T -3 days and THANK YOU

Only 3 more days until the big day!  I'm really excited to get everything over and done with.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has written blogs like these and who has helped me out with a bunch of questions.  We all know that you go a little crazy before a surgery like this figuring out all the things you'll need for recovery not knowing what to expect.  For a lot of us, being a patient in the hospital will be a first time experience also which is nerve-racking.

So THANK YOU Jamie, Nikki, Nichole, Tara, Amanda, Catherine, Terra, Max, Amy, Gordon, Dani, Shane, Bracedmom and all the others that i've forgotten.  Your support and disclosure has been so helpful this far and I feel so much more prepared for what is to come.  Even though everyone is different and there is still so much unknown about what will happen I would probably be much more of a nervous wreck right now if it wasn't for you guys. :)

To anyone reading my blog for the first time please check out the links to these other people's great blogs on the right hand side of the screen.

a few last pre-op pictures:

need advice

Surgery is next week!  That snuck up quick. April 12th has been looming somewhere in the future and now its practically here.

The question I have for you fellow bloggers that have had surgery already and are recovering is;  How long did you need someone to take care of you?

My mom who works from home and lives far away (far enough a plane ticket is necessary) is coming to Boston to help support me through the recovery process.  I know at first I'm really going to need someone to help me take meds and eat and be in the hospital with me.  I'm guessing I'd need her to be here at least until the first post-op appointment?  It is scheduled for 6 days after.  That is already 10 days away from work for her.  As of now she's got her ticket here but no return ticket so I'm trying to think ahead to when she can get back home.

Any advice? suggestions?

pre-op...check!

15 days til surgery!  I seriously can't believe that it is so soon.  I'm excited to get everything over with already!

I had my pre-op appointment today with two residents and my oral surgeon.  They were great! "A-team" lol.  We did all of the typical stuff- pictures, x-rays, measurements, facebow, and impressions (not so fun with all those surgical hooks for the alginate to get stuck in).  The residents did everything and answered all of my questions.

these were some of my most important questions:
diet?: anything you can get through a blender and in your mouth
splint?: yes, 2 weeks at least.
medications?: liquid
how long banded shut?: 2 weeks at least, up to 6 wks.

The oral surgeon came in after, did a few measurements for herself and discussed the cephalometric analysis with the residents to come up with a tentative plan about movements they will do in the surgery.  It was kind of funny because we (3rd year students) just had our final oral surgery exam yesterday which had questions from her lectures on craniofacial deformities on it!  lol, talk about the educated patient!  I already new that I will definitely require double jaw surgery because if they were to just move my lower jaw back I would not have enough space left for my airway.  They have a tentative plan of how much to move each jaw but need to confirm it after they do the mock surgery on the models.

They said they'd probably want to have another appointment closer to the surgery (which is only 2 weeks away!!!!!!) to confirm everything after they do the model surgery.  One of the other things my Mom was concerned about was what she needs to do while she's taking care of me in terms of when to give meds, what signs to watch out for, etc. My oral surgeon was so nice, she said we can just set up another quick appointment with the her for when my Mom is in town right beforehand so she can meet the oral surgeon and ask herself.

The rest of the day wasn't so fun.  I had a meeting with anesthesia to have blood drawn and meet with the nurse about anesthesia stuff.  Then I had to go donate blood to myself :(.  I've volunteer donated blood many times in the past and this was not one of the best times.  ouchy.  Let's just leave it at that.

Anyhooo, that's all in the past now.  I have my last appointment with my orthodontist on Thursday.

check out my new GRILL

I had my second to last pre-surgical ortho appointment last week.  We put on 20 or so surgical hooks.  These are the hooks that the oral surgeon will use to wire my mouth shut when they do the surgery.  The orthodontist says the more hooks the better because they can break and the surgeons are always asking for more.  The orthodontist wants to have one more appointment before surgery just to check on the hooks and change the ties?

any votes on what color I should get before the surgery?  I was thinking just plain silver so they wont show stains- silver is just so boring though!!

35 days til surgery.  I can't wait.  I'm so excited to be 6 or so months down the road and be able to BITE into things and actually bite through them.  Like sandwiches, pizza, cookies- any and everything you bite into with your front teeth?  I'm so excited to be able to incise correctly and not tear, rip, or pull food to be able to get it in my mouth and eat!!

I'm officially on a no restrictions diet to try and gain some weight before the surgery- any pointers?  Ive just been trying to up the calories with every meal.  

Pre-op appointments are set for the end of this month, I'll be sure to update the blog afterwards.

Here are some pics-

My new grill! lol this is me slightly opened

luckily, it doesn't look too different from normal braces with my regular smile

right profile, jaw relaxed?

left profile

I wish my teeth were cleaner for these pics- sorry!

I've got so many sweet surgical hooks now!

there was only one area the hook wouldn't fit onto the wire because it has a bend

so class III!

Profile, biting down. I can't wait to have cheekbones!

Brushing your teeth with braces

Not too much new going on with my braces, I'm getting the surgical hooks put on on Monday.  I'm sure those are going to feel just great on my lips and cheeks :/

Now about the title of this post... We're adults and we generally think we know how to brush our teeth but when you have braces on your teeth, brushing is very different than without braces.  Braces automatically puts you in a high risk category for cavities because it is really difficult to keep your teeth clean.  Our teeth are naturally shaped so that food can get flushed away from the teeth.  With braces there are a million more areas for plaque to get trapped and bacteria to wreak havoc on our teeth and gums.

Below a very embarrassing photo of my teeth before I knew about proper brushing techniques.  The picture was taken right before I had a cleaning.  We put a dye on our patients teeth before their cleaning to show were plaque and calculus is built up.  On a person without braces, usually the plaque is built up along the gum line and in the areas between the teeth.  When we put the dye on my teeth, the plaque was built up directly beneath the wire.  That's when I realized just how important it is to use a proxabrush in addition to a regular toothbrush and floss.

you can see with this dye on my teeth that all of the plaque is built up right beneath where the wire normally is.

Adding the use of a proxabrush immensely helps with getting your teeth clean.  Also if there are spaces between any of your teeth you can use it not only around the brackets but also between the teeth to help get them clean.  The last thing you want after putting so much time and effort into having straight teeth is to end up with cavities or gum recession because you neglected your teeth while the braces were on.  This video explains how to use the proxabrush better than I can in words.

Here is another video about brushing with braces- because the technique is different than normal brushing.

and for flossing....  I've tried to use superfloss, but it takes SOOO long.  Now, I've been using "ortho flossers"  which are like floss picks but with a thin edge so they can fit under the wire.  The brand I absolutely LOVE are called platypus orthodontic flossers

They are seriously amazing.  I've found other brands that are similar at the drugstores and dental isle at the grocery.  They are soo much faster than using superfloss.  When I was just searching around on the web I found something called the flossFish.  It also looks really great and easy to use.  I'm definitely going to get some to try out!

good to go!

Its official!  My surgery date is still good, my insurance is cleared, and all my pre-op appointments are set.

All I need to do is get my surgery hooks and I'm all set. Hooray!

T- less than two months to go  :) :)

Happy Valentine's day to my teeth!

Hi Everyone,
Long time, no update!  That's really because there hasn't been much going on with my teeth lately, that is until my latest appointment!  So let's see, two appointments ago, My orthodontist finally got the last wire into my upper brackets.  It's a very large rectangular wire that is the biggest size that will fit into the brackets I have.  My orthodontist hasn't been moving any of my teeth, mostly keeping them where they are and just trying to expand my upper arch as much as possible.  If I needed any more expansion I would've had to have a SARPE (surgically assisted rapid palatal expansion), but luckily (probably because I had palatal expanders as a kid) my arch was just wide enough and they decided to make-up for the last few millimeters just by moving the teeth within the bone and not the bone itself.  Anyways,  when we got that last wire in I could feel when I flossed that most of my contacts of my upper teeth opened up probably because the teeth were moving that last little bit outwards.  yay!

Fast forward to my last appointment,  we had two appointments in one day, the first one to take the wires off and make some alginate impressions and the second one to put the wires back on after looking at the models.  I was so happy to have the wire off for a few hours!  I think I flossed 3 times, flossing is so much easier without those wires on!  Also,  my friend was able to give me a cleaning during the time off,  let me tell you it is so much easier to clean someones teeth who has braces once their wire is off.  Anyways, I returned to the ortho clinic with the cleanest teeth of anyone with braces and my models were good!  They basically told me that as far as they were concerned I am ready for surgery :D.  I'm going to drop by my surgeon's office tomorrow (its so convenient to have my dentist, orthodontist, surgeon, and the clinic I work in all in the same building)  to see if they need to see me before they have the pre-op appointment.  I also need to see if there are any updates about my insurance pre-approval coming in, and if my surgery date is still in the book.  Technically, when we originally picked the date for surgery last year the 2012 book didn't physically exist yet, so it was pencilled in at the end of 2011 lol.  So, unless their office majorly dropped the ball on that one,  I should be scheduled for surgery in exactly 2 months!

valentine's day colors!  

more updates to come...