Say Cheese!!!

My front teeth actually touch my bottom teeth for the first time over 15 years!!!

For those of you who don't know, I was hit by 2 cars when I was 8. Overall, I was relatively unharmed. A few cuts and scrapes but no broken bones or any other major injuries. The docotors x-rayed everything else, but not my jaw. Turns out that the impact flatted one of the joints in my jaw and may have caused a hairline fracture in my upper jaw. The fracture made it so that when the rest of my mouth grew, my upper jaw didn't grow as much. Over the years this caused my jaw to become crooked. The upper jaw was too small to fit in with the lower jaw so it adjusted itself to the side. My square joint turned into TMJ and began clicking and becoming painful. I have just delt with it over the years, but at the beginning of 2008 the pain became constant so I consulted a TMJ specialist.

Turns out I got the right guy, he is a one stop shop for EVERYTHING. He is also one of the few doctors willing to treat bites like mine without surgery. I began seeing him in February and he sent my impressions to an orthodontic lab to create an "appliance" for my upper bite. The "appliance" has two screws that I tightened twice a week to push out the bones in my upper jaw. It also had springs and a front bar that straightened out my crooked teeth at the same time. After wearing the first appliance day and night for 4 months they made a lower retainer to wear at night time too, so now I am the 30 yr old brace face :) I have had both upper and lower for another 3 months, and I thought they were doing a good job. My upper jaw had made a lot of improvement, but it was to the point where my molars in the back were touching, but nothing else was. It made it very difficult to chew even soft things.

On Monday I had a check-up and I recieved a new upper "appliance". This one was designed very similar to the first, but is working on different teeth and parts of the jaw. I have had this new retainer for 3 days and I can touch my front teeth together!!!! This is VERY exciting for me. I still have to turn the screws twice a week to move the teeth to where they are supposed to be, and I still have another 3 to 4 months, but we are in the final stretch. I can tell such a big difference in pictures. My chin is almost in-line with the rest of my face!!! I will end up with a retainer to wear at night for the rest of my life, but it will be well worth it.

As far as the rest of the Doctors one-stop shop, he also deals with stress issues and sleep disorders (he feels healing should deal with the body as a whole and not just specific issues), and at my last visit I walked out with not only a new retainer, but a referral to physical therapist for my back and a lead on a job in Scottsdale in case Matt and I relocate there in the future.

I knew this guy was going to be good when I first saw his degree hanging on the wall from the University of Wisconsin - Madison :)