My new bite

When I bite down now, all of my front teeth no longer touch. It's so weird, all of my teeth touched before. Is this the crossbite being corrected? Boo!

Another Before Picture

I found this picture of my boyfriend and i from a couple of months ago... it's a good "before" photo!

Halloween

Dressed up as Red Riding Hood for Halloween.

When I see myself in pictures with other women, I can really notice some differences. The whole lower area of my face is so much... bigger. And there's no indentation from my cheeks to the bottom of my chin.

Tension...

Okay, so there really isn't much pain now so much as I just feel the urge to gnaw on things constantly! All that tension in my mouth is awkward; I keep sucking my teeth in to relieve it. As goofy as it is, I bought a teething toy for babies the other day, and it's so nice!

I've been trying to smile more now and be more confident with the braces... tonight at work a guest told me that I need to be more confident, and "embrace the braces.. no pun intended." har har har.

And the best part: i can eat more foods now! yay! ...and this isn't even bad--i'm going to be so bummed when my jaw is wired shut. :)

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Ow, ow, ow

I've made it to the third day, and I'm a total baby!

Coupled with the wisdom tooth pain, my teeth are really bugging me! I've only really been able to suck the flavor out of solid foods, or just barely nibble on them until they're soft and small enough to swallow.

I'm starting to get used to the feeling of having them in, although everytime I sit down to eat my brain wants to automatically reach in and take the braces off before putting food in my mouth. Putting lipstick on is hard too--I can't rub my lips together without a lot of effort.

I was very worried about being made fun of at work, but everyone was pretty grown up about it. I guess it's just me not being able to let go of being made fun of for my jaw in grade school.

I went to a Halloween party last night and got a few pictures, I'll post them when I find the cord to my camera.

On another note, getting food stuck in these babies is a real pain! :) Also, my cheeks are getting destroyed! I've used the wax a few times, but I brush my teeth so much that I keep accidentally brushing the wax right off.

Shontell asked a couple posts back if I have a surgery date yet. My orthodontist told me that we would worry about that a little further down the road, when I was closer to being ready for surgery. Is this a good idea? He said that he has a few surgeons that he has worked with in the past for me to consider.

Thank you to everyone who leaves comments and links me; I appreciate everything!

They're so on

This is from the 26th--I haven't had internet!

Well, it's done!

I was worried that they'd have to postpone the appointment--I have massive, painful swelling going on in the right side of my mouth due to a wisdom tooth that decided to start breaking through my gums a couple of days ago. Dr. Arango (ortho) told me to ask the dentist if I should have the wisdoms out when I went in for my cleaning about a week ago, and the dentist said he wanted to call Dr. Arango to discuss it…but that never happened. Sooo, I had to endure those huge plastic pieces that held my mouth open as they dug right into my inflamed gums. Ow.

After eating lots of popcorn and gooey candy yesterday, I figured I was ready for my appointment this morning to be banded. Other than the pain of my wisdom tooth, getting the braces on was only slightly uncomfortable. I wasn’t really sure what the ortho. assistant was doing in my mouth for awhile, and I couldn’t really ask J When she told me to go brush my teeth and come back to put the wires in, I couldn’t keep my hands out of my mouth! The braces are so foreign and big!! I feel like I can barely hold my lips over my teeth, and I’m even having trouble speaking clearly. I’ve been so focused on researching the surgery that I haven’t really looked into or thought much about the braces. I forgot that the brackets and everything would be crooked at first and then straighten themselves out, so that’s a little weird to look at in the mirror!
I cried when I got home and saw my reflection; the braces make my face stick out even more! I always felt like having nice teeth drew people’s eyes away from my jaw, and now the braces draw more attention to it. I can’t wait until this is all finished!
I haven’t tried to eat anything yet, except for a yogurt. Will it be hard to chew?
Also, I just realized that I can’t bite my nails anymore…I can no longer grip them between my teeth! So long to that bad habit! J
My next appointment is January 10th. Will the brackets have straightened out by then?

Anyway, now for pictures…
I apologize for the bad quality, I was taking these in the bathroom with my camera phone (I swear I’m not that pale in real life, haha!). I’ll have better pictures someday when I buy batteries for my digital camera.
Okay, here are the pics from this morning, before I had the braces put on:






And then after:







And up close:





And that's that! Now off to watch the World Series!

Brace Face?

I have a little over a week until the braces, and I'm so nervous!

I find myself staring at the couple of girls in my classes who have them, and this feeling of dread washes over me every time. Two years of braces? Two years? At this point that seems like a lifetime. I'll have braces on my 21st birthday!

I keep running my tongue over my teeth... so smooth! So white! So straight!


I'm having a hard time convincing myself that it's worth it right now...