feels like I am going nowhere....

Well I have not updated for awhile cause there is not much to tell. I did manage to miss my November adjustment and they could not get me in for another full month do to my lack of availability....ugh.
The ortho wants to talk to me about pulling the 4 bicuspids to make room for my teeth to move cause it seems the are having to tip them out to much. The only problem I have with this is I cannot possibly afford to have those teeth pulled. I just had a wisdom tooth pulled and they charged me $300 to do it and that was with no sedation.... I cannot afford to pay to have 4 taken out not to mention when they remove 4 they like to sedate. Not sure what to do about this. Oral surgeon says if they are not pulled I could relapse after surgery.....
Other then that not much is happening with my teeth other than the fact that it is becoming evident that my coffee drinking habit will be noticeable when the braces come off. Any coffee drinkers out there that had braces? Is there anything you did to help the staining while you had braces?
I guess that is it for now.... This is a long frusterating process....

Pics of the progress

Before any work on the bottom and after Sarpe and braces started on the top

Expander free for a week and counting

I cannot even begin to explain how wonderful it feels to be expander free. The first couple days were absolutly amazing. My first meal without the torture device went so quickly and easily that when I was done eating I thought to my self that can't be it... It required almost no work to eat that meal. I forgot how easy it use to be to eat.
I am getting to the point now that life without the expander is beginning to feel normal, tho I still have those moments where suddenly out if nowhere I remember that I am expander free and I relish for a moment in the fact that I can touch the roof of my mouth, read a book to my daughter with out feeling like I just gave my mouth a huge workout, and can properly pronounce every letter of the alphabet without even trying....
Life is good

I have a removal date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My RPE comes out July 22nd at 8am!!!!!!!!!! I am so freakin excited. On a less than positive note the ortho thinks the reason my front few teeth are still loose after surgery is because there is not enough room and she think I may have to have my bicuspids removed to make room. no fun! but that has barely fazed me now that i know I have a date to remove this horrible tourture device!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7.5 months with this damn thing!!!! only 10 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So tell the truth.. those of you that have had an expander....How bad is the removal? quick and painless... slow tourture????? tell it like it is.... prepare me...

waiting for progress

Well there has been little progress lately. I still do not have a wire on my top teeth and resenting the fact that they put the brackets on so soon after surgery. My surgery was in mid-december and I stopped expanding in mid January. It is almost July and my top front four teeth are still loose, so I still have my expander cemented in and still have no wire on the top.
I am beginning to worry that these front teeth are never going to stabalize, I am still getting a vibration when I talk sometimes in my top front teeth and sometimes my nose, but the nose is getting better. I am starting to think that my teeth might not ever completly stabalize and where exactly does that leave me?
So that is where I am... I have my next ortho appt on July 10th and that is when this damn expander is suppose to come out... But that does not look likely as my teeth are no more stabalized then they were at my last appt or the one before that....

4 months post SARPE

I am 4 months past SARPE and 3 months past expanding and my top 4 front teeth are still all loose.... WTH? Is this normal? I have an ortho appt thursday and I will see what she says, but at my last ortho appt 6 weeks ago she said she would not worry YET about the loose teeth, but here it is 6 weeks later and my front teeth are not any less loose than they were at my last appt..... I am scared she is gonna tell my that I am going to lose my 4 front teeth......
I want to get my wire on my top teeth but that won't happen till my teeth stabalize....... My front teeth would probably fall out if she tried to put wire in the brackets right now.
UGH... someone tell me it is normal for your teeth to still be loose 4 months after SARPE!!!

Before and now Pic comparison

guess I should update

I got braced on January 29th. Just brackets on the top and fully wired on the bottom. She does not want to wire the top till the bone is good and healed. I am guessing that this will be at my 2nd adjustment. My first adjustment will be March 12th. There has been definite changes to my smile somethings are an improvement like a wider smile, others bug the crap out of me like the top half of my face still looks swollen, yet it is not, that is just my face now. My gap closed on its own for the most part, except a triangle at the top by the gums, it looks like one tooth moved straight and the othe tooth seemed to tilt as it moved. Hopefully when my top teeth are wired the braces will fix that. But overall I am just thankfull that my gap is for the most part gone!!!
So on with the pics here is me now.














A little different than my original pics I posted so we are making progress... Top wire should be on before the end of April and expander should be out before July... baby steps.... I just can't wait to have the double jaw surgery behind me!

Thought I would put up a pic of my gap at its largest. That is just freakin scary. I cannot stress enough how self concious I am of this. I feel the need to make sure that everyone knows that..No I did not lose my front tooth, REALLY! and it will close up eventually, and Yes I did do this on purpose and will be happy I did eventually!!!! did I say how self concious I am right now. and I HATE talking on the phone... I sound like I am lacking in the intelligence department... UGH!!! I hate this!