2 YEARS! 2 LOOONNNNGGG YEARS!

What can you do in 2 years? Well a lot! I had my SARPE surgery 2 years ago today! Within that time my family has grown from 3 to 4 and my teeth are looking near to perfect. I never thought this day would come and I am so happy! I have had no pain since my surgery and haven't really had any since a couple weeks after the surgery. I still remember it like it was yesterday. My mom came from CA to help me with my daughter who was exactly 11 months old the day I had my surgery. I remember my cute little baby trying to walk around the waiting room. She was wearing cute pink converses and a knit sweater and how the staff just adored her. I remember being nervous about being put under for the very first time in my life. I remember waking up coughing and for some reason crying when they woke me after the surgery. I kept apologizing to both my mom and husband. The pain medicine help for sure because I don't really remember too much pain after I finally got my pain medicine. It just amazes me that it has been this long! Which brings me to my next thought I can't believe my first baby will be 3 in exactly a month! She has asked for a Frozen/Tangled party which I am very excited to do. :) Should I post pictures of it? I just might have too! I know, I know this is a braces and SARPE surgery blog but who says I can't have any fun? EXACTLY! Anyways lets do a comparison from my teeth today and the day of my surgery! :D

today teeth: left side view

today teeth: right side view

Today teeth: Front view





Me before braces

Me right after surgery
 

Me today



 

 

 

 

TODAY! TODAY! TODAY!

It is a great day! A great day for a front tooth to fill my smile and make me feel like less of a Jack-o-lantern. My appointment began at 12:10 pm and I was grinning ear to ear. My last holeless grin for awhile. The tooth was glued in and then for extra measure tied down. I kind of feel like I am Nanny McPhee since the tooth seems to be really close to my lip I feel like I have one really big and fake tooth just chilling there. I also feel like I sound like Nanny McPhee. The good news? It doesn't look like Nanny McPhee yay! So can I get some drumroll please? Introducing my new and improved smile!

Did I Hear You Correctly?

Mr. Orthodontist did I hear you correctly or are you just pulling my leg?
I just completed another ortho visit. The last few visits have been routine and I stopped blogging about it because there just wasn't much going on and I have 2 kids now so that also contributes to my lack of time for....well...anything. Today was just the same as the last appointment but then my orthodontist began working on stepping out some molars (please forgive me I don't exactly remember which ones he stepped out. Come on I am not the orthodontist here! :D) I asked him very quietly if I could have my front tooth back. I just knew what his answer would be it was routine for me to ask and his routine to tell me no and why he couldn't. To be honest I didn't expect him to say "YES" but that is what I heard and I had to ask him "are you sure"? I am so excited I can barely contain myself. I get it put in next week and you bet I will be posting a picture of it here! :D For now you get to enjoy the last toothless picture me because I haven't shared a picture in awhile and because I can.

For about 10 months!

This expander has been in my mouth since April 11, 2012. I am just an hour and a half away from getting it removed and I am nervous and so excited! I am guessing my jaw will be sore when all is done.
11:30 am
I leave my office grinning ear to ear. I am in walking distance of the orthodontist office. I arrive say hello and get checked in. I sit and wait reading a book until my name is called. I don't wait long, my name is called and I follow one of the many nice assistants to the back and to my chair. She takes off the bottom power chain and the bands on the top arch and the top arch wire. Then it is finally time! She starts to pop my expander off. It doesn't hurt to bad I just feel pressure and hear crunching and its out she gives me water to swish around my mouth since it tastes nasty, I swish and get the sucker thingy in my mouth to get rid of the water and finally I rest my tongue on the roof of my mouth! WOW it felt so good!
After they clean the glue off they add the brace brackets to my back molars. Then add new wire and bands and no more power chain on the bottom arch. Woohoo. Only disappointment today ortho won't put in my flipper until spring if it will fit. I went straight back to the office to eat my lunch it was so good to eat like a normal person. No lip smacking and I could taste the food! So far my jaw doesn't hurt but it may take a bit for my jaw to start feeling sore. I hope not though. :)  Pictures below.

Very Good News Today

So happy with my Ortho appointment today. I finally got the news I was looking forward to hearing since last April! Can you believe that last April I had my expander put in?! Crazy right? Well My Ortho is very pleased with my alignment on my upper arch right now. He said I am now completely out of crossbite! Hurray and not only that but he has scheduled me an appointment to remove my RPE!!!!! January 30th is the day that I will no long talk as funny, smack my lips trying to clear food out of this silly expander and finally allow my raw tongue to heal so that I can finally enjoy spicy food again! I am very happy to close this chapter in my life and I want to thank all of you for reading my blog in its ups and downs and I promise you I am not going to stop my blog here. Nope I am going till the very end of this long journey and maybe even beyond. To think I started this whole thing at 4 weeks pregnant and now I have a 19 month old running around and talking back to me. Below is a picture after my adjustment. A new wire on top and another power chain on the bottom. I will be back here for another report on the 30th! :)
P.S. Yesterday was 8 months since my SARPE Surgery!

Happy Everything!

I had such a wonderful holiday season spent with my wonderful family. I hope you all had a great one too! Last year was a year of major change and it looks like this year will be too. My teeth are looking so great now and even with a tooth missing right at the front I can smile proudly. Picture of my teeth from today and a picture of my daughter and I on New Years watching a fireworks display below! :)

AMAZING PROGRESS!

11/28/12- I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I had a great one myself! I also celebrated my 25th birthday and had a perfect day! Thanks to my family and friends!

Now for my appointment I walk into the Orthodontist office and as usual I am greeted with a warm welcome by the ladies at the front desk. I feel like they are almost my family. Afterall, they have seen me in my ups and downs on this crazy journey they know what I have been through. As soon as they see me they check me in and I don't have to say a word. But I always say hello and thank you and I sit and wait to be called. I don't wait for long when a familar face calls my name and leads me to the to a patient chair in the back. She is kind and friendly and gently removes my wires and hardware my mouth has been packing for the last few months. when everything is off including the wire my mouth feels like jelly and very numb. She lets me go brush my teeth which feels AMAZING after feeling like I can't clean them good enough. I sit back down in the patient chair and she goes to work putting a new wire on my upper arch.She then happily reports that my lateral incisor has moved over enough so that it can be moved up to align with my other teeth! I could have jumped for joy. After all has been replaced including a power chain on my lower arch I request progress pictures and she kindly agrees to take them for me while I wait for my Ortho to look at my teeth.
Finally after a little wait it is my turn for the ortho to see me. He is happy with the results and says he will see me after christmas! Once the progress pictures are up on my patient account I will post them in another post on here and will most likely have updates between now and my next appointment on Jan. 10th so watch for my next appointment update.

11/29/12- I was late in updated my blog yesterday after my appointment but even just one night with the new wire on my upper arch and holy cow I see MAJOR difference. Below are two pictures: the first one is after my adjustment and the second one is from this morning!

Things are RAPIDLY Moving!

I am sure you took note of the fact that I typed "rapidly" in all caps and that is because my teeth have done some major moving in just the last few days. I notice a change everyday in my bite and the spaces between my teeth. You also may have noticed that I am posting a lot lately. That is because the progress that I have seen is progress that I only ever dreamed of until now! Do I seem a bit over dramatic? I suppose to some it seems that way. But for me this has been a long journey of pain and lack of confidence. I have been waiting until I could afford it and now waiting for it to show. I held myself back a lot during this journey even before braces. This all began when I was in middle school 13 or 14 years old and I never felt beautiful or worthy. No one ever made me feel that way. I myself did that because of how I viewed myself in the mirror. I am sure some would say that is a bit shallow and if I truly didn't understand I would probably agree! Accept I do understand. When a small child comes up to you and asks you if your teeth are broken or tell you they are ugly it hurts. I never got angry at a child over this because I know they don't understand but it was confirmation that I wasn't the only one who saw my teeth as ugly. I have had peers make comments and even had adults make comments. It hurt me when people would ask me to smile so they could see my snaggle tooth. To truly understand what I had gone through you would have to be in my shoes. All I can do is say that seeing my teeth change before my eyes for the better makes me feel like I have never felt before is that confidence? Maybe? I hope so. :) But before I bring myself to full on tears of happiness I will post a picture of my teeth today! I want to thank you for reading my rambling heart filled post it truly came from my heart.

Some perspective on progress.

Pictures Below are of me today.

The pictures below are from before surgery! The first picture was my smile before surgery and braces I can't believe the difference!