My apologies for not updating sooner- I've actually been quite busy.
BUT, it's finally out 😀
So, July 13th I went to have it removed but only had 2 screws removed. See a couple of posts back for that fun story.
July 30th, EXACTLY 1 year tot the day from it's install, I had it fully removed!
I went it, no anxiety because I knew what to expect, and I didn't drag someone to drive me home or anything. I knew it would be a breeze, and it was. I got the mega pain shots again, still the worst part but she went right in and we didn't even wait 5 minutes for those to kick in. She was on a mission. The office even called and asked if I could come 20 minutes early. Cool, let's do this! It only took a few minutes for her to figure out the extension for her wrench tool thingy. (She had to order it just for me so that's why I had to wait for the front 2 screws to come out).
The tool she used this time was a powered drill. Before she used a socket wrench type deal and hand cranked the screws in and out. This time it was BRRRRRRRR and what I thought to be pretty quick compared. So they just spun right out. I was in and out in no time, perhaps a half hour total.
After the first screw though, we had a 10 minute hold up. The first screw came out OK but it sort of cold welded itself to the tool. She had to have an assistant take care of that, so there was a brief moment of "Freakin really!?" But, no biggie. She got it off the tool and the 2nd came right out. I did feel the last few twists of it coming out which was weird but not overly painful.
And then I was done. Poof, it was all over. Feeling the roof of my mouth was weird, and it seems like there are some ridges/wrinkles there now, but still normal. I also have my old silly sneeze back- I didn't realize this for a couple of weeks, but when you sneeze your tongue goes right up to the roof of your mouth, or at least mine does. It was funny and caught me off guard the other day when I let out a big sneeze and realized it sounded stupid, then immediately realized that's how I had always sneezed lol. I don't miss water picking the food out of it, that's for sure. It was always pretty sensitive and I dreaded it.
Just started week 36 of Invisalign. That's going just fine. I'll update in late Sept after my next appointment. I have Trays though week 40, but then I get my mouth re-scanned to fine tune the trays after that. Then I should be all DONE by the end of the year!
Pics- screws are 11 mm long.
Sides were cut on in November when I had the SFOT done.
And you can see how I bent this thing by over expanding. It's broken and can't un-expand.
I got 11.8 mm from a 10 mm MSE - impressive 😛