Hello!

Hi everyone.

Hope Christmas was excellent for all of you... I was so spoiled it isn't funny ;)

Had an ortho appointment on the 18th, and I was all fitted up with tons of annoying rubberbands. I'm supposed to wear them 24/7, but it's too difficult to talk to wear them at work... so I've mostly been wearing them at night. My bite feels just about perfect, and my midlines are lining up beautifully. I've just got one issue left: one of my front teeth is a bit crooked, so I'm doubling up on the bands every once in awhile in the front to try and move that baby back into place where it should be. My next appointment is January 25... I'm hoping so badly that that is the day that I've been looking forward to... yep, that's right: the debracing.

I have another post-op surgeon appointment on the 29th. OH, that reminds me. I was under the impression that Kaiser would not be paying the $2000 assistant surgeon's fee, which was the fee that I had to get a loan out for to pay the doctor before my surgery. But get this: Kaiser DID approve it, and they sent a check for $7500 to my surgeon's office. What!! They overpaid by $5500! So the office sent the check back (darn it, haha) and asked for them to resend the correct amount of $2000, which we're still waiting for. They were ridiculously slow, but I am SO THANKFUL that they paid for EVERYTHING. I am one lucky girl. So my advice based on my experience is... GO WITH KAISER!


Have a wonderful New Year!

All banded up, yuck. See my crooked front tooth? Argh!


On Christmas!

lots and lots of things

Hi, everyone!

Well, quite a few significant things have happened since I last wrote. I met with a surgeon--Dr. James Vetter--last week for a consultation. After a few x-rays, Dr. Vetter sat me down and we talked for about an hour. At first he mentioned that just by looking at me and my x-rays, he thought that my top jaw needed surgery, not the bottom, because it looked deficient enough to not be supporting my cheeks and top lip very well. I must have made a funny face, because he said "Why, were you thinking the bottom?"... and I explained my entire life story to him. After taking a look at my jaws and teeth/bite a little closer, he said that if my bottom jaw is the one that is bothering me so much, he can set it back instead of bringing the top jaw forward. He said that he did not want to do both jaws, as that would be too much unnecessary surgery.

I feel a little confused; no one has really mentioned that my top jaw may only be the jaw that needs surgery. I've always been so conscious of and blamed all my worries on my bottom jaw, so it was odd to have Dr. Vetter mention only the top one. However, after examining my face, he decided that he will only perform surgery on the bottom.

Theeeen came the bad news.

Dr. Vetter said that I need my two bottom wisdom teeth removed, and that he doesn't perform the surgery until after the teeth have been out for six months.

Soooo, that would mean that if I get them out now, my surgery would be tentatively scheduled for MAY. Arrrgh! Unfortunately, the teeth are impacted, and the surgeon's office quoted me $400 for their removal. I'm seeing if Perfect Teeth will do it cheaper, but Dr. Vetter said he didn't know if Perfect Teeth would put me under, which he recommended.

Then came the quote. The surgery and doctor's fees come out to about $10,000, not including hospital fees. The lady at the office said that it will probably end up costing another $10,000 for the hospital stay and anesthesiologist and all that, which comes up to a grand total of about $20,000. She wants to begin doing the insurance paperwork three months before my surgery. She also mentioned that I should not get my hopes up for Cigna to pay a dime of my surgery costs. Oh, please, please be wrong.

I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday, and my dentist and another doctor there said that Dr. Vetter is an excellent surgeon and that he is a perfectionist. So.. that's good! I'm totally disgusting and this was the FIRST time I've gotten my teeth cleaned since getting braces a year ago (I know, I know!), and it really wasn't as bad as I'd thought. After reprimanding me, the dentist looked at my teeth, sat back, and said he'd never seen braces so clean! So HA! I'm sure it helped that I went a little crazy with my toothbrush in the shower before my appointment, ha ha ha.

I had an orthodontist appointment yesterday morning, and I noticed a letter in my file from Dr. Vetter to my ortho. In it, he mentioned that he wants to do a lower jaw setback, and he asked if it would be possible for Dr. Arango to "tip out" my top front teeth in order to offer more support for my upper lip. Dr. Arango reminded me that we still had to close up this gap in my bottom teeth before I could have surgery... I'm assuming that will be taken care of within six months. I have a purple chain on now, and my teeth are sore! Yippee!

I'll post pics later... I had some ready to go and then realized that there was a chunk of food in my teeth in all the pictures. Whoops! I'm also going to email Dr. Vetter and ask him to send me copies of my x-rays, so that I can post them up here!

Take care! And if anyone has any comments or suggestions, I'd be more than happy to hear them, and thanks ahead of time! :)

oh snap, that gap

i had my adjustment on tuesday, and there isn't anything too exciting to report.

I had my chain changed (bluuue!) and today the teeth around my gap are sore, yay! dr. arango didn't even mention the surgery... in fact, he was on the phone while he was checking my teeth.

next appointment is october something or other.

sigh.

Ortho visit... red chain!

Thanks to everyone for their input on my tooth/gum pain. It has subsided for now, and I'm silly and haven't made a dentist appointment yet. But I so will!

I had my latest adjustment this past Tuesday, and it is the first adjustment in which my teeth haven't been sore afterward. I had my old, silver powerchain replaced with a fancy red one; which, oddly enough, seems less noticeable than the silver one. Go figure.

I still have this annoying gap in my bottom teeth, but Dr. Arango says it's closing. "It just takes awhile," he told me. Argh! My next appointment is August 22, and that is when we're supposed to look at surgeons. I hope this pesky gap is closed by then. Already, though, I can't fit my tongue all the way in it, like I could a few days ago.

I saw some pictures a few days ago of myself from the side... my bottom lip sticks out so much! It looks like someone punched me. I'm really hoping to have my surgery in December, after this next semester is over. Hoping, hoping...

Take care!

ligs

i had my latest ortho. appointment yesterday, and lookie what I got:












and, uh, yeah.. they hurt! i'm pretty excited about that awful gap closing up, though!

my next appointment is july 22.. a month shorter than usual! dr. arango said that we can start looking at surgeons the appointment after that. I so just had butterflies in my stomach when I typed that!


nathan and i went to florida last week for his step sister's graduation. i loved the humidity and the heat, and the beach was awesome! of course there were lots of pictures that were taken, and i tried very hard not to shy away from the camera, but.. let's just say i can't wait until i can have a big old toothy smile for every picture!

the third visit

today i had my third visit at the orthodontist's office. i wasn't sure what would be happening today, and i was hoping it would just be time for new wires.

alas, i was wrong.

dr. arango said that my crossbite looked pretty bad and that he wanted to put in some rubberbands. Boo! so they were installed, and i have four bands on the right side of my mouth and two on the left. plus new wires. ow!

dr. arango mentioned that there is also a surgery to correct the bite that would run around $10,000, but that he thought rubberbands do a fine job too and are obviously cheaper.

it's a little weird not being able to open my mouth very wide, but i'm already used to how they feel. the only thing is eating... i have to take them out to do that, which is hard to do at work (i'm usually just grabbing something here and there and popping it into my mouth).

also, the assistant asked if i wanted colored or clear rubberbands, and i chose clear. i think i'd feel super dorky with colored ones!! :)

pics:

my tongue looks like a slimy weird creature, but you can see the rubberbands!


look how open my bite is now!!

They're so on

This is from the 26th--I haven't had internet!

Well, it's done!

I was worried that they'd have to postpone the appointment--I have massive, painful swelling going on in the right side of my mouth due to a wisdom tooth that decided to start breaking through my gums a couple of days ago. Dr. Arango (ortho) told me to ask the dentist if I should have the wisdoms out when I went in for my cleaning about a week ago, and the dentist said he wanted to call Dr. Arango to discuss it…but that never happened. Sooo, I had to endure those huge plastic pieces that held my mouth open as they dug right into my inflamed gums. Ow.

After eating lots of popcorn and gooey candy yesterday, I figured I was ready for my appointment this morning to be banded. Other than the pain of my wisdom tooth, getting the braces on was only slightly uncomfortable. I wasn’t really sure what the ortho. assistant was doing in my mouth for awhile, and I couldn’t really ask J When she told me to go brush my teeth and come back to put the wires in, I couldn’t keep my hands out of my mouth! The braces are so foreign and big!! I feel like I can barely hold my lips over my teeth, and I’m even having trouble speaking clearly. I’ve been so focused on researching the surgery that I haven’t really looked into or thought much about the braces. I forgot that the brackets and everything would be crooked at first and then straighten themselves out, so that’s a little weird to look at in the mirror!
I cried when I got home and saw my reflection; the braces make my face stick out even more! I always felt like having nice teeth drew people’s eyes away from my jaw, and now the braces draw more attention to it. I can’t wait until this is all finished!
I haven’t tried to eat anything yet, except for a yogurt. Will it be hard to chew?
Also, I just realized that I can’t bite my nails anymore…I can no longer grip them between my teeth! So long to that bad habit! J
My next appointment is January 10th. Will the brackets have straightened out by then?

Anyway, now for pictures…
I apologize for the bad quality, I was taking these in the bathroom with my camera phone (I swear I’m not that pale in real life, haha!). I’ll have better pictures someday when I buy batteries for my digital camera.
Okay, here are the pics from this morning, before I had the braces put on:






And then after:







And up close:





And that's that! Now off to watch the World Series!