Oh how I don't miss these..

On the 23rd of February I got a mold done for my palette expander. The first thing they did was put the 'anchors' on my bottom teeth and cemented them in and then put four on my upper teeth. That is how the palette expander will stay in. Luckily though, the tops were not staying in. They put them in so they can do the mold and then they removed them to place them within the mold. So right now I only have the bottom anchors in.

So for the last several days I've been trying to get used to them again. Like I've said before I've had braces so I kind of know what to expect. I got that wonderful wax that you place over them to prevent any scratches to the cheeks. I also had to go back about a day later to have one side pushed down a bit. The pointy part on the side of the bracket was so pointy even wax couldn't do anything and my cheek was so torn up after one day. But now that's fixed =)
I also had trouble eating dinner that night, not because it hurt but because it was just a weird feeling that I needed to get used to again. But again, after a day or two I'm back to eating normal.

I have about 3 more orthodontist appointments to go to, 2 with my surgeon, 1 with the hospital, and 1 with my primary care physician. I also had to get in to see some other annual doctors as well. I did not want to wait till after the surgery and just wanted to get everything done. So starting March 8th till March 22nd, I'm pretty much going to have a doctors appointment a day minus the weekends. It's gonna be a busy month but I'm looking forward to every visit because it's only bringing me one step closer.

Surgery Countdown: 23 days

Finally got some Before Pictures.

Here's a front view. Kind of hard to tell but as you can see or more or less cannot see, is my bottom teeth. They are behind the front teeth. And I'm just gonna say its the angle of the camera but my face looks crooked =/








Here's a side view. My least favorite view. I don't like when people snap pictures and its my side view. It's just not pretty looking. It's like I'm completely missing the row of bottom teeth. But with this angle you can obviously see the over bite a bit more. What I don't like mostly about this angle is that everything is just so sharp looking, my side view does not have a smooth looking flow to you.

Here's a view of just my teeth. My teeth do not line up like that, I had to move my jaw forward so I can show you all my teeth. Again, they aren't that bad looking and it seems that braces would fix my problem. They would only straighten them and then unfortunetly I'd still have a narrow palette and a set back jaw. =/





Not really a pretty picture, but i just wanted to show how narrow my palette is and as to why I have to get a palette expander. You can also see how my top front teeth are on at the right angle. They seem to jet out and come almost to a point.

Things are moving quick... Alittle more then one month to surgery!

I can't believe how fast everything is moving along. I remember when it was just August '11 and I was told I must wait because of my insurance, and now all my appointments prior to surgery are scheduled. I feel like I have so many things to do still in a one month span. Here's everything so far...
The process of seeing my orthodontist, surgeon, primary care physician and meeting with the hospital begins on Tuesday =)

Feb 21st - appointment with my orthodontist to get separators in
Feb 23rd - another appointment with my orthodontist, this time to get molds taken of my top jaw for my palette expander and to place braces on my bottom teeth. (no braces yet, dates been moved)
Mar 8th* -  seeing my orthodontist to have the separators on top teeth put in
Mar 13th* - back to the orthodontist to have the palette expander put in and place braces on bottom teeth
Mar 14th - Pre-surgical discussion with my surgeon at her office 
Mar 16th - pre-admission surgical testing at the hospital
Mar 22nd - Surgery =)
Mar 30th - follow up appointment

*few dates added or changed.


I still have to make an appointment with my primary care physician to get medical clearance. I'm not to happy with this one because I had to get a new doctor because my old doctor doesn't use my insurance. =(
My mom also wants me to see a cardiologist, because when I was younger I used to complain about chest pains often and the last time I had any form of surgery was when I was 7. Even though everything was fine and the doctors wrote my pain off as growing pains and I haven't had any pain since, my mom just being a mom wants to make sure I'm okay.

Right now I'm feeling ecstatic.. Oh also, I found out my aunts niece went through the same exact surgery that I'm gonna go through. I got to talk to her for a little and it gave me such a reassuring feeling. I haven't seen her in years but she looks great. I couldn't stop looking at her perfect teeth and jaw. =)

Let the countdown begin... 32 days

What's being done

I will be having two different surgeries. The first surgery will be to fix my upper jaws narrowness. I will be having a palette expander placed on my top jaw by my orthodontist and then my surgeon will be making 3 incisions in the upper jaw bone. I will then have to turn a key to expand it. I still do not know how many mm it is being widened so I am unsure how long I will be turning the key for.

My second jaw surgery will be close to the summer or fall. I will be getting my lower jaw moved forward. Again, not to sure how many mm it is being moved, but the top jaw has to be set first before I can get a definite answer as to how far its moving.

I will also have pictures soon....

And so it begins....

Hi everyone,
       Let me give you short background about myself. My names Laura and I'm 23 years old. When I was 10 I had braces, however I was a stubborn child and did not listen to my orthodontist very often. Well here I am today deciding to get jaw surgery because my teeth did not stay straight and my jaw was set back a little.
Back in July 2011 I saw a site that talked about corrective jaw surgery and I knew right away that I would be interested in this procedure. I saw an orthodontist (Dr. Apton) and he said I would make a good candidate for jaw surgery. He gave me the number to an oral surgeon he often works with (Dr. Stephanie Drew)  Immediately I made an appointment with her and it was great. She was probably the nicest doctor I've ever met and was able to answer everything I wanted to know about the surgery. However, there was one problem; my medical insurance. I was not in her network which made me extremely sad because I was so set on this surgeon. But then good news fell upon my ears and I found out the other insurance my job offered was the insurance that they take. So I had to wait till February 2012 for my new insurance kick in.