Picture post!

Well, fuck me.

I had to post-pone the surgery.

My brother and I went to the airport around 4 am in the morning, knowing that the weather was bad. The papers said that a lot of the flights had been cancelled, but also that people should meet up and see what happened. Just in case.
We got there, and basically had to turn in the fucking doorway! All flights had been cancelled due to strong winds, except for one flight towards the east (we were going southwest to Bergen..).

When the phonelines to the hospital and offices opened I called them and told them what happened, and they would find a new surgery date for me. Over a week later, I still haven't heard anything.

So that's a couple of hours wasted as well as a wave of ambivalence, in the way of "Oh well, there's nothing I can do so I guess I'll just wait for the new surgery date".

In the meantime, here are the promised pictures from before this all started!

The first pictures, from my dentist:

Yep, because my mouth is so crowded, teeth are slowly being pushed out.

Upper jaw. Look how narrow it is! 

Lower jaw, really wonky. You can see the support brace from my last round of braces.

As you can see, they're pretty fucked. I have problems biting off things, constant neck and shoulder tension, problems closing my lips, I sound nasal when I speak, and the biggest one: I can't really breathe through my nose. It's like constantly breathing through a small straw and the feeling of choking, which explains my anxiety towards dentists' appointments.

Another problem with my teeth has been my bite. Often when I smiled excitedly, or even when I just spoke normally, my jaw would go to the left. I have a crossbite, and that wonky lower teeth were already protruding towards the left didn't exactly help:

Tried to get a photo with the dogs while playing on the floor, I'm sane I promise!

Seem familiar? 

As you can imagine, I've been self concious about my smile. I never truly smiled in photos, often only a subtle, practiced smile:

 

 I found an old photo of me from when I was.. 15 years old? I had recently gotten off my braces, and I smiled! I can't remember having straight teeth though, for me they've always been crooked.

So there you have it, my dreadful anarchy hell hole of a mouth.
I think I have to call the hospital some day soon to nag at them. Looking at these photos, the surgery can't come soon enough.

Also:

After I got my wisdom teeth removed, I lost sensation in my lower lip, shown here. I still haven't gotten it back completely a year later, so I guess that part is just fucked. I've learned to live with it though, most of the time I'm not aware of it. 

See y'all next time, I'll try and make some progression photos for my lower jaw and post them!

Wires and stabwounds and pain, oh my!

After I got my expander installed, I first had to get the top braces, and use them for a while.

This side by side (top by bottom?) comparison is from the first day of braces, and about a month and a half later:

You can see the obvious snaggletooth has been tamed, and the rest of the pearly gang has followed, straightening the wire. They would move even more, but since the expander is in there are limits on how much the teeth can move.

Oh boy. I have NOT missed wearing braces. Constantly being sore, and having open wounds in my mouth at any given time. I get little boxes of wax from my orthodontist, but most of the just fall off after a short while, and I keep drooling, I can't eat with the wax on, and it's hard to put the wax back iiin... So yeah, I have toughened the inside of my mouth!

Well, at least a little bit. I still get sores, and I sometimes even manage to cut my tongue on the braces.

I think the worst part about all of this, was getting the molar rings for my lower jaw braces. I had to have them for a week or two before putting on the rest of the braces. They were pointy enough on the outside of the teeth, but inside, towards my tongue? Fucking skewers that made the root of my tongue into raw minced meat everytime I ate, swallowed or talked. Couldn't even put the fucking wax on it, it just fell off at once! I can't believe I've gotten used to them now, 1½ month later.
Since I couldn't find images of the specificmolar bands on Google, so I assume they have been summoned from hell.
Finally, on November 28th I got the last of my braces on. Now I have to have them on for the next two years or so, hopefully less than that!

I look like a fucking dinosaur with braces

But all in all, after 3 months with braces I already feel more confident about smiling in photos, especially with that darn snaggletooth under control! 

Picture from yesterday, blowing fan in my face!

There, I think I have all the main details out in the open. Ask away if you're curious about anything. Will make a photo entry when I get back home to Norway, and hopefully will be able to keep you posted on the progress forward! I'm glad to have such good friends and family who support me, but a special shout out to the dentist who first pushed to start this whole process, my brother who's going with me for the surgery, and for my lovely boyfriend who has to put up with all of my drooling and whining, pre-op and post-op! ♥


Now, I will use these last days in Thailand to relax and not think about the fact that they're going to literally open my face.
Reminds me of this comic by Blue Chair.



11 days until surgery.

Expander aka hell device

In this entry I will tell y'all about the SARME procedure.

SARME (Surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion) does exactly what it says it does. It is a procedure where the surgeon will go in under your upper lip, and open up straight down your palate.
It's better if I just show you a video, curtesy of Youtube:

If this illustration video seems brutal, try going to Google Images on "SARME Surgery"
(Pro-tip: Don't)

After the surgery I will have to expand the device myself, with something that looks like a small lockpick. I will turn it once or twice a day, I think, over a longer period of time. I've seen people turning mostly for a month, so it's still pretty rapid compared to other methods out there. 

After some turns I will notice a tooth gap, which will only grow bigger day by day, can't say I'm looking forward to that.
I'm gonna look like Milk in no time!

On September 13 2017 I had my expander installed. It's this fucker right here:

This bad boy has been adjusted to fit my crowded pottymouth, and was, very forcefully, shoved into place. I'm both looking forward to, and dreading the day the expander is coming off, I've heard it's
quite painful.. 

Here it is installed. Not even a minute after putting it in, the orthodontist told me "you're ready for surgery in two weeks!" and asked a nurse to call the hospital and get the date for the surgery. You know what they said? "That will be in 7 months or so".
You have to be fucking kidding me. 7 fucking uncessessary months with this hell device. They couldn't have called and asked before shoving this 16th century torture contraption in my mouth? Oh well, I was mad maybe a week, then it passed bit by bit as I grew more and more used to it.

"Well, what's it like wearing it?"
Thank you for your question Barbara, I'll tell you what it's like, at least the first month:
A drooly, messy and painful hell.
I couldn't eat, drink, swallow or talk. I dropped 2 kg in two days just because I was miserable, and had to re-learn how to eat and swallow. When I bite down and close my mouth, it feels like the middle of the expander is resting on my tongue, so there's not much room for anything, really. I keep getting food stuck between the expander and my palate, so I always have a bottle of water nearby in case I need to rinse. You should always have a bottle of water with you though. Stay hydrated, kids!

In November 2017, I got a call from Haukeland Sykehus (the hospital in Bergen), and they could squeeze me in earlier! The big date now is January 16th, 2018, travelling down to Bergen the 15th for preparations. Going to Bergen only three days after coming home from vacation, there's certainly no room for panic attacks.

Now, 11 days from my surgery date, I've decided to blog about all of this, in order to calm my nerves, and get most of my worries down on digital paper.
I've grown quite used to the expander by now, but I still get very tired if I speak continuously for a long period of time. Also still get food stuck in the room between the expander and palate, I guess there's no way around that!

Next: Braces!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog about my journey through second round of ortodontics, and SARME surgery. This is mostly for people that are going through the same procedure, or for people who are just crazy about teeth. I don't know, I won't judge you.

I'm 29 year old from Norway. In 2016 I grudgingly got a new dentist after moving back to Norway, and he was quick to kindly hint at my teeth being proper fucked up.
I've struggled with fear of going to the dentist's office, because I've had big trouble with breathing through my nose. And if I can't breathe, I panic. So, I'd usually avoid dentist.

This new dentist basically told me "I think you'd have a better life if you fix your teeth".
If I remember correctly, I have:

• Open bite
• Cross bite
• Overbite
• Narrow upper jaw

In conclusion: Total anarchy.

I'm in Thailand right now, so I don't have all the pictures I need, but here are two photos before the expander and braces came on. This is the reason I've never truly smiled in photos.

So in August 2016 I went to my old orthodontist for an evaluation. I had braces in the early 00's, and clearly the didn't do jack shit. He quickly recognized me and my anarchy loving snaggleteeth from before, and said he would fix it. 

Luckily (?) it has gotten worse than it originally was, so now get (almost) the whole shebang covered by the Norwegian goverment. Yay! Definitely the biggest fucking plus in the whole shitshow that lays before me. 

The first step in this process was to yank out my wisdom teeth. 

In january 2017 they took the left side on the first session, and the right side some months later. The upper teeth could just be yanked out, but the lower ones had to be surgically removed. Needless to say, I was properly drugged and can't remember much of the procedures.

♫ Soundtrack of the day: The Ramones - I wanna be sedated ♫ 

Before appointment, sitting in the dentist chair full of sedatives, at home again after the procedure. Charming, no?

After visiting my orthodontist, I was sent to Bergen for the hospital's and the dentistry department to have a proper look at me. Everybody (except the surgeon) was super friendly and calming, the took a bunch of x-rays and pictures, and asked me a LOT of questions regarding my teeth, bite, breathing, neck etc. 

I got some copies of the x-rays, here is one with a front view:

As you can see, my face is really narrow, so I will undergo a SARME procedure to widen my upper jaw. More pictures will come when I come back from Thailand next week!

In the next entry I'll write more about the preparation for the SARME procedure, and about the lovely braces I've gotten.