33 Activations Done!

As promised, I'd update the blog on yesterday's ortho appointment. I had to go in to have another set of molds done to make my new expander. I had activation #33 before going in that morning.

It was pretty uncomfortable to have my current expander taken out to do the molds. My jaw is still numb and it does feel painful to bite down hard, so having someone in there pulling the expander off with some force did hurt a little. Once it was off, everything was fine though. Obviously, with the expander off, I got a sneak peek of what the roof of my mouth will feel like. It was HUGE. I'm sure that's partly because just having the expander in there takes away half the space in your mouth, but the other part is that it's almost a full centimeter wider.

My orthodontist told me that I was not to activate the expander again until the new one came in. The expanders are made based on the molds that are taken. If I activate the expander, my jaw will not be the same as the mold. I was thinking that maybe we could just activate the new expander before putting it in my mouth. By that, I mean, say it takes 7 days for the new expander. Between now and then, I'd have done 7 activations. When I get my new expander, couldn't they just activate it 7 times and then put it in my mouth? The answer to this is NO, because the teeth don't only move outwards, they move side to side as well.

It turns out this won't be a big deal. My orthodontist made some calls and the new expander will be ready tomorrow morning. I'm going in at 9:00am to take this old expander off once and for all and replace it with a new one. After that point, I'll have approximately 15 more activations to go.

My orthodontist is a grad student at the University named Dr. Joanie Roy. I'm going to devote a whole post to her work soon enough. But quickly, I know she's going to be a great orthodontist! Her work is still reviewed by the attending orthodontist, who I think is Dr. Metaxas (the first orthodontist I saw about a year ago now!). Since she's a student, they have summer break for July and August. Since my activations will be over mid-June, I was booked in for JUNE 17 IN WHICH MY BRACES WILL BE PUT ON!! Joanie told me that since my teeth are so crowded anyways, she wouldn't need to see me for the first 10-12 weeks after putting braces on for the first time. This period would span her summer break, so the timing works out terrifically! So June 17 is going to be a big day!

Before I sign off, I asked Joanie about the numbness in the jaw. She said in her experience, there seems to be a "rule of 6". By this, she meant that the numbness in a patient's jaw ceases after 6 days, 6 weeks, or 6 months post-SARPE. I'm already past 6 days obviously, and am coming up on 6 weeks with no feeling yet. If I don't have feeling in the next couple of weeks, I guess I had better get used to not having it for some time.

My next update will be after the braces are put on June 17! Bye!