Braces!

Yesterday I got my braces on!

It was a little unexpected but it's exciting that I'll start seeing real changes in my smile and make progress towards surgery!

I wasn't supposed to get my braces on till Friday/tomorrow but, over the weekend two of spacers fell out. Once the office opened again after the long weekend they initially wanted me to come in Wednesday afternoon to have my spacers replaced, so they wouldn't be in too long and fall out again. Well, later they called again and said the morning appointment cancelled and I could come in Wednesday morning for braces! It worked perfectly, I didn't have class that morning and I meant I only had to make one trip across the lake instead of two!

So Wednesday morning I left my house bright and early to go to the orthodontist. I can't say I felt nervous, I honestly just didn't think about it during the drive.

{Just bottom brackets}

{Top and bottom brackets without the wires}

Getting the braces on wasn't as bad as I expected. When they fit the metal bands to go around your molars it can get a little uncomfortable but not painful. And I didn't realize how easy it was to get brackets on, they just dry your teeth a few different ways and stick 'em on! I didn't really notice a change in how my mouth felt until they put the wires in (I have 1 on the bottom and 3 on top) when suddenly my teeth felt a little pull. Overall I thought it was really easy, and would rather have braces put on again than get my teeth cleaned.

They give me a big kit with all the cleaning and comfort things I may need and sent me off to get food before the pain set in.

{My full set of braces)

I started taking ibuprofen that morning which helped some, but by dinner time I could barely chew. I had fish, creamed spinach and a baked potato but it took me forever to eat (ice cream later tasted great, though).

Today I had oatmeal twice then leftovers from last night. The soreness still isn't terrible but eating is a challenge. Also, the roughness of the brackets is starting to bother my mouth so I'm been using the silicone they gave me.

Overall not too bad, as usual I'm hungry but it could be much worse. Now that I've written this I'll probably go check my teeth in a mirror again to see if they look straight yet.

Here we go

Woohoo first post of many to come for the next two years or so!

To start off, I feel the need to backtrack a little bit to tell you how I got to this point, a 19 year old about to get braces for the first time. It all started my junior year of high school. My dentist, who I saw regularly, asked me when I was going to get braces. Before I could answer he tried to sell me on the knock-off Invisalign he did in office, as in orthodontics without the orthodontist. I was frustrated leaving the office, it bothered be that he suddenly wanted to straighten my teeth without ever suggesting I see an orthodontist.​​

{My smile spring of my junior year, you can see one tooth that sticks out further than the rest and you may notice that my teeth go almost straight back rather than curve back}

Well, my parents thought it was strange and mentioned it to a friend who was an oral surgeon. Their friend told my parents to absolutely not let my dentist straighten my teeth and to bring me in for a quick exam. So, I went in for x-rays and was told surgery would be necessary to straighten my teeth along with braces. I absolutely did not want braces my senior year of high school and the doctors told me putting off surgery wouldn't change the extent of what needed to be done. So, I put it off.

Fast forward to the second semester of my first year of college. I found myself more stressed and consequently clenching my jaw. Around spring break I had a tooth ache, thinking it was my first cavity, I let my mom make an appointment with my dentist, (who I seem to like less and less each time I see him). Luckily, I was still cavity free, but my dentist told me I was putting too much force on my back teeth when I clenched jaw and had bruised a tooth. Yep bruised a tooth. My dentist told me it was time to go back to see a surgeon again.

{My teeth spring of freshman year. I think my jaw actually got worse after high school. Here it's super clear that my jaw doesn't form a nice U, instead it almost curves inward.}

As soon as I got home for summer I had an appointment with an oral surgeon (our family friend retired, so this was a new surgeon he recommended). I had done some research and went in to my consolation thinking I knew exactly what would happen. I thought they would just surgically expand my jaw, give me a nice gap between my front teeth, put some braces on and give me a beautiful smile in a year or less.

Boy was I wrong, my surgeon noticed so many things about my jaw as soon as he went in, that I had no idea weren't normal. He told me that I had an open bite and deviated septum. Because of that, I have been breathing through my mouth the past 19 years, preventing my jaw from growing properly, over exerting the muscles in my chin to try and close my lips, and not chewing correctly.

Well, there went my one year plan.