Restless

I had a hard time sleeping this morning. I can't say last night as I was up doing more research on this surgery and was practicing with Uprooted until 11 p.m. However, this didn't keep me from falling asleep.

The problem once I fell asleep was that I kept having dreams where I had already gotten my braces! I'd get so excited that I kept waking up! And, each time, I had to tell myself, "Dude, calm down. It's coming. Today is just an appointment for x-rays. The final consultation appointment is coming up on Thursday, be excited for that!"

I'll update this post with what happens in about an hour when I get home. I'm going to a dental x-ray clinic that's down the street from Dr. Graham's office and in the same parking lot as the local branch of my bank. I'm not entirely sure of what type of x-rays I'll be getting, but I'm pretty sure I'll be having a panorex (panoramic view) of my jaw done, as well as P.A. (periapical) x-rays so Dr. Graham can see the entire root structure of each tooth and what he'll have to deal with as far as me being a patient. Personally, I hope it's a full-mouth series of P.A. x-rays as this is going to cost me $140 out of my own pocket!

More to come when I return.

Okay, back and getting ready for school. Tonight's the first night of Intermediate Spanish.

Not only was this a full-mouth series like I thought, it was more. After I checked in, the technician brought me in to the room. I put my stuff that I had with me on a counter, then was sat in a chair.

The first thing that I did was I had my picture taken for a profile shot, then a head shot. I was then given plastic devices to hold my lips away from my teeth so that my bite could be photographed up close. He also took photos of my occlusal surfaces, which I could have done without. I wasn't too keen with having a 3" x 5" mirror placed in my mouth, but I dealt with it. After the photos were taken, I was taken to the other side of the 10' x 15' room. There, I had my panorex x-ray taken.

What this x-ray does is give a panoramic view of all of the teeth and the jaws and any work that's currently in place. While useful, this x-ray is not the most reliable as the image is distorted since the machines travels all the way around the head 270 degrees. I was used to dealing with this x-ray from my days in the Navy. Fortunately, everything at this lab is done digitally so I didn't have to wait 5-10 minutes for the film to be developed.

The next x-ray I had taken was a full profile of my head, or lateral cephalometric x-ray. The only thing I didn't like about this was the calipers placed in my ears to hold my head steady while the machine was working. If you've seen the film "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan," you'll know what I'm talking about. This is only a minor complaint as I got to see this picture just after it was taken.

I've seen this same x-ray in web searches for underbite surgery for what's labeled "extreme underbite," and most of the ones I've seen are not as severe as mine. Most patients that I've seen this x-ray of have their 2nd mandibular molars overlapping about halfway with their 1st maxillary molars. I don't have this problem - my 2nd mandibular molars meet up directly with my 1st maxillary molars. My maxillary teeth could not even be seen on the scan as they're too far below the mandibular teeth. In comparison with some of the pictures that I've seen, I have to wonder if my underbite really has gotten worse with age. Hopefully, I'll find out soon.

After the cephalometric analysis was completed, I then had 2 occlusal x-rays taken. These take picutres of the actual biting surfaces of the teeth and show how the roots and other teeth match up. One is taken from the top and one from the bottom. After these shots, I then had a full P.A. series taken - all 14 of them. Fortunately, only one of them had to be retaken. I could feel the thing moving right when the technician walked away from me to take the picture.

My next appointment is coming on Thursday. This will be my final orthodontic consultation, then it's full speed ahead once I've paid 10% of the total cost for the orthodontic treatment which looks like it will be 20 months total - well, at least the payments will be for that length of time. Tune back in on Thursday evening after shabu shabu dinner with one of the siblings.

Ever onward...