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!
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!
I see you found something to do at 12:30 :)
ReplyDeleteAgain I say . . . you are being too critical of yourself! No one will notice your "bulkier" side!!! NO ONE but YOU! And it must be different angles of the camera because I only noticed it the one time I previously commented on.
It's a good thing you aren't me. I've never noticed if my face is "crooked" but ever since my first pregnancy one side of my stomach is stretched out further than the other.
P.S. I do like the black and white photos! Seems like I've had to do more black & white myself simply because the coloring on my camera hasn't been the best.
ReplyDelete