Vidya Lutchman – Singer Songwriter Musician – Updates Releases Live Shows

I just saw the orthodontist today and what was supposed to be my final day of turning the key on my widener has turned into yet another week. Good thing I didn’t throw away the key! As much as I’d like this to be over it’s better to get it done right otherwise the surgery would have been all in vain. Gotta keep looking at the big picture, right? :)

I’m looking forward to practicing again soon. A couple of my band mates are conveniently busy with some work of their own right now so once that’s wrapped up we’ll be able to reconvene with the music. Although my singing is nothing to brag about now with the 7 millimeter gap between my two front teeth, I can still get by for practice purposes. Plus the band and I will be focusing mainly on getting the arrangements done on our newer songs.

Thursday will finally be the last day that I have to turn the key on my widener. The orthodontist told me that it will take 2 weeks from that point for the gap to close and you have no idea how much I am looking forward to that! I feel like such a monster and I’m completely self-conscious now. 7 millimeters is no small space especially when it’s square in the middle of your two front teeth for everyone to see!!

Also, as a result of all the widening my face is still a bit swollen so I don’t feel like I look like my normal self. Hopefully the weeks will fly by and I won’t be obsessing over this anymore.

Today I picked up the guitar and tried singing for the first time since the operation which has been about a month now. The space makes it difficult to articulate so my words end up sounding a bit slurred at times, kind of like the way a 5 year old sounds when they’re belting out a tune. Once the gap has closed this shouldn’t be an issue. I guess we will have to see in two weeks time.

The day of the surgery came and went and it’s now just over a week since I got the operation for my upper jaw expansion.

The first couple of days were not without their trying moments. One of the toughest parts is first waking up from the surgery. The surgeon warned me ahead of time of some of the challenges I would be facing but they always sound tame until you have to actually undergo them. One is the constant stream of nose bleeding that lasted well up to two days. Sleeping was my only respite and sleep I did for a full two days without eating. As you can imagine that will easily render one pretty weak by the time you do try and get up. My first attempt at getting up was quickly forced to a halt when I blacked out for the first time in my life and was well on my way to hitting the floor but not before Ty got a chance to catch me! That’s my man :)

The other tough part comes later on when the reality of my situation started to sink in a little more. One I have to stick to eating soft foods for the next 6 months until the bone has repaired itself. For those who know me well, not being able to eat like I normally do is a huge deal. It had barely been a week of eating pureed foods and I was already dreaming about bitting into a crunchy piece of toast!

Then there’s the growing space between my two front teeth. My orthodontist needs me to turn the key on my expander one to two times a day for a month to create a 5 millimeter gap. The surgeon already made 20 turns on the expander during my operation once he created the fracture in my palate. My orthodontist needs to see that gap to make sure he has the room he needs to straighten my teeth when it comes time for the braces once the expander is off.

I’m writing from the cottage and I can’t say I’m looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Most of the swelling is gone and I currently have a 4 millimeter gap between my two front teeth (they are moving a lot faster than scheduled) but I still feel like hiding away in a hole.

I got my appliance in. I was brave at first, taking it all in stride until I got home and I tried eating my first meal. What a nightmare! Sure it sounds like I’m exaggerating but for someone who loves food as much as I do this is probably one of the worst offenses I’ve had to endure. With this new intrusion in my mouth, basically a metal retainer that’s glued to the top of my palate just the simple act of chewing and swallowing my food has become a painstaking process.

That night I tossed and turned in bed. I dreaded what the next 9 months would be like with this new appliance handcuffed to the inside of my mouth. I couldn’t picture myself ever being able to get used to it. I started to freak out. It may well have been the closest I’d ever been to experiencing a panic attack. I could put a halt to this all right now, cancel the surgery and the braces I thought to myself and be done with it. So what, I have to have gum surgery for the rest of my life – Anything is better than having to deal with this hell! But then I reasoned that I had come this far with the process and I knew that it was the best decision for me so I had to stick with it.

Next thing I knew it was morning. I actually managed to fall asleep somehow. Things didn’t seem so horrible anymore, maybe I just had a chance to get over the initial fear of it all. I can’t say that I’m feeling completely at ease but I’m at least starting to get used to it. And that’s a good step forward since the worst is yet to come with my surgery around the corner.

Here are some photos to give you an idea of what the appliance in my mouth looks like. The expander is much like a retainer except that its fused to my palate. I will have to keep it in my mouth for six to nine months after the surgery which is coming up very soon.

I’m having surgery! Due to medical reasons, it turns out that very soon I will be going under the knife (and hammer) in the form of oral surgery followed by braces. The process is long and daunting (30 months of treatment) but after some alarming discoveries about my dental health I decided that it must be done.

After consulting with my orthodontist I learned that in order to widen my narrow jaw I would have to undergo surgery where they literally break the bone! Yikes! The “bone” being my skull. Funnily enough though, what scared me the most was not the surgery itself but how it could potentially effect my singing voice. Unfortunately for me there are no known cases of singers who chose to undergo this kind of surgery for that simple reason – they were too scared of how it would effect their singing. So, I had to rely solely on the surgeon’s educated guess that it should not change my voice.

Right now I have little rubber rings called “spacers” that have been wedged in between either ends of my second to last molars on my palate. The spacers are there to help create space between those teeth so that they can insert an appliance similar to a retainer called an Expander. Then comes my bone-breaking surgery and braces.

Since there is no real information out there about how this kind of procedure impacts on singers and performers alike I figured it would be a good idea to document and write about my experience for others to perhaps use as a resource.

Brace yourself, the ride is going to be a bumpy one but at least it will be filled with music! Ha!

As with most anything you can always rely on one thing and that is that you always have to be prepared for change. Many bands go through countless rearrangements and reconfigurations usually in the form of gaining or losing a band member.

Earlier this week I received the news from my good friend Kam who sang harmonies with me in the band that she was dropping out. I can’t say it came as much as a surprise since she has a lot going on in her life and even though I enjoyed her time with us I knew it was limited.

That said the band is still moving on strong. We’re working hard on some new songs and will be adding a new instrument to the mix, keys/synth. Andy, our lead guitarist will be taking on double duty and I think we’re all very excited about the new progression of our sound.

Sometimes changes make you realize your full potential. With the band we’re making the most of what we’ve got and getting more creative with our resources.

Vidya