My Orthodontist Appointment - 9th May, 2016 - lots to report!
Hey all - a long overdue update on my last Orthodontist appointment! It was a pretty significant appointment! Long post ahead, but the big news is...
I HAVE NOW BEEN BOOKED ONTO JOINT CLINIC!
My next appointment has been booked for the 6th July! It was an hour long appointment because quite a lot had come out of it.
My appointment started off with the classic question ‘so how have your braces been?’ I mentioned straight away about the horrid discolouration of my braces and of course, my ortho told me why... I found out it’s, because they only do the elastic power chains in CLEAR!! Boohoo! So I have to put up with those again for the next two months or more. Ah well!!
My orthodontist used the acrylic molds that she took last year in December to see how much my teeth have moved and to measure how much they need to be moved. She said that have moved, but they haven’t in the way that she wanted. As I have mentioned before my back teeth need some minor tweaking and the aim is to get my teeth to line up, by tightening them together, they are not QUITE tightened the way my orthodontist intended. My orthodontist believes that it’s due to my bite. Although my teeth are stubborn, my teeth are however ready enough for surgery, hence the great news!
My orthodontist suggested that the final adjustments can be made AFTER surgery. I like that she suggested this, because I know has worked hard to get my teeth looking great, so I appreciate that she will revisit this post surgery!
She then went over the normal wire changing process, this is what they do:
The Orthodontist will take the elastics off with a small fine tool, with a pin point, once they have all been taken off, they snip the wires at the back and pull/feed it out slowly through each bracket. Once the old wire is out, they fix a new metal wire in place from the back first, (same or thicker wire, depending on your progress at each appointment, it will be different towards the end of the orthodontic work) and tighten them along each tooth and then they place the new elastics (I have now have elastic power chains on my bottom teeth) around each bracket. Lastly, they clip each of the excess wire at the back (molars). I also have my final wire in.
I had different colour elastics on my top teeth, and I love the colour! I agreed to have bright turquoise, because I was bored of the silver, and if you’re a little worried about them really standing out, which I was. Well they don’t, they actually look pretty! I definitely want to get another bright colour next time, and I wish I had tried them before.
She then took a set of impressions of my teeth, she put a red , wax strip, which she placed and pressed onto the teeth before taking the molds, this was to protect the ‘buttons’ on the teeth... then my impressions were taken! and If you ever have to have molds done, I advise you to tilt your head down and breathe through your nose when they take the impression of the upper teeth as it’s harder to breathe.
My orthodontist then mentioned about it being my last tightening appointment with her, and that she will book me onto the joint clinic for the 6th of July. We then discussed a few things such as:
My orthodontist will be at the joint clinic appnt, which is nice since she is a part of the wider team, and because she has been there the whole time in the lead up to the surgery, and of course it’s nice to have a familiar, friendly face!
I will have a lot of appointments after my joint clinic, this will involve procedure, and more assessments etc, such as photos, x-rays, face bow (measurements), splint, brace work maintenance, impressions etc.
My ortho told me about the splint that will be made for my surgery, a personlised splint that will hold my mouth in position when the surgeons operate on me.
My teeth are ready enough for Jaw surgery and the final tweaks are to be made after surgery, on top of the normal post op orthodontic work.
I will still have braces appointments (I can’t remember everything she said about this bit), but I am sure she said that I will have braces appointment after my joint clinic but this will be for maintenance, no wire changing, just elastics therefore I hope to try out some other funky colours!
I then went to have my photos taken, and X-rays arranged by my orthodontist, these will be ready to look at for the joint clinic. When you have metal retractors put in your mouth to stretch your mouth, for those photo shots of your teeth, watch out for the over-production of saliva! A little gross!! The X-ray, is a 30 second job, obviously you have to take off your metal jewelry! They both went well, as they were straight forward.
So that was my big appointment! It was a successful one, but since my joint clinic is a lot later than I thought it would be, (July) it means that my surgery may be later than I thought, perhaps Autumn time... Who knows?! Delays are common and everyone has to wait for surgery as everyone’s in the same boat, so that’s understandable, so as a rough guesstimate, my surgery could be late end of Summer / Autumn time.
So what will I do from now until my joint clinic ?
Think about / reflect on everything I need & wan’t to know about surgery/post
Write down my list of questions
Start thinking about what I need to prepare for op to post-op
More blog posts, my blog posts are crucial now more than ever!
Blog about my plan and prep going forward
More work on my scrap book! (will talk about this more)
And that is all of it followers! I STILL don’t feel like it’s real for me, despite my next appointment coming up! Maybe that will change afterwards.. Saying that I am nervous and partly excited in a way...it’s just that surgery itself doesn’t feel like it’s ever going to happen! It’s all still ‘procedure’ for me.
I start to plan in the next couple of weeks when I get some time in between work, as and when I can!
Also, question to all my followers: What should I be asking?
- Is there anything you regretted not asking before hand?
- What do you recommend I ask?
- Common questions I need to ask
- What information was beneficial to know before surgery from the surgeon?
- Any advice or tips etc?
And of course if you would like any information or advice let me know, I am happy to advise the best I can! I will posting lots more soon, so look out for that! :) especially my next one, about a fellow jaw surgery friend! :)
Thanks for reading all and good luck on your journey...
[Pictures of my bite, braces etc. to follow!!]
A special thank you to my sister too, because she got to come with me to my appointment, and it was nice to have her there :) and of course my other sister for always asking about my appointments as well! :) <3
love,
N :) x
