Visit to the Oral Surgeon

Well I went in yesterday for my consult with an Oral Surgeon...actually there were two of them...they work as a team...one works on the right, one works on the left. LOL...that's what they told me anyways. They confirmed what my orth said and that is lower jaw advancement surgery, they'd like to bring my lower jaw foward about 9mm.

They said I'm quite an unusal case...LOL...but we already knew that one. They said that many with this type II malucullsion have NO CHIN...well I do...and they said I may need a genio to reduced my chin because it just might be too strong of chin for my face. I certainly don't want a strong chin that looks manly...I'd like to keep the femine type of chin I presently have.

Because my ortho didn't send any of my records to this consult, they're unsure of whether I'd need advancement on the top until they can look at all of the records. So until they view ALL of the records and speak with my ortho and see what he's wanting to achieve with the expanders etc will they be able to tell me if it would just be the bottom advancement.

I did have a lot of questions and he was quite impressed by the questions I asked. All the research I've done prior was a huge help, especially the Archwire website gave me a lot of info that was helpful in preparing me for my consult. They answered all my questions with the exception of the insurance part of it. My insurance which is United Healthcare states that Orthognathic Surgery is not covered so this will be an extremely long shot if they say "yes".

I'm prepared for them to deny coverage...I'm not a pessimist but having them write it out in the policy is a huge indicator of what they're going to say. So I've been looking at other possibilities of being able to afford this operation...one is going outside the U.S. to have it done. For right now I'll sit tight until I hear back from them. It just felt good to go in and get all the info on the surgery, and see what they're recommending to give me a better idea of what to expect if I do go abroad for this surgery.

Talking a Bit Better...

Just an update on my progress since having my expanders put in two weeks this coming Thursday. It's getting much easier to talk which is a really good thing at our church as I answer the phones and I was thinking maybe people were beginning to wonder what I was drinking while I worked. :)

I have had a bit of trouble with turning the key once a week like I was told by Dr. K. I've read where there's many that have done this on their own and I am quite impressed that they can. I can't seem to see that tiny hole for the life of me...even with a magnifying glass! I've had my son turn it the first time but this weekend he couldn't see where the hole was and I tried myself for hours with two mirrors but I couldn't see it either. My husband even tried and he didn't have any lock either...it was quite frustrating for me because I didn't want to have to drive 40 minutes to the ortho's office to have them take two seconds to turn it. Well, finally at about 9:30pm last night I went into my son and asked him to give it one more try and I grabbed a really bright light and voila he foudn the hole and turned that baby twice for me. I was extrememly happy because it saved me a trip into the ortho today!!

I take my son in for his appointment on Thursday, he's towards the end of his treatment if he'd keep those rubber bands on he'd be done.

Under Expansion...

I am fully operational now...ready to expand the limits. It was quite an unusal evening with my new appliances. Dr. Kawakami pushed and prodded the expanders in between my teeth and said that they fit perfectly. I don't know about "perfectly", I do know they are quite uncomfortable right at this point. As you can see in the picture...excuse the drool but my mouth thinks it has food in there 24/7 and therefore the salivation glands are in working overtime. That will also subside once my body figures out that it isn't my favorite food product and that they are there to stay! I CAN'T wait for that to subside...drooling is so un ladylike!

I will share that having a waterpik is imperative to getting the food out from under the expanders. I brushed and then used my wp and it was like an avalanche of stuff came out so if you're reading this knowing you'll be getting an expander you HAVE to get a waterpik. I have a few sore spots but mostly my tongue is getting the brunt of it all. I have found a "new best friend" in my WAX...get lots of it before you leave the ortho office, you'll be quite happy you did.

It's exciting to finally be on my way, even knowing the next few weeks are not going to be pretty. I like to look at the upside, this may be my new weight management system. LOL! I'm not very hungry and when I do have to chew something my right cheek gets in the way and now looks a bit like shredded beef. I'm doing Campbells all the way for a few day just to give my cheek a rest but I tell you that pizza today at church looked to good to give up so I gave it a try...it took me over an hour to eat one slice...not sure it was really was worth it.

My speech isn't the best, especially with having a job that has me answering phones throughout my day. A few friends asked me what was wrong with my speech and I just told them that I had one too many drinks before I came to work...LOL...ok, not really, because i don't think my pastor would appreciate that! I just explained to them that these foreign appliances in my mouth will take some getting use to and that until I can pronounce my "s's & t's" that I would appreciate their laughter directed on someone else...LOL! You just have to laugh along with them because it really is quite funny.

Separated Again....Ouch!

Well, I headed back to the ortho today to get the spacers put back in...not a pleasant experience unfortunately. I've mentioned a few posts ago that I've had braces before, I also have worked for an orthodontist so spacers are not new to me. Unfortunately my teeth thought differently...they were so tight that the pour assistant was practically standing on her head to get them in. She had four that she got in part way and just left to sit, she put these on with the pliers...after breaking a few with the pliers and my tight teeth she decided to try an old trick. She took out two pieces of dental floss and laced it through the spacer so she was holding a piece of dental floss in each hand. She then would work it back and forth as she pressed down on the floss to get them to slide right in...not exactly but it did work like a peach...for a few anyways. This trick seemed to go a bit better, she got in about four that way and then decided to go back to the pliers...there were just two spacers left out of 12 when she was pushing so hard to get it down between my molers that it broke and her hand slipped and jammed my face. OUCH!!!!!!!! I tried to hold back the tears but it felt like being punched...poor girl, she felt so bad especially when she saw a few tears trickle down...quite embarassing I must say.

I'm sitting back there with all these pre adolecents and teens and here I am the adult and she makes a big fuss over the fact she made me cry...LOL...I was wishing I were somewhere else to be honest with you...I felt like I was in the ring with Ali by the time I walked out there. She told me that maybe I'd better to to a chiropractor...LOL! One hour later I was up and out of the chair...*big sigh*...and just glad to be verticle. There were two assistants who worked on getting the spacers in and on my way out they handed me two coupons for free ice cream cones...LOL...I was like "thank you, but I think I'll be ok"...LOL...they just felt so bad that they made me cry so they wanted to make it up to me and one hug and two free ice cream coupons later I was on my way out of the door.

I go back next week for the expanders to go in...what fun, I can hardly wait...well...let's just say I'm glad to get started but I'm not looking foward to the expansion and slurring my words together, drooling and having a sore tongue...the price we pay for a nice smile though..eh?!:!

A Good Impression

Well, today I went back to the orthodontist for the impressions and removal of my spacers.

The assistant leaned me back so that she could remove those awful looking green and blue spacers. My teeth had been quite sensitive the entire week of wearing them so I'm thinking that getting braces again might be a bit more painful than it was the first time around.

Unfortunately having experience in removing spacers in a previous job I knew that there would be some pretty foul smelling food that would come out with them...yuck!! Well, I am no different...she took gauze pads and as she removed each spacer she covered it before she pulled...thank goodness.

She suggested I might like to go the ladies room to rinse and brush and to be honest with you...I couldn't get there fast enough...the taste was horrible and embarrassing all at once. The pre-toothpaste toothbrushes were nothing to write home about either...I'm not sure which was the worse of two evils...but it did feel better to get the taste of old food out of my mouth.

The impressions went smoothly. She did the upper first and then the lower. Before she started mixing the powder with the water she asked me what flavor I would like...LOL...when I did this over twenty years ago there was no choice of flavors and now look...you can have cotton candy, cherry, watermelon, rootbeer, cinnamon and the list goes on and on...I chose cinnamon. I really couldn't taste it really...who could with all of that rubber pressing into every nook and cranny that it cold find. She was sweet to ask though and there was a bit of an aftertaste where it resembled a light flavoring of cinnamon.

That was it...I was done and we made an appointment to come back a week before the appliances come back so that they could put those lovely blue and green spacers back in....can't wait!!

Surgery In Another Country???

I know many are going to think I'm totally out there on this but it just might be an option. I was on a forum where they were talking about going out of the country for their surgeries and how pleased they've been with the outcomes. You hear the horror stories of people who've done this and it makes one extremely cautious.

I have begun researching this option and I'm taking it slow. I want to make sure that I'm not jumping in over my head and being the researcher I am that is just what I'm doing...Researching the possibilities available to me.

I was given a doctor by the name of Oscar Reiche, DDS, who is an Oral & Maxillofacial surgeon in Costa Rica. The young lady I'm speaking to just had her SARPE surgery by him and she and her orthodontist are quite pleased with the results. She'll be going back for more surgery in several months by him.

I found his website and emailed him a list of questions, let's see when he'll respond.

Consultation w/ Dr. K

Today I had my consultation with Dr. K and he said that I have a pretty severe overbite. He went over everything with me...all the pictures, models and x-rays. As you can see in the pictures above you don't see my bottom teeth at all when I bite down...except for the sides. I never thought my bite was that bad but when they pull everything back and away...WOW...it's very exposing. :)

Dr. K gave me a couple of options. He said that for me to get the best possible results that I would need to have lower jaw advancement surgery. The surgery would move my lower jaw forward to correct the sever overbite. The treatment would also include upper pallet expander & lower lingual expander. If I decided not to go the surgery route he said that he could get my teeth 50% better than they are right now.

When I had braces in my early twenties this is what I was told as well. At the time I had no insurance and knew there was no way I could afford to do it on my own. Now I have insurance but I'm just not so sure that they would cover this operation.

I really would prefer to do the surgery! Dr. K referred me to an Oral Surgeon but this particular surgeon doesn't take my insurance. I spent the better part of the afternoon trying to find someone who would accept my insurance. I called my insurance company and they had only one doctor in the Tucson area who would accept my insurance so I called. The receptionist said..."oh, yes we accept your insurance, but the doctors here don't do that type of surgery.

I had my husband find out whether our insurance would cover it or not and they will not. Hmmm...now what options do I have???