Friday, August 31, 2012

Day 39 - 5 weeks-ish post op

Hey everyone, what a slacker blogger I've been! Even after the exciting week I've had. My splint was taken out on Monday, hallelujah praise the lord! It literally took a couple of snips of wire and it was out. To have my teeth touch was the absolute strangest feeling in the world. It was so weird to talk without the splint. Every part of this journey has taken some getting used to and this was no exception.
The surgeons were super happy with how everything looks. My back molars do not touch at all and this concerns me, but they just told me to keep wearing my rubber bands. I see my orthodontist on Thursday, so I can't wait to get his opinion on this. It's like my open bite in reverse, which translates into my worst nightmare!
Not going to worry about it quite yet.
I am still on a soft food diet for at least another month. My mouth is still quite uncomfortable, so this is totally fine with me.
The one thing I will continue to complain about is the color of my teeth :(. Good god kick me when I'm down. I feel like surgery plus the splint really did the job on my upper grill. I can only dream of when the braces come off and I am able to bleach the crap out of them and try and forget this ever happened! Wishful thinking.
So the splint is out, but I guess on Thursday I am going to get some new contraption that will hold my expanded palate in place. Am I looking forward to this? Absolutely not. My perspective on this is the following: survive the first week of jaw surgery, survive anything. It's all downhill from here!
By the way, isn't it quite funny that everyone is fussing over this expanded palate, but that i don't even notice that I have an expanded palate? What's up with that? I keep staring at it wondering when I will be able to see the difference. For right now, hmm.
Happy weekend everyone!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Erin, Congrats on getting the splint out! I've read countless jaw surgery blogs and can honestly say almost every single post-op'er has commented on molars not touching. This seems to be done intentionally and it seems they are guided back to a more normal position with rubber bands.

    How's your energy? (at work?)

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    1. P.S. your bite is AMAZING!!! I have an open bite too and can't imagine that my teeth will actually overlap in a short time from now. Do you feel that your appearance has changed dramatically? (from photographs you look very similar)

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    2. Hi Amanda! thanks for your comments, i am sorry it has taken me so long to reply. my energy seems to be getting better, can't say it's quite where i would like it be, but overall I am feeling relatively normal. Yes, I do feel my appearance has changed dramatically. Lots of people tell me I look pretty much the same, but I feel really different! I looked in the mirror the other night and I still couldn't get over how different my face is. I am finally at the point where i'm accepting it now, which is good. I'm sure you will be going through all of the emotional ups and downs soon enough! Good luck with your surgery, I will be following for sure :) And if you have any questions, please ask away!

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  2. You look so awesome Erin! Isn't it a great feeling to get rid of the open bite? My very back molars also didn't touch after surgery but my orthodontist has me wearing elastics in a box configuration around the last 4 molars on each side to make them meet, and it's definitely working. I wouldn't worry too much about it.
    I feel the same way about the color of my teeth! I can't wait until the braces are off and I can properly whiten them again. It'll be like icing on the jaw surgery cake. :)

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  3. Hi Lindsay yes i can't wait for this journey to be over! sometimes it feels like it will never end.....! hope all is well with you. erin

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  4. Don’t worry, Erin. You won’t have to wait too long. The usual length of keeping the palate expander is four to six months. After this long dental journey of yours, you’ll be relieved to see how it corrected your crossbite at the back molars.

    Randal Cole

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