The day after....

I apologize to my readers...I was supposed to update yesterday after my appt. I was so busy and honestly...in pain.

I have lots of pics and my summary of what happened. I have to say that Dr Leeann Evans is really dedicated to her patients. There was a mistake when they scheduled my appointment. Apparently they had a CE to attend, and I wasn't supposed to even have an appointment. Well I had to request off from work and change my schedule so I couldn't not go. She came in alone and did everything! From checking me in all the way to the impressions and of course the braces. I was her assistant lol!

Anyway...if you're looking for an orthodontist and you're in the New Orleans area, I can't recommend her enough. Did I mention she's gorgeous? 

So we got all my pretreatment pictures taken and got everything done. She started by pumicing the surface of the teeth that would have the brackets attatched to them. There was a lot of water and suction and air. Finally she had all the brackets attatched and the wires hooked and secured in place. She placed small power chains to the brackets. If you aren't familiar with them, a power chain is a small rubber piece that is strong and used to move the teeth faster. It's made of the same material that the small o rings that hold your wires in place are made of. Your orthodontist may use these if you have large gaps or spaces to close up. They make this happen faster. In my case, we're closing the spacer where I've had teeth removed. 

These chains are TIGHT.  She hooked the chain to one bracket after measuring and attaching the wire. Then she wrapped the chain around the wire and hooked it to the next bracket. 

The metal digs into and scrapes the inside of my cheeks and THAT'S more painful than the actual pulling of the teeth!  I was told not to use the dental wax until a few days have passed, it helps the cheeks to toughen up and get used to the rubbing. However....EYE can't take it!  

(Picture of power chains from www.braces.com) This is the type of power chain that Dr Evans used on me. 

I told her that I was blogging about my whole treatment and she was kind enough to share my before treatment pictures! 

Seriously, check out Dr. Leeann Evans at 

http://www.evansorthonola.com/

She was willing to create a treatment plan that doesn't require me to have surgery. That's huge to me. The office is great and VERY chic! 

Pics of the after. I know this isn't the normal "I got braces" picture, but then again this isn't a normal treatment plan. In 6 weeks she'll add 2 more brackets to my last premolars to pull them back. 

I'll take pictures as my teeth move and shift into their new position. 

Anyway....that was yesterday. 

Today is a different story! 

I tried to sleep without wax...BIG mistake. I can see now that most of my money will be spent on dental wax!  I worked today and most of the day I've been in pain. My mouth is soooo raw on the insides. The shifting and pulling of the teeth is becoming more and more noticeable. It was so bad my pharmacist bought me some Ambesol! 

I couldn't eat. All I had was a medium smoothie from PJ's and once I got home a bowl of spinach casserole. I'm very hungry! But I guess I could actually lose some weight if this keeps up! 

So I broke down and pulled out the dental wax, this stuff is gonna be my BESTEST friend! 

I'm going to rest. I'll have a smoothie for dinner....yeah I'm not feeling this so far. 

 

Tomorrow's the big day...

I've mostly healed. My gums are starting to close up really quickly and I managed to make it this far without getting a dry socket. I guess I'm doing good! Lol. 

I'm anxious. I don't know what to really expect and I don't even really know what Dr. Evans will do tomorrow. All I do know is that we're starting off with bottom braces. 

Will it just be a few brackets to close the gaps where the missing teeth are or is she going to add all the bottom brackets on tomorrow's visit...I'm not sure. 

I took a picture today. 

I never smile showing all my teeth. I never show them at all. For one, my eyes disappear when I do and two...I don't like my smile. You may see this picture and not see anything wrong at all. But I see it. I see an underbite that causes me to smile closed lipped. I see years of me covering my mouth slightly when I laugh too big or smile too hard.  

This is the last picture that I'll take without braces. The last one before this journey really begins...

Well...it's the next day

(The right side of the picture is where they removed the molar. It's actually the left molar) 

Well of course...after the anesthesia wore off and the pain meds as well, I woke up feeling like 

There was NO way I was going to work!  Besides they wouldn't have let me work while taking these main meds so...there's that. I've been trying to rest. I'm tired of mashed potatoes already lol. 

I have all these restrictions...no hard spicy too hot foods, no smoking (I'm not a smoker so it's fine), no drinking, no exercise, no drinking from a straw to prevent dry socket. Yeah...all I remember from the last time I had a tooth out was the straw thing. 

The meds help, it's when they wear off that I feel the most pain. This tooth was in no way ready to come out so he had to use a lot of force to get it out. When the meds wear off it feels like I've been hit in the left jaw by a defensive lineman 😩😩😩. 

It'll heal, it'll close up like the opposite side eventually. However, it probably won't have the chance to close up completely before the teeth start to move. The leaves me asking the question...will my gums on the opposite side have to be opened? 😳

But it's time for my next dose...I'll be feeling like 

Today it starts...

Here we go. In about an hour and a half I start my long journey.

The 1st (and I pray ONLY) extraction. I've had a molar pulled before. It was quite painful once the shots wore off. I'm hoping that because this tooth has no nerve, it won't be as painful...maybe? 

At any rate, I wanted to keep y'all posted. I will add more to this blog post when I come from the dentist and I'm awake from whatever pain medication-induced slumber I find myself in... 

But I am kinda scared 

5:28 pm

Yep this almost didn't happen. 

Dr's and dentist's offices have those 24 hour cancelation policies. If you don't call so far in advance they'll charge you a cancelation fee. 

Well clearly they don't offer the same courtesy....because they called me at 3:00 apologizing and telling me the compressor was out but they had someone working on it. 

I was only wondering why I wasn't called sooner; but that's irrelevant I guess. 

Anyway...I start calling all over to see if anyone had any last minute openings. I knew no one would but it was worth a try, right?

Well as I'm calling around the receptionist called me back and told me they had everything running and I could come if I still wanted to. Ummmmmm hell yeah I do! 

I get to the office about 10 minutes after my original appt time and they get to work as soon as I get there. The hygienist puts some numbing gel all around that side and lets it sit. Dr Jouandot comes it, gives me a series of shots (which I HATE!!!) and he leaves me for a little while to let the shots start to work. He comes back in, props open my mouth and starts working on the tooth (#19 molar if you were curious) 25-30 minutes & a lot of wiggling later and it was out. He wrote me an rx for Norco 7.5...gave some instructions and sent me home. 

I stopped at CVS, got the rx filled and picked up some extra gauze and here I am lying in bed. I took one of the pain pills right away so when this numbness wears off I hope I'll be ok! 

This wasn't too bad, plus I've had a tooth pulled before so yeah, there's that. Now I just have to really care for my mouth, try not to get a dry socket and Monday (April 28th) I'll be in braces!  Well bottom braces anyway.!

Hi there *waves to readers*

My name is Crystal, everyone calls me Cryss (pronounced Chris). From the title of my blog, I'm sure you guessed it...I have an underbite. 

I'm 34 years old...if I had to guess, this started developing maybe around 20ish (?). I never REALLY needed braces as a kid. No dentist ever informed my parents if I did. 

I'll spare you the trip down memory lane lol. All that really matters now is that yes...I'm an adult and yes...I need braces. 

I notice the lack of information about really correcting an underbite without surgery. Ummmmmm yeah, I'm not 'bout that life. I don't want to go the route of having jaw surgery. I think I can be satisfied with near perfect underbite correction...I'm not that vain lol. 

So this blog is to chronicle my entire braces journey. I hope this can serve as some sort of encouragement to those of you out there that may not want to or maybe can't afford jaw surgery AND braces. 

Let's start from the beginning shall we?

Well the beginning of this journey....

Some time last year I decided that I wanted to do something about my increasingly bad underbite. My teeth aren't HORRIBLE...however, I hate my smile and my profile. 

The worse my teeth get, the older I think it makes me look. Kinda like the cartoon witches with the old lady chin and underbite *wipes away forming tears*. 

So for open enrollment I changed my dental insurance at work and made up my mind that I was going to do this! 

A couple months later here I am looking for dentists in my network that could do this. I soon found out the difference between an orthodontist and a regular DDS. Yeah I know, wth? I've just never been big on going to the dentist regularly...well until one of my teeth demand me to do so. One root canal, a couple fillings, one molar extraction...yeah of course I'll go THEN. 

All of that's changing now. I found a dentist close to home, booked an appointment and started the ball rolling.  Dr Charles Jouandot is now my (and my daughter's) regular dentist. He's pretty cool. He dealt with me being scared and acting like an afraid kid smh. He also sung second line music while he did my dental work, so that's definitely awesome in my book! 

(If you've never been to New Orleans and experienced the awesomeness that is my home...Ion't know WHAT your life is about!)

So far I've had my X-rays done, a good cleaning, 2 new fillings and an old filling removed and redone. I was a little worried because Dr Charles found that all of my wisdoms grew in at a completely twisted 90 degree angle, which makes them impossible to remove without surgery. I prayed they wouldn't be an issue with braces because they've never bothered me. Not once. Never since I've had them (all 19 years) have they given me any trouble. 

On last Thursday I had my 1st ortho consultation with Dr Leeann Evans. She's soooooo pretty! Like model pretty. I know...that's way off topic. 

Anyway, your 1st consultation is always free which is awesome! They take X-rays, examine your teeth, and come up with a treatment plan. They tell you the financials and even tell you what your downpayment has to be. 

At 1st glance Dr Evans already determined that I'd need surgery. She told me that my upper jaw was too far back in addition to my lower jaw being too far out... 

I told her right then and there that I wasn't interested in having jaw surgery. She explained to me that braces could correct some of the issue but it will never be perfect. I kinda figured that but I was willing to take my chances. As she's looking at my X-rays she's looking at the missing molar and other things, I ask her a question. 

Does it matter at all that I can pull my jaw back on my own?

She looks at me and said "You can?" 

Yep! I can....wait how? 

Here's some pictures. Now lemme just say...I'm REALLY putting myself out there. I don't like my smile...I never show my teeth in pictures. Just.......no. 

*sigh* 

So here are some profile pictures with my teeth showing and hidden. Also a straight on picture showing how it looks if I bite down completely. Pretty bad underbite, don't you think!? 

Well.....

Here's what I mean by "I can move my jaw back on my own". It's still apparent that I have an underbite but NOWHERE NEAR as bad, right? It even changes my profile a little bit. 

Well once I showed Dr Evans this she said, oh well we can definitely correct this without surgery!

*queues angelic harps and singing* 

You're talking about a happy woman?!? 

I was told by Dr Charles to make sure I ask about the wisdom teeth issue. Dr Evans told me that as long as they're not bothering me and I can keep them clean, there's no real reason to remove them. They aren't going to effect her treatment plan.

Say wha nah?! 

But there's still the issue of the missing molar. What missing molar? This missing molar...

Yeah....what happens now? How is this corrected? Well.....

Dr Evans is examining my teeth and yelling out dental lingo that I don't nearly understand to a dental assistant in the room with us. When she's done in my mouth.....pause LOL.....I ask her about the molar opposite that missing tooth. It's had a root canal and filling. Dr Charles is also going to have to remove that filling and crown the tooth because it was so poorly done. 

She tells me that it's not a standard treatment plan but since that tooth has already been compromised, she'd rather remove that one instead of a tooth that's still good. Usually if any teeth need to be removed, it's more than likely premolars but this case will be different. 

She begins writing out and explaining her treatment plan. I'll have that molar removed by Dr Charles and have lower braces for about 6-8 months. This will start on the teeth behind the missing molar and pull the tooth in front of the space back. Then once those teeth on both sides move halfway into that space, she'll connect the next preceding tooth and so on. If I remember correctly, once we get to the canines the rest of the bottom braces will be installed across the bottom front to pull my bottom teeth back. I'll have a piece installed that will prevent me from biting down all the way. I'm sorry I really forgot the technical name for it. At any rate, it's going to be necessary to stop my teeth from clashing into each other and allow my bottom teeth to be moved to where they're supposed to be. 

After she thinks my bottom teeth have progressed to where she wants them, then the top braces will be installed and we'll go from there. 

All in all she said I'm looking at 2-3 years in braces. She also told me she'd prefer me in metal braces...those are more aggressive and will give her more of the results she wants. That was actually pretty fine by me! They're the cheapest anyway! 

*does the money dance* 

So on to the financial part of it all. Yes...they're expensive. REALLY expensive...$5300 

But....because I elected to change my dental coverage, Humana pays $1250 of that. Even for adults...so that's VERY helpful! They worked the numbers and determined that my downpayment has to be $1060 and my monthly payments for 24 months will be $125. 

I asked about stretching the payments out further to make them more affordable. She was able to stretch them out to 30 months and that drops them to about $100. Sweet! 

I'm going to give them $1200 (even more if I have more by the time my appointment rolls around). I've saved a good bit of my income tax return for this purpose. 

*says a little prayer for EIC and a very good boyfriend* 

My next dental appointment is with Dr Charles on 4/22 to have that molar removed. After that I have about a week to heal and I see Dr Evans on 4/28 for my records appointment and to install my bottom braces. From what I understand they'll take before pictures, impressions, more X-rays and lay out a more extensive treatment plan. They'll submit this to my insurance and also apply my downpayment. Then set up autopay from any account I choose for monthly payments. Easy-peasy. 

I'm very excited to finally have a smile I'm happy with again. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid. But the end will justify the means and I'll have my perfect smile! 

I know I said this already but...I really hope this helps someone. It can be discouraging to think the only way to correct our particular problem is to have jaw surgery. There are other options! You just have to find an open minded orthodontist and make it clear what you want. Understand that your results may not be 100% perfect, but I know it'll be an improvement! 

Leave ya girl some comments, encouraging words...or whatever you feel like leaving. 

I'll be back after having that molar removed....