Gaps

[ (February 24, 2013) (11 days post surgery, 6 days expanding the palate) ]


First, the gaps of information that I meant to put in earlier posts.

1) My wife worked overnight the day before the surgery, stayed up with me all day during the surgery and then changed the ice on my face every hour that night to try to help with the swelling.  She took great care of me even though she was exhausted.  She did so much for me and I love her so much.

2) I wanted to talk about the foods that I've been able to eat.  The first couple days, I couldn't chew anything so it was pudding, applesauce, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and fruit smoothies that my wife made.  Lately, I've been able to chew some things.  Soft things like pasta and pizza but not the crust.

There's still sutures in my mouth along my gums.  My teeth only bother me when I chew hard things.  My front teeth on the top row are still numb and my face is still a little swollen.

Now, here is my gap.  Warning, it gets scary.


(2/18) This is after the the surgeon turned the key 3 times in the office.  I turned the key two times a day afterwards.

 (2/19) Five turns.

(2/20) Seven turns.

(2/21) Nine turns.

(2/22) Eleven turns.

(2/23) Thirteen turns.

I'll try to update soon.

Post Surgery

[ (February 18, 2013) (5 days post surgery, expanding the palate begins) ]


Here are updates for the past few days.  I wish I could have written more often but I wasn't feeling well as you'll soon find out.

The night before surgery (2/12)

(2/13) The 24 hours following surgery, my life was gauze taped to my nose to stop the bleeding and ice on my face to slow the eventual swelling.  The nose bleeds weren't bad at all, usually one drop would come out and that would be it.  The surgeon said there was almost no bleeding during the surgery so there was some blood in my sinuses that may come out.  Most of the pain came from the 4 wisdom being pulled then the three cuts along my gums.  Luckily, my medical dogs were there to help me heal.

(2/14) Happy Valentine's Day, the swelling sets in.

(2/15) You can really see the swelling now, I can barely show my teeth.

(2/16) Not only is the swelling at its worst point, I'm feeling very sick.  Almost exactly two years ago I had my tonsils removed.  I was prescribed liquid vicodin and it made me so sick to my stomach.  I had the worst headaches, I had no energy and I was throwing up.  This time it was the percocet that made me sick.  I stopped taking it and instead started taking ibuprofen.

(2/17) Still pretty swollen and some bruising too.  Starting to feel somewhat normal again.

The Journey Begins

[ (February 13, 2013) (Hours before surgery) ]

Well actually, it began years ago.  A simple chipped tooth sent me to my first dental appointment ever at 26 years old.  After careful examinations by dentists, orthodontists and oral surgeons, it was unanimous that surgery would be the only answer to my mess of a mouth.  My top row of teeth don't sit on the outside of the bottom row.  Pretty much, I have a narrow upper jaw and with this device it will open it up over a few months.

SARPE stands for surgically assisted rapid palatal expansion.  They made a mold of my teeth, made the metal appliance, last Tuesday it was cemented to my teeth and I'm ready to go to surgery in just a few hours.  To my understanding, the surgery consists of cutting into my gums and cracking open my top jaw.  With the appliance came a key, which I will turn daily until my jaw is set to the correct position.  In doing so, it will give me a sweet gap in my two front teeth going from Letterman to Sponge Bob.

When telling people this, two main questions come about: Why and why now?

Why is because my narrow jaw is making my teeth to clank together causing my gums to recede.  So it's live with this for a few years now, or spend decades later dealing with fake teeth.  Also, my crowded teeth make it tough to clean between them which is leading to gum disease which could lead to heart disease.  Of course all of this pain and anguish will also lead to me having a perfect smile!  A perfect smile will take me from an extremely handsome gent, to a perfect specimen.

Why now is because I didn't know I had this problem until about a year and a half ago.  At the time I found out, I was just getting engaged.  After my jaw is set, I'm going to need braces for a while as well to set my teeth in place.  I didn't want to look foolish for the rest of my life with braces in my wedding photos.

This past week, living with the device has been a little annoying.  I sound like a teenager with braces when I talk.  I've gotten somewhat used to it and I'll have a good stretch where I sound perfect but it doesn't last long.  I salivate constantly causing spit to build up all day.  Eating is also terribly annoying.  Things get stuck in the tiny space between the device and my palate and it's tough to get out unless you have a toothpick or something similar.  The outsides of the device are sharp like braces, so it's been cutting into the inside of my mouth as well.  The wife hooked me up with some dental wax halfway through the week and that problem was taken care of.

We also stocked up on some liquid foods over the past week getting ready for surgery.  Can't wait to eat ice cream, applesauce and pudding all day.  We also got fruit to make smoothies and I know we got some root beer so I'll be drinking floats too.

That's all for now.  Wish me luck and I'll be home later with my gap.  I took some pictures earlier and I'll be taking them all along the journey for before and after shots.  Stick with me to see how the story unfolds...

-Joe