Joplin's Story (photos on page 12)

Message

#16 Post by **joplin** » Tue Nov 02, 2004 6:26 am

Dodger, yes, I see a difference in my arch, it's definately wider now. I can feel the difirence in a very peculiar way too: the other day I had a business meeting during which I did a lot of polite smiling. The meeting took about an hour and after that my face was tired from smiling! I think my facial muscles have not yet adjusted to working on top of a wider upper jaw. The change has been rapid - just like the RPE promises

Also my ortho says my face looks more relaxed now that before because the muscles are confused about the new situation

Funny! But mind you: these shiny metal arms in my mouth have not stopped me from flashing a smile as usual. I've decided to let them shine. My teeth are a mess now, but I don't mind that either! They always were, now they're just messed up in a different way, so what the heck! I actually tell everyone and anyone about what's going on in my mouth to cut all inconveniency short. "I'm in orhodontics, hence the lisp." Not many people ask further questions. And those who do, usually ask "is it painful?" or just say "I did have braces too."
Today I was hosting a group of people at work and casually mentioned them that I'm re-living my teenage: I got braces! Everyone just laughed with me very warmly

#17 Post by **Clo** » Thu Nov 04, 2004 7:58 am

Hi Joplin,

just wanted to say it is great to see you are doing a lot better lately !
Congratulations !!!!

#18 Post by **joplin** » Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:40 am

Thanks, Clo! You always have a kind word to say:)
I try to see the funny and positive sides to this, although I do have my downs, of course. Some days all of this totally sucks, some days I don't mind that much. But lately - knock on wood - I haven't spent that much time feeling sorry for myself like I did in the beginning. Fantasizing about the ways to destroy this expander the day it's out of my mouth keeps me going

Shall I sink it in the lake? Shall I place it on a railroad track and watch a train run over it? Shall I bury it 6 feet under? Oh let it be January soon...

#19 Post by **joplin** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:07 am

Here's finally a photo of the nasty expander I'm wearing:
(picture removed)

The screw in the middle is secured with a steel wire now to hold it steady.

This really is not a flattering angle to my teeth

but here you can see clearly how my laterals are rotated almost 90 degrees because of the hidden canines pulling them like that from the inside of my jaw bone.

My upper arch is supposed to be about 1 cm wider now, but I honestly can't see where the extra space for those impacted canines could be

The arch is definately wider, all right, but no additional spaces between my teeth seem to exist. So where did the extra space go hiding, I wonder???

#20 Post by **Katypooh** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 3:00 pm

joplin wrote:Fantasizing about the ways to destroy this expander the day it's out of my mouth keeps me going Shall I sink it in the lake? Shall I place it on a railroad track and watch a train run over it? Shall I bury it 6 feet under? Oh let it be January soon...

Lol! I do the same over my damn quad helix expander!

#21 Post by **joplin** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:09 am

Today I'm half way there: 8 weeks of wearing the expander are behind me, 8 more weeks to go.

#22 Post by **Clo** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 9:51 am

Hi Joplin,

thanks for sharing us your picture !
It is almost unbelievable that some weeks ago, those 2 expander
parts were together. Hmmm, I was also searching the gained space,
strange ... I guess a somewhat rounder arch is where it went to.
In my case, I have experienced an expansion of my upper arch by
5 mm, and I did not even have an expander, only a TPA. And it is
also hardly noticeable, but very well measurable !

#23 Post by **Dodger(UK)** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 3:58 pm

Good progress made Joplin.

It will be amazing when they make enough space and bring those impacted canine's down, you'll have a greatly enhanced smile when your treatment is finished.

#24 Post by **joplin** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 12:49 am

Yeah, having all my teeth in right places would be neat! But the persisting lack of space for the canines still worries me

. I wonder if my ortho has an ace up her sleeve for this... She never promised there would be enough space ("I have high expectations", she said though) and said pulling some bicuspids may be needed in case not enough space will appear... That I definately don't want, but I can do nothing but wait until my next appointment and new x-rays in January to get more information about my situation. Bummer!

In the picture the back of my mouth looks kinda yacky

Like the area where the expnasion had happened is of different colour than the rest of the inside of my mouth. I wonder if that will change in course of time.
In the lower left corner you can see the "hole" from wisdom tooth removal.

#25 Post by **joplin** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:35 am

Dear Diary, here's another one of Joplin's tiny little reasons to be happy: today I can actually say for a fact that my expander will come off NEXT MONTH! It's a meaningless detail to mankind but makes a difference to me

How happy will I be when the time comes to say it will come off next week, oh I can not wait!

#26 Post by **fyrelight** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 11:17 am

Hey Joplin... what's the status on getting your expander off? Are you free yet?

#27 Post by **joplin** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 11:50 pm

Thanks for asking, Fyrelight, but no. I'm not

Actually I'm totally bummed out at the moment. I just came from the orho's office. She took a look in my mouth, told me to schedule a new appointment and charged me 52â‚¬... And I was expecting her to remove the expander and take new molds and x-rays today. I had been counting days to this morning. My mistake, I guess... If I should have learned something by now, it's "never expect a thing - they'll always come up with something else".

Anyway, I managed to get an appointment for those molds and x-rays for Wednesday. They say they will only take the expander out for that little while and put it right back in for another week. Then, next week, I will meet my ortho again for her verdict on what she thinks needs to be done next. At that appointment they (well, I DO hope!) will replace the expander with something else that will keep the newly widened arch steady.

Boy am I frustrated right now. Also a little shocked, because of something my ortho said. Initially she wanted me to have the expansion - surgery and all - to make room for my impacted canines so that I would not need to have any teeth extracted, with any luck. Well, so much for luck. Now she says it seems not enough room was created and I may have to have my upper bicuspids extracted anyway. Oh joy. I still hope there is some remote chance that won't be needed... Well, the x-rays will tell more after Wednesday.

#28 Post by **Kristine** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 12:44 pm

That's too bad.

I hope you don't need the extractions. Good luck on Wednesday.

#29 Post by **Clo** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:29 am

Hi Joplin,

there are 2 things I learned concerning orthodontics. Well, actually a
lot more ...

Don't count days to something you simply can not control completely.
So when something does not happen the way you expected it, you are
not that disappointed. I see it as the ortho does take you out for a ride
through braceland, but he/she is steering !! But ...

isn't it more exciting when you do not know what will come next. I am
quite relaxed when I go to the ortho. I just wonder what else my ortho
can get out of her drawers to surprise me. I just trust her competely, she
knows what she is doing. And indeed, after almost 9 months in braces,
I see she is getting what she wants. So I am sure that you also will get
the results you always wanted.

Anyway, I hope extractions can be avoided.
Good luck next week.

#30 Post by **joplin** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:12 am

Thanks, Kristine & Clo.
I'll have new molds and x-rays taken tomorrow. They will let me taste freedom of the expander for 15 minutes or so which paradoxically is not a tempting idea at all: it must be so frustrating to accept the expander again once having felt an empty mouth!
Luckily I will only need to tolerate it until Thursday 27th - unless my ortho sees something troubling in the x-ray pictures and will make me wear it longer

That possibility just hit me as I wrote it down! CÂ´mon, that can not happen, right???

To be continued....