Wednesday, September 20, 2006

It's showtime!

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Edit Oct 9: Every time I update my animations this post will break, so go check out my You Tube channel directly! I've also added a link to my Links section in the top right.
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I used a photo morphing program to create this video animation of the progression of my arch over the course of going through SARPE up until this week. I've been taking photos every week, which allowed me to string them together to create an animation. I will continue to update these animations as my alignment improves!



I also made videos of my lowers, my closing gap, and smile. Check them out at my You Tube channel!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Adjustment #1: Attack of the Power Chain

smile adj 1 wk 0

My, my, it has been a long 7 week wait! I finally went for my first full blown adjustment today, and what an adjustment is was! I now have a thicker wire on both top and bottom as well as a power chain on top from 2-2. The power chain is clear so look closely at the photo. See the elastic looking thing strung across the wire on my front 4 top teeth? That little sucker is going to begin closing the little gaps at long last!

Dr W did all the work today, with some assistance from Maria. Wire changes aren't too pleasant but I knew what to expect. Dr W was very happy with how my top teeth aligned using the braided super cable, so it was time for a new wire. Thankfully the new one is a standard wire which is not braided and does not have to have the extensions at the end (which were covered over with plastic). I guess I must have got used to those extensions though because I don't really notice that they are gone now. I wasn't able to get a picture to show you since they were so far back. But anyway, they are history. As Dr W was twisting the new wire into place my right 2nd bracket popped off. Ouch! So I have a new one on there now as well. The new wire on the bottom went on pretty easily and I can feel the added tension. I was also supposed to get my night time FFMP appliance fitted but Dr W ran out of time. Another patient was waiting to get surgical hooks placed and had to be at the surgeon's office in short order, so that meant my time was up. Dr W thinks the FFMP will likely fit better next time anyway, and well, I'm not exactly looking forward to wearing it either so I am happy to wait.

I am definitely in some discomfort right now. I needed 2 Advil to reduce the pain. I ate lunch as usual without too much difficulty. I'm still sticking to soft food. We'll see how the next couple of days go but so far I think I can say the tooth pain and sensitivity I had after SARPE was worse than how I feel today.

I would like to say hello and thanks to everyone at Dr W's office as they are now privy to this blog. You guys are great and I enjoyed chatting with everyone today!
It's going to be a long 8 weeks until my next adjustment! Looks like some reno is starting at the new office location too, so it will be nice to see how that looks.

Oh, and one question. See the 4 little bends in the wire (2 on top, 2 on bottom)? What do those do, anyone know?