I also got the new obturator fitted yesterday. It works. It works wonderfully, in fact. So, in honor of the New Bug, a retrospective:
The obturator on the far left is the first one I had, the surgical one. The speech bulb was added later, and they had to change the position of the wire on its right side, hence the weird plastic outpouching. I broke off the wire on the top right by biting on it.
The obturator in the middle is the interim one. Note the thumb-sized snot channel, meant to drain away what doctors euphemistically call "secretions." You'll notice that it's narrower and longer than the surgical bug, as a result of my head healing and changing shape.
The obturator on the far right is the one I'm currently wearing. It's made of chromium nanowhatsit, some nonferrous material that's only found in conjunction with unobtanium. It's hollow to cut down on weight, and no, that hollow doesn't fill up with crap. I was amazed.
See how the shapes have changed as I've healed? You can't really tell from this picture, but the first Bug is so large I can't close my hand over it, and I wear a size 7 glove. The newest one is so petite and light that it feels like nothing. Plus, since it doesn't cover the backs of my front upper teeth, I can do things like bite into an apple.
Notamus loves the fabric I laid out as a background. He started milk-treading it just after I took this picture. Weirdo.
First obturator, alone. Damn, that was huge.
Second obturator, alone. That loop of metal inside the plastic speech bulb is meant to stabilize things. Look how tiny the obturator part is, and how fat the speech bulb is in contrast to the first one!
It's like I'm watching my own baby grow up, she says, clasping her hands to her breast.
Well. Enough of that. I've got sausage and potatoes and sauerkraut to eat. With my new obturator.