7 months of braces...

First pic is the day I got my braces on. I thought I had relatively straight teeth. I was wrong. They sloped inward, my bottom teeth were NOT straight, and look at my arch wire on the top! It is all bent weird - to get my top teeth straight. The bottom pic was taken 1 month ago. Top teeth are perfectly aligned - and you'll have to take my word for it that the bottom ones are too. As soon as my jaw is properly aligned - there will just be "touch up's" on my braces before coming off in a few months. Then I'll get my tooth implant on the upper right side. Can't wait!

My pre-op

So, my preop was 2 days ago. It took 1 1/2 hours! Final photo's, final molds, final freak out moment. Ok - I'll still have a few more of those I'm sure. So, he's going to put my molds into this skull and then actually spend 6-8 hours performing the surgery (on the molds) so he is aware of every cut he'll be making before actually doing it on me. This way - it only take 1 1/2 hours for the surgery, and the less time he's in there - the less swollen/congested I'll be.

He was telling me the things I can blame the anethisiologist for - if I feel nausea upon awakenig - and for a bloody/swollen/congested nose and sore throat due to the air tube (the size of a pinky) being put through my nostril and down into my trachea. With my luck, they won't be able to get it down the first side and will have to mess up both!

I will most likely spend 1 night in the hospital, with oxygen (YAY!) and a suction tube (doube YAY!). That way, if I throw up (with my teeth wired closed) I can just use the suction tube. I think I may want to take it home with me!

The medications I'll be on several times each day are (all in liquid form - yuck):
Advil
Demorol
Antibiotic
Anti-nausea
Decongestant
Antibacterial Mouthwash

The GOOD news - there is a 50% chance I will NOT have a split (think mouthguard, wired to my teeth). If he has to widen my top palette 5 mm or more, I will have that for between 3 days and 5 weeks depending upon how I'm healing. More good news - I will only be completely wired shut, 24/7 for the first 8 days. At my post-op appt. the following Tuesday, they will teach me how to take off and on those dang rubber bands, and for the following week I can take them off 3 times a day, for 1 hour each time - presumably at meals time. As long as I'm not chewing (and can fit the food into a non-maleable jaw) I can have applesauce, potatoes, pudding, ect. The second week I can take the bands off 3 times a day for 2 hours each time - and so forth. At the end of 6 weeks, I can crunch a Dorito. Ok, well actually I'm not supposed to do that til the braces come off - but I have big plans.

My top jaw and bottom jaw will each be broken into 3 pieces (6 pieces total) and moved around as neccessary. My top jaw will then have 4 titanium plates that screw it to my skull. My bottom jaw will have 4 screws. Supposedly, I will not raise alarm through security at an airport - phew!

The scariest part - is that when the 4 bottom screws go in - they will be compressing nerves, and there is a possibility that it'll take some time for the feeling to return to my bottom lip and surrounding areas. Maybe 4 months. Maybe 1 1/2 years. Maybe never.

Still worth it.

3 Days til surgery...

This is my bite as of tonight. As you can see - it's already more aligned, although my top palette is still too small for my top teeth to rest comfortably over my bottom teeth, my midline is still off, and although you can't see the rest of my face - there is still a "cant" which means they will have to rotate my jaw to make it level. But at least my teeth are straight!

With Braces

This is minutes after getting braces on for the 2nd time in my life. Ug. There should be a law stating that everyone's teeth need to be fixed before they are 30.

Before pic from my surgeon's office

Ok, so the ones below this are from my Ortho's office, these are from my surgeon's office. Both are equally embarrassing, but hopefully helpful to someone out there. Can't wait for the AFTER pics!

This is my right side - the side the my jaw is moved to. Notice the deep line and extra poiny chin.

The left side - no deep lines, not so pointy chin. This is what I hope to achieve for both sides of my face.

This is one of the worst pictures ever taken of me. This is the smile I avoid in every single picture, but the doctor told me to "smile as big as you can" so I can show my bite. That's it. Horrible. I know people will say "wow - I've never noticed that before" and that's because I've practiced smiling for the last 18 years so it doesn't look like that!

Ok, I know this is a gross close up showing my yellow, scarred teeth from the first time I had braces for 4 years - 18 years ago. Luckily, that can all be fixed cosmetically when these new braces come off - hopefully in November!

Before Pics

These are the pics taken by the Orthodontist office last November before I got my braces on. My teeth are considerably straighter now - but the jaw is just as bad. These are highly embarrassing for me to post - but I have really been helped by other people's jaw surgery blogs and picture, and I want to add to that help for others.

You can see here that the "cant" is off, meaning my jaw is kind of diagnal. You can see that the bottom left side of my teeth are at an angle from the bottom right side.

My asymmetrical face. Can't wait for that to be gone!

The major problem - my crossbite. My mid-lines don't line up, and my upper pallet is too small, resulting in my top teeth resting on the inside (instead of outside) of my bottom teeth.

About me.

Ok, so I'm the insane one who is asking a doctor to break both my jaws - to endure terrible pain and swelling - to be wired shut for 4-6 weeks - and eat (drink) a liquid diet through a syringe for most of that - and is actually EXCITED about it!

The countdown...

And so the countdown begins...8 more days til surgery!