Photo An Hour

A link up with Stephanie at Southern Mess blog and Meg at Meg O. on the Go blog.

I have been so utterly excited for this link up since last week when Steph did her post. I was so excited I didn't even know what I was supposed to do!

Thank you, Steph, for clarifying.

So I totally should have done this last Saturday on Tyson's birthday because that would have been way more exciting. Oh well. You get yesterday. Wednesday. A good ole Wednesday. Let's begin!

Just sat down at my desk to catch up on my blogs and go over the daily computer stuff. (Reading Style Me Swanky here.) Which if you are wondering is:

Check my five different email accounts.

Facebook.

Blogger.

All bank accounts (company and mine).

eBay.

YouTube.

Instagram.

And lastly check on the four forum sites I frequent.

This leads me to my 10:30am picture...

Still sitting here... Riveting, I know. But now I am writing my own blog post and eating yogurt instead of drinking coffee.

At 11:30am I had just got out of the shower and finished my makeup. Here I am picking out which lipgloss to wear and watching some YouTube.

Come 12:30 I was waiting for the guys to finish testing the engine so we could go to lunch. This is an engine that my boyfriend Tyson completely designed and engineered on his own. There is not another engine like this in the world.

FINALLY! Lunch time and MEXICAN FOOD!

Just brushing my teeth and putting my Invisalign back in. After every meal I have to floss, brush my teeth, and clean my aligners. That means three times a day! You were bound to see one of them.

Come 3:30pm I was back at the ole desk. Doing paperwork, making phone calls, perusing Pinterest and watching PinkSoFoxy on YouTube.

Pulling in to Walmart here. Yay for buying household items!

Bustttteeeddd. I got the 20% off coupon for Ulta so I had to do a little makeup shopping. I finally got the Naked 2 palette! I bought the Lorac Pro last year when the Naked's were so popular and bought the Naked Basics last year but I just could not decide which big Naked palette to get. I thought I had my mind made up until the Naked 3 came out. GAME CHANGER. But alas, I decided it was too rose toned for me. Naked 2 it is!

At 6:30 I had literally just got to the gym and jumped on the treadmill. (Hence why I had only made it nine-tenths of a mile.)

Me after a little sweat-sesh. No shame in my gym bathroom selfie!

Dinner and post-workout meal. An apple with peanut butter, celery, some pretzels, and some apple cinnamon Fig Newtons.

Winding down and getting ready for bed here. I picked up these Peter Thomas Roth peel pads at Ulta earlier so I was pumped to try them.

So that was my day! Not all that exciting but pretty typical for a weekday.

If you like, head over and read other's Photo a Day posts. I really hope this turns in to a weekly or monthly link-up. I love seeing what people do each day.

Thanks for reading!

My Dental Implant Experience

I had two dental implants placed on July 23rd by Dr. Curry at Arkansas Periodontal and Implant Associates. This is my journal for the week following the surgery.

Tuesday, July 23
My appointment was at 10am. When I got there, Dr. Curry's nurse took me back to a room that looked like a normal dentist room. Not like a scary operating room or anything. There was an IV bag and some instruments laid out. She asked me if I wanted a blanket and a neck pillow as it was rather cold and the chair had no neck support. I said yes. Anything to make this procedure more comfortable, I'm in. She took my blood pressure and left the band on my arm. She also took my pulse with the finger thing, which she also left on. Dr. Curry came in and I joked with him about who got to put my IV in. I have deep veins but he did well. Very minimal pain putting in my IV which was the catheter type so I could still bend my arm. They taped down my IV and Dr. Curry began telling me funny stories. It was nice to have something else to think about than what was about to happen. He instructed his nurse to take two x-rays. After about 15 minutes, he began.

He started by numbing the left side of my mouth. After that, I don't remember much. I'm a light-weight when it comes to those "calming meds" so I basically fell asleep. He woke me a few times to ask me if I was doing okay, which I was. I also woke a few times to them talking about the procedure. I also woke when he was drilling in to my jaws. Overall, the procedure was very easy on my part. When she leaned the chair back up I saw that it was about 12:30pm. The procedure took about two hours. The nurse put my Invisalign back in, ensuring that it did not interfere with where the implants were placed. She then took two more x-rays. The nurse explained to me that they grafted bone in two places and also did a sinus lift. She retrieved Tyson from the waiting room and gave me a few instructions... don't blow your nose for 24 hours, change this gauze after it fills with blood, and go get something to eat like a milkshake so the IV medicine doesn't make you sick. As she was telling me these things I noticed a lady was being walked out a door near me and I said "What did you do to that woman?" (jokingly... as she needed help walking). He said "Way more than I did to you!" Oh. Well that's a relief. Someone has it worse than me? Can't be true!

Tyson and the nurse helped me out to the car and I gave Tyson a few directions to get on the highway and then I fell asleep. I woke when we got to Joplin, about an hour later. I was moderately uncomfortable when we got home. I took out my Invisalign, which was half-filled with blood. Very gross. I changed my gauze and left my Invisalign out for a few hours. I was hungry so I made some soup. I waited to eat it until it was luke-warm. A numb tongue and hot soup does not mix well. I also ate some ice cream. Afterwards, I rinsed with a salt-water mix and then with the oral rinse they prescribed me. I laid down in bed and rested for a little while with a cold-compress on my cheek. When I woke up I was in a little bit of pain, but not bad. Mostly just uncomfortable from the strange sensations in my mouth and the numbing wearing off. I took some of my medicine and went back to bed. When I woke I made myself dinner which was more soup and ice cream. As I was finishing dinner Dr. Curry called to check on me. I told him that my face was really starting to swell. He instructed me to take 600mg of ibuprofen between my pain pill doses. I did as he said and noticed it really helped with the sore feeling in my mouth. I rinsed with the salt water and then carefully brushed my teeth. I also rinsed with my mouthwash and put my Invisalign back in. Afterwards, I went down to the office to get online. After a little bit I got so sleepy I nearly fell asleep in my chair. I went upstairs and laid down. I was asleep for about two and a half hours. When I woke I noticed the swelling was still pretty considerate. I kept the cold compress on it and prepared for bed time. I fell asleep around midnight and woke around 2:30am. I was very uncomfortable. My mouth was sore, I felt pressure, and the swelling was very bothersome. I began to cry a little, which was not good. I took my pain pill and fell back to sleep about 30 minutes later. I slept from 3:00am until about 7:00am.

Wednesday when I woke up, I looked like a chipmunk packing nuts for the winter. My face was very swollen. I could feel it in my eye. Luckily, I had very minimal pain and discomfort and very little blood. Dr. Curry's nurse called right as I was about to get out of bed. She asked how I was doing and I told her about the swelling. She said it's different for everyone, but noted that if I didn't sleep upright, then it would be worse. I slept semi-upright so I did the best I could. I took out my Invisalign to clean my mouth and did not put it back in... my poor mouth needed a break. I packed up my goodies-- phone, iPad, ice pack and went down stairs to get out of bed. I set up camp in the living room recliner. I spent most of the day laying in the recliner with my ice pack. I ate soup and ice cream for lunch and snacked on pudding and jello throughout the day. I continued with the 600mg of ibuprofen every 5 or 6 hours to help with the minimal pain and swelling. I left my Invisalign out until afternoon. I brushed and rinsed and put it back in and went back to my spot in the recliner. For dinner I was sick of soup so I had Tyson get me KFC mashed potatoes and mac-n-cheese and pintos and cheese from Taco Bell. I was soooo full after eating all that food. Afterwards, I brushed my teeth and relaxed for a bit then went to bed.

Thursday when I woke up my face was still very swollen. I managed to take a shower and then most of the day I just sat in the recliner and watched TV. I retired my ice pack around noon that day. I had been using it religiously. I also took my Invisalign out for most of the day. I was very inactive and mostly just napped and relaxed. By afternoon, I felt some of my swelling had subsided. I did take another 600mg of ibuprofen so I'm sure that helped. I watched My Girl which I hadn't seen in years and it made me cry. Not sobbing just a few tears. This caused my sinuses to fill with snot. Lovely, right? I was completely full of snot so I very carefully and lightly blew my nose. My snot was mixed with a little bit of blood which I'm assuming is because of my sinus lift. I ate a late lunch of soup and ice cream and for dinner I had rainbow sherbert. My appetite was not quite what it had been the previous day. I didn't get to sleep until 1am.

Friday morning I woke around 8:00am feeling much more like my normal self. It was also the first night I had slept without waking up in the middle of the night. I got up and did some laundry and picked up the house a little. I didn't want to be too active too soon so I sat down for about an hour to rest. After I rested for a bit I took a shower and ventured out of the house for lunch. My face was still swollen but I sucked it up and put on a hat. We went to my favorite Mexican restaurant and I ate guacamole with a fork and ordered rice and refried beans. It was delicious! Much better than my Campbell's soup diet. After lunch I sat down at my desk to do some filing and noticed I had a runny nose. I blew my nose and had more blood mixed in with my snot. I tried calling Dr. Curry but their office was closed and he didn't answer his cell phone. I'm sure it is not a big deal but I just want to ask him. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. I didn't take any of my pain medicine or Advil at all that day.

Saturday morning I woke up after a terrible nights rest but I was on a mission! I got so much stuff done that day! I don't know how people go to work the day after dental implant surgery. Saturday was the first day I had felt well enough to function. I had no pain at all and swelling had gone down more since Friday. I did feel a little tight in my neck. I'm not sure if it was from poor sleeping positions (I'm still not sleeping on my left side) or that my lymph glands are swollen. My surgical site still felt different... hard to explain but definitely not "back to normal". I have also not chewed anything on that side of my mouth yet. Saturday for lunch I ate pasta and soup and for dinner I ate blueberries and yogurt. I took two Advil before bed to combat any residual swelling.

Sunday I woke up feeling great! I felt about 99% back to normal. Went about my day as I normally would and finished up my rounds of antibiotics. By Monday I was back to my normal routine.

Here are some photos showing my swelling.

My tips for an easy recovery...
- Relax and rest. Don't do house work or anything that raises your heart rate for at least three days.
- Get a pill box to store your medicine. I had to take four pills a day for my antibiotic. This box helped remind me to take the pill and how many more I had to take that day.

I had my stitches removed exactly two weeks later.

This is the upper implant.

Lower implant. Hard to see it because the gum tissue is growing over.

Today I am feeling great. I have had zero issues with the implants. Absolutely no pain, irritation, bleeding, or any issues for that matter. Sometimes I even forget about them! My next appointment is on November 14. He will be taking x-rays to make sure they are fused to the bone properly. I can't wait to see those x-rays and move forward with the crowns!

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks for reading.

How to Keep Invisalign Clean

Here are some tips and tricks for keeping your Invisalign clean. I have learned a lot over the passed four months and want to share. I hope this helps you and good luck with your treatment!

1. Don't eat any food while your aligners are in.

2. If you drink anything other than water, rinse with water directly afterwards.

3. When you remove your aligners, put them in a dish with warm water and denture cleanser. Leave them to soak until you are ready to put them back in.
I use the plastic cup that my nurse gave me for my Invisalign when I had my septoplasty.

I use this denture cleanser from Target. It is $2.89 for 108 tablets.

4. Avoid letting your aligners dry out. When the aligners dry out it is harder to remove the plaque.

5. Get an end-tuft toothbrush to clean the nooks and crannies in your aligners. I use this one from Gum.

6. Use a wet toothbrush to clean the aligners when you remove them before eating. Don't use toothpaste as it can scratch the aligners.

I hope my tips help you keep your aligners clean! I am currently on #20 out of 53 aligners.
Here is my progress so far. I'm changing my aligners every week.

Please keep in mind. I am not an orthodontist or a dentist. I am simply writing about what works for me. Consult with your ortho/dentist before you use these techniques.

Invisalign Survival Kit

Invisalign. I have it. This is what they say...

More like clearly the most annoying thing that I have ever experienced.

Yeah... no one will know except for all the random people in the bathroom at Longhorn Steakhouse staring at you brushing your teeth.

If you don't have Invisalign, you might not know that you are not supposed to put your aligners back in until after you have thoroughly flossed and brushed your teeth.

Going to dinner with the hubby?

Brush your teeth at the restaurant.

Grabbing some quick fast-food on a busy day?

Nope, gotta have a bathroom close by.

Going to a cocktail party?

Stuff your face with hour'derves for 15 minutes then hit the restroom.

It sucks but if that is what it takes to have a perfect smile, I'm in! I put together a little survival kit to help get me through my lifetime year or two of Invisalign.

What You Will Need:

A cute little pouch.

Mine is Clinique from a Bonus sale a few years ago. I like it because it is semi water proof and washable.

 Here is a cute one from Target.

A Travel Toothbrush

Mine is from Colgate.

Travel Size Mouthwash

I use Crest.

Travel Size Toothpaste

I use Aquafresh.

Glide Floss Picks

I put mine in a small zip-lock baggy.

A little container with orthodontic wax.

Sometimes my aligners dig in to my tongue so I just put a little wax on them.

I keep this little pouch of goodies inside my purse at all times along with my Invisalign aligner box.

This has been my Invisalign life-line. I whip it out after every meal and proudly brush my teeth.

I hope this helps! Good luck on your Invisalign Journey!

Read mine here.

My Invisalign Experience- The Beginning

Hi all!

I have had my Invisalign since February 28th. Hooray for me!

I can't wait to have straight teeth. I have been wanting this for so long! With that being said, apparently Invisalign is not the only thing I need to straighten my teeth... let's start at the beginning.

Going back as far as I can remember I have had really bad teeth issues. When I was four years old I had to have nine caps put on my baby teeth. I was terrified and would not hold still for the dentist. I was running away from him and there were three dentists chasing me around. They finally got me to sit down after luring me with soda. They had to knock me out with laughing gas and some other stuff. It was the most terrible experience of my childhood.

Then when I was six years old I was playing tag during recess and I tripped and fell on the concrete. I chipped the corner off my front tooth. I was crying my eyes out and just wanted my mom to come pick me up, but they could not get a hold of her. I had to stay at the school for three hours until she came to pick me up when school let out. I did not have my tooth fixed until I was 20 years old. That's how scared I was of the dentist.

2005

Then my perpetual cavity problem began when I was ten years old. I would get cavities so fast that the tooth would either need to be pulled, or have a root canal. I guess my pain tolerance was high enough that I didn't notice I had a cavity until it was too late. (Now I know why this was happening.) I got a root canal and it only lasted me one year and it cost me over $1,500. I have had six molars pulled (not including my wisdom teeth) from the ages 10-22. Unfortunately, my dentist never told me the damage that was being done to my face and bone structure.

When I met Tyson and began to spend more time in Joplin, I started going to his family dentist. Last May we discovered that I had, yet another, deep cavity. The dentist explained to me that if I had any more molars pulled, I would need extensive oral surgery including implants, bone grafts, and more. I got a root canal to save the tooth. Goodbye $1,860 dollars!

It was last summer when I started researching Invisalign. I was searching online for success stories and cost. I found a "Premier Preferred Provider" in Joplin and made an appointment for a consultation. When I sat down with him I told him I had one request: to not pull my wisdom teeth. They are the teeth I use for chewing so I can not afford to have them pulled. They are good teeth and there is no reason to pull them because I will just continue to lose more bone structure. He disagreed with me. He said that he would need to pull my wisdom teeth for the treatment to work. I listened to his suggestions but was not confident that he was the right person to do this job. The price they gave me for treatment was $4,799.00. I also should add that he is not an orthodontist. He is a general dentist that went to the training to be and Invisalign provider.

After leaving his office, I was convinced that Invisalign would not work for me, but I kept looking for a fix. I found an orthodontist in Fayetteville, Arkansas that was an "Elite Preferred Provider" and that specialized in six different types of braces, Invisalign being one of them. I stalked his website for a few months reading about all of his patients testimonials and their experience with his practice. He is well respected all over the country, has written a book, and is in the top 22 Invisalign providers in North America. By December, I decided I needed to schedule a consultation.

Lucky for me, Tyson supports my quest for a beautiful smile, so for Christmas he gave me a suitcase full of money as a down-payment for my braces. I was so excited and could not wait to make my appointment!

Tyson and I met with Dr. Richard Roblee on January 14. This was the day that I learned about all of my oral and facial problems. They did a 3D scan of my head, took photos of me at all angles, and took numerous x-rays. Dr. Roblee explained to me that one of the reasons for my oral/facial issues was that I have a deviated septum.

I have had a crooked nose my whole life and I have never been able to breath well out of my nose. My left nostril is about 80% blocked and most days I can only breath out of one nostril.

This is where things got interesting... Dr. Roblee explained to me that sleeping through my mouth my whole life has caused a lot of problems. Humans are not supposed to sleep with their mouths open. Humans are supposed to breath through their nose while asleep. Teeth are supposed to stay moist throughout the night. My teeth have been dried out every night for 25 years. This was the reason my cavities came and destroyed my teeth so quickly. It had nothing to do with my brushing and flossing routine. (Which was really good, I might add.)

He also explained that without the pressure of my tongue on the roof of my mouth every night caused my bite to be very narrow and my teeth to slightly lean in. It also explains why my tongue is so massive! The same issue has also caused my upper teeth to "fall" slightly. I have a "gummy smile" (see pic above) because those teeth have not had the constant pressure from my lower teeth holding them in place all night. Thanks gravity!

my narrow, V-shaped teeth

The fact that my upper teeth are not high enough in my maxilla also plays a roll with my chin, jawline, and profile. My mandible cannot rotate far enough up for my mouth to close properly. This causes my profile to appear "off" and my chin is tense because it is actually pushing my lower lip up to meet my upper lip, something those muscles should not have to do.

Anyone confused yet?

Yeah... I was, too.

Dr. Roblee suggested I see a periodontist and an ear/nose/throat doctor. I met with Dr. Curry, a periodontist that Dr. Roblee works closely with on February 28th. Dr. Curry told me that I would need to have bone grafted in to my lower right jaw, get three implants, and have a procedure done called "corticotomies" that will move my upper teeth farther in to the bone. It's a really disgusting procedure where they cut back your gums to get access to the bone and then they score the bone between the teeth. This damages the bone simulating a break and then they use the next three months of healing time to move the teeth very quickly. They install small hooks on the inside and outside of my gums and I would have to attach a little tiny spring that would pull the teeth up with constant pressure. Yuck. Makes me wanna yack, especially when he told me that I would not be under general anesthesia. He said he needs me to be "kind of awake" in order to know that I am not drowning from all the water he uses during the surgery. This surgery would enable my mandible to rotate farther up and therefore my chin muscles would relax and my profile would be better. It would also reduce my gummy smile.

Here is a before and after picture of Bristol Palin when she had a similar surgery.

I met with an ear/nose/throat doctor on March 14. She told me my nose was pretty effed up. Haha! I don't know a lot about noses so bear with me... she said my septum was bent kind of in the shape of a "V" and that is what is blocking my left airway. She also said my nostrils aren't symmetrical because of some thing I can't remember but she said she can fix it. She scheduled me for surgery next month and I am freaking out. I still have a few things to get in place before I commit to the surgery, though. The surgery only takes about 30 minutes but I will have to be under general anesthesia which I have never had. Apparently it takes about a week to recover and they suggest you should really do as little as possible. Week two is when you can return to your regular schedule but it takes around six months for the full affect to be noticed. She also said she would put two splints in my nose to keep the correct shape for healing. I watched a YouTube video of someone having their splint removed and it is freaking nasty.

my effed up nose

So now that I have learned how entirely messed up my face is, I want it fixed. I find it very interesting that these issues are health related and affect my quality of life. A lot of people have told me "Oh don't worry about it, you are your own biggest critic." Yes, this may be true, but I want to fix the root of the problem, not disguise it with Botox.

This whole process is probably going to take around two years. Right now I am changing my aligners every week and I have 53 aligners. That's one whole year if Dr. Roblee doesn't increase or decrease me from changing them once a week (which could happen). Dr. Roblee is a perfectionist and he told me that after I finish these 53 aligners, he will scan my mouth again and order me a set of "refiners" which are more aligners that will basically make my smile perfect... just small changes that he will make after he sees how my teeth have moved.

I must add that this process will not be cheap. My treatment (only the Invisalign) costs almost $7,500 dollars. That does not include the possible oral surgery, implants, or my septoplasty.

It's going to be a long road and I am very excited and nervous! I just hope everything works/heals/moves the right way and there are no scary surprises along the way!

Thanks for reading!

Want to read more about my Invisalign treatment? Click the links below!

Invisalign Survival Kit

How to Keep Invisalign Clean

My Dental Implant Experience

Invisalign Update: October 22, 2013

Invisalign update: One Year Appointment