May 2010 Buddies

Message

#91 Post by **geordie999** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:06 am

You'll do great BracketRacket.

Four days for me until my expander comes out (kind of), they then take a mold, and then it goes back in again for a week until my TPA arrives. Then they finally take it out for good and replace it with the TPA.

#92 Post by **BracketRacket** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 7:34 pm

Yay -- glad your expander's coming out, too! Hopefully it'll be a relief!

So fricken worried -- not even sure why. I don't even mind if it'll hurt (which it shouldn't still I'm still numb in spots and will have local anesthetic to boot), but the whole idea is creeping me out... 24 hours and it'll be done. Then off for molds and a new device of some sort -- fun, fun!

#93 Post by **geordie999** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:50 am

Hope everything went OK - I bet it's a big relief now that it's gone.

#94 Post by **Josh'smom** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:31 am

BracketRacket wrote:Yay -- glad your expander's coming out, too! Hopefully it'll be a relief!

So fricken worried -- not even sure why. I don't even mind if it'll hurt (which it shouldn't still I'm still numb in spots and will have local anesthetic to boot), but the whole idea is creeping me out... 24 hours and it'll be done. Then off for molds and a new device of some sort -- fun, fun!

How's it going BracketRacket?

#95 Post by **BracketRacket** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:03 pm

I'm ALIVE!

As far as fun family afternoon goes, I wouldn't suggest it, but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought! I was super-nervous (that's a shocker!) and the nurse gave me some liquid lidocaine to swish. Then I got four shots of novacaine, two on either side of the outside of my gum where the wire protruded, and two into my palate. YOUCH, those two into the roof of my mouth were painful!

After waiting for the meds to kick in, the doctor came in and cut the wires conntecting the expander to my gums. Then he pulled out the wires from the outside (he had a bit of trouble with one, so a little bit of pulling). I noticed no pulling on the other side, so I didn't even know he was done with it! Then he unscrewed the long screw that ran lengthwise (the one we turned to expand), and pulled out the whole device. Didn't take long, and again, I didn't even know he was done!

My mouth is a bit sore, especially where the appliance was connected and where the wires were, and my teeth hurt a little, but all in all not too bad. I'm not convinced that most of it isn't still numb, it just "feels" like it should hurt more, if you know what I mean. I have two lumps on either side where the gum started to grow over the appliance, and one smack in the middle on top, not sure what that one's about!

I now have a hard plastic retainer of sorts to help manage the space until I get my braces. It's, um, interesting, but not too bad!

Thanks for the good thoughts!

#96 Post by **geordie999** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 10:19 am

Glad to hear everything went well with getting your expander out - yes the wonders of novacaine

I bet your mouth now feels huge. And I'm sure your gums will heal really quickly - the insides of the mouth appear to have wonderful regenerative properties.
Unforunately I still have my expander in. The ortho this morning wanted to do more fine tuning to make sure I didn't revert back to what I was before at the end of my treatment - so after getting clearance from my OS I'm back to turning twice a day for a week - feels just like old times

Hope everybody is doing well.

#97 Post by **BracketRacket** » Thu Aug 26, 2010 8:04 pm

I didn't know you could do that so long after surgery -- I hope everything goes well!

I added some new pics to my story thread
http://archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=33725

#98 Post by **geordie999** » Sat Aug 28, 2010 7:40 am

I think as long as the suture hasn't closed up again - and that takes a long time - bone grows 1mm a month (or so I've heard). I did call my OS to double check and he was fine with it.

#99 Post by **geordie999** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:56 pm

Just a quick update. After completing the expansion - and I must be close to maxing out my device since I think I've done about 50-52 quarter turns - he said that I need to keep it in another month....bummer. Though that was after arguing him down from 2 months - so not bad. Since each turn is 1/4mm I think I'm looking at at about a 12-13mm expansion. Shows how bad things were before I started treatment. So it's now end of September when I get it replaced with a TPA. Hope things are going well for everybody else.

#100 Post by **BracketRacket** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 4:18 pm

Getting close now, geordie, I hope!

So I'm a little late to the party -- got my top braces today!

Hope everyone's doing well -- how are you guys feeling? I wish I was getting less numb, but everything seems to be pretty stable right now, without a lot of pain, so I guess I can't complain too much!

#101 Post by **geordie999** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 8:46 pm

Good to hear from you BracketRacket. I think it took me about 4 weeks for me to get my upper braces and lowers. They did them together. They put in the lightest wire first which they took out at the end of August and it looked pretty gnarly. They put in a more rigid wire which isn't popping out of my lower brackets any more which is good! I'm already seeing significant movement though my gap is still huge. Hopefully next week they'll start the process of removing the expander - right around my birthday. Not a bad present

#102 Post by **charlsie142** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:02 pm

hey everyone! sorry I've been MIA for a while...I think I'm finally to that point where you start to move on from everything and want to think about all this as little as possible. Which is a good thing.

I get my braces off Nov 4th! I'm going to the orthodontist on Tuesday to make sure that's still the official date and everything's where it needs to be. My ortho says he doesn't think it can be any more perfect, and I have to agree. Couldn't come at a better time- I'm applying for jobs and will (hopefully) be going on some interviews very soon, so I'd like to at least look old enough to be a professor! (I seriously got asked at the airport if I was even 18 last month! That's been the one consistent piece of feedback I've gotten from people, that I look so much younger after surgery--I'll take it!).

I'm still pretty numb in parts of my nose and my upper palate/gums, but I've gotten pretty used to it. Sometimes I'll feel some weird sensations or pain when eating and get my hopes up that the feeling's coming back, but not so far. If things don't improve from how they are now, I'm okay with that (and hopefully by saying that, they will improve!).

I hope you both are doing well! Congrats on your braces, BracketRacket! I hope you're adjusting well (bad joke, I know!). Geordie, I hope your expander is out by now and that you had a happy birthday!