Pictures

So here it is, pictures of the teeth right now.  I had taken some before pictures without the braces, but I guess those didn't turn out so well (pretty blurry), I'm hoping I can get a copy of the pictures taken in my ODs office before the braces went on.  I know they have them somewhere! 

Oh, and we had to remove the bracket on the bottom a day after I got the braces put on (the crooked tooth) because there is no room for that tooth to go and the bracket wouldn't stay on!  For now it's left out of the braces movement :(  I'm sure that will be a fun progression of trying to make room in my extremely tiny and already crowded mouth, haha.  Otherwise all's well so far :)

A week into it....

The first week of this journey is behind me and all in all it went pretty well.  The pain of the braces got better after about the sixth day, and now I hardly even notice them :)  So much to the point that I want to get back to the OD and get them tightened!  Because if they stopped hurting that means the teeth stopped moving, right?  Hahaha, I know that's not quite how it works, but I can be impatient sometimes!

Going into work (and back into the general public, for that matter) wasn't that bad.  I've been told they look cute on me, but I know I look about 16 now (but only because people know I can drive!  Because I really look about 12).  I'm a little surprised I haven't gotten ID'd more. I went out the last two weekends and only got ID'd once!  Maybe it's not as bad as I think?  Luckily it's becoming more common for adults to have braces, so it's not so bad going out (not that I go out alot, because usually I don't).  I found out last night that a friend is getting braces on in April for the purpose of jaw surgery in October, which is (hopefully!) about the same time I'll be having my surgery.  It's crazy to me how common this jaw surgery is!

That's about it for now, time to enjoy a little dessert:)

Braces are on

The braces went on on Thursday, and it was not at all what I was expecting.  My mouth is very, very tiny, so small that the smallest mouth opener barely fit!  It was pretty uncomfortable the whole time.  And the look of it after was surprising too, I look about the age of a 16 year old!  The whole thing went pretty smoothly though and only took about 45 minutes.  Either way I'm stuck with them now for approximately 2 years..... Oh boy, hahaha.

The first 4 days have been a little bit harder then I was expecting too, it's hurt more then I thought it would. I haven't been able to eat much, only food that I can cut down into small pieces and swallow without chewing, I've had pasta, 2 subs and tonight tried some pizza.  It hasn't been too hard eating that stuff, except for the no chewing, but I think (I hope!) it's getting better.  They say it hurts for about the first week and then gets better, so I'm over half way there to being able to eat properly again.  But this is only the lead up to the bigger thing anyway, this is the easy part!

I don't go back to Dr.V's office for another 6 weeks, can't wait, hahaha.

First trip to the OS

Yesterday was my first meeting with Dr. S, my oral surgeon, and things did not go quite as I thought they would.  The appointment to see him was set up about a month ago by Dr. V's office and they said they would take care of getting all my x-rays to him in time for that date.  When I showed up yesterday though, we found out the x-rays had not been sent, apparently because I was supposed to call Dr. V's office with a decision of the path forward....  I'm not really sure why they still didn't send the x-rays, since, regardless of my actual decision, I still had this appointment that they set up!

Well, because of this miscommunication, we weren't able to get into specifics about what needs to be done, but I think it helped alleviate some of the worries of my parents.  They were able to ask all the questions they had about their concerns and worries and at the end they seemed a little more at ease with the whole thing.  Dr. S seems nice and has a lot of experience with this surgery, but now I won't see him again for another six months.

Regardless, tomorrow is braces!

It begins this week!

Hello!

Six months ago I made the decision to start Invisalign braces.  For the past few years my dentist has been telling me that I would be an excellent candidate for them, but when the time came that I was actually willing to commit to them, he told me that the in actuality, I would need metal braces in order to see the results I am looking for.  This lead me back to my old orthodontist (I had braces about 10 years ago), and the question if I was willing to go through a full metal mouth of braces for another two years of my life.  This question was then compounded when my orthodontist suggested (since it is his job to inform me of all my possible options) that surgery to correct my jaw may be something I would want to consider.  It was all pretty overwhelming at the time.

My teeth aren't that bad.  My mouth is small, and even though I've had a lot of teeth removed, my teeth are still crowded and aren't perfectly lined up.  And it's the top teeth that really only bother me.  I smile, a lot.  Even though I am very self conscious of my teeth and can't stand to look at pictures of myself (unless my teeth aren't focused and you can't see how crooked the top is, then I don't mind so much).  I try not to let my self consciousness control my life though, and if I want to smile, I smile big and wide, but in the back of my mind I'm always picturing what everyone else is seeing when they look at me.  That is what lead me to braces originally, and what kept me motivated when I had to consider metal braces.  But jaw surgery?  That was a whole new process that had never crossed my mind!  I've always known I have a short chin (no chin sometimes, when I'm relaxed and let my guard down), but I've always just thought that that is the way I am and never really sought to change that about myself.  But when my orthodontist (Dr. V) told me that I had that option, that there was a solution to that problem (and also, that I have a receding chin that will only get worse with time, awesome news!), it opened a whole set of questions for myself.

It took many months, lots of questions, of myself and of people I know who have gone through the process, to get to the decision of yes, this is something I want to do.  Not everyone is happy with the decision, some can't even understand why I need the braces.  But now that I've made the decision to begin this journey, I can't imagine stopping it and having everything stay the same.  After seeing my x-rays and that my jaw is very vertical (I hope to get a picture of it soon), and knowing it's only going to get worse, not doing anything about it now isn't an option.  I believe my orthodontist even said if nothing is done now to correct it, I will likely require surgery in the future anyways, so why wait?  There are a number of other reasons to have it done as well, not just for the physical appearance of my side profile:  Because my lower jaw is much shorter then my upper jaw, and the way my lower jaw is positioned, my mouth sits naturally open, and it takes a conscious effort to keep my mouth closed;  Because my mouth sits open most of the time (and has for all of my life), I breathe through my mouth and have a horrible time breathing through my nose (but something to talk to the oral surgeon about);  I snore and have read somewhere that this surgery might help, but something else to talk to the OS about.

It's taken me six months to get here, and this week it all begins.  My first appointment with the oral surgeon is tomorrow and my braces go on on thursday!  I'm nervous, excited and just ready to get started!