November progress (14 months)

All right! It's taken me a good couple of hours but I am finally back on track with these updates! It's mid-December now, but there is such little change from month to month that I'll post a couple of November shots, including one without my teeth showing so you can see how my jaws fit together now.

This first photo is a classic comparison shot, definitely the most impressive one to date! I cannot believe that my mouth looked like that 14 months ago. I cannot believe it at all. 

And check it out, no swelling! No underbite! Normal face!

Like I said earlier, it's mid-December now. My orthodontist thinks that I could get my braces off late January - March at the latest. I'm not getting my hopes up because I know that orthodontists are infamous for leaving braces on months after they said they'd take them off, and as long as my teeth are beautiful by the end I am happy.

<3

Progress during October (13 Months!)

Here, have some progress shots for the month of October, 13 months since my braces were put on:

Nothing new to report, recovered from surgery fully and just excited that every day is a day closer to getting them off! 

<3

ONE YEAR! (September 2015)

In September 2015 I finally hit the one year mark of braces. I say 'finally' but I don't really mean it - it has actually gone so fast! Maybe because the progress was so fast, so much faster than I thought it would be, and I became so happy with my appearance that having braces barely bothered me. In saying that, I'd much rather not have them, of course, and cannot wait to get them off!

I'm so happy with my teeth now! I can still see lots of tiny imperfections if I choose to really scrutinise them but they don't bother me, I'm happy that my teeth close together and are almost perfectly straight! The above photo was taken one month after surgery. 

<3

 

Post-operation - I got lucky with the swelling!

So my jaw operation was in mid-August, and these following shots were taken in late August. The first two weeks were the hardest, not being able to eat, talk, really move around much without getting a nosebleed or lightheaded, I couldn't even put a jumper on without help... and I would have multiple bouts of depression, self-hate, I'd feel ugly... no, hideous... but that's all part of it and I expected to feel that way. At no point in time did I regret the operation. 

Okay, so my face didn't change too much. My cheekbones, which were already high, got higher and my top lip is now more pronounced. 

Now that the swelling has gone down completely, I am able to feel some of the titanium in my face when I touch it. Mainly on each side of nose underneath my eyes, and sometimes when I lie on my boyfriend's chest or rest my head against his arm he complains that my earring is sticking into him - I don't wear earrings, so it must be some of the metal in my face. 

It will stay in there forever, the titanium. Unless I start to feel lots of sensitivity, then they can do something about it, but so far it hasn't bothered me whatsoever.

<3

JAW SURGERY TIME!

Okay. Here we go.
It honestly feels as though my entire life has been building up to this moment. The moment when a bunch of surgeons replace my upper jaw with a piece of titanium which will let my teeth for together.
I wasn't nervous, I was excited. I was a little anxious that my face would change drastically and/or I wouldn't recognise myself (and there were a few days there when I couldn't, not really), but for the most part I was absolutely ready to accept and embrace any facial changes because not being able to close my mouth was Hell. 
So, let's take a look.
We've checked out enough of my 'before' shots so you should know what my underbite and face looked like before this day and I'm not going to bore you and post more of those photos here, so if you like you can always scroll back a bit through my blog to compare.

This first photo was taken the afternoon after my operation that morning. A lot of blood. Like a lot, a lot more than I had anticipated. And a lot less swelling. But a lot of blood. I had a constant nosebleed and the blood would coagulate and dry into solid balls and I would need to clear them to breathe (as my mouth was banded shut), and then the bleeding would start again. This went on for days in hospital and out of hospital.

I was on a lovely combination of morphine, endone and tramadol so my memory of my four-day hospital stay is a bit foggy. 
Luckily I have a great boyfriend (who, at this stage, I'd only been with for three months) who stayed every day and as long as the nurses would allow into the night and cleaned my face every few minutes, as shown below.

From this...

To this <3

The swelling peaked pretty quickly, and I hated my reflection. I was very puffy and my nose was very swollen:

My recovery was fairly quick though. I was even able to give a teensy smile on my third or fourth day in hospital: 

A lot of dried blood on my teeth, as you can see, and very thick rubber bands (that you can also see) prevented me from opening my mouth whatsoever. I was taking all of my pain relief and antibiotics through a drip and on my third and fourth day in hospital I was required to "eat" sustenance (those awful gritty and powdery protein drinks that take like citrus medicine). I had to do this through a syringe which my boyfriend fed through a tiny gap in my teeth like a thread in the eye of a needle. 

About a week following the surgery I was able to take this comparison shot to detail the difference in my bite:

And around the 2 week mark post-surgery, all the bands had snapped and I had free range of movement, even if not full range. I was on a non-chew diet for a month and even now, four months after this operation, I still have difficulty biting into hard things. This is mostly due to my top teeth not being sharp enough yet (as before now my bottom teeth had done all the initial biting), but chewing is no problem. Actually, it's better than it's ever been, even with braces. My mouth is like a blender and I can't wait to see how much easier chewing is when my braces come off (which will be in 1 - 3 months!)

<3

Progress from July 2015 - One month until Jaw Surgery!

Again, some more 'confident with smiling now' shots. These were taken in July, and jaw surgery is just one month away from this point in time! I had the surgical hooks positioned at this stage. They weren't as uncomfortable as people (my orthodontist and opinions on the internet) had made me believe. They actually didn't bother me at all. You can see one of them (just) in the bottom black and white photo, on my top front tooth - hint: It looks like a little bit of food. 

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Progress during April 2015 (7 Months)!

I'd begun to learn how to position my mouth at this stage to hide my underbite, which is still very much present. The trick, I'd discovered, was to completely hide my bottom row of teeth.

And can I just say, it was around this time that my confidence began to soar through the roof. I left a toxic relationship that I had been previously too scared to abandon and had the self esteem to go out and meet somebody new. I felt attractive enough to do that, even with an underbite and braces on my teeth! That's how much of a profound effect braces have had on my life. 

<3

6 Months! (Progress from March 18, 2015)

Another fun comparison shot! This one is drastic. 6 months in and my entire top row of teeth have shifted an incredible amount! And this is just 6 months in! Magic!

Jaw surgery is looming at this stage, taking place exactly 5 months from the date that this photo was taken, so stay tuned for more insane progress posts!

<3

Progress from January 27, 2015 - Day 127!

Right, next progress shot that I've pulled from my very-consistent documenting on Facebook coming right up, and it's a fun little comparison one.

Even though the progress here doesn't compare whatsoever to my current progress there is no doubt that my teeth have shifted a lot from their original position. Especially those sharp canine teeth of mine! 

<3

Progress from January 6, 2015 - 15 weeks with braces

Oh my god. OH MY GOD. 
I am so sorry! I cannot believe that it has almost been a YEAR since I have posted! So much has happened to me in this last year and I just kept putting it off! End of a relationship, beginning of a new relationship, moving, death, University, teaching practicum and, of course, JAW SURGERY... 
But don't worry, I've documented everything on my Facebook so now it's just a matter of going back and uploading all of the progress shots onto this blog!
So let's take a step back in time to January 6, 2015, when I took this progress shot...

This was taken at 15 weeks and now that I have had the jaw surgery and am fully recovered my underbite seems so profound in all of my past photos! I'm going to move right along to the next post now as there is so much progress - A YEAR'S WORTH - to cover! Even though it'll take me all afternoon I think the progress timeline is important - the journey and not the destination sort of thing. 

<3