Happy teeth! :)

I have kept you waiting, I know, but here is the picture update.
First, I took my camera along to the orthodontist and took these pictures to document the change that has been made in these years. I chose a picture taken without flash, cause those taken with would have made you blind, :D
On the left: "Before" braces and surgery. Yikes, looking at my old teeth, they look freaky...lol Middle: "During" the process, before surgery. You can see my bite opened up even more as they moved my teeth. On the Right: "After" Surgery done, and braces removed.. Lovely :)

Before, from the right. My upper jaw was yet a bit more in front of the lower than the picture shows though.

During, from the left. My teeth looked a whole lot better, but this was my bite though. As you can see only the teeth in the back made contact.

After, from the right. Teeth usable for both chewing and biting.

Today I had a granny smith apple, and I was so happy when I ate it. I could take big bites out of it, instead of just gnawing with my upper teeth.

Okay, so I tryed to smile fore the camera. A bit forced smile, trying to show off my teeth. Not perfect, but a whole lot better.

Showing off a little more.. Okay, now I just have to get get em bleeched, lol.

So apart from this joy, how have I been feeling?

My gumbs are still numb on my upper jaw.. it still tingles on and around my lips on the right side, sich makes kissing my fiance very ticklish..

My jaws feel.. "tired" a lot. And my upper jaw still doesn't feel natural.. like it's protesting it's new location. The fact that my upper lip has become shorter on the inside annoys me. I find myself trying to stretch it out sometimes.

I'm hoping these things will get better with time, or maybe I'll just learn to live with it.

After all, I AM happy I went through with this!

2 more weeks

2 more weeks til my braces come off. You can bet I'm excited.

I am sorry that I haven't updated in a while. After my last update, our computer one day decided to not start anymore, wo I went a long time without computer and ability to update my blog or visit my online friends blogs. Now it has all been taken care off.
I'm supposed to be wearing elastics only at night now, but I'm ashamed to admit I keep forgetting. I brush my teeth and go to bed, then remember in the morning that I've forgotten. I got the midlines together long ago, and they're staying that way, but I know I should play it safe and not cheat.

I still feel tingling when ever I touch my bottom lip, and therefore also when I kiss my fiance. If he hasn't shaved in a few days it can be uncomfortable.. I hope it won't stay rhis way.
My upper jaw still hasn't regained feeling. My gums are numb, so I still have to be careful when I brush my teeth. There's not really much going on with my teeth right now, but in a couple of mre weeks I'll be getting my braces off, and I look forward to updating after that.

Orthodontist appointment yesterday

So yesterday i saw my orthodontist again. This time I got new elastics. During the day I wear two, one on each side. During night I wear one in the fron to keep my bite closed. This is kinda difficult since I'm still having trouble breathing through my nose when I lie down.
When he put the first elastic on I went "ooooouuuch".. The left side of my jaw hurt bad from the pulling. So he changed to one that doesn't pull as much, I'll be getting the other kind in 5 weeks when I'm hopefully more adjusted.

Anyway I got some really good news. I figured I'd be rid of my braces after the summer some time, but now I'm told they will most likely be removed well before the summer. Wohoo!!! I am sooo looking forward to that.
When this is all done I will probably want to go and get my teeth whitened too, the only thing left to feel unhappy about is the yellow shade. But I can't give up coffee, tea and red wine..

4 weeks update, with pictures

Finally I'm able to show a couple of pictures of my progress. Or really, I can't believe I actually dare show them, haha...
I look and feel "okay" right now, but I'm still far from "normal".

This is my profile a couple of days after surgery. Swollen and bruised...

Profile now, 4 weeks after. Looks a lot better, especially under my chin. Still a bit swollen, especially my cheeks in the area around my nose.

Front a couple of days after surgery. Yikes I look tired.. and so I was.

Heres the front now, 4 weeks after. I think my face looks kind of crooked.. maybe partly that the swelling is uneven, but I think it looks less crooked and feels better if I don't wear the rubberbands that are supposed to keep my lower jaw in the right place. But if I don't wear them, my teeth don't come together the way they should.

This was how I looked when I woke up to find half my face had swolled up again. I could barely open my left eye. This was when I was put on antibiotics for the second time.

This is my bite right now. I notice in this picture I'm struggling against the rubberbands, trying to keep my jaw where it feels more natural, but then the midlines don't come together.

But still, looking at this picture I think "WOW".. you should have then what it looked like before...

3 weeks, 2 days

Hey, I'm feeling great.

No more antibiotics. I'm now able to open my mouth about two fingers wide, which I couldn't only a week ago, so it's yet another sign of improvement. I got clearance from my OS to practice opening and closing as well as moving my jaw from side to side, so I've been doing that a lot.

Oh, and the sense of touch is coming back to the right side of my face. Slowly, but it's progressing. I just pinched myself in various spots where I couldn't feel pain last time I posted, but now it did hurt a bit in all places.

Oh sweet progress :-) Easy to forget about how I felt the first week after surgery.

Getting better

First, I saw my orthodontist yesterday. He was surprised to see that my neck is still bruised, cause usually when patients come back after two weeks it will be gone. I don't know.. maybe it just takes me longer to heal. Actually it doesn't look that bad anymore, but for these first couple of weeks I've been concerned about what people that see me might think. Perhaps they imagine I'm beeing abused by my fiance... :-/

Anyway he was also very pleased with the results from my surgery, and seems convinced that the remaining gap in between my jaws in the front is something that he'll be able to fix. With the miracles he's done to my teeth so far, I trust him completely.
Right now I have two rubber bands keeping my jaws closed training them to bite right. I wear them as much as I bare.. but take them out when I need to eat, or when I'm just too tired..

When I woke up this morning my face was still swollen. My left eye was half closed because of it, and yet again i could not breathe through my nose. During the day finally I've become less swollen. My OS suspects I might have sinusitis and that is what has made me worse. I have been given antibiotics to last three more days and will be going back again on monday to see if I'm better then.

I had the stitches removed in my mouth today. It wasn't supposed to hurt so I tryed to relax. But then it stinged just enough to make tears start running from my eyes and then it becamse more difficult to relax. It wasn't comfortable.. but not all that bad either. And it did feel good to get rid of them.

I wonder now how long it will take before I start feeling normal.
I can't feel the palate in my mouth, which brings out some of the joy I feel about beeing able to eat softer foods. I can't feel my gumbs, which makes brushing difficult, not beeing aware of how hard I'm pressing the brush. The right side of my nose, lips and chin are numb still. I can feel when something touches it, but not what or how hard. On some spots I can't even feel hot or cold.
My OS pinched me with a pair of tweezers, and I thought he was just touching lightly.
I know it has only been a little over two weeks, but I'm feeling anxious to get the sense of touch back.
I sometimes get the tingling sensation. The worst is when I feel an itch, and reach my hand out to itch it, and it does nothing...

I guess all I can do is wait and keep healing.

Still swollen :-(

This is the third day of antibiotics, second time around. Good news is, Dalacin has given me no side-effects so far. No nausea or anything.
Bad news is, it has had no effect either... I'm still just as swollen as I was two days ago. I was told it would take about three days, but I was hoping for at least some improvement.
Last night I made a facial mask with cucumber, to cool my face, and it felt so good. Kept cool for a bit longer than wet towels.

Today I have an appointment with my orthodontist, and tomorrow with my OS to get the stitches removed. Wish me luck...