Another expander update.... it's still working, my adult expander is working!!

Wellllp went back for another check up on my expander. Again my mouth seems to have the best possible results that it can get so far... which is of course the best news I could hear and at least this contraption is working as it's supposed to. I got one of my "silvers" (as I call them) removed because that section of my mouth is done expanding. Now it doesn't look like I have a silver cap on my tooth on the left side... although it was my little bit of gangsta blinggggg and I missed it for like one second! That tooth is a little tender but not terrible and Dr. Kolodziej said that it would be okay in a couple days.  I have 5 more turns, one done in the office, and then the rest once a day every other day. I go back in 2 weeks this time, so on Nov 6th. Hopefully more good news comes from it! Meanwhile I wait.... wait wait wait....
The turns are a little more pressure and my bite has been different several times and eating is hard on some days of the turns. I still haven't developed a gap tooth in the front..... maybe I'll be lucky enough not to, that'd make the happiest!
All those people that say that adults can't get expanders because they never work .... boooyaaaa mine is working beautifully and I am so glad that I didn't just write it off because of what other people said. Ultimately I hope that people give things a try when your ortho advises you and backs up why he thinks it will work. Not all Dr's are looking just to make more money... and I'm not even sure if they are making more money off of this it's just putting off getting my braces on a little longer.

side note... I couldn't resist eating a fruit roll up (or like 30 of them) but one time I got careless and let me tell you that was a bad idea. I had a ball of fruit roll up wrapped around my expander for like 5 minutes... no way will I just toss the whole fruit roll up in my mouth again.

and now we wait again!

no more bling....

P.S. Dear Dr. Kolodziej since you thanked me for liking your Facebook page this means in case I ever post anything on FB about my blog that means you may read it... I'm sorry if you see this and I get details mixed up or have offended any of you or your staff (I can only think of one time that could happen) but I'm just being honest :) I really like my experience so far & am impressed with you & most of your staff!

Expander progress & check-up

Today I went to the ortho to check on my progress on my expander. Although I was being selfish & wanted my expander to not work so I could get this thing off, I am glad that this month hasn't been a waste of my time. Dr. Kolodziej told me that I have had more progress than he expected & that my results are turning out beautifully. My bite has changed already which I thought I felt it once but then it went away... haha I'm obviously very good acclimating.  I will give it 8 more turns making my mouth 2 more millimeters wider. So since I did 11 turns & he did one today, my mouth has already expanded apx 3 mm. Dr. Kolodziej told me that he's glad I'm keeping a positive attitude about it (hahaha I mean as much as I complain when I can't speak properly, it has gotten so much better) & that he expects even better results. He asked me how getting used to the expander was and truthfully now it's just something I've learned how to work around...mostly by eating pasta, good thing it's the love of my life! I will go back on October 23rd to check my results & then there will be a waiting process to "trick" my mouth into forming bone or having the bone in my mouth adjust to it. At least this annoyance in my mouth is paying off! Slow & steady!

Awaiting results

It's been 2 weeks of this device putting a damper on my life & I've been over it since day 1!
The first time I turned my key for my expander I didn't turn it enough and I started freaking out because I couldn't find the next hole. For future ref find the one you just turned instead of attempting to find the one on top. I say attempt because after a half hour of trying to angle the key just the right angle I gave up. Frustrated and nervous that I wasn't going to be able to use the expander correctly big brother Rob came to the rescue & started telling me the technical way of how they work & then it all made sense. At last I understand the device.
The turns aren't painful, they just feel like a little pressure it in a weird way good pressure. Each time I turn the key I think I can talk a little better which makes a happy Michelle. & why would they call it a key when were's are the hardest to pronounce? Sick joke, ortho's of the world! Also cruel jokes of my friends are not much better "what's candy taste like? Is it sour or....?" "Sweet" we get it I can't say my e's wahh
Consuming food is becoming easier. Just avoiding crackers. The  worst problem after like 7pm is trying to drink pop. Because of the constant hitting of the expander & middle of my tongue it causes pop to hit it directly & burn. It's basically the most depressing part of my life when I have to say no to Coke. 

This is how I sit for a good minute or so every time I "expand"

Getting my expander... not so bad.. well sort of

Today well actually yesterday I started to outwardly get my brace face look about me. I went to my appointment and they took out the spacers, easy enough. I closed my mouth and could feel all the little spaces and even swallowing my spit was so strange. I feel sorry for the people that have side gaps because of the weird suction feeling you must have every time you swallow anything! That being said an assistant (I should probably learn their names) started to fit my expander in my mouth but my again my mouth is a weird special case so Dr. Kolodziej worked on me instead of the assistant.  "Open, touch together, bite, open, touch, bite.." is all I heard & did until the expander was fully on & cemented to my teeth or at least I'm pretty sure that's how it works. I read my informative paper work about how I probably will have issues speaking and getting used to how it all works, I realized ohhh how true that little paper was! I was practicing saying things that I normally would and I almost gagged myself. I'm not exactly sure how that happened but the only way to not throw up was to just stop talking! Such a weird sensation.
Eating is a completely horrible awful thing to attempt. I thought in my head oh soup will work because it is so simple to eat. As I was making it I realized I can barely even swallow my own spit how in the world did I think I was going to be able to swallow broth. But I attempted it anyway because I knew I eventually had to eat something & my growling stomach was a little bit of an influence on me too!
Bad. Idea.
I ended up looking like a baby bird waiting for it's mama to regurgitate into its mouth! What you don't know what I mean? Well I could only swallow the soup by tilting my head backwards... like so

So needless to say going out to eat is off the list for a loooong time.... ok probably just a little time, I like to go out to eat wayyyy to much to give it up the entire time of having this contraption on.
 On top of tilting my head backwards I also had to put my tongue on the other side of the bar/expander in my mouth & then swallow. Let's face it if you can't put your tongue to the roof of your mouth not everything is going to go down your throat. Well I was a failing child & gave up on soup so I tried a peach thinking this will be more solid.... wrong-o! A peach is so juicy, what was I thinking? I decided to give up food & just starve to death.
Hours later I tried pasta & chicken I had nearly a cup of pasta to give my stomach something because the pain was too much. But then decided that would be sufficient enough. Wrong-o again! I felt like walking to the door of my house was so much exercise that I might faint. I decided I should be an adult about this and just eat even if it's the most uncomfortable thing in my life to do! So there I sat, the pasta & me, me & the pasta. Baby bird Michelle tilted her head back ever so awkwardly and ate most of that pasta! My lovely mother even made jokes but I toughed it out & conquered that stomach which was aching for food. I also ate an apple afterwards. The expander didn't hurt all day, it is just the oddness of trying to swallow food or a drink that is making my life so difficult.
I decided to research & discovered that I'm not the only one with these issues but "you will get used to it". Well ya know what I want to be used to it now!
Eating was one thing but let me just brief you on speaking. I can't really even pronounce the word speaking so it's a good thing this isn't a video blog!
Words I can hardly say- you,me,be,need,eat & so many more that I was really shocked about.
I've changed the word eat to "consume food" because I can pronounce that clearly. & instead of saying "you" I just say the persons name. So for example as I'm sitting talking to my friend Holly I said "Holly was so right when Holly said that about walking" Poor Holly started talking in 3rd person after that conversation! It's all about how I can try to use another word to mean what I am really trying to spit out.

Here is my super special customized expander. Dr. Kolodziej said it was as small as they could get it because it's easy for a kid to have to get used to an expander but as an adult it is much more difficult.

So all I have to do it put a little key device in the center little tiny hole, push it up, and push it back & that is one turn. I'll do that 12 times & return to him in 20 days!
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I've also now had my turn at sleeping in this and it's not comfortable. When I woke up aches & pains all around. Not to mention I thought I was going to be able to speak normal but that was a big False! I'm still avoiding all "e" sounding words as of now! I'm just glad I didn't drool all over the place, at least I controlled that.

I should stop reading articles...

Well I think it's my future to have a gap tooth. 

Tomorrow I get my expander on so I decided to look into the process of what the expander will do. I was hoping it wouldn't be the case but every article I read seems to agree that I, Michelle Black will get a gap tooth! Perfect, I mean word on the street is that they're totally in this season! I guess we'll find out on the morrow.

I'm a little nervous because only one of my spacers fell out & he said they would likely come out, so in my head I was preparing for at least 3. But only 1, that's not good enough. So I'm pretty sure these little rubber bands have just become my friends & never want to leave their up close & personal view of my mouth. Don't worry I've taken good care of them, I brush!
Can't wait for tomorrow's joy and pain!

Traumatic... Dramatic... Michelle.

As if I wasn't already having a stressful day I arrived at my appointment 10 minutes late but was luckily taken right back! Some ghetto-ish, definitely careless assistant started leaning my chair back & told me to open my mouth. I felt so lost and confused because I had absolutely no clue what in the world she was doing! I mean I assumed that she was going to remove my spacers. When I felt a weird snap I confirmed my guess. She took all 4 off of the right side then started putting something that hurt in my mouth...
uhm
A- What is that?
B- Please stop!
C- Do you have any sort of communication skills?

Luckily my mouth is a special case ("of close contacts"-teeth are close)and the actual orthodontist always has to step in... which let's face it I'd rather him do the work anyway because I feel much more comfortable & he explains things. I am a "know all the details" kind of girl so these people better remember that for next time. As he started saying "because you have close contacts this will be a little painful" and he must have spotted the confusion in my eyes because then he paused and looked at me so I said what are you doing? and then he looked at the assistant and said in a stern tone towards her "I thought she had explained to you already" & I proceeded to say "she didn't tell me anything at all" HAH! put her in her place!
He then explained that today they were removing my spacers, fitting these metal bands around my teeth  to see which fits best, and these bands will taken off before I leave & be sent out with a mold of the roof of my mouth and make a personalized expander. Okay, now I can feel comfortable because I mean if I didn't know what was going on then how could I blog about it!?!?!
So then he asked for a 36 and showed me that it was a metal band and how it had to fit around my mouth so I should feel pressure. Dr. Kolodziej is really a great orthodontist, he always makes me feel like I matter & he genuinely cares if something is going to hurt me.
He started to put the band on & it was kind of weird and I felt a pressure & not really painful, but sort of... it's hard to explain. then he would put a plastic tool in my mouth, tell me to close my mouth, then bite. This was the process over & over again on 4 teeth. It would seem as though I was in pain but really the tears running down my face were my emotions that were being released from still being angry at that assistant!
Dr. Kolodziej kept asking me if I was okay & he understands that I am in an extreme amount of pain but admires my pain tolerance. The tears just kept coming though.... he kindly asked me things like are you alright? Do you need a break? Let me know when to continue? Anything you need? He was being really accommodating. That assistant however was just still frustrating me and the tears kept leaking out of my eyes. She was a little useful & offered me a tissue.  I kept telling them "it doesn't hurt, I'm fine, I don't know why I'm crying" which was mostly true.... only one was actually painful but the rest were just uncomfortable.
When he finished they had to make a mold of my mouth with the bands on & that assistant did it... they let me take a little break from all my trauma & then she put the putty in my mouth & then wouldn't stop talking...
I just wanted her to stop talking but instead she blurted sooooo much that I did not want to hear from her because she lost my respect already. Plus when someone closes their eyes and hardly answers uhmmm don't continue asking me questions that I have to answer!! I was just at a point of LEAVE ME ALONE! Luckily it was over quickly &  Dr. Kolodziej was back to put new spacers in my mouth to stay until I get my expander on! & he said that they would probably even start falling out because my teeth would have enough room :)
I was so upset over a combination of my bad day & ghetto rude assistant(mostly her) that I drove all the way home trying not to cry, sat in my driveway crying for 10 minutes, went inside seeking sympathy but there was only the couch in sight so I laid there & cried for 10 minutes. The only comfort I was finding was from Mad Eye Moody, the cat who thought rubbing his furry fluff in my face would help me feel better... he was at least trying to comfort me. I finally broke down, knocked on my brothers door & said "I'm being stupidly emotional, and I had a really bad day, and I just want a hug" and being a GREAT, WONDERFUL, BEST BROTHER he gave me a sincere hug until I composed myself. What a rough day! But I'm pretty sure it will never be that bad again... but never say never!

Turning down bacon! Who is this person?

Today for the first time in my entire 23 years I said no to seconds of bacon.

How did I resist? .... The pain was worth it, but more pain was pushing it! 

How in the world did I turn down a whole fresh veggie platter & bacon in the same day I just don't know.

With the 2 little slices of bacon that I did manage, I had to bite & chew with my front teeth. When your friends are waiting to play Clue FX you're not allowed to take your time eating so by the time I managed to get to my second piece they were very fed up with my slowness, & my plate was ripped out from under me! (I think they were trying to say get a move on!)

Then of course someone brings out a vegetable tray & I was hit with sadness. How can people tempt me with so many treats in one day? Sure I can eat brownies & ice cream no problem... so you might think "Michelle, why are you complaining" but truthfully my soul is with the vegetables.

I couldn't resist the veggie tray for long so I attempted broccoli and only ate the top part... with my front teeth, again. I'm starting to feel like a rabbit just nibbling away on things. Life is so rough, it took me 15 minutes to my one piece of broccoli. 

BUT it wasn't that painful so I guess that's good news for my future meals :) 

Can the weeks move by any slower?