Over 9 Months

[ (November 18th, 2013) (9 months post surgery, 8 months post braces) ]

It's been a few months since my last post but really nothing much has changed.  All the crazy gap pictures are in the past and now it's just the slow process of making all my teeth straight.  Every six weeks I go to the orthodontist and get stronger wires and new bands.  So really there's been nothing interesting going on at all.  Here's some pictures of how my teeth are progressing.

From Top to Bottom

[ (August 4th, 2013) (172 days post surgery, 132 days since full expansion, 150 days post braces) ]

I've been to two appointments over the past month.  The first appointment was routine maintenance.  The second appointment, which was six days ago, they added brackets to the fourth tooth on each side of my top row of teeth and on my bottom row of teeth.  I'm fully braced up, from top to bottom.  The orthodontist decided not to add rubber bands to the braces like they usually do.  He said he wants the teeth to straighten out more before they start to pull them together again.  All the gaps are disappearing so I don't mind waiting.  Even though they wanted me to wait four weeks to come back instead of the normal two weeks, I'm going back tomorrow because they forgot to put the stopper on the top wire.  Now, my one front tooth is starting to slide over too far on to the other side.


The front tooth is off center now!

It's Been a While

[ (July 3th, 2013) (140 days post surgery, 100 days since full expansion, 118 days post braces) ]


It's been a while.  I really shouldn't make excuses, but I've been really busy these past six weeks. 

Anyway, since the last update I've been to the orthodontist three times.  During the first appointment, they decided that they wanted to get rid of the old, bulky and always very annoying expander that was occupying the roof of my mouth for months now.  Mainly because it was anchored to the 4th and 6th tooth on each side of my top jaw and they want to start moving the 4th tooth into place.  They made a mold of the roof of my mouth so they could make a new device to keep my palate expanded that only hooked onto the 6th tooth on each side.

Obviously, the next appointment they took the expander out and put the new device in.  It is such an improvement.  I have so much more room in my mouth, all the surfaces are smooth and food isn't stuck all over the place every time I eat.  It's amazing!  They didn't put brackets on my newly freed 4th tooth on each side because they are not in line with my other teeth yet.  They would have to use a weaker wire to pull them into place and they wanted to keep the wire strong for the other teeth.  Eventually, those teeth will move closer into place and will get brackets.

Yesterday was the last appointment out of the three.  Besides the normal maintenance that they do every time, they put an even stronger wire in.  The stronger wire makes the teeth straighter and holds them in place better.  My teeth and gums have been ultra-sensitive since then.  They are also trying to close the smaller side gaps by pulling those teeth over with connected rubber bands.  Still no brackets on the 4th tooth on each side yet.  The main front gap has just about closed as the other gaps have continued to get bigger along the way.

Again, sorry for the delay but these promising pics should make up for it.

 

CHECK OUT THE NEW DEVICE!!!!!

 

 

Monkey See, Monkey Do

[ (May 26th, 2013) (102 days post surgery, 62 days since full expansion, 80 days post braces) ]

I'm still continuing to see the orthodontist every two weeks.  I was there this past Monday and I'm going back next Monday (eight days).  While there, they switched my bands and gave me a new stronger wire since my teeth have become straighter.  They put a stopper on the wire because my one front tooth is closer to being in place than the other.  They were able to put three chains between my front teeth instead of four.  Also, the stronger wire has helped to pull my other front tooth towards the center creating a new gap as seen below.

 

 The new gap!

Nothing New

[ (May 13th, 2013) (89 days post surgery, 49 days since full expansion, 67 days post braces) ]

There's really nothing new to update.  I went to the orthodontist last Tuesday and they gave me a fresh wire and bands.  Next appointment in two weeks, which is 8 days from today.  The center gap is getting slightly smaller as the side gap gets slightly bigger.  This is pretty much a pic update, check it.

Progress I Guess

[ (April 27th, 2013) (73 days post surgery, 33 days since full expansion, 51 days post braces) ]

After the previous visit to the orthodontist, the gap closed about a half a centimeter the first week and then didn't move the next three weeks.  Instead, a the new gap between my front left tooth and the tooth next to it got bigger (I don't know how that makes any sense). Also, it seemed like the braces were pulling my front tooth on my right side (left side looking at the picture) out of my gums to the point were it was loose.  I'm just over the whole gap thing already and want it to be closed.

I went to the orthodontist this past Tuesday (April 23rd).  I asked about my front tooth being pulled down out of my gums.  They said it was ok because none of the root was showing and teeth are going to feel loose as they are shifting into place.  The hooked me up with a new track and new rubber bands to help the gap close better.  They told me to come in every two weeks now instead of the four weeks that I initially did.  Since then, the tooth started to move back up and the front gap closed a little more while the side gap grew bigger.  I go back to the orthodontist in a week and a half.  Still, the thought of a perfect smile is getting me through this.

Here are some pictures from today.

Stalemate: Braces vs The Expander!

[ (April 14th, 2013)  (60 days post surgery, 20 days since full expansion, 34 days post braces) ]

I know I know, it has been over a month since I posted.  Life has been busy, I'm lazy, [enter more excuses here], blah blah blah, etc.

Anyway, I stopped turning the expander on March 25th (40 days post surgery, 35 days after starting to turn expander) after a whopping 58 turns!  Fifteen of the turns came after the braces were put on my top row of teeth. 

My last orthodontist appointment was on March 25th.  They said that I may have overexpanded my palate.  They told me not to worry because most of the time, the palate will retract a little bit.  They locked the expander in place and said it would have to stay in my mouth for about 6 months.  This will give the palate time to fuse back together.  They said it will take 2 - 3 months for the gap to close.  My next appointment is 8 days from now (April 22nd.)

March 25th was also the last check in with the oral surgeon.  He said everything was going great and I didn't need to see him again unless the orthodontist decided I needed lower jaw surgery after my braces come off. 

After the turning stopped, the gap has been s    l    o    w    l    y closing which I'm not too happy with.  I figured the braces would turn it up a notch but not so much.  Living with the gap is annoying as you can imagine but I keep telling myself it's going to be worth it in the end.  My teeth are becoming less sensitive to the point where crunchy stuff is tolerable.  The problem with that is, I'm not supposed to eat crunchy stuff because it could damage the braces (awesome timing!)  Here's some pics.



March 18th (Fifty-one turns, eight turns post braces era)

March 25th (Fifty-eight turns, fifteen post braces era, fully expanded!!!)

 

April 14th (Thirty-four days post braces, twenty days since full expansion)

You can see a little gap forming between my front tooth and the one next to it!

Here are some pics from before surgery and after full expansion.  There are some slight facial difference.

 



 

 

This is before expansion, thirty-three turns and fifty-eight turns.

 



 

 

I'll try not to be lazy and post sooner than a month away.

The Turning Continues

[ (March 11, 2013)  (26 days post surgery, 21 days expanding the palate) ]

I saw the orthodontist again last Thursday.  Before my appointment on Thursday, last time they told me to do ten more turns before coming back.  Ten turns (one in the morning and one at night) would have had me stop turning last Wednesday morning.  After seeing that my top jaw wasn't over far enough after ten turns, I continued to turn (even though I wasn't supposed to) as I had been doing twice a day and did twelve turns.  As expected, my top jaw still wasn't wide enough, so on Thursday they told me to do six more turns and come back today.  Six more turns would've had me stop turning Sunday morning.  Just like last time, it still wasn't quite wide enough so I just kept turning as scheduled before and did seven turns.  My top jaw is still not wide enough.  I'm supposed to do one turn a day for the next two weeks, fourteen more turns!  The good news is that they put the braces on my top row of teeth.

Now for some pics!


(3/3) Twenty nine turns.

(3/4) Thirty one turns.

(3/5)  Thirty three turns.

(3/6)  Thirty five turns.

(3/7)  Thirty seven turns.

(3/8)  Thirty nine turns.

(3/9)   Forty one turns.

(3/10)  Forty three turns.

(3/11)  Forty four turns.

Check out my sweet clear braces.

Here are some progression shots I put together:


Palate expansion progression.  (Before, 9 turns, 33 turns)

Bite progression.  (Before, 23 turns, 33 turns)

Smile progression.  (Before, 23 turns, 43 turns)

More updates to come!!

Hockey Smile

[ (March 3, 2013) (18 days post surgery, 13 days expanding the palate) ]


I saw the oral surgeon on Thursday.  He said everything was looking good.  On Friday, the orthodontist said to do ten more turns and they'll determine if my palate has been expanded enough.  That potentially puts the final turn on Wednesday morning and the turn count would end at 34 turns.

I'm finding it easier to eat things besides foods that are really crunchy like cereal and hard pretzles.  I have a better range of motion with my lips and it doesn't hurt to smile anymore.  All the sutures have pretty much desolved besides a couple where my wisdom teeth were.  Check out my sweet hockey smile!

(2/24) Fifteen turns.

(2/25)  Seventeen turns.

My fake wax tooth!

(2/26)  Nineteen turns.

 

 

 

 (2/27)  Twenty one turns.

 

 

 (2/28)  Twnety three turns.

(3/1)  Twenty five turns.

(3/2)  Twenty seven turns.  (You can see the gums next to my front teeth are sore from stretching.)

That is all for now.