Day 274 - Apologies

Holy crap - I've been terrible about updating this blog. Forget about the pictures, which I have also been bad at, I can't seem to update this BLOG!

That's maybe because there's not much to report. I really want to post some of the pictures that I've taken. The teeth look great. The ortho has stated that they are pretty much aligned now. Pretty soon, they're just going to be closing the gaps in the bottom jaw caused by the teeth they removed last year.

Speaking of 'year' - on June 30 it will be one year since the SARPE expansions stopped. So this means that one year ago, I was sporting a HUGE gap in between my teeth. It's crazy to think about how far everything has come since then!

My surgery was tentatively scheduled for late this summer/early fall, but I think my orthodontist, who is a student still, maybe got a little ahead of herself because now they are saying no surgery until next year! This is what I was assuming initially when this whole thing started over a year ago, but given how well my teeth have been coming along, I was really hoping for this year. Oh well.

The other significant event that occurred was the removal of the expander! This happened at some point in March - about 13 months after it was initially placed up there. The expander was replaced with a removable retainer to ensure the relapse of my jaw is held to a minimum. The retainer was something else I had to get used to, but now it's fine. Holy crap though - when they removed the expander, my palate was very sensitive, it felt weird even when AIR would touch it! My mouth's palate was like a cathedral!! Of course, I'm used to it now. Oh, when I got home, I took a picture of my expander when the process started versus the expander when it was all over. I think you'll be as shocked as I was at the difference (yet another picture I have to put up here!).

My orthodontist is about to go on her summer break. I have an appt next week, and one in July right after my WEDDING actually. It's going to be a busy summer.

Finally, the orthodontic works is nearly paid-in-full!! Next month will be the final payment. Again, I have been very lucky to get this work done through the university. I have a great job and pretty good benefits, but even with all that, I just don't know how I could justify the price tag of this work done through a private clinic.

Anyway, I'm going to try to update this blog a little more regularly. I'll put some pictures up here really soon.

Take care,

Paul