Are we done yet? Are we done yet? Are we....

I went to see my ortho in Philly a total of 3 times in August, once when I had the expander installed and then 2 check-ups. The new car I got ended up at least making the drive more comfortable and exciting. Although, that was not without the complications of bathroom quasi flooding which then leaked through the dining room ceiling and onto the dining room table nearly destroying my old car’s title the day before we traded it in.

  

Water in the bathroom

Fixing the shower valve

I turned the key in the expander about 25 times. Each time you turn the key, it’s ¼ of a millimeter. Fully expanded, I ended up with about a 6mm gap, more than last year.

               * Side note: I ran into my Baltimore ortho at the grocery store. I tried to hide, but there was not a chance and she saw me. She was incredibly nice and excited for my journey which was also impossible to hide with my 6mm gap. I'm glad she made it so easy, because I felt terrible leaving her care early. 

X-ray of my palate, top 2 teeth, expander and nose ring

On September 4^th, I saw my ortho in Philly for what ended up being a 3-hour appt. Add in the drive and it was 7 hours, plus I went to work right after to see a few clients.

At the appointment, I got new x-rays of my palate to see how much expansion I got and an updated CBCT scan – I totally forgot about my nose ring and nothing happened. Good to know! They ground off the nubs on all my teeth from the Invisalign (pictured below – they were attached at precise places on my teeth to allow the Invisalign liners to grip the teeth and move them properly). 

The arms of my expander, the metal bars connecting the expander to my molars, were also ground off. This easily took 40 minutes because every few minutes they had to stop and spray my mouth with cool water to keep the expander from getting too hot and burning my mouth. That was much appreciated. Next they took the metal bands, which were cemented on, off my back molars…I honestly don’t know how my molars were not pulled out because they sure felt like they were about to. Pretty horrific pain. One of them wasn’t budging, so they cut it off and then were able to pull it off more easily.

Invisalign nubs

Next up, they began to cement the brackets to my top teeth, installed the wire and I was sent home. Writing this post a month later, I don’t recall much from that first night. I do know I didn’t eat much for lunch as I drove home. For one, it was McDonalds (and I hate McDonalds) but it was the only thing right off an exit and I had 5 minutes, according to Waze, or I’d be late for work. Secondly, new car dude! Can’t mess it up with French fry grease!

Top braces going on

On September 24^th, I went back to have my bottom braces put on. Thankfully, this was a much shorter appointment, but I left it pretty upset.

My ortho is the busiest woman I have ever seen. My Baltimore ortho had one person in the office at a time and she did 80% of the work. My Philly ortho flutters between patients as her staff calls and beckons for her from one room to the next. Yet she knows exactly what is going on with each case and is fully present while she is with you. And she has at least one young child of about 4 or 5, with adorable blonde curls. I honestly don’t know how she can keep up with knowing who is who in the chair, kind of amazing and scary with how fast her brain is.

I saw her at this appointment for about 4 minutes one she came in to place the brackets into their final place and then she was gone. My entire communication with her was a thumbs up I gave. The assistant who worked with me today gave me the standard lecture about flossing when I sat down. I always laugh when they do that. I know 2 people in my life who floss, my mother and my husband. Both are a little obsessive about it, carrying floss around with them wherever they go. That is NOT me. That probably will never be me. And with all the shit going on with my teeth right now, plus braces? Hell no, that is not me! I’m always tempted with a dentist, ortho, etc asks about flossing, to ask them how they are doing with their mental health? Are they accepting all of their emotions? Are they communicating with their parts? Are they meditating? It’s probably best they usually have a tool or something in my mouth to keep me from doing that;-)

My ortho did tell me that none of my screws would be able to come out today, I was pretty heartbroken about that. The screws are honestly what makes this so miserable. My nightly routine is  about 20-30 minutes: remove wax, brush teeth, use waterpik 2 times on gums and under the expander, use pick to clean out the rest of the wax/food that is still stuck under the expander, even after all that, clean expander with toothbrush then install fresh wax over expander. Plus, throughout the day, I need to adjust or add additional wax to the expander as it begins the break off after a while.

Getting the bottom braces but a bit more uncomfortable than the top ones. I’m guessing because your top teeth are more easily exposed than the bottom ones, it’s easier to keep them dry while the cement dries. For the bottom braces, I had the standard cheek spreader in, oh so attractive! But I also had the D shaped rubber device in my mouth to hold my tongue down and back. This was hooked up to a tube that suctioned the saliva out of my mouth. It sounded like someone gasping for air on Grey’s Anatomy, and it managed to sound worse when it got loose before the assistant was able to secure it better.

Once the braces were on and dry, she sat me up and told me to not close my mouth. Hmmm….odd request. She checked my bite and lowered me back down. She then told me that she would be putting “filler” on the top last molars on both sides of my mouth. Took a few quick minutes and was painless. But what was this for?

Well, I was not pleased when I found out. Because of the position of my teeth, they were afraid my top teeth would crash down onto the brackets on my bottom teeth, breaking them off. So my adding the filler material to my lat molars, this was prevented. Awesome! But wait….this also gives me an open bite. So now only my very back 2 molars on each side touch. Not a single other tooth can touch another tooth. This is the exact opposite of when I started out and all my teeth touched. Once the assistance explained this to me, she then told me that eating would be difficult for a while and I’d need to do a no-chew or soft chew diet for a while.  

My new open bite

I’m sorry, what? I had not been informed of this. Gary and I had just booked out flights to Morocco a few days before. How long would eating be difficult? WTF! I was confused and pissed and ugh…so many feelings. I scheduled my next appointment for a few days after we return from Morocco and was on the phone with Gary before I was out of the building.

Here came the tears. How was this getting worse and not better? No screws were removed and now I can’t chew? It really makes me appreciate a trauma-informed approach to therapy and life in general. Communicate and consent. I could never imagine not receiving consent from a client before utilizing a treatment. I ask them what they’re thoughts are, what they would like to accomplish, if they would like to try this or that and so on throughout ever session.

No one told me prior to this appointment how drastically my bite would change. I’m going to a foreign country in 2.5 weeks, at that time. I can’t just stop at the store for mashed potatoes or find a smoothie shop. Plus, I want to enjoy the amazing food we’ll eat in Morocco. I guess from a doctor’s point of view, I consented to treatment in general, do I want it or not. I get that. I reallllllly truly do. But still, communicate with your patients what to expect. I found this was a standard occurrence via my adult braces support group on facebook.

A 3-4 week supply of dental wax

It’s been 10 days now since I got my open bite. I’m able to chew/mush. That’s honestly not the worst part of eating. The worst thing about eating is a tie between the screws and trying to dislodge food from my braces with my tongue.  I hadn’t realized before, just how severe my tongue tie is. My tongue is attached all the way to the back of my bottom teeth. Which means it’s difficult to get it to reach up and over my braces to my gum line. My tongue gets very exhausted trying to eat. And it makes me not want to eat. Most of the time, I’m hungry. I quick eating, again…maybe still, long before I’m full. I grab a boost instead and call it a day.

My frenulum

My ortho told me that I could begin my tongue exercises. I looked some videos up from Dr. Audrey Yoon in Cali, she’s a tongue tie expert apparently.

*Side note: can I just say how amazingly thrilled I am that there are so many female and minority expert doctors that I’m able to work with? I feel honored. No offense men, y’all got us far in life. But move over and watch out as these amazing women take charge!

The tongue tie exercises are a little ridiculous, some of them at least. The woman in the video demonstrating them tries her best to make them exciting, but who are we kidding? Plus the exercises take an easy 23 minutes without breaks to get them all done. And they want you to do them 2 times per day.

Who has time for all this? If we did everything that a doctor or teacher or someone recommended we do each day, I don’t think we’d be able to work….or maybe even sleep.

I’m hoping to work my way up to memorizing the exercises and do them while I drive to and from work. Dr. Yoon's Tongue Tie Exercises