friday. I'll get it put back on and give him the molds and letter from the surgeon. I'm wondering if the marks he made on the molds are tweaks that need to be done to my teeth. Probably.





I really don't like this angle. At all.

I'm Here to Report...

That there's really nothing to report. I had another adjustment yesterday. While the girl was taking off my upper wire to put on a new wire, two of my brackets popped off. So I had to go through the joy of the lip stretcher, the grinding off of the glue, and the toxic smelling liquid put on my teeth. Fun times. The new wire brought new pain to my upper teeth. I've been living off soup for two days and am starving and cranky.
I noticed today that my bite is really screwed now. It's crazy how much it changed overnight. When I bite down, I can totally stick my tongue through the huge gap between the upper and lower teeth. It's really beautiful. I should take a picture and post it, but I'm lazy. I guess the braces are doing their job. I want to have the surgery already. I go to see the surgeon on December 1. The ortho said that if the surgeon thinks my teeth are "good enough" (position-wise) to have the surgery now, then the ortho can do whatever changes to my teeth after the surgery. The only problem is, I will have to be put on a cancellation list and be called in at the last minute ~ which is fine with me. Otherwise, I will have to have the surgery in the summer (ugh!) because I will be starting back to school in February. I hope it works out and I have the surgery in December. Keep you fingers crossed for me! Congratulations to all of you who have had surgery recently!

Another October in braces...

It's been awhile since I last posted. A lot has happened since then. The day after my last post, I found out that my younger brother had passed away in his home. My family and I are still in shock over the loss of such a wonderful person. I had to take a break from school as I couldn't focus on anything. I am starting to feel a little better and look forward to going back sometime after the new year. So regarding my teeth... let's see....

On October 10th, I saw my ortho and he did molds of my teeth to send to the surgeon so he can decide if I am getting close for surgery. He also put on power chains to close some gaps. So at this appointment the ortho informs me that my surgeon is booked until April! All along I thought we were aiming to have my surgery in December. Then he tells me that he is sure my teeth are going to be ready by the end of February. So I made an appointment with the surgeon for December 1 to see what he has to say and to schedule my surgery since he is booked for months.

A couple of days after that appointment, I get a call from the receptionist saying that the ortho wants me to come in asap so he can realign 12 of my brackets and put on different wires. I'm not too thrilled about this because my teeth are killing me from the power chains being on. But I go. It's a long, tiring visit and the next day my jaws are aching from holding my mouth open for so long. But I survive. So now I am scheduled to go back in 4 weeks to have new wires put on. I'm not exactly sure what he is doing to my teeth and really, I am tired of asking. I am just going to let him do his thing and tell me when I am ready to go have my jaws cut and repositioned. I'm so ready for this to be over with. I've been in braces for 13 months and counting now.

I'll post again after my next exciting appointment. Happy Halloween!

Nothing Exciting Going On....

I've been pretty quiet on here because there's really not much going on. I had an adjustment about a week ago. My ortho remarked that "we have a nice underbite going on." So I guess that's a good thing. I feel like things aren't moving fast enough. Originally I was told that I would be in braces for a year before surgery. Well, next month it will be one year. I hope I am ready by December and can have my surgery during my winter break. I have a week and a half of freedom before I head back to school. Congratulations to all of you who recently had surgery. It looks like you all are doing great!

I've Got a Gap

So my two front teeth have a gap, which is really odd for me because my teeth have always been so close together. I wish I could have the surgery already!!

Love this toothbrush...

The other day when I went for my cleaning, my hygienist gave me one of these toothbrushes with just two rows of bristles. I love it! It makes cleaning above, below and in between brackets so easy. I can't believe she waited so long to give me one! It's great for getting along the gumline too. The one she gave me is made by GUM but they're probably all pretty much the same. I might be the only one whose never seen one of these, but I thought I'd share anyway. :)
P.S. It's called a sulcus toothbrush.

Adjustment time again...

I had an adjustment today. The girl took off 4 of my brackets (ouch ~ yes I am a big baby when it comes to my teeth) so she could put them back on in different positions. Oh yay. I hate those lip stretcher things and the taste of the stuff they put on your teeth to prep them is awful. So anyway, here I am with my brackets in a new position and the same wire. She said I would probably have some "discomfort" this evening. I'm sure I will.

Update: My teeth moved so quickly that I had to go in the next day and have my upper wire clipped. Today is Saturday (4 days later) and the wire is poking my cheek again. I can't believe how fast my teeth are moving since she repositioned the brackets. I was looking last night and my two front teeth are separating. I hope they move fast enough so my teeth are ready for the surgery in December!

Lovely Picture of My Lovely Underbite

Okay, people. Be nice. My husband took this random picture of me while we were sitting at the Grove.
At first I told him to delete it, but then I thought it would be a good "before" picture. So here it is. I love the way my bottom lip is sticking out. haha
(Apparently I need to work on my posture)

BooHooHoo!!

I had an ortho appointment today. I just had to write and post about how bad the pain is!! Oh. My. God. My bottom front teeth are in the worst pain. I thought my teeth hurt before with previous adjustments, but this takes the cake. I got a new wire put on to pull my bottom front teeth forward. I need to post a picture of my teeth/bite soon. It's crazy. I'm going to look so awful by the time I am ready for surgery. The ortho said there's no way I'm going to be ready for surgery in the summer. He said it will be more like winter, which is fine. At least I can have it done on winter break. Okay, I am going to go take something strong for the pain and go to bed....
p.s. 8 months down.

Funky Bite

I thought I had a funky bite before, but now it's really funky. My bottom teeth are way more forward than my top teeth. It's starting to feel totally weird when I eat. The doc said it's going to get worse before it gets better and he was right. If I weren't so lazy, I would post a picture of my own teeth, but for now this cartoon will have to do. That's kind of how my teeth are. I wonder how much worse they are going to get before I am ready for surgery. (I've had my braces on 7 months now. Time is flying)

Adjustment and Painful Molars!

My son and I both had an ortho appointment yesterday. He (lucky dog) was there to get his braces off. His teeth look great and when all his permanent teeth are in, he will get braces put back on ~ what they call "phase 2". When I was little I had never heard of phase 1 and phase 2. So yes, we get to pay for braces twice.

I was going to get a thick power chain put on my upper teeth to close up some spaces, but when she went to put the wire on, it popped off two of my back brackets. So I had to sit through the joy of having them put back on. They decided to go with a smaller wire for now. Let me just say, these wires work fast because my molars are killing me today! The ones on the right hurt more so at least I can eat on the left.

The girl said (the doctor wasn't in) that they are going to leave my bottom wire in until I come in next time because the doctor needs to "make space" for my bottom teeth ~ aka filing in between my teeth. Oh yay, something to look forward to!!

Adjustment Time!

Yesterday was a really busy day. I went to the ortho and got my wires removed, went to my cleaning (she said I am doing a great job keeping my teeth clean "compared to her other patients with braces." Hmmm ... is that a compliment? After my cleaning I went and got my filling done. Apparently he did a really good job - my ortho could hardly see it when I went back today to get my wires put back on.
So today I had the same wire put back on the bottom because that one stubborn tooth is still a bit crooked. I got a new, thicker wire put on the top. He said it's going to "torque" my teeth. I guess that means it will move my teeth more forward since they are already straight. I can already feel the pressure on my top teeth. I'll probably really feel it tomorrow. I can't believe it's already been 5 months since I had my braces put on! Time flies.
I wonder how much longer before I am ready for surgery!

Update: It's now 6:30 and my teeth hurt so bad!!! I had planned on having some delicious nachos at Baja Buds for dinner, but that's not going to happen. I'm going to have to go for the egg flower soup at the local Chinese place. For some reason, it's only my upper teeth on the left side of my mouth that hurt so bad. The other teeth are fine. I hope they don't hurt for long. No pain, no gain...I guess.

Nothing Exciting to Report...

It's been pretty quiet on the braces front. I have a couple of dentist and ortho appointments this week though. Unfortunately, I have a small cavity behind one of my top front teeth (oh yay) and am scheduled to have it filled on Thursday. I went to the dentist on Friday and he was going to do it right then, but decided that he would rather have my wires taken off so it would be easier for him. So on Thursday morning, I have to go get my wires removed, go to my 3-month cleaning appointment, and then get the cavity filled later on in the afternoon. On top of that, I have a test in my political science class. Busy day. I'll go back on Friday and have my wires put back on. I am pretty sure they will change the wires since my next ortho appointment is scheduled for February 12th. Plus I have a pokey wire that is really messing with my cheek. If there's anything exciting to write about after Friday's appointment, I'll be back.