What's next??

I failed to mention expanding doesn't hurt! Just a lot of pressure in the upper bridge of the nose. Some people say they got a headache every time they turned. I just got an occasional headache.

Anyhow.... What's next? After seeing my orthodontist on May 23rd, I was told nothing but good news!

Stop turning... Yay! Next appt is on June 20th. And I get my bottom braces on!!  I am so excited! 

As far as my lovely upper jaw and man made gap goes, I just sit idle and wait for my upper jaw to grow back together at its new and improved width. Projected time for top braces is 6 months. And yes, I am still living with my appliance. It is what keeps my jaw expanded. After braces are applied onto my top teeth, I will still live with my appliance for awhile. A journey it has been.  It started in Oct 2012. All appointments and surgeries were as speedy as possible. Like I previously mentioned, I had to have my wisdom teeth taken out as well. Even though they were totally impacted they were in the way of my sarpe surgery and Dr. Hopkins didn't want to work around them. 

All in all it has been a good ride. The majority of the people I spoke with pre surgery shook their head. They said if it was them they wouldn't go through all of the "trouble" and they would just prefer living with crooked teeth. I don't look at it as trouble. I look at is as a blessing. I have lived with crooked teeth my entire life. I finally had the opportunity to make it happen along with the support of my honey, Justin. He has been such a great help. Without him I couldn't have done it. He is so loving. So with that being said, I would encourage anyone considering this surgery, go for it! 

Below is a simple collage of comparisons. Notice how far the appliance has widened my top jaw. Impressive.

Expanding!!!! ahhhh!!

One week after surgery I revisited Dr. Joel Hopkin, my oral surgeon. He turned my key and taught me how to turn it. This was May 7th 2013.  He told me to turn it 4 times day until I saw my awesome orthodontist Dr. Gilder. I did as I was told. I started turning and turning and was shocked at how quickly my man made gap started widening.  After a week of turning 4 times a day I saw my oral surgeon again. He said all looked well. I expressed my concern about how fast the gap was widening.  The only reason why I was concerned was because my orthodontist, Dr. Gilder was on vacation until May 23rd. And that would be my first opportunity post op to see him. I was then instructed by my oral surgeon to slow the turning to 3 turns a day. Here is a pic of the "instant" gap from surgery.

The above pic doesn't look like much but my two front teeth were really, really turned in.  The next pictures show the progression of turning over two weeks time.  The time frame between May 7-23rd. I stopped turning on the 21st. I was afraid of over turning and I really just wanted to hear what Dr. Gilder had to say. Well when May 23rd came and I finally got to see Dr. Gilder he told me to stop turning! I was at my width I needed to be :):):) HOORAY! My gap is 7mm

^^^^^back to work :)

Final width above, 7 mm!!! 

Days following surgery

It's really short and simple... Rest and don't overdue it. I ate/drank liquid foods for the first two weeks. U can eat soft foods about 3-5 days after surgery but I didn't feel the desire to at all. I was off work 12 days. I planned on being off 7-9 but I was too weak to go back. I probably could have gone back half days after 7 days but the energy level was not there for a full 8-10 hour day, no way!  The pain wasn't bad. Pictures of swelling are below starting in order post surgery moving forward...

Bruising started around eyes and then showed up around my jaw... U will see.

Sarpe Surgery Day

Well this might seem strange but I wasn't that worried about surgery. I knew I had the best oral surgeon money could buy. Also, thanks to all of the other sarpe blogs out there I felt well prepared because I studied up! Surgery went awesome. Things u need.... 

1. Someone supportive to help for the first 1-3 days.

2. An awesome blender. I broke two.

3. Tons of fruits and veggies, fresh and frozen, I recommend a Costco trip. Yogurt, milk, juice, greens i.e. kale, ensure, carnation instant breakfast, Gatorade, bottled water. Mom in law made awesome blended soups and stored them in 2 cup servings, put them in freezer bags and froze them.

4. Gauze and medical tape for nose bleeds first few days, chap stick, wash cloth.

5. Meds... Pain meds and anti nausea meds prescribed by doctor. ( I get nauseas when taking pain meds) afrin nose spray to clear congested nose, ( not allowed to blow nose) and mucinex and Advil.

If you stay on schedule with the meds the recovery is smooth sailing.. Meds, food, rest and sleep.

6. E-reader loaded with books, magazines, movies, iPad, etc.

7. Good pillows to keep u upright while u sleep. I folded a body pillow in half.

Picture post surgery in the car leaving the  doctor's office.

Installation of expander

So the rubber bands were pulled out from between my teeth and I was ecstatic. It felt like my teeth could finally breathe again. But that lasted a mere 15 minutes before the appliance was crammed and cemented into my mouth. It was very uncomfortable and made me want to gag. There was lots and saliva built up and I felt like I could drool accidentally at any moment. As soon as I left the orthodontist office I went and bought a WaterPik. Because there is no way to clean out the food around the appliance without one. I mean, I suppose you could

but the WaterPik made me feel like I had better hygiene. It took a while to adjust to eating. Appliance installed around April 18th. Sarpe surgery set for May 1st.

Torture device

So the torture device that I am referring to is the expander aka appliance that u turn with a key to expand the width of the jaw after the sarpe surgery. I had to get the appliance installed prior to surgery. I had one appt. with my orthodontist where they took an impression of my jaw with a chalky gooey substance. After they took the impression of my jaw it hardened and they used that to specifically build my appliance for me.  In the meantime.... While my appliance is being built for me, I had to have lovely rubber bands crammed, yes.. crammed! in between my teeth to create space for the lovely new torture device. The appliance has metal that slides on/wraps around two upper molars on each side with the help of cement. The elastic spacing bands were very uncomfortable. It felt like food stuck between the teeth. There were 4 on each side up top and 2 on each side on my lower jaw. Picture to follow.... 

My "Before" Smile