Day 167 - 5.5 months - Expander Free!!

Hi All,

I had an appointment with my OD last week and was THRILLED when he took out my expander. My upper arch is now at 33mm from 30. It was a pain, but worth it. Not only has my arch expanded, but my teeth seem to fit together better. My front teeth have dropped a bit and my bite is more closed. Prior to the expander, I was a bit disappointed in my alignment, but it's one of those things you don't say out loud, considering all the blood, sweat and tears I've put in along this journey. 

I have to admit I am getting excited about getting these things off!!! I have no time estimates, since it seems every little nuance takes a month to complete, but I can feel it getting closer. My next appointment is in 3 weeks, so who knows what the next project will be. (Right now we are working on closing the gap between tooth 10 and 11)

State of My Face

Numbness: 

My exterior upper gums are 90% numb, there are a few random spots of feeling. The only area of my interior gums that is numb is right behind my front teeth. My bottom gums seem normal. 

I still have some numbness on my upper lip along the incision site, where my lip meets my gum line. It feels like there is a roll of cotton stuck under my lip. But it's something I don't think about during the day, only when someone asks. And it doesn't affect my speech or eating and my actual lips are 100% normal. 

Also, if I run my finger along my chin I still get tingles... It is probably 95% back to normal. 

Pain:

I had very bad TMJ pain in my left joint when I first got the expander in. But that went away after a week. That is the same side that plagued me after surgery. It wasn't constant, but my jaw would sometimes spasm on that side... as if I was absentmindedly opening my mouth and my jaw reflex yanked it back into position. One sharp pain and that's it. I feel a pain in my ear/TMJ sometimes during sneezing. 

Swelling:

It seems my swelling is completely gone. 

Range of motion:

I can open to 3 fingers. 

My tongue can now move freely. I can touch my upper and lower molars with the tip of my tongue. (I wasn't able to do this for a long time. My tongue muscles would cramp up if I tried to move it too crazily!)

I can move my lower jaw from side to side about a half an upper tooth length and can probably move my jaw forward a little more than that. 

I'm sharing not only bc c'mon, how cute is this little guy?!
But bc I am SO HAPPY with how my jawline looks here!

This is the newest little peanut in Jeff's family.
He's scrunched up in fetal position... look at his feet!!
Serious case of baby fever. I've decided my next blog is going
to be about trying to get pregnant at my advanced age;)
I'll be 37 on April 9th!