Consults and Appointments Part 2

May 20th and 27th Orthodontist

On May 20th I had wax molds of my bite, two x-rays and molds of my upper and lower teeth taken. It all went faster than expected and I don't have much to say about how it went. It was pretty painless, thank god :D

Today I saw Dr. Kirk again and she went over a more comprehensive and detailed plan for my treatment. All my X-rays and molds and any other relevant info will be sent to Dr. Brent Johnson in Kanata. He's the oral surgeon I'm being referred to for the orthognathic surgery. His office will be calling me in the next while to have a consultation with him where he'll go over the plan for future surgery. I'm really anxious to see him and make sure I'm the right kind of candidate for surgery.

It looks like the overall timeline of my course of treatment will be longer than 18 months...just add another year to that. I'm not very surprised. It sounds typical from what I've seen and read online with other people who had the same issues as me. 

It's also a bit more expensive. $6880 is the total, not including surgery and dental fees down the line for the surgery itself and more frequent cleanings. OHIP still covers the surgery itself, so that's a relief.

Anyway, it's just money. I won't care about that 3 years from now! 

I did a little video to post today. I'm a bit of a shy public speaker (noo, really??) so I kept it short. It'll be interesting to watch it later and compare my face and speech patterns. Maybe I'll also drop some weight post surgery :P

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dieztd9mjso4zlt/VID_20160527_151446.mp4?dl=0

Linking to the video because trying to post it here is a pain! I filmed in the wrong orientation and media player keeps flipping it sideways. Grr. 

Consults and Appointments

May 13, 2016 Orthodontic Consultation

When I met my Hygienist Kelly and Orthodontist Dr. Kirk, I was feeling pretty enthusiastic. If they would have given me more time, I would have talked their ears off. Perhaps it's because I've never personally known someone with as severe a problem as myself. Most people I know have fairly normal, symmetrical and functional faces, and pretty functional mouths. Having someone to listen to me and nod when I talk about my frustrations is an immense relief. Like I said, I wish I could have gone on and on about what having this jaw has really been like. I think I've leave the ranting for my blog though, that's what it's here for :)

Dr. Kirk examined my mouth and Kelly recorded the measurements of my underbite (3mm) and cross bite (also 3). She then took photos of my face, both smiling and not smiling, as well as profiles of my right and left sides. She also took pictures of the inside of my mouth to get a clear idea of the orientation of my teeth.

She briefly went over the approximate cost and length of treatment. It would be around $6000 for the braces, and more for the surgical fees, however the surgery itself would be covered by OHIP (our provincial health insurance coverage). My insurance plan at work will pay $1500 towards orthodontic treatment, so I would be out of pocket for the rest. As far as the time commitment, I would be in braces for about a year, then have surgery, and likely be in braces another six months, for a total of 18 months. Sounds like a plan.

After my appointment I looked up some videos and blogs of people who've had braces and orthognathic surgery done for their underbites. One video in particular had me in tears.

You can find Corinne's blog here: http://jawsurgery-journey.blogspot.ca/ However it's been a while since she's posted because she's well past having braces and jaw surgery. 

The part about having difficulty speaking, eating, breathing and having sinus issues...that resonated with me. I didn't even bring that stuff up with my orthodontist because I had no idea it was related. I stumble over my words, sometimes things sound lispy and my tongue often feels too big for my mouth. Every now and then my sinuses are just so painful, seemingly for no reason at all. And have you ever seen me take a clean bite of a salami sandwich? Nope, because that's never happened. I need to sleep with my mouth open because otherwise I feel like I'll choke. It will all sound trivial to other people but until you live it, you don't know how frustrating it is. 

So when I watched Corinne's video, I bawled. I paused the video and just sat there and cried. I cried with relief and joy, and I cried for the sad realization that I have been living with this stupid jaw for years when I could have fixed this by now. 

I'm heading in the right direction though. Despite all the scary "3 days after surgery" photos I've seen, I'm 100% committed to doing this. Dr. Kirk says I'll literally breath better too :)

Timing and TMI

In 2011 shortly after Dustin and I were married, we decided to get a puppy. Well that's not quite right. Our friend's parents had a dog expecting puppies, and we were asked if we'd be interested in taking one of them. We already had our lab/wolfhound Duke, and thought because we were away from home so much that it might be good to have a second dog at home. Plus puppies are so gosh darn cute. This one would be a border collie and lab mix.

Duke, aka Dukenstein, aka Dukedy-doo

Luna, aka Lunatic, aka Looneytunes

We brought Luna home in December of 2011. When I told my mom we'd picked Luna up, she said to me, "You're a newlywed with a puppy. You'll be pregnant soon." I laughed, asking her what kind of old wive's tale that was. And who had time for a baby? I had a puppy! And a part time job on top of my full time position. What was she thinking?

Well, I got pregnant that month.

Funny how that works, huh? So busy I forgot to refill my prescription for birth control.

Our daughter Caitlin is something else. She came as a welcome surprise. How did we get through that first year of marriage? Puppy, pregnancy, newborn - it was pretty busy.

This time we're trying to get pregnant, like on purpose. I figured it would be so easy, seeing as all I had to do was stop taking the pill by accident like last time. Yeah, well it's a little more complicated than that. We used the "let's see what happens" approach for a few months. When nothing happened, I started charting my temperature. That didn't work well for various reasons. I used an ovulation calculator and plugged in all my LMP dates for the last 5 months to figure out when I should be ovulating.

In mid November, I found out I was pregnant. At the end of January I miscarried. Just one of those things, I guess.

As shocking as that was, I wanted to start trying again as soon as possible.

So, this part may be TMI. My cycle is pretty long (35 days on average) and after a few months of trying to count on a calendar, temping and all that....I realized that I had figured out when I was ovulating specifically because of my mucous production. A woman's body will produce cervical mucous when she's ovulating to help sperm along their way to the egg, basically. It's like a friendly welcoming way to invite them in. (Like a slip 'n slide! hah!) I could finally spot and recognize the appropriate signs.

Anyway, life can sometimes get in the way of baby making. In theory it's easy. Just have sex. Right? Well, there can be a lot of pressure after a few months. I may spend every day thinking about the calendar, counting down the days and peeing on ovulation predictor strips and watching my underwear for signs of changing mucous (ugh, sorry). But Dustin isn't. He's got his own stress with work and trying to fix our cars and keeping up with other things that need attention, not to mention that we have a kid too. I hurt my back and didn't feel up to things for a while. After the miscarriage I battled with iron deficiency, which I'm still trying to fix. Did you know severe iron deficiency can cause a bunch of fucked up shit to happen? Like, I wanted to chew on my toothbrush all the time. I chewed my tongue constantly. I was so, so tired all the time (that's pretty normal) but also I was annoyed with everything and everyone. There was not one thing that didn't seem irritating to me.

Anyway, things are better. Maybe it's the nicer weather? Maybe it's the iron pills? Either way I'm more focused this month. Hopefully...hopefully I'll get pregnant. And with planning to get braces and have jaw surgery in the future...I hope the timing is right and everything will work out.

Embracing the Brace

A few months ago, my colleague found a Groupon for Invisalign treatments at a clinic in Ottawa. It seemed like a good deal and I thought it was great that she was taking steps to improving her smile. She'd bring it up every now and then, and I'd find myself thinking of that time when I was about 10 or 11 and was told I needed braces. I don't remember how I felt about the whole thing. I can definitely remember the pain though. That tight throbbing hot pain all around your teeth and through your jaw (I only had upper braces). The first day or two after an adjustment was always hard. Yeah, I remember that well enough.

Like so many kids with similar jaw growth issues, I heard "oops, you're actually too young for these right now. Try again later!". My orthodontist recommended I come back when I was 16 to have braces and lower jaw surgery. My mother was appalled. Two grand down the drain and I was supposed to go back so they could snap my jaw in two? Not happening, she said. I was just glad I didn't have braces on anymore. My teeth looked alright for a while, but without a retainer they began to move and crowd back in around one another.

Somewhere in that process, probably right before they put the braces on me, they removed both of my upper first bicuspids (the first tooth after your canines). Both my canines were trying to grow in over top and my mouth was a mess. Anyway, those adult teeth are permanently gone. At 16, my wisdom teeth started erupting in my lower jaw. To prevent further crowding up top, the oral surgeon went ahead and look out all four wisdom teeth. My recovery was pretty good from what I can recall. Never did have that jaw surgery though. Financially is was not in the cards.

Since then not much has changed except I guess my lower jaw grew longer than expected. My upper jaw apparently decided it didn't need to keep growing, so I'm left with an underbite. You might be able to tell from the photos in my first post that my lower teeth angle in towards my mouth to try to "meet" my upper teeth (that's how my orthodontist put it!). My hygienist has always been on my case to make sure I get my toothbrush in there properly because of the awkward angle. Anyhow, another thing to note is that I also have a crossbite. You might be able to see it in my front facing picture, the way my jaw is set to my right ever so slightly.

Now, when my colleague would bring up her Invisalign thing, I'd think briefly about the time I had braces so long ago. I hadn't given those thoughts too much of my attention until I saw a post on Facebook. Dr. Danae Kirk posted an announcement on one of the Mom pages I follow, saying that she was opening a new practice in town. Suddenly something about this felt right! It had to be a sign (or maybe the last little nudge I needed?). I e-mailed the clinic and referred myself without hesitation. They called me the next day and I had an appointment for the end of the week for my initial consultation.

And here I am now. Blogging about it. Yippee :)

Preface and Pre-Face.

My name is Isabella. Okay, that's a good start, right?

I live in Canada in a town that just broke the 10,000 mark on our population counter. I guess that technically makes us a city now. That's what my husband Dustin says. We have an old house, a little girl and two crazy dogs.

I decided just yesterday that I should start this blog. I have a journal and I love to keep it up to date, but have been falling behind in the last few years and don't write regularly like I used to (I've literally had the same book for 5 years and I used to go through 2 or 3 per per year!). I'm also on Facebook but I don't share too many personal details there. It occurred to me yesterday that I'd like to write down everything that's been happening and what I think about it all, somewhere where I can easily get it down. Physically writing can be exhausting. I love it, but it takes time.

I've also been peeking at a few "double jaw surgery" blogs in the last two weeks. Blogging is a great platform for sharing that experience. I've seen before and after photos, video updates and a ton of FAQ sections. Some blogs are super fancy while others are simple, probably like this one's going to be. What they all have in common is an author who wants to share their experience. Quite a few have stated that they'd like to write with the hope of inspiring someone else to make the same decision, or to support those who've committed to this and need some motivation to stick to it.

Pretty dramatic amirite? ;)

There's another piece to my blog though. I want to get pregnant. Dust and I have been trying since July 2015. We had a pregnancy loss in January of this year. It was tough. Now we're back to trying again and I've decided to add to that major orthodontic work. Well it's major to me, anyway.

I've asked around for advice, both people I know and semi-anonymously online. My family and a few friends know what I want to do but I haven't publicly announced it on social media. It's not something you really announce like you would for something that's already happened. "Hey everyone! Guess what? We've been tracking my ovulation cycles with temping and OPKs! Can't go out tonight, gotta make a baby! Also, I'm getting braces and major surgery, yay!"

By the sounds of it, this will not be a walk in the park. Either I'm going to be pregnant soon (fingers crossed!) with new braces on (oy, the pain!), or just braces for a little while, with pregnancy later. If I have a lot of morning sickness in my first trimester, it's going to be tough if I'm also in pain with the braces on my teeth. New braces can also trigger your gag reflex. Sounds awesome, right? Sign me up!

I hope one day I can look back at these early posts and pat myself on the back for making the right decision.

I'll finish my post with a few "before" photos. Maybe my head full of frizz will help my after pictures look that much better. Here's hoping :)

Did I mention I had braces when I was 11? My upper teeth are crowded and crooked, but it could be worse. Did I also mention my dentist removed two teeth to ease the crowding? Yeah, I only have 12 teeth up there. I hope that won't be a problem...

Excuse the poor lighting. I took this one at work to show off my underbite more clearly.

Hello frizz! Here's my smile profile. Funny how the angle/length of my nose is the exact same as my mouth and chin when I smile. I wonder how that will change.

Resting bitch face. Sorry random strangers. I'm not mad, really.

Forward facing smile. Did I mention I also have a cross bite? More details on that in another post.

More resting bitch face in that one. In all seriousness, I don't exactly hate the way I look anymore. I'm used to it. It would be nice to have a face that doesn't look so grumpy all the time though!