A Small Milestone

Here is a photo of a friend and I at said friend's 21st:

I'm SMILING. FULLY. IN A PHOTO. WILLINGLY. AND I LIKE THE PHOTO.

I think this is the first time this has ever happened!

:D

Comparisons

Hello! Long time, no see. I have been procrastinating doing a new post... but here I finally am. With some comparison photos.

I think that I have had one adjustment since my last post, everything went fine, I just moved up another wire gauge on the top. No fancy rubber fittings or springs this time! The adjustment before that one was the most painful by far, it took about 2-3 weeks to get back to normal. Every time I drank something I would get shooting pains up into my gums around that top lateral incisor that has been getting pulled forward into line. But it ended up getting better and here we are today. :)

So, photos! I finally got around to getting my photos from my old laptop, and have put together a comparison:

I can't believe how much they have changed! I know in my last post I was complaining about how it hardly seems like they have moved at all, but here is the proof they have. I am so happy!

Already I am beginning to feel more confident, I always new I was self conscious about my teeth but I never realised how badly they were affecting my self-esteem. I feel a lot more comfortable smiling around people now and not afraid of showing my teeth. Who knows, I may feel okay smiling for photos soon! But let's not get ahead of ourselves :P

More exciting news - I am meeting with the surgeon on the 9th April!

This will be to discuss the surgery, ask him questions, and I'm guessing for him to actually get an idea of what he's dealing with. I AM SO EXCITED!!

A Long-awaited Update

I have had two adjustments since I last posted, and I am due for my next one tomorrow. When I look at my teeth in the mirror it looks like they have moved so much but when I look at the photos it feels like they have hardly moved at all! When I recover all of my photos from my old computer I will do some comparison photos.

At the last adjustment the 2nd incisor that has been left out was finally attached to the wire! It has moved into the gap quite a lot, which you can see in this photo:

As you can also see from the photo, the gaps left by the extracted teeth have continued to close. This is especially true for the one on the right. However they all still need to move around to the left quite a bit as my centreline is still nowhere near the centre.

And here is the bottom:

The rotation in the front incisor is almost out, and then the only other things that will need to be done are the canine rotation and just generally straightening. 

For the front view:

I've also noticed that my bottom jaw tends to be tilted on an angle when compared to the top... I'm hoping it's not and that it just appears that way at the moment.

I've hit the 6 month mark! This means I (hopefully) only have 12 months to go before surgery :D

As for what has been happening in life in general? I have passed (mostly) my third year of engineering, so am heading into my fourth and final year. This is both exciting and terrifying... I have started my work experience for the summer working at Valspar Paint NZ which is awesome, I really enjoy it! I have had my car stolen twice, and our house got broken into and my laptop stolen. So overall it's been a rather exciting few months!

I will try and update within the next few weeks, I have noticed that it takes about a week before the teeth have moved completely after adjustment.

I have a gap!

Yes, I have a gap between my two bottom front teeth! Here is a photo:

Apologies for the saliva everywhere.

So today is Friday, I had my braces tightened on Wednesday. I have moved up another wire gauge on the top, and I still have that spring to push my teeth apart only this time he's added a little crimp thing to keep momentum going. I think my mid-line is off so the aim is to push both teeth out of the way to make way for the hidden incisor, and also straighten the mid-line at the same time. (photo below)

On the bottom I had another power chain put on but on the other side this time (photo below). Last month I had one on the left, and a teeny gap opened up, so this time he put one on the right to move teeth into the gap and out of the crowding in the middle. This is what opened up that wee gap you can see in the photo above.

My under-bite is definitely becoming more prominent, I can see it now in photos:

I also have a lisp that is getting worse as the gap is opened up, people are finding it hard to understand me sometimes! It's especially noticeable now that it is 21st season and I'm having to talk to people in bars over loud music. I'm forever having to repeat what I say.

Next appointment is on November 7th. I'll check back in then :)

Comments

I have edited my settings, so now you can comment on my posts! Yay!

My friend Kelsy pointed out to me this morning that when she tried commenting on a post it had really annoying captchas that I didn't know about. So I went and corrected them and now everything is fine and dandy. Well it should be. I didn't even know what a captcha was until this morning. Hey, you learn something new every day.

Considering I only found out about dropbox last week (though I still don't know how to use it) I think I'm doing pretty well!

Post-op appointment + videos

Today I had my post op appointment to check how I was recovering from my wisdom teeth extraction. It has been exactly one week since my operation. The dentist I saw said that everything looked fine, and that I had kept it very clean. This is good!

Everyone that I have talked to has had different experiences with their wisdom teeth extractions, and I have heard many stories about friends of friends. It seems to me that there is no way to determine how the surgery will go and how well a person recovers because everyone is so different. For me, it hasn't been anywhere near as bad as I expected.

I was expecting to be on a liquid only diet for a week or longer.
On the day I had the surgery I was managing to eat soft foods like bread and hummus, as long as it didn't touch the stitches. This meant that I was mainly just crushing food with my tongue and swallowing it, which is probably considered cheating, but I wanted my hummus! Other people I know were in lots of pain for a week or so after the surgery and stuck to liquids and things like ice cream.

I was expecting to be in lots of pain, drugged up, and bedridden.
Apart from the initial drugs they gave me at the hospital, I haven't needed to take anything but ibuprofen. And I took that 3 times a day for 5 days. I was not bedridden (though I did enjoy my sleep-ins!) and I played netball on the weekend. I also went to a 21st (didn't drink alcohol) which I was quite sore after, though it was mainly muscular pain that I attribute to all of the talking and laughing I was doing! There was a girl who was also invited to the party who had her wisdom teeth out on the same day as me, and she wasn't in a good enough condition to make it.

My mum was telling me that she remembers it not being a big deal getting hers out and that she was back to work within a few days. Maybe it's genetic or something?

I have had quite a bit of muscle ache, but I did a bit of research on this and it is totally normal. It even has a name! Thanks Wikipedia! Lockjaw/Trismus is typical after a tooth extraction.

On another note, I found some good videos on youtube that illustrate the surgery(ies) that I will be undergoing. I will also post them on my 'About Me' page.

This one shows the surgery used to correct an under-bite:

And this one shows the surgery used to correct an open-bite:

I'm pretty sure that I will need a combination of both of these procedures. But I'll find out when it's closer to the surgery time and it's clearer what needs to be done.

I have been reading other people's blogs and it appears most of the people that have undergone orthognathic surgery have had bands after surgery to stabilise the jaws. However I came across one person who was told that the use of bands decreases the likelihood of nerve regeneration, so she opted for wiring. I will definitely be raising this with the surgeon when the time comes along.

No-one has commented on any of my posts yet, but I hope one of you does soon! I don't bite :)

Wisdom Teeth

Yesterday I had my wisdom teeth taken out. They ended up taking all three out, though one had to get chopped up into pieces! I was under general and local anaesthetics, and I was out from about 8.30am to 11am. There was supposed to be someone before me but apparently she wasn't ready for the surgery, so I ended up going earlier than initially planned.

I had never been under general anaesthetic before. As far as I know there weren't any complications, though by the time I went to bed last night it still hadn't worn off. This could have been the local though.

I was quite swollen, I had Angelina Jolie lips! This morning wasn't much different, though I'm not really bleeding anymore. I was bleeding for most of yesterday, not profusely though.

Here is a picture of me looking like a chipmunk:

This was just as I left the hospital so I still look all nice and drugged up. The left side of my face is much more swollen, probably because this was the side with two teeth!

And here's a photo of me today:

Still swollen. With sexy hair.

So I'm off uni for the week, though I may go to uni on Friday if I'm feeling better. My friend Kelsy came over today and kept me company! Yes we have the same name. Yes we are both awesome.