The Dreaded RPE Appliance! :(
Me in my new mouth jewerly! NOT....This is my new RPE (torture device)appliance:
Had my ortho appt this morning and the RPE torture device was placed. At first I thought it wasn't going to be so bad, but as my day wears on I'm really starting to dislike this device. The appliance itself sits about 1/2 an inch from the roof of my mouth. If you have a serious gag reflex I could see how it might really be annoying, but since I don't really have too much of one, that part is not too bad. My mouth is watering like crazy, so it is next to impossible to talk for more than a couple of seconds without having to suck all my spit up. I have noticed that it seems to interfer with the normal tongue thrust that goes along with drinking and swallowing also. It is not something I totally can't bear, and at this point it is not painful at all, just more annoying than anything else. It is definitely going to take some getting use to. Drinking my morning coffee was quite a challenge today. Liquids now go up over the top of the appliance between the roof of my mouth, and since my tongue is not thrusting normally, the fluid is hard to control. I ended up choking on it twice while only drinking a small amount. I tried a straw but that didn't seem to make much difference either. Talking is quite a challenge too, I have noticed that if I don't try and fight against the appliance as much, that the words come out a bit easier to understand. Talking, without drooling is going to take a bit of practice.
Eating is a totally different ball of wax, very very unpleasant and hard! My tongue is getting very sore from rubbing against the appliance, and from having to constantly keep myself from drooling everywhere. I"m hoping that eventually I will develop some type of technique that works but so far I have not found anything remarkable yet. At this moment I'm wondering how I will ever survive at work with this appliance. Eating was not pretty tonight and requires a lot of sucking noises that would not be appropriate in mixed company. Hopefully my mouth will figure out soon that this piece of metal is not food, and the water works will decrease.
OMG! I almost forgot! I asked my ortho how much expansion we were going for this morning. He says they are going for an 8mm expansion! I was like 8MM???? I originally thought maybe 6, but certainly not 8mm! I'm going to have a freakin garage between my teeth!
I talked with my ortho this morning regarding my sleep appliance, as it is really not working for me. Since he made the modifications on it the other day it keeps popping off my teeth, and it is really uncomfortable with the pressure it is applying to my upper teeth and arch to hold it in place. He replaced 2 of my lower molar brackets with hooks, and put two hooks on my eye teeth. He then used class 3 (really strong) rubber bands to pull my jaw forward. It feels like it is going to work so I will post tomorrow after I try sleeping with them tonight.
Brandy
Had my ortho appt this morning and the RPE torture device was placed. At first I thought it wasn't going to be so bad, but as my day wears on I'm really starting to dislike this device. The appliance itself sits about 1/2 an inch from the roof of my mouth. If you have a serious gag reflex I could see how it might really be annoying, but since I don't really have too much of one, that part is not too bad. My mouth is watering like crazy, so it is next to impossible to talk for more than a couple of seconds without having to suck all my spit up. I have noticed that it seems to interfer with the normal tongue thrust that goes along with drinking and swallowing also. It is not something I totally can't bear, and at this point it is not painful at all, just more annoying than anything else. It is definitely going to take some getting use to. Drinking my morning coffee was quite a challenge today. Liquids now go up over the top of the appliance between the roof of my mouth, and since my tongue is not thrusting normally, the fluid is hard to control. I ended up choking on it twice while only drinking a small amount. I tried a straw but that didn't seem to make much difference either. Talking is quite a challenge too, I have noticed that if I don't try and fight against the appliance as much, that the words come out a bit easier to understand. Talking, without drooling is going to take a bit of practice.
Eating is a totally different ball of wax, very very unpleasant and hard! My tongue is getting very sore from rubbing against the appliance, and from having to constantly keep myself from drooling everywhere. I"m hoping that eventually I will develop some type of technique that works but so far I have not found anything remarkable yet. At this moment I'm wondering how I will ever survive at work with this appliance. Eating was not pretty tonight and requires a lot of sucking noises that would not be appropriate in mixed company. Hopefully my mouth will figure out soon that this piece of metal is not food, and the water works will decrease.
OMG! I almost forgot! I asked my ortho how much expansion we were going for this morning. He says they are going for an 8mm expansion! I was like 8MM???? I originally thought maybe 6, but certainly not 8mm! I'm going to have a freakin garage between my teeth!
I talked with my ortho this morning regarding my sleep appliance, as it is really not working for me. Since he made the modifications on it the other day it keeps popping off my teeth, and it is really uncomfortable with the pressure it is applying to my upper teeth and arch to hold it in place. He replaced 2 of my lower molar brackets with hooks, and put two hooks on my eye teeth. He then used class 3 (really strong) rubber bands to pull my jaw forward. It feels like it is going to work so I will post tomorrow after I try sleeping with them tonight.
Brandy
posted by Brandyleigh35 @ 9:29 AM
3 Comments:
At 4:19 PM,
Graham said…
Congrats on day one with this beast! Or maybe not congrats but "i feel your pain" is more like it, not that it's really painful in the usual sense but you know what I mean. :o) ...My OD said I'll need 24-30 turns, which means a 6-8mm gap for me roughly.
At 5:21 PM,
Brandyleigh35 said…
I was surprised they wanted 8mm for me! That sorta surprised me. I mean I knew my mouth was small but not that small! I too am salivating buckets, and that is probably the most annoying thing at this point. I hate having to suck the spit out of my mouth every 30 seconds! My son say this will subside in a couple days when my mouth realized that the appliance is not a piece of food. He had a very similar appliance for almost 4 months. I hope he is right!
Brandy
At 7:17 AM,
Leah said…
Hi Brandy,
I have been reading your blog for sometime In preparation for my appliance being place and then the SARPE.
Well the appliance was placed yesterday and everything that you said here was true for me too!
My tounge is SO sore :(
I am anticpating the day that I "get used to" this thing - I hope it is sooner rather than later!
~Leah
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