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))