Milestone: One Month!

One month down! Thanks to uni and work keeping me on my toes, it's gone fairly quickly. Slowly progressing to soft foods but at a very slow rate as my teeth still don't touch and I keep having to swallow things whole which obviously is not good for my belly. Weight loss is fairly consistent, and I'm hovering just under the 50kg mark. I feel like my left canine (the right in this photo) has moved down just a fraction compared with my other photos and that the tooth that is partly behind my top right tooth (the left in this photo) is slowly moving out.

Progress shot: One month!

Just a quick post today because it's exam time and I'm getting slammed.

<3

Day 20: Post-Wisdom Tooth Extraction

Day 20! I will have had braces for three weeks tomorrow. Now that I think about it, it's moved pretty quickly. The first two weeks dragged but I don't even notice my braces anymore, except when I see myself in a reflection or look in a mirror - then I'm all up in my own grill examining them for issues!
So I got my wisdom tooth out as scheduled yesterday, pretty awful time but it's out now and that's all that matters. My last remaining wisdom tooth (I thought I had two left to get out, both the top ones, but apparently I only have one) is so far up, underneath my eye socket, that it will probably never cause me any worry and they may not even be able to take it out in the surgery because it's so inaccessible, so that's good (I guess)!
Anyway, I had my first wisdom tooth out earlier this year and while the pain was pretty terrible, I didn't have any swelling. This time, though, it took them a lot longer to get the tooth out (about half an hour) so I have a bit of swelling this time...

Post-wisdom tooth extraction swelling

It looks like I'm puffing one of my cheeks up with air! Or that I have a golf ball hidden in my mouth. I also look about 14 in this photo because I'm not wearing any makeup and I haven't brushed my hair (I'm 22), so just ignore that. But anyway, it's not as painful as it looks because I'm on 1-2x panadeine forte, 1-2x nurofen zavance and 1x antibiotic (metronidazole) every six hours, so I'm a bit numbed up! I can't open my mouth very wide (I have to eat my soup with a teaspoon, tablespoons and soup spoons are too big and I can't open my mouth enough). 

Apparently after jaw surgery, older patients swell less and bruise more, and younger patients swell more and bruise less. I think I'm on the cusp of being an older patient so I don't know if I'll swell more or less or bruise more or less. If this is anything to go by, I think I'll swell a fair amount!

<3

Day 17: It Just Takes Some Time.

Day 17. I'd like to think that time is going quickly - after all, it's been almost three weeks -  but I just can't see much change. I know, I know. I'm not even supposed to see any change yet. I can't really explain it, it just feels like there's so much going on in my mouth that something should be happening. Oh well, early days. Very early days, actually. When I get my braces tightened for the first time on November 3rd, 2014, I'll ask my orthodontist how long he predicts that I'll have braces before having my jaw surgery. I am far too scared to ask in case he says, like, over 2 years! Because after the surgery I'll still have braces for awhile, so I have got it into my head that I'll have them for like 3 years and I wouldn't be surprised at all if that's the case. I keep trying to compare my progress shots to each other and I think I can see a slight difference between then and now?

Day 1

Day 17 (today)

I don't know, it's hard for me to tell. I really want to say "YES! ALL THE CHANGE!" But I really cannot decide if there is much, or any. Also, the photos are quite different to each other (Day 1 is of a partly closed mouth... well, as much as I can close my mouth, anyway; Day 17 is a partly open mouth). Have some of those teeth moved forward from behind my top front teeth? I cannot tell! Argh!

Anyway, that's enough for now. My wisdom tooth comes out tomorrow so eating will be even more fun, I didn't think that was possible.

<3

Day 11: Smiling Progress Shot

I know that I haven't properly smiled in any of my 'before' or 'progress' shots up until now, and it's for a couple of reasons. The first is that I wanted to show all of my teeth so a better picture is painted for everyone following my journey, the second is that my lips are cracked and chapped more often since having braces (I think it's worse the more that I talk, and it kind of just feels like sunburn)... so smiling hurts, and the third is that I actually do not know how to smile naturally with my teeth because I've always been so self-conscious of them and have always smiled with my lips together. Seriously, I actually had to practice in the mirror to take this shot!

Day 11

Obviously there are a number of issues with my teeth (and bite!) in this photo. As I can't bite down at all anymore, that gap between my top and bottom rows of teeth (as can be clearly seen between my top and bottom front teeth in this photo) is consistent throughout my mouth. The second issue(s) (that I cannot wait to be rectified) are the teeth on either side of my top teeth. They are considerably far back, even partly (well, mostly) behind my top front teeth) and brushing them with braces on is more difficult than ever. I really can't wait for them to come out from behind my top front teeth! Also, my canine teeth are substantially high as well. I can't even imagine them moving down to align with my other teeth! It really would be a dream come true.

Still no pain, barely any pressure. I worked today for the first time since having my braces on (I work like 5-10 hours a week in a shoe store while I'm at uni) and I think that's why my lips are extra raw today.

<3