I'm Carter, and I currently have a very awesome expander (which glows in the dark), and I will be getting braces in August - September 2013, after my expander gets removed. As soon as I get those, I will tell you how to deal with them, but for now, I'll just talk about my expander and the spacers that preceded it.
Starting out with full day 1. This is very different from Day 1/2, when you get the expander, which is why there will be no information about that day.
Today was my first full day with an expander. Yesterday, I had a huge meltdown about the fact that I got a piece of naan bread stuck in the expander. It was kinda unnerving knowing I had food trapped between the unyielding roof of my mouth (which does, however, yield to my expander) and the even more unyielding metal object! Annoyingly, there is very little information about expanders out there, so all this is an adventure!
When you first get an expander, your mouth will be convinced it is food. That's how it's been since I got my expander. I'll leave it at that and let your imagination do the rest.
Also, there was less food stuck in my expander today, aside from a few grains of rice, some chocolate, and a black bean, but all that was much smaller than yesterday's not-so-minor annoyances and came out fairly quickly and easily.
I also got my first real expansion today. It doesn't hurt too much, which leads me to think that the people who say it hurts are either in the later portion of the expanding or just very sensitive to pain (or potentially confused). So yeah.
In terms of food, you will get something stuck in there the first day. You can't avoid it, but don't melt down. Just get a straw and some water, put the straw in the small gap at the front of the expander, and slurp to your heart's content!
Now, onto my temporary lisp. The expander does that. It will get better. Trust me. My lisp has gotten better since yesterday. It's still there, and still very obvious, but it's getting better with every word I say.
Tomorrow will be even more interesting. Not sure what happens then, but it'll be fun!
Talk to y'all later!
Yours truly,
Carter
Starting out with full day 1. This is very different from Day 1/2, when you get the expander, which is why there will be no information about that day.
Today was my first full day with an expander. Yesterday, I had a huge meltdown about the fact that I got a piece of naan bread stuck in the expander. It was kinda unnerving knowing I had food trapped between the unyielding roof of my mouth (which does, however, yield to my expander) and the even more unyielding metal object! Annoyingly, there is very little information about expanders out there, so all this is an adventure!
When you first get an expander, your mouth will be convinced it is food. That's how it's been since I got my expander. I'll leave it at that and let your imagination do the rest.
Also, there was less food stuck in my expander today, aside from a few grains of rice, some chocolate, and a black bean, but all that was much smaller than yesterday's not-so-minor annoyances and came out fairly quickly and easily.
I also got my first real expansion today. It doesn't hurt too much, which leads me to think that the people who say it hurts are either in the later portion of the expanding or just very sensitive to pain (or potentially confused). So yeah.
In terms of food, you will get something stuck in there the first day. You can't avoid it, but don't melt down. Just get a straw and some water, put the straw in the small gap at the front of the expander, and slurp to your heart's content!
Now, onto my temporary lisp. The expander does that. It will get better. Trust me. My lisp has gotten better since yesterday. It's still there, and still very obvious, but it's getting better with every word I say.
Tomorrow will be even more interesting. Not sure what happens then, but it'll be fun!
Talk to y'all later!
Yours truly,
Carter
