12 Days Post-Op~* Im Done *~

It is official I am done expanding!! Even though I have had the worst day (non-braces related) since surgery...I am still ecstatic to say that I am done with expansion. I saw the OD today, he took out the awful wire that was split in two on my uppers (talking about poking me!), and he replaced my upper and lower wire. So hopefully I will be saying good-bye to the large gap soon!
I just walked in the door...and realized I was starving. I attempted to eat a nutri-grain bar. I have been able to eat such things(not necessarily eat but mush with my gums and parts of teeth that slightly touch) but it hurt to smash food this time. I think I am getting more feeling in my upper jaw. That was the first time that my teeth and well jaw bone were sore like that. So that is probably good in a way....but bad meaning more liquid ick!! Back to the Magic Bullet for dinner I guess.
Well I have only one photo for today...this is my thank God I am done expanding pic. Also notice that my swelling continues to decrease daily. Hope eveyone is doing well in Ortho land...you to Mom. Hopefuly I will be adding photos of a closing gap soon. :)

Incisions

This is eleven days post-op.

11 Days Post-Op

Sunday- Today as been a really good day. I am officially off pain killers, even the motrin, and experiencing no pain. I have expanded twice today (.5 mm) and again no pain. I did experience I slight change in the location of the pressure after expanding. Rather than a tight feeling at the front of my palate, it seemed to move to the back. As of my last visit with the doc I should only have two more turns. Not that I mind expansion...I actually look forward to it. It is the most amazing and exciting thing to see my bite make all these changes. It almost makes the sting of the cost of braces worth it. :)

My Mom requested a few more photos, so I will continue my photo journal. I decided to do more angles and some before and after photos! Although I am starting to notice less movement the last day or so when I expand. So you will have to let me know if you agree w/ me on that one.



Before Right Now Right Left (slightly more swelling on left)


Before Today

Ortho Consult Today (5.75 mm) Today View 2


I would love to hear anyones comments on my progress. In my opinion, it still seems like I am not expanding as much as I should. But I am possilby just obsessing about it (which is very possilbe.) I have more photos but I will post them on a new one.

Day Six Expansion (10 Days Post Op)

I spoke with my OS yesturday and he and my Ortho agree that I need more expansion. So I will continue to expand until Monday morning @ 3x/day. Here are more pictures!!


Friday AM 5 mm Friday PM 5.75 mm Friday PM



Sat AM 6mm Sat AM Face (Swelling and Brusing almost unnoticable)

Expansion Progress II

Day Three Day Three 3mm Day Four Morning 3 1/4 mm


Day Five 4 1/4mm Day Five Face Day Five Bite

Expansion Progress

Pre-Expansion First Expansion Day One 1mm


Day Two (Twin and I) Bite Day Two 2mm

My Recovery

Well I didn't post much on how my recovery went, so for the benefit of future SARPE patients....here is what it has been like for me!

I had my surger last Wednesday, which included the SARPE and removal of all four wisdom teeth. Immediatly after surgery my face was enormous. I wasn't really expecting that, I guess I thought it would take time to develop swelling and brusises. But it definetely didn't! The pain wasn't that bad...of course when you are on I.V. pain killers it never is. I stayed over night in the hospital ( this is only b/c I am military and I have the option..free of charge) I checked out around 9am the next morning. I felt pretty good leaving the hospital, and then way over did it thinking I was more recovered than I actually was. Word of advise--- The day after surgery you should SLEEP the whole day. By around 7pm I was in tears and sat in a distant stare unalbe to even express how I felt. Thank God my sister was there to pump me up with Loritab! Soon there after I went to bed.

Day three of surgery was very uneventful. I figured out the key to sucess while recovering from major surgery...sleep! So I did that for almost the entire day. My swelling went down remarkably by day three. I think that was a result of rest, ice, and constant elevation @ 45 degrees. One thing that started on day three was nose bleeds. I had someone come to my house and buy my car...the activity of walking outside and trying to talk caused a nose bleed. The funny part.... the sixteen year old girl buying my car saw my swollen and bruised face, and told her mom that her appointment next month to have her wisdom teeth was to be canceled. I assured her that my disfigurement was from SARPE rather than wisdom teeth. The look on her face while looking at me was unforgetable! At least I can laugh about that part. :)

Day four...again I slept most of the day. Swelling continued to go down.

Day five--- I bougth a new car!! And got a nose bleed while talking to the salesman. They say when a girl isn't feeling well she should shop right! :) Here is a pic of my new car...and my swollen face.


Day Six--- Sunday (day of rest) once agian I took it easy. I was very anxious on Sunday b/c I was going to start expanding on Monday. I completely winged myself off of the pain killers at this point. (24 hours w/out) I was beginning to feel more like myself, but not quite back to par. At this point I began lowering me elevation when I slept...much more comfortable.

Day Seven-- First Day of Expansion!! Monday I woke up and drank a protein shake, brusehd my teeth, and my sister and I sat down to try to figure out how to crank my jaw apart. It took a good 10 minutes to figure it out. I was so nervous that I become very light headed, I would advise lying down for the first one. It DOES NOT HURT, but regardless until you know for yourself it's easier to take laying down.

From this point on I will post pictures of my expansion. Like the saying a picture says a thousand words (and I know that is what everyone wants to see anyway).

To sum up the week so far... I am feeling much better. I don't have to take naps and am able to walk around and be more productive. My days are going by faster now...so I know that means I am healing well. My doctor has me expanding 4x a day (1/4 mm per turn) I will only turn for five days. Enjoy the pics!

SARPE--Day Four(Re-Cap)

I am four day post op. I have to admit today is the first day that I have been able to do things more on my own. I think part of that is b/c I finally have weened myself off the pain killers. Since I wasn't able to log on and write about my experience I am going to back track. So please endure my long windness ( I haven't been talking much the past four days :) )

Surgery Day-
I woke up very excited! My twin sister and I took my little puppy Merick for a walk at around 5am. As usual I was running late, I was supposed to walk out the door at 0545..but like two girls my sister and I didn't make it out until 0610. Oh well...surgery will go on. I finally checked into the hospital. I took a few pics before. It's sad ...but I had to fix my hair and wear a cute outfit.

I was rolled into surgery about 0810. The surgery lasted about 2 1/2 hours, however I wasn't moved out of recovery until about four hours later. Apparently I had super high blood pressure. I was 150/110. The worst part of that is my sister was waiting the entire 4 hours, and had heard nothing. She just so happens to be a recovery nurse. So to say the least she was flipping out! Obviously I can't tell you how surgery went..but I can show pictures! I asked my doctor to take photos during surgery. So please be warned...what follows are actual surgery photos!




As anyone knows, after you wake up from surgery. The rest of the day is pretty much a gonner. All I really remember from that day is about crying when I was finally allowed to see my sister and that my face felt like it has two softballs in each cheek(which I was hoping to be packing) which turned out to be all my very own swelling and tissue!

So to re-cap. Day one...I don't remember much, put I have wonderful photos to aide me in never forgetting. From this day forward...progress!

SARPE--Day One

Thursday Morning 24hrs Post-Op

Wedneday-- Out of Recovery (Major swelling on Left cheek)


Twin and I before surgery


Actual Surgery!!

Getting a Little Nervous

It is Saturday morning (actually noon, but I am still in my PJ's so morning) I have spent about two hours looking on the internet at others stories and pictures from Ortho and SARPE. I am nervous, yet completely thrilled. In four days I will be rolled into the OR!! I am not really nervous about the surgery, thanks to everyone's blog's and journals. But I am so nervous about how my teeth will react to the expansion. Will I have a big gap, or small? Will my teeth move back quickly? How long before I have this God forsaken RPE taken out of my mouth??? I am kinda of wondering why I am spending this morning on the computer....I will have a good week of nothing to do but sit and well sit. It is nice out too....I should be out ridding my bike or running. But then again I will loose to much weight from surgery as it is. :)


This will probably be my only entry pre-op..if anyone even cares to follow my recovery I am going to do my darndest to post pics of all my movement! I know that has been a huge help for me. So hopefully next week this same time (I can't belive I am finally doing this!!) I will have a new, well a new something!

My new Life w/ Braces and RPE

I know all to well the curiousity that comes with having ortho work done. So I wanted to have have photos to track my progress. I have been in braces for over a month and today is my one month with a RPE. So these are my
before photos.

Where it all begins

I have officially been in braces now for a little over a month. I have been thinking about having braces now for about two years. I began noticing that my teeth were shifting and that my bite was becoming more and more non existant. When going in for a replacement of my Marlyn Bridge I asked my dentist if he could drill down one of my front teeth so they would be even. His responce was yes he could, but I actually needed braces to bring down one of my teeth. That was the beginning. I asked around for a good orthodontist, and decided to go with Dr. Bayer.

I made an initial appointment, and was very overwhelmed but excited with my findings. The first thing I was told was that if I was there for cosmetic reasons, I needed to go somewhere else. I was hooked then and there. One of the only things I rembemer my first orth telling my Mother and I was that he had corrected my teeth cosmetically, and that it was the best he could do. Well nine years later I am finally going to have done what should have been done in the first place.

My treatment is estimated to be 18-22 months, call me a optimist(or just crazy) but I'm shooting for 12! I had my braces put on, then a week later a RPE appliance placed. I am being treated for a slight cross bite, w/ upper and lower crowding. My treatment includes RPE, a surgical release, and a possilbe second surgery on my upper and lower jaw to align my jaw.

I am a little more than a month in to treatment and have found myself desperate to know more about what is going on in my mouth. I have spent hours researching my procedure with little luck. This morning, I tried something new in Google "Adults with Braces" that was the best search I have ever done! I spent hours reading blogs of others in my situations. Not only do I know what to expect, but I feel I found a place where I feel normal agian!