1 Year

Right before. With glue still on teeth. Polished Teeth.

SURPRISE! I GOT MY BRACES OFF!!!! 364 days after my double jaw surgery, I was freed from my metal mouth cage. I knew for a few weeks now, but I was trying to surprise my mother so I couldn’t let it slip on the blog. I am SO over the moon about this and I can’t even describe how happy I am with the results.

I went in the morning before I was scheduled to get them off because I had a very small, but a noticeable gap in between two of my teeth. I figured that if my braces were coming off the next day, I only had one day to make any last second tweaks. I knew how easily my teeth move, so I just had them throw a power-chain across the front and it closed the gap up almost instantly.

I went in the next morning, OH WHAT A GLORIOUS MORNING. I’ve heard it can be painful to get braces off, but it was really nothing compared to everything else I’ve endured these past two years. Once they popped the brackets off, they took a good 30 minutes to grind all the glue off and polish my teeth. I was super worried that I would have really yellow teeth, or yellow teeth with weird white spots where the brackets were, but that wasn’t the case. I was very pleased with how white my teeth were considering how much they’ve been through. Obviously, I’m still planning on whitening them a little more, but it’s nice to be able to smile confidently right away. After they had polished everything, I went back for retainer impressions. I hadn’t had to bite into that goop since I had braces the first time around (age 10). Then they sent me to the lab again to get final scans and my “after” picture for the wall of smiles.

I came back at about 3pm to pick up my retainer. The top fit

gloriously, but I had to take new impressions because the bottom one didn’t fit for some reason. The next morning I went back and picked up my bottom retainer and I was finally set. I have to wear it for 18 hours a day for a few months to really make sure my teeth are staying in their place, but then I can move to just at night.

AH IM JUST SO HAPPY! This is the best Christmas present that I could ask for. During the few days leading up to Christmas, I kept having flashbacks to how miserable I was exactly a year ago from whatever moment I was in. I remembered how on Christmas Eve I literally thought I was going to die because I felt so weak and hadn’t eaten in three days. I almost made my mom take me back to the hospital. Today I laughed about it (well kinda, it's still kinda too soon, so we like cringe laughed and were grateful that it was over). It made me really grateful to be past it all and moving on with my life.  The only thing I really have left is my final appointment with my surgeon. He may or may not want to get rid of my chin dimple. We’ll see. I can take it.

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive throughout this whole journey. Before and After pictures coming soon!

11.5 Months

*sheepishly sneaks back, avoids the fact I haven't kept up with the blog and was MIA for 4 months*

I'm just gonna jump back in. I still have braces. My birthday passed, Thanksgiving passed, and I still have metal in my mouth. ALSO, it has been quite an interesting few months.

I went in at the beginning of October and I was told that they wanted to implement a "slingshot plan" on me. Like what even is that, right? I got a whole schpeel on what TAD's are (Temporary Anchoring Devices) and was shown a diagram of what they wanted to do to me (omg).

Mine was slightly different looking

Basically, they wanted to screw in two TAD's to the roof of my mouth, then attach a sling-shot shaped wire that would attach to two rubber bands, that would attach my front teeth and pull them back very slightly. I guess even though my teeth are straight, my front teeth were still 2mm or so, too far forward. Using this method, they could pull them into position without compromising the angle. Awesome concept, its proven to work, my orthodontist has done a million of them. So I said, okay fine. I've come this far I might as well. I scheduled my appointment and went in to get this done. Disclaimer: My description of this experience is not a dig at my orthodontist in any way. I'm just describing what happened to me personally. They numbed the roof of my mouth with a few shots which was fine; unpleasant but nothing major. Then they screwed the first screw in. I couldn't feel it, until the last couple turns. Since the screws were 8mm long they butted up against or may have pierced through my sinus cavity. I could feel the last couple of turns as it hit some nerve in my nose. It wasn't excruciating, but I started tearing up from the discomfort. Second screw goes in, same thing. Then he decided he didn't like the placement of the first screw, took it out, and put another one in. That sucked, more tears. Then it was another hour of keeping my mouth open (which is still hard to do even 11 months after surgery) while they glued, shaped, and attached the slingshot portion. Not a fun trip but I knew it had to be done and that it would help me. Two weeks go by, it's annoying and gets food stuck in it but it's not a huge deal.

Yep, you bet those came from my mouth.

UNTIL the morning that one of my rubber bands breaks. I freaked out. It was Saturday and I knew I wouldn't be able to see them for at least two days. So in fear that it would pull unequally on my teeth, I figured I should cut the other one off as well. I didn't think much of it, but called first thing on Monday morning. They were closed so I went in first thing Tuesday morning. I fully expected them to replace the rubber bands and send me on my way, but NO. With my luck, there was a slight problem. When I first got the screws in, my doctor described it like this: When you hang a painting on a wall, a very small nail can hold a large amount of weight perfectly fine. But once you take the painting off the nail, the nail comes out of the wall very easily. When I took all the tension of the rubber bands off of the screws, THEY STARTED COMING LOOSE. They told me the screws were too loose and they needed to take them out even though my teeth hadn't fully moved yet. Now this is the one part I wish would have been different. They removed the screws from the roof of my mouth without numbing me at all. It was extremely painful and it was made worse by the fear that they might have to re-do the entire procedure. But this time God smiled down on me and the doc told me we weren't going to put them back in. The holes healed up fine within a few days and didn't get infected or anything. (its the small victories)

Awww look at the gross yellow teeth :)

YIKES. I was mostly upset because I had to go through so much discomfort in such a short span, only to learn it hadn't worked all the way. I would love to be an advocate for this procedure, but I honestly didn't have the greatest experience with it. It has worked for many other people and extreme cases, I was of course just a rare case.

I got my next set of wires and was told to come back in a month. I had my most recent appointment last week. I was really hoping to get my braces off before the end of winter break but at this point I don't even care anymore. Originally I was only supposed to have them on 4-6 months after surgery. This is month 12...whats 2-3 more right? I still have two sets of sure smile wires left, but I might be able to skip straight to the last set next time. Even my younger siblings are getting their braces off before me. ugh. At least I don't have any extra contraptions in my mouth anymore. Just gotta wait it out. The finish line is in sight people!