I haven't bothered to start a blog, because frankly, I have no idea what I am doing. I'm no idiot, its just that Technology became too advanced for me when MySpace came about.
So I wanted to document the process of my upper palatal expansion, as I am a 26 year old female and there seems to be a total lack of information in relation to adult expansion available. I know because I have spent hours looking. Either way, I am trying again now, hoping that this saves somewhere and eventually I become much better at documenting my journey to beautiful teeth.
I decided to see an orthodontist last year, I know that orthodontists prefer to work with children, or teens as its much easier and prevents the mouth and jaw causing problems into adulthood. But unfortunately for me, not only did I have a tiny jaw, I also had infant teeth present right up until the age of 18, when I was pregnant with my daughter. My parents took us to dentists regularly, they all said the same, to wait for braces, see how her jaw grows... No need for orthodontics yet!
So when I became a parent at the young age of 18, the hope of having my pearly whites fixed vanished, everything that I had, had to go to keeping a roof over our heads, keeping us together and happy as a family. I didn't forget my dream to have nice teeth, I just postponed it. So after a few years, studying for a while and getting the nerve, (maybe I got some motivation from the beautiful kids that I get to work with everyday asking me if the tooth fairy visited me after I lost my tooth!) I asked some friends and booked an appointment with an orthodontist.
The initial consult was a tad nerve racking... I had never had an orthodontist in my mouth, and I had heard years of "my orthodontist friend would love to see you " off almost every dentist I had ever seen, so I was worried. I know my teeth are crooked, but without the cash flow around for the last 8 years, it's been impossible, and that's what I told him when he asked me why I had waited so long. He went on to tell me that he understood that side of things but obviously I had been putting up with things like migraine headaches (check), breathing difficulties (check), and difficulties eating (ummm check) for all of my adult life, and orthodontics can assist with all those problems. If I had of known earlier, I am sure I would have found the money somewhere. I have spent so much money on medications for migraines that it would probably have paid the deposit for my treatment right there and then!
After having a look he then said I would definitely need braces during treatment, (yup, accepted that long ago) and if I would like to go ahead we may be able to get them on by Christmas. Of course I was all in, I had waited forever to even see an orthodontist. He then went on to take pictures of my facial structure, my teeth and took an impression (or mould) of my teeth to be sent and made into a replica of my mouth to help understand the process. I had about 20+ X-rays done after that visit and upon my return after two weeks he had my treatment plan ready.
So my treatment plan states that I have a 'Malocclusion consisting of posterior and anterior cross-bite with severe upper and lower crowding'. My take on this is, my mouth is small, my teeth have no room and as a result are terribly crooked and unattractive, not to mention that my bite makes eating, cleaning and talking (keeping dribble from spraying out) difficult, and causes all those other things from earlier.
He goes on to tell me that although I will need braces, there's no room for them yet, my upper jaw is way to small for the teeth, let alone braces, I will need a upper palate expander for 4-6 months.
I am still all in at this point, I know my mouth is small, but I just thought it was because there are too many teeth!
After confirming the cost, he put spacers between my molars, this would be to push the teeth just enough so he could take impressions (which was done a week later) with a device in my mouth so it can be custom made.... Pretty cool, haha!
The spacers were a little shock to me, they are little blue prices of plastic which were placed between the molars. The reason I was shocked is as soon as they went in, I felt pressure! Already my teeth were moving, my bite was off and really it was uncomfortable, but I was excited!
After having a break from spacers for about a week, spacers went back in for two weeks, this time to hold the spaces for the real expander.
So on the 7th dec I had the device fitted, a super screw device, I had read up all I could, I understood that I will lisp and spit, talking will be difficult and pressure will be constantly present, I knew I had to turn the 'key' in my case, a spanner once a day everyday until told otherwise. It didn't hurt going in.
He placed it in my mouth in line with the spaces and asked me to bite down as he held the device in place and pushed it in. That's all I felt, very slight pressure, no pain, not even that uncomfortable either. It was in, he showed me how to turn the spanner, then made me me do it so he knew I was able. I felt heavier pressure after turning, again, not painful. He then asked me to do the whole 'she sells sea shells' thing, laughed a little and said 'your doing pretty good!'
After leaving I was just in awe of this thing, it was going to make my jaw bigger! After about half an hour, I realised I could no longer swallow normally, I had to very quickly find a way to swallow and for the first two days, I had to tip my head back to swallow, so I ate liquids, I didn't really even attempt milk in that time, I was taking my time to adapt.
Turning was pretty intense my first week, I felt constant pressure through my entire mouth, it was painful, I won't lie, but I never felt cracking whilst doing it. The one thing I have noticed is what I relate to pop-rocks, that sherbet that pops in your mouth, at times my palate feels as though there is pop rocks in there, not as intense or as tasty as the candy, but like that ... : I
Turning, pressure, turning, pressure.
I'm now at day 37. I stopped turning 8 days ago.
My molars and premolars have moved, I can definitely see that, there is more room, my smile is broader. I have no 'gap' (a positive side effect of expansion can be a gap developing between front teeth, quite a large gap) I did ask my ortho of this, he said that I should develop a gap somewhere in my last 6 turns.... No such luck.
Anyway, in this time I had adapted to the device, it is a massive downer though. I can't eat a lot of foods, I love lollies, they are a big no no!. Anything hard, sticky, chewy, nuts and popcorn are all of limits. Most foods get stuck, I lasted two weeks before I got a waterpik for Christmas. It's a electronic water flosser and is the best invention since the last cool thing I saw..... Without the waterpik I wouldn't eat a lot of different meats, lettuce, tomato and rice. Almost anything that isn't liquid will get stuck, and need to be dislodged by the tongue or swishing water, but the above foods get stuck good, I used to use a special toothpick which still left foods behind, now I use my waterpik, it takes like 40 seconds and all traced of food are removed with the pressure of the water. I get grossed out by seeing what is left behind, and sometimes I can't even feel it stuck in the arms of the expander...
So gross.
Elch.
I should also note the I often taste metal, I suppose that's expected.
The expander pushes on the sides of my mouth, I used wax for a about 3 weeks until I got used to it, it still catches on the skin at times and pulls the side of my mouth, but it's toughened up a lot.
The bar in the roof of my mouth has left an imprint on my tongue and I have had some small grazes along my tongue from the constant touching.
It's really not nice, but the mouth adapts so quickly to things I was surprised!
My speech was affected, others noticed it for a few days, they now tell me I sound normal. In my head, I still sound strange, I cannot pronounce certain letters correctly, although everyone tells me it sounds fine coming out.
I guess I will just believe them and ignore what I hear of my own voice because it makes me feel better.
I go back in just over a week to see the orthodontist and check the movement of my palate, the lack of a gap between my front teeth makes me a tad nervous that I will need to start turning again and prolong the process of keeping it on, but if it needs to be done, i will do it.
Post again then.
