Week Seven!

Week seven has arrived (yesterday but is this really surprising any more) and so has Christmas holidays! A wonderful sixteen days away from school and I can eat most of the Christmas goodies!

Thank GOD I healed far enough in time for this! I can't even imagine Christmas without the food, hahaha!

Anyway, I had my first cleaning today and to be quite honest it didn't make my teeth feel any cleaner than they were even though I told the dentist it felt 'way better'. In all honesty it was more uncomfortable than usual for a bit afterwards because I don't know what it is with dentists but they seem to have no regard whatsoever about how what they do in the sensitive area of your mouth hurts you. ESPECIALLY with someone who still isn't completely healed from major jaw surgery ! She kept resting her hand on my chin while she worked and I had to keep reminding her that, ya I had genioplasty so my chin sort of idk HURTS WITHOUT THE ADDED PRESSURE BUT THANKS. 

Anyway I don't have to go back for three months so it'll be much easier of an ordeal by then. I also went to my orthodontist and I got the bracket on the front reattached sonce it ha come loose, and the tooth subsequently began to shift ((after just a few days, I really don't get how braces work! How do they stop the teeth from shifting?? I know a lot of people wear retainers afterwards but They don't seem that secure. I'm not an orthodontist though so who knows)) 

Anyway, a bracket on my back molar. came off too but they didn't even try to reattach it yet. I can't open super wide as you can see in the picture below, but I've been doing little exercises. My dentist told me to ut two fingers between my teeth (like on top of each other) for ten minutes each morning and night.  I thought that seemed a bit extreme time wise but whatever I'll give it a go (probably won't be ten minutes). 

Anyway my ortho says I don't have to wear elastics anymore which was a huge surprise as most of the blogs I've read had to wear them for a long time after surgery! Not that I'm complaining!! He hasn't said anything about estimated brace removal time though. 

Chewing has been so wonderful, I've been eating all kinds of stuff. EveN crackers and some pretty hard stuff. It takes some time to eat but it's worth it! 

I do have one concern that I forgot to bring up with him though and idk if it would be hos concern or the surgeons, but my teeth on the left side don't set together if that makes any sense. On the right side I bite down my molars touch each othet but on the other side it's likr open, there's a space there ((at least on the inside. Onthe outside both sides look pretty much the same)). I see my surgeon again  in January so I'll ask about it then. It isn't a huge deal, but idk. 

I was at my moms friends house the other night for a winter camping meeting, and a few people there I had never met and we got talking about the surgery. They said I still sort of look swollen enough to either be in recovery from wisdom teeth or just to have a fat face. But i showed them a picture of my before and they all agreed I look A LOT. different. The girls at thw ortho said I look like a totally different person especially with new glasses! It is a bit hard to hear people agree that my jaw and chin loomed bad back before because it's proving the fears of my pre surgery life, but at the same time it's reassuring that the change has been so good and worth it after all of the suffering!!

I mean One of the girls I work with and who trained me during a few shifts didn't even recognize me and asked if I was new!

I looked back on some old pictures and I just can't even remember that life anymore it's like I'm looking at someone completely different. The girl in the pictures was someone who covered her jaw/chin whenever possible, especially while laughing. Whenever I could have a hand over it without it looking like an awkwar position it was there. I spent most of my time worrying that the people around me and who I was speaking to was just focusing on my jaw. Now I'm so much different! I still have the typical teenage self concious things but I haven't had the urge to cover my face or anything! In fact I'm proud of my jaw now! I may not be beautiful, but I love my new jaw and I'm content with the way I look now. I'm in proportion, and that's what matters! 

Anyway. Christmas awaits and I must be off to pursue important endeavors such as lying around and doing absolutely nothing!! Merry Chrismas and Happy Holidays to everyone! My eight week mark will be Christmas Day isn't that an exciting milestone celebration :D

 

((extremely unflattering angle/pose but this is how wide I can open))

Week Six!!!! Splint No more!

So technically week six was Wednesday but since I got my splint off on Thursday I decided to extend the post by a day (so this time it was on purpose)

Anyway, as I said: MY SPLINT IS GONE!! 

The process of removing it was rather uncomfortable, and even though I tryst that he wouldn't do anything to potentially harm my jaw it still sort of freaked me out. I had to open as wide as I could and he had a metal thing to keep my lip stretched open, which dug into the bag of my mouth and really hurt. Still, it only last a minute or two and it was sooo worth it. 

At first it was totally disgusting since food had been stuck in it for so long. That iky taste you have in your mouth for the first few days was back for a moment with all the gross old food. I rinsed my mouth of a lot though ((then came home and brushed for a LOOOOONG time hahaha)) and the roof of my mouth felt odd and wrinkly but I got used to it. 

I also got the ok to start chewing again so I tried to chew my lasagna, which was really weird. You know when you chew your lower jaw usually moves from aide to side? Well I can't do that well, and wen i do t's a little uncomfortable and weird. The food also gets stuck between my bite because I guess my tongue or whatever forgets that it has to bring it back so I have to like tip it in I guess hahah. Chewing again is so great though. 

I won't see my oral surgeon for another month now, basically from this point on I'm back to orthodontist orders. My one bracket on the front tooth has come loose so that needs fixing, and a few of my teeth have been shifting so they aren't as straight :( I see him on Tuesday, just in time for week seven! I can't believe how much time has gone by now it's incredible!! 

I also went to my first swim team practice of the year! Try started back in November but I couldn't actually close my lips back then so haha. They just had ameet yesterday   though so it was an easy practice. Still it wore me out pretty good! I haven't done alot of physical activity in weeks! It also didn't feel weird on my face. Actually, it was really nice to jump back into the water!! I just wish I could have done hockey too. 

My world issues class is having a pizza Christmas party next week and I just sort of sat there like 'Well i can't actually eat...' and the whole class look at me as they remember and they felt so bad! But i assure them it was alright, I was the one who wanted the surgery after all! My teacher said he would go to Dairy Queen just to get me a milkshake though hahah He is honestly the best teacher i have ever had. He just dropped my assignment altogether and gave me a really easy test alternative for the one I missed!  

Anyway, even though I'm still a tad swollen (hopefully the double chin is swelling because sorry but I really don't want one hahah) and the numbness is still present in my chin, lower right lip an gums (and I think roof of my mouth I can't fully tell) I'm happy at this point (maybe it's the Christmas spirit!) 

I still look in the mirror and pick out things I'm not liking but you know what, it is a million times better than before. You can't change what you look like so suck it up hahaha.  Anyway, for a plus I'm getting new glasses that look nice on me for a change and also hats don't look that bad on me either!! Or sunglasses! Yay!! 

Well, hope you're all living wonderful lces (: see you next week! 

my one tooth at the front is moved back a little. and my chin looks funny, but maybe I just don't really know what it's supposed to look like anyway hahaha 

Week Five!

Lalalala hello jaw people I am here wriin to you on the actual day of the fifth week, amazing!

Plus I have a splint removal date! It's coming off next Thursday, plus on the day before that I get nee glasses so it should be a fun week hahah. My swelling is going down soooo slow now though but there is definitely more to go. My numbness is still exactly the same as last week sadly but hey it's only been a month so I'm not worried yet. 

I've been venturing into different foods. I even swallowed pieces of chocolate cake (they got stuck in my braces though so that part wasn't fun) But ya really anything I can fit in there and swallow hole works! Can't wait til chewing though   

Dr Barr says everything is looking really great though, just the way it's supposed to so that's uplifting :) 

I'm going to try to start swimming again next Monday too so we'll see how that goes, but unfortunately he says I shouldn't try hockey until next year which sucks but I don't want to risk my jaws safety! I never want to go through this again!! 

Anyway there isn't too much to report except that we're gearing up for Christmas and I can hardly eat any of the good yet UGH. I better be able to eat by the time true Christmas rolls around or I swear....

Anyway, here are my week five pictures. See you next Wednesday! xx