I had my second to last ortho appointment before surgery this morning :) it. was. brutal. I had molds taken of my teeth, which are never fun. It is nearly impossible to get all of that pink stuff out of my teeth! Dr. S said everything was looking great, and the only changes that were made was putting in a thicker stainless steel wire on the top. For some reason, the OA was having SO much trouble getting the little doors on my braces to close around the wire, so she had another OA come and help. They were both literally putting all of their weight onto the tools to press the wire down in order to close the door and keep it in place. I had to brace my jaw tightly to push against them, which just caused major pain in my jaw. They were both incredibly apologetic and really sweet about it, and were very careful to keep the tools from slipping and hitting my mouth at all. They had trouble in a few different areas, and both of them were literally sweating by the time they finally got everything set in place, they even had to crack a door to cool off! haha!
In a previous post, I talked about how I highly doubted these gaps were going to open any more, but I was definitely wrong. There is absolutely no touching between the 2nd and 3rd teeth on each side now. Dr. S said he was really happy with the progress of the gaps, and told me that the reason they create them is to allow the surgeon to move my jaw exactly where it needs to be. He said that sometimes the front teeth get in the way of allowing your jaw to be set far enough forward where it's supposed to be, so the gaps push the front teeth forward a bit and keep them from getting in the way during the surgery.
My next appointment is May 18, when I get the surgical hooks on.
18 days until surgery! 7 days until I am DONE with finals :)
Anonymous | May 5, 2011 at 1:28 PM
Wow, sounds like an eventful appointment! That has happened to me before, with the doors not shutting. It scares the pants off of me because I hate all those awful metal tools in my mouth. So scared they are going to knock my teeth out!
Sarah | May 6, 2011 at 3:00 AM
I wish my ortho was as careful and apologetic as yours, she's always bashing things around in my mouth and doesn't seem too bothered! Good luck with your exams, I've got my finals coming up in about a month! xx
Dani | May 6, 2011 at 12:34 PM
Sarah, everyone at my OS is really sweet. All of the assistant's are women and are all in their 20's, so it's nice to have a group of people who I can relate to in some sense, and they can relate to me as well. They are super understanding of how uncomfortable going to the appointments can be, so they definitely do the best they can to make it as painless as possible for me.
S N | May 6, 2011 at 3:04 PM
Oooh it's getting close! The sooner that day comes the sooner you can start healing and have ur new gorgeous smile:D
Mai | May 10, 2011 at 12:42 PM
owww that does sound brutal but hey look at it this way, this is all in the past now..if that makes sense lol
good luck wit ur exam hope u nail them =D and make sure ur eating alot!!
Dani | May 10, 2011 at 7:48 PM
Thanks Mai! I really appreciate it! :)