5 Front Teeth

Hello There!
It's been about 7 months since the last I wrote and not too much has happened for me. Except for one big and exciting thing did happen, I got a set of 5  brand new shiny front teeth! I'm sure most of you know that classic Christmas song, "all I want for Christmas are my two front teeth", well it always makes me smile come the holiday season because I got to substitute it with "all I want for Christmas are my 5 front teeth". Well I can say now that my wish finally did come true!

I've gone through quite a journey with different teeth and appliances. Over time my retainers evolved from 1 tooth to 5 and the contractions that doctor's created were quite impressive. I got new teeth last year too, but that set wasn't quite as stable as my new set. I met with a new doctor, Dr. Bray, who was incredible with finding a solution and creating a functional and aesthetically pleasing appliance. It took I think 4 or 5 months to create this new set. It's made of two parts: 1) that is a metal bar that screws into my implants in my upper jaw; 2) the actual teeth that slide over the metal bar and lock into place. This structure allows for more support by having more surface area for the pressure of eating and speaking to spread to. Before, my teeth were only supported by 3 metal implants causing the pressure to go straight into the implants and into my jaw. This new way allows for the pressure to be spread out across the bar and more equally distributed and less direct pressure on my implants and bone, in the end creating a more lasting appliance. This structure also gives me more support for speaking. The teeth are securely locked in and allows me full range of speech.
After I had my wisdom teeth out I wasn't able to put my old set in so I had to use a prototype of the model I have now that wasn't quite as secure and one morning I woke up to have my teeth fall right out. I'd have to say that was a strange moment! (Not as strange as the moment when I drove off to school in high school to realize halfway down my street I had forgotten to put my teeth back in after brushing them...)

The evolution of my teeth 

(I'm missing a set or two but pretty close to all of them)

I began the process of this new set last fall and got to take new impressions of my teeth. For those who don't know what that's like, it's basically filling a metal or plastic tray fitted to go over your teeth with this not so great tasting gunk that over time hardens in your mouth to create a mold of your teeth. It's not a great experience, but one I've had to do many times. After the impressions a prototype was created, that was once we chose the color of my teeth and matched the color of my gum tissue. Following this, the metal bar had to be created, which took some time. At one point it was stuck in customs up in Canada. All this to say, a lot was put into creating this new set and pieces were created all over the place. In March I finally got to have the whole appliance put in and a brand new smile!

       XRAY of how the bar screws in to my jaw

Model of how it would fit into place

Up close and personal

It's a strange excitement when you're 19 and you get to celebrate being able to bite into foods again. I can't bite into everything, but I can at least bite into a Great Harvest sandwich or my other favorite, a Dorito's locos taco from Taco Bell. It's even more exciting when you get to speak and not worry about the retainer flipping out of your mouth or spraying people because of the build up of spit behind the retainer wall. Though I admit, sometimes I still do it and now I no longer have an excuse. So here I am now, with a set of teeth that work and look amazing! They are the closest thing to permanent that I will have as for teeth. Due to my lack of bone growth in my jaw I won't ever be able to support teeth on 5 individual implants, so for now and for as long as it will hold, these teeth will do!

Final Smile

 Dr. Bray and I

On my last post I wrote about the new connection I have with my birth mom. It took awhile to get a letter out to her, through a 3rd party, but I eventually did get a letter out! We have now received 2 letters from my birth mom and sister and are in an exciting journey to get to know more about her and her life. I'll share a couple little pieces of the letter she sent to me that made me smile. The first is this, "I see Thuong looks like me and become a pretty girl that totally contrary to her face at time after birth that her survival was just my faint hope." I think this little piece says a lot about my birth mom's courage and love for me. When she put me up for adoption her immediate wish for me was my survival, all the vanity of it came after. Her hope was my survival, simple as that. I can't imagine what goes through her mind when she gets to see pictures of me now who not only survived, against all she was staring down at after I was born, but was blessed with such amazing doctor's who did their best to make me look as beautiful as they could. 

The second is this, "This is the biggest happiness in my life, I expect Thuong [my birth name] study hard, become your  obedient and grateful daughter. I hope Thuong has love and compassion to sister and brothers in family." I think I love this part the most because it's a glimpse into the nature of my birth mom. Even though I'm no longer hers and she isn't raising me as her daughter, she still hopped onto the opportunity to give some motherly advice. This part makes me smile the most as I truly see the love of a mom extended from her to me. My birth mom only has her words to offer to me and from the two letters I've received from her I can already see how much she values this opportunity.

When a new letter comes,

I get a  picture of her handwritten and translated letter

My birth mom writing back

The first letter we sent over

(Her first update in almost 8 years)

That's all for now to catch you up! My journey is slowing way down, it's refreshing, but sometimes a little strange not to be looking at the next surgery around the corner. Thank you for taking the time for reading this and most of all thank you all for your continuous prayers.

-Katie 

p.s. if you didn't notice I finally got my own domain name for my blog, size2shoes.org, now that I'm approaching 4,000 views I thought it was about time! Thank you for all your support!