4 month anniversary and the braces are OFF!

Yesterday marked 4 months ago that I had my double jaw surgery - on Aug. 2nd. So glad that's over with! I'm supposed to have about 90% of the nerves reconnected by now, and I'd say I'm probably at about 85%, so not too far behind! Today was a momentous day - I got my braces off after 1 year and 6 days of having them on. In the beginning it was estimated that they'd be on for 16 months "at the longest". Today my ortho said the reason they are coming off so quickly is because the jaw surgery went so well. Here is the great part of today - Jared had no idea they were comning off! The last thing he knew, I was scheduled to get them off on the 13th - in another week and a half! Ha ha, I'm so sneaky! :) Here are some pics I took to document today. I was taking them all myself - and I'm shocked that I aimed well enough!

In the car, ready to go in!

In the chair. Hurry up already!

Sharon taking off my lowers.

Um...Ow.

This was a beautiful moment!

I did this a lot. "Rinse please".



That's half the battle!



Dr. Luddington, my new best friend.

Off comes the top row!



Almost done...



2 brackets were left on - to band together and sturdy my top teeth for the retainer process.



Etching the back of my two front teeth for the perma-retainer.



Bonding it to my teeth. It's only behind my two front teeth. I will also get a removable retainer with a fake tooth to hold the spot of my missing molar until I get my implant done.



Yay! Another happy customer!

Time to go home and surprise Jared!



It took about 15 minutes of grinning at him like an idiot before I pretty much outright told him! Hee hee hee. I'm so sneaky for keeping it a secret for so long!
(can you tell how much Jared looooves pics?)



Just in time for Christmas! We need to take some family photo's now!



My BEFORE pic - from just over a year ago (left) and now (right). Can anyone see a difference?
So - everything still isn't perfect, or symmetrical. But at this point - when all is said and done -
I think I'm ok with it!



Thanks for letting this happen Jare. Love you forever!

3 Months!

Three months! There has definitely been progress. First and foremost - I can feel most of my tongue again! Just a little bit of numbness/tingling in the front right section - but I can feel it when I bite it - and yes, I'm still biting my tongue when I eat. It's just been "trained" to be over to the right for too long, so I'm trying to retrain it by eating a lot. Which brings me to weight - I've gained back approximately 5 lbs. of the 11 that I lost. I'm good with that. :) I can feel about 1/2 of my bottom lip, the left half is still mostly numb, so that hasn't changed much. My chin is still mostly numb, but I'm starting to feel a bit on the right side. Brushing my teeth, or putting ANY pressure on my teeth still feels like nails on a chalkboard. Hate it, but it's a necessity. I'm hoping that once I'm completely healed (in about 3-5 more months) that the sensation will go away. All in all - I'm fairly happy with the results. My smile will never be perfect (according to me) and my jaw will never be totally straight. My face will never be perfectly symmetrical, but lets face it - I ruled out modeling when I was 12. My husband loves me, loves the way I look, and can't wait for me to get my braces off in 45 more days! December 17th is the big day! Here are some pictures taken today to mark the 3 month post-op mark.

That's not a gang sign - it's 3 in sign language. That's how I roll.

Right profile.

Left profile.

Angled left side.

Angled right side.


These next 3 pics are to show how quickly things change! Less then a year ago, the first pic of my teeth was taken, showing the crossbite and crooked teeth (which I thought were pretty straight at the time...HA!).

This next pic is just before my surgery, 3 months ago. My teeth were mostly straight, but I couldn't close my bite because of how "off" my jaw was.

The last was taken today at the ortho's office. After they take off my rubber bands and wires for adjustments, I always ask if I can brush my teeth. My ortho always laughs and says I'm the only one who asks that, but it's so NICE to brush my teeth with only brackets on my teeth so I shot this pic when my bands and wires were off. My ortho said he was "extremely pleased" with how everything looks and that I just need to continue to wear my rubber bands exactly as I am.

That's it! The next pics will probably be my "after" shots with braces OFF! Hooray!

2 Months!

Ok, so these are probably my last pics til my braces come off - hopefully in the next couple of months. It's been 2 months since I had surgery. I'm still not ecstatic with how I look right now - but honestly - the changes from now until my 18 month mark will be so gradual, I probably won't notice unless I do comparision - before and afters. I just try not to think about the uneveness of my face. The "cant" to my teeth and my less then perfect jaw. It's still better then it was - so really, what more can I ask for? I still have an open bite on the left side, and I only have a few teeth touching on the right - but that's all orthodontics from this point. I have an appt. 1 week from today to get more rubber bands - hopefully closing that open bite. I would say about 1/3 of my tongue is still numb, 1/2 of my bottom lip and my whole chin. Overall, not bad at only the 2 month mark. Here are the "official" 2 month pics. I have a sinus infection so I look a little dreary.

I don't think I'll ever get rid of the "nose wrinkle" or my lopsided smile - but I can learn to live with it! :) My eyes in my "after pic" look psychotic. I thought it was a good idea when I was playing with photoshop...

BEFORE Sept. 2009 / AFTER - Sept. 2010

I may not have a totally straight jaw, but it's so much better then it was!

Note the before (left) and after (right) pics!

Right profile pic. Before and After

Left profile, before and after.


Straight teeth! No crossbite! Midlines matching! Before/After

Different angles. Excuse the messy hair: Sick = laying down!

So...because my teeth are still numb, it feels weird to brush them. Like, nails on a chalkboard weird. Like any pressure feels like I'll knock out a tooth, or I'll hit a newly reconnected nerve and a white hot pain shoots through the nerve. Brushing my teeth is not a pleasant experience. I'm sooo grateful for my Waterpik. It's bearable. I'm also tired of chewing on my lip. I have a HUGE canker there because I simply cannot feel when I bite it as I chew. Going on our cruise to the Bahama's last week didn't help. I ate constantly and the canker grew and grew! I'm really looking forward to the numbness COMPLETELY dissapating. It's supposed to be 90% gone in the next 2 months. Can't wait!

Ok, want to know the REAL reason that I want all the feeling back?

So I can KISS MY HUSBAND AGAIN!

(I mean ReEEAallly kiss him!) :)

These pics are from our cruise last week. The Bahama's were AMAZING! I mean, come on - it's the Bahama's! We kayak'd through the Mangrove trees, then went on a Segway tour, we went to the beach, shopped, saw beautiful sunsets...it was incredible!

At dinner - I was really excited to eat! :) We scheduled this cruise partially to celebrate EATING again! This is my "bad side". My smile is crazy!

That's all!

8 weeks

So, at my appt. Thursday he said everything looks good. I said that my jaw looked "heavier/bulkier" still on my right side, but that I didn't think it was swelling. He told me it was normal, because of the rotation. The heavier part of my jaw on that side was brought forward. He said that things will continue to settle for the next YEAR AND A HALF! At that point, if I still think it looks too uneven, I can get "fillers" put in the left side to even it out. My fingers are crossed that it "settles" as evenly as possible, but I hope I can deal with pictures and life in general with this asymmetry for the next (at least) 18 months. At least I'll be able to chew, eventually! When I get back from my cruise, my ortho will be rubber-banding the left side of my mouth to close my open bite, but he's optimistic that I'll have them off by Thanksgiving! Yesss! Bring on the rubber bands. I did it for 6 weeks already - I can handle 6 more!

Updated pics. You can see the crookedness (thickness of each side of my jaw) in these pics. Hoping, praying it evens out. Guess what I discovered? Everything looks better in black and white!



Uneven jaw. Oh well.


This is how far I can open my mouth right now. I can successfully eat (bite into) a McDonald's cheeseburger if it doesn't have the pickles on it. Progress! Still have a long way to go, but doing my physical therapy every day is helping!


Overall - I'm glad I did the surgery to have a straight midline and be able to chew/eat better. I'm h0ping everything else (that I'm not thrilled with) will work itself out over time. My jaw still aches after eating or talking/singing/laughing a lot - but I'm not taking pain meds on a regular basis or anything. Usually stopping talking for a while works.

Speaking of which - I'm off to bed!

6 weeks post op - the cheeseburger.

6 weeks. I made it. I am allowed to eat whatever I want. The problem is, I still can't. Well, not easily. I can nibble at just about anything (I had a cheeto) but it's very slow going. I can't imagine eating something like a carrot or steak - and couldn't even make it through my steamed green beans tonight. I no longer have to wear rubber bands related to my surgery - although I will begin a new rubber band regiment according to my ortho. How exciting.

This is today. Still crooked. I supposed there is still some swelling in my right cheek - although now I wish my left cheek looked the same, to fill it out evenly..and permanently. I know that won't happen - but I don't know what 6 more months will do to everything either. Time will tell.

Showing my teeth. Still hoping to have the braces off around Christmas.

Right profile.

Left profile.

I was determined to eat a cheeseburger today...but that initially posted some problems...such as my mouth not opening wide enough.

So, I cut it in half (gave that to Jared) and cut the rest into about 16 pieces which I ate just fine. It was very yummy. I am happy to not have to worry about what I can eat anymore.

Tonight I went to the Mikado with some friends and couldn't eat most of what was on my plate. I brought some sushi home for Jared and decided that's what I should have ordered! It was soft, easy to eat and yummy!

I'll update some before/after pictures when there is more of a difference. Until then...keep smiling!