Christmas post...

Hi guys,

Again, apologies for my late blogging, this months been jam packed with exams and stress.

I have been a very good girl and turning my expander when i need to turn it. I have to turn it tomorrow morning and then im going to open all my presents and eat food.

Its only a short update but i hope you all have a lovely christmas and a happy new year.

Bye guys

IMPORTANT APPOINTMENT INFO!

Hi guys,

Here are some important appointment information from my previous appointment(Tuesday 3rd). I now have to turn my expander every 4 days. Here are the days I have to turn it:

Monday 9th December
Friday 13th December
Tuesday 17th December
Saturday 21st December
Wednesday 25th December
Sunday 29th December
Thursday 2nd January
Monday 6th January

I then have an appointment on the 7th of January for impressions for another plate. They have not told me what it will look like or do so I have absolutely no clue what that's about. But in January I don't have to wear it no more! Feels like I have had my expander forever (Its actually been 2months and a half)

IN OTHER NEWS, THERE IS 19SLEEPS UNTIL CHRISTMAS...

That's it guys,

See ya

Mini update...

Hi guys,

This is a tiny update. Tomorrow is cranking day and every time i turn it, the harder it is to turn. That means that i am getting closer to the end. Woooo.

I cannot believe that tomorrow is december. I can finally open my advent calender. Its a miracle!

Thats it(told you it was tiny)

Bye guys

Day... opps i lost count..

Hi guys,

Sorry i have not blogged in long, been uber busy. I don't know how long i have had my exapnder for but i thinks its been at least 1month and a half.

Everythings going fine at the moment, i'm having no problems or concerns. I had to turn it today which didn't hurt. I'm doing a good job. My next appointment is on the 3rd December so i have not got long to wait.

Life at the moment is stressful but i will survive.

Bye guys,

short orthodontist update..

hi guys...

Day 40!

Today was the shortest appointment ever. He checked it was doing its job and that's it. Over and done with in 2minutes.

By next appointment is on the 3rd of December. That's it really.

Bye guys

day 39.

Hi guys,

Day 39 has flown by. And I have an orthodontist appointment with my orthodontist tomorrow at 9:30am. I don't have any school tomorrow so I'm going to the orthodontist and then going out to get my friends present(her birthday was yesterday)and her party is Saturday and Sunday. Busy weekend. I'm glad I have a day off tomorrow. School is so stressful right now, so the half terms are really precious sleeping time. I have had English all day, every day to do coursework, but that's finally over. I had my first proper English lesson in 3weeks today. It was bliss.

So there is a little update, not very special. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow around midday so watch out for that. Please feel free to comment down below if you have any questions or anything like that. I appreciate all of the page views I get. It makes my day.

Bye guys

Day 34

Hi guys...

Cannot believe it has been over 1month with my expander! It doesnt feel like it. Few dates coming up:

Appointment- 6days

Halloween- 12days

Bonfire night- 17days

Christmas- 67days

Now these I all cannot wait for. I do have a dentist appointment in December before christmas but i dont know the excat date.  So thats it really. I dont know what else to say really. There is no pain, so its fine.

Bye guys...

Day 28+photos....

Hi guys.

GUESS WHAT?! I am finally posting photos today!

Here we go...

 This is my expander. Mine is clear and goes over the top of the roof of my mouth and the metal things go round my molars. When I show people they don't really understand what it does and how it works. Basically you turn it and it separates. You can kind of see that my expander has two sides and a slit in the middle. When you turn it the gap in the middle gets wider and wider and pushes my top jaw outwards



This picture is my expander and you can see the little contraption that I place the key in (the picture of the key is down below so if you want to see it scroll down and there is a picture and description) but you place the key in this mini hole and the arrows show you what way to turn it so I have to turn it towards the front of my mouth whereas some have to turn towards the back of your mouth.

 Eww this photo. But this is what it looks like when it is in. Like I said in my previous blog I have to wear it all day everyday unless I am cleaning it. THEN I CAN REMOVE IT. But other than that it stays put in my mouth and does its job.

Ahh, the key; like the key of life. I joke. This key turns my expander which 'expands' my mouth. Its all linking together. I turn it every Sunday morning and I have to remove it to turn it and then put it back in. I think I would swallow the key if I had to turn it whilst it was inside my mouth. And my orthodontist would not be impressed.

This is my case. If I go on holiday and I have had some crazy food I would put my expander in the case and brush my teeth and the expander and the put it back in my mouth. I got my case at the orthodontist for £2.50 and it is pink and has silver sparkles on it. Girliness overload!

This is what my expander looks like when it is inside the case. It fits just like a bug in a rug and keeps it save from all the germs and nasty bugs that could make me ill. Not good.






And this is what it looks like when it is shut. It acts as a protective shield over my expander and keeps it safe form breaking and from getting damaged.

These are the final images and this is the toothbrush I use to clean my expander and it is just a soft bristled toothbrush from Colgate and I believe it was around £1 which is really cheap and inexpensive.



So that is it. Hope you enjoyed this fun blog of images of my expander and case and key and toothbrush and things like that. If you have any questions leave them in the comments and I will make sure to get back to them asap.

Bye guys.

day 24...

Hi guys,

I know its only been 3 days but I just thought I would tell you what's occurring with the mouth and just life in general.

I cried yesterday. I couldn't believe how much my teeth have moved. I had took a photo of my teeth in August and I looked at that image and looked at my teeth. They have changed a lot in the 3weeks of having them. My front two teeth don't cross over like they did before which is great.

At the moment, life is great... Okay that's a lie. Homework is stressful and I hate it. Coursework is killing me and I hate it. But I don't have long to go so I've just got to put my head down and work to the best of my ability.

OH and one more thing. If you have any questions feel free to comment them down below and I will reply to them tomorrow afternoon as I have school tomorrow. You can ask anything apart from how teeth extraction and braces feel because I haven't had that done yet. But you can ask about my expander if you want to.

So that's it really. A photo blog should be coming up this weekend as I have time this weekend to take them. I think I have batteries.

Bye guys...

day 21, 3week update!!!!

hi guys,

So its been 3weeks with my expander and to be honest its not really painful when i turn it no more which is nice. It only really hurts when i turn it and put it back in. So i turned it again today and there is a small gap appearing in my two front teeth. I can actually floss inbetween there now with my expander in which is really weird but hey it saves me removing it.

I feel as if i am finally getting somewhere in life with my teeth and cannot wait to see the final results after my treatment is over. But i still have a long way to go. After my top jaw has moved enough for me to not wear my expander, i then have to bravely conquer having 4teeth removed. That bit literally scares the life out of me. I would rather eat prawns than have 4 teeth removed. AND I HATE PRAWNS. Anyway after that stage i have my braces ( FINALLY) and then its a slow and steady pace to the finish line!

I'm sorry about the photos, they will be here ASAP but i need batteries that are powerful enough. My next appointment is on the 25th of October so i will update you before then just to tell you how the gap is getting on. But until then...

Bye guys...

day 10, expander infomation...

hi guys,

Sorry I haven't posted in ages, school work has been insane!!!! But... Guess what?! I got my expander. I got my RPE 10days ago and turned it for the first time on Sunday. I'm going to tell you about the first day with it, pain, first turn and how I clean it.

Before I start there will be pictures as soon as I can get my camera working.

FIRST DAY WITH MY EXPANDER

So, I got my expander last Monday at around 1:30pm. They showed me how to turn it, how to remove it(yes I can take mine out), how to protect it(I bought a case for it) and told me I would have lisp. I got it in and didn't talk until I got into the car. Then I started gagging and had to keep spitting. It was horrible. It took around 3-4days to get used to an about 5minutes to stop gagging. Your lisp stops after around 4 days as well. I do produce more saliva and I can't pronounce certain words but apart from that it is fine.

PAIN

So the second day I had my expander in I started to feel lots of pressure as my orthodontist had turned it once before he let me go home. It wasn't like 'OMG THIS IS SO UNBEARABLE I'M GOING TO DIE' sort of pain. It was like 'THIS IS NOT VERY COMFY BUT I THINK I'LL SURVIVE' sort of pain. Paracetomol helped so much. And ice cream numbed the pain. Win-Win situation.

FIRST TURN

I turned my RPE for the first time on Sunday the 22nd September in the morning. My RPE has 4 small holes and I put the key in and turn it in the direction the arrows are pointing. And that's it. I have not felt any pressure since turning the RPE which is weird but at least I have no pain.

HOW I CLEAN MY RPE

My RPE has hooks that go around my molars and I pull them down and pop it out. I then clean my teeth and then once done I swish some mouthwash around my mouth. Whilst I swish, I take my soft bristled toothbrush which I use just for that.  I take toothpaste, place it on my toothbrush and clean the surface of the RPE, rinse  the RPE off, spit out the mouthwash and then I put it back in. Done and dusted.

So that is it. I hope this helped anyone getting an expander or people who have their expander. I will try to post a little bit more often now but its hard with all my homework. But I will try to post more now.

Bye guys.

Lets go back in time....

Hi guys,

Long time, no blog. So lets have a little recap. So in 2days i'm getting my rapid palatal expander (RPE) fitted to crack the crossbite and make my top jaw bigger. My last blog i did was talking to you about what they did at my last appointment which was on the 6/9/13. I explained what they told me i would have to have done and my treatment time, which is roughly 24months.

Over the past 8days i have been doing my research on what an RPE is and how i would eat and talk again and i learned about the rainbow passage. The rainbow passage is a piece of speech in which they use on people who have trouble which speech and can't read that. It uses phonics and sounds. So when i get my exapnder they suggest that i read the rainbow passage to get used to speaking again.

The rainbow passage is:
When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colours. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

So that's it really, I cant think of anything else to say. I will do photos and a new blog of my RPE when I get it fitted this Monday.

Bye guys.

no braces(just yet)...

Hi,

So today was my second appointment. Turns out I won't have braces for a little while.

My orthodontist said I had a X-bite, an over jet and an overbite.

Which is why at my next appointment which is in 10days, I have to get an expander brace, which is basically this appliance that gets put on the top of my mouth and you turn it and  it pushes my molars outwards. You will get a better explanation if you search up 'expanders'.

So I have to have that for 6 - 8 months. Then I get that removed and have 4 of my premolars extracted. So I have to have two token from the top(one on the left side and one from the right side) and the same from the bottom, which will leave me with 24 teeth.

THEN I can have braces and then its a bumpy, painful ride to the finish line. one word: ouch.

So there you have it. Finally I can start my journey to straight teeth. Thanks to everyone who is interested in my story/experience/journey. I appreciate it.

10days guys...

Bye..

6days...

hi guys,

So it is officially 6days until my next orthodontist appointment. I have begun to like going to the orthodontist more, they are much more different than dentists. For one, they don't jab your teeth with that awkward tool.

Anyway, in 6days (according to the letter they gave me) they will be going through my plan of treatment and fitting my braces. Fingers crossed the next blog post I do I will have braces. *fingers crossed*

When I go for my next appointment, afterwards I will do a post on what happened and what they did(if they do anything).

Until then..

Bye guys

photos...

hi guys,

Today is the day you have been waiting for... the photos.

PLEASE NOTE: I am extremely insecure about these next few images, and it has token lots of guts and confidence to put these up. These photos are from Year 3 upwards.

This photo is from year 3. I was missing a few teeth as they had fell out. my front two teeth were extremely big and crooked.

This is probably the most embarrassing photo. My teeth that fell out, have grown back, which kind of pushed my front two teeth forward. EMBARRASSING.

 This is year 5. I hate my teeth in this. They are like big and overcrowded and gross. And they stick out.

This was my last year at primary. My brother is in this one, but its all about the teeth. I think you can see how bad they are, so I'm not going to go into much detail.

 

The next two images are my teeth today..

Ergh, I hate these two images, but I did one from the side and one straight on. The on that is straight on, that isn't my smile, I did this smile weirdly so you could see how crooked my teeth are. The front tooth on the right of the top photo is wonky and has a chip in it. I have no idea how this occurred. My other front tooth is fine... well kind of. The front 6 at the top are so far forward, you can't see my bottom teeth(they are wonky as well, but not as much.

So that's it... some photos of my teeth.

bye guys..

orthodontic assessment...

hi guys,

Today at 11:30am I had to go to the orthodontist for my assessment. I was really scared but they gave me a letter explaining what would be happening over the next few appointments, so I felt a little bit more at ease.

The first thing that happened was I had my teeth looked at and they decided if I needed braces or not. To my delight they said yes. They also didn't mention anything about taking teeth out. BONUS!

Then I had to have two x-rays done, which felt weird and was quite uncomfortable as I had this thing to hold my head straight with but it was over really fast. I also got to see my x-rays which was so cool.

After that, I was took into another room for pictures and impressions. First was pictures where I had to have six pictures done. Then it was impressions. This is when they take a big tray and fill it with this pink cement like stuff. They have a tray for the bottom teeth and a tray for the top teeth. They place this tray on your teeth and hold it there for 30seconds. The cement tasted really gross and stuck to my gums, but that only took 1 minute so it was fine. Finally she put some warm wax and stuck it to my bottom teeth and told me to bite really hard. This made another mould of my teeth.

Then it was all over. My next appointment is on the 6th of September at 11:20am. On the letter I was given it says my next appointment is talking through the plan of what they are going to do and hopefully fitting my braces. I am really excited now for my next appointment and can't wait to share it with you.

I promised photos ages ago, and I promise they will be up tomorrow or later on today if I can find 4 working batteries. Until then..

bye guys

4days

hi guys,

I was going to post yesterday but I had no time to because I was at a wedding.

So it is officially 4days until my orthodontic assessment. I am starting to get scared but I'm really excited to because I have wanted to get my teeth sorted out forever ago.

I did promise photos but my camera ran out of battery yesterday so I'm getting some new batteries and then I'll put some up sometime tomorrow or the next day.

byeee

My Teeth Story..

hi everyone.

Since the age of 5, my teeth have not been the prettiest of teeth. I was picked on about them. As I started to grow older, my teeth got more crocked and much more uglier. I have always hated them, which is why I asked my dentist if he thought I needed braces. He said yes and referred me to an orthodontist last September, where I was then put on a waiting list for roughly a year.

11months passed and no letter or phone call from the orthodontist. My mum rung up the orthodontist I was referred to and asked where I was on the waiting list. They explained how one of the orthodontist's had left so my referral wouldn't be until November of this year. However the orthodontist did recommend a brand new orthodontist that had opened and said they didn't have a long waiting list. My mum asked how long the waiting list was and it was 2weeks.

So we phoned up the orthodontist we was recommended to and they said to call our dentist and get them to refer you to us. So we did and on the 8th August this year I got a letter through the post. It was the orthodontist, saying they wanted to see me on the 22nd August at 11:30am for an orthodontic assessment. I was so happy and thrilled and I am now counting the days down.

I hope I don't need any teeth removed, and I hope that I can get braces soon. Photos will be coming up very soon, but until then...

Bye guys