I Have a Pahwette Exthpander

Having conversations with people has become like a staring contest. I endure the hilarity of it as long as I can before telling them I have an appliance in my mouth. I can only imagine what's going on in their heads when I'm speaking. Not that I'm self conscious about it, I'm really not. They could think I'm drunk for all I care. I started chatting up the Artistic Director of the theatre today at lunch (who has no idea I'm having surgery or any of this done) and it really was sort of a joke's-on-him feeling I got.




Here's a picture of the device. For the rest of the world, see that slot just left of the two dots? That slot is where you put in the key which is basically a small wire comparable to a paper clip. By rotating that wire towards the back of the mouth (as indicated by the arrow) it spins a screw which pushes the two sides apart. Each "turn" of the key is actually about a quarter turn of the screw. At the prescribed 24 turns for my treatment and the desired 6mm expansion I figure it's a 1tpm screw (1 thread per millimeter. 24 "turns" times one quarter turn per "turn" divided by 6mm = 1 thread per millimeter)...I'm a mechanical person, this is what I think about :)




I'm gonna go shopping for recovery stuff tonight and then play hockey one last time before the thurjeree.