Day 140 --- My braces are off!

Unexpectedly, last Tuesday, I got my braces off! Wow! I can't believe it.

How this happened:
I had an appointment with orthodontic dentist as usual. I thought he's going to tweak some more, because he mentioned that he's going to change my wire to thinner one.

Then as he checked me, he said, "they look perfect! Let's take off braces!"
"Really?" I said.
"Yes. Finally I'm happy with how they look." He said.
"Okay..." I was a little thoughtful if that's a good idea or not.
"Well, think about it for couple of minutes." and he check other patients.

I went over to look at mirror and checked myself. I guess I like the look.
My teeth look more or less straight. What else can he do?

So I said yes to it, and now I'm braces free! Yay!

Of course, that took a good 45 minutes to take off braces, cleaning it, making
impressions for retainer and so on.

Plus, since my jaw was still a little tilted, (he fixed by moving teeth), some of my teeth on
one side are too long. So I asked him to trim them to look even with the other side.
And he did a great job for that.

I had another appointment after, so I went back to pick up my retainer next day.

My teeth feel good.
Now I can brush better, and things won't stuck between my braces.
I can bite better, although first couple of days, my teeth were very sensitive from
taking out all those rings and stuff.

How do I look?
Well, I will share the picture sometime soon.

I'm still getting used to not having braces and new shapes of my face.
My smile is okay. I'm getting there. My husband commented that "you are back!"
as if I was gone somewhere. I guess I didn't look the way I was supposed to.
Some people didn't change much of the look while they are wearing braces, but
not me.

I'm pretty happy about the result, and I'm happy my orthodontic dentist worked hard to make it right.

Day 132 --- Orthodontic Trick is Great!

Only three days since I went to orthodontic dentist for final adjustment. And it's looking great.
My teeth now look straight! Thanks to bending wire trick. No wonder he said "that's not my concern."
He knew that he could fix it easily. I was so worried!!!

What's happening now is to close open bite, moving lower jaw forward, upper teeth to tilt forward, and move slightly to the side and front. (are you following?)

Anyway, since my jaw is a little angled, even though teeth lined up, some parts are longer. I don't know how to explain. What needs to be done is to sand out some tips of my teeth, then they will look perfectly straight and line up. I think the dentist is planning on it. I mentioned that I don't mind that my teeth to be sand out a little to match other side. He said my front two teeth are in different shape and size. So that will be fixed at the end.

I'm getting excited. My bites seem to be working. So, I guess he's right, I'm close to be done.

Before I feel good about this, I read some blog posts. Some people were considering to have the second surgery to be perfect. The responses from people said "you might be obsessed that only you see imperfection." I thought about it. That's probably true. Everyone has something not quite right, right? Only because I did surgery to fix it, I expected to be perfect.

I'm glad that orthodontic dentist could fix the rest of problems. I know that's not perfect, but I can be happy with.

Day 129 --- Almost there!

I had another dentist appointment today. We've been checking if my jaw was still moving, and it looked like it is settled. So today, he did some fine tune to my teeth.

I asked, "can you sand my tooth here to move the front teeth, so they look straight?"
I didn't mind at this point that my jaw is slightly tilted. What I care is how they look.
He said, "I can bend the wire."

How?

Well, he did this way, that way, and all.
He said he's trying to move bottom set of teeth to move forward, upper teeth to be out and in, to close the open bite. Then after that, he'll do fine tune for slight tilt part of front teeth.

Now I have rubber bands everywhere. There are two to hold front to back.
Then they added hooks. He put double rubber bands to make a square to fit front upper teeth and lower teeth. I cannot open my mouth. He gave me a lot of extra rubber bands, so I guess I could take them off to eat. But at the same time, I'm thinking that this might be a good chance to go back to liquid diet for a week, and lose some weight.

Anyway,
He said, "you are very close to be done."

Really?
I'm glad. I was really worried when I saw the tilted jaw.
But he worked the magic to fix in the way that I'm happy about.
They actually look good already. So I hope this works out, and everything will be good at the end!

Day 122 --- down time and up time

When I'm on the good mood, teeth look good and strait. But when I'm feeling low and in the bad mood, they look more tilted. Is it just physiological thing? If they are straight, though, no matter how I feel they should look straight. So I'm just trying to be okay with tilted set of teeth most of times. But today, I'm more tired and not feeling so good. So my teeth especially bother me.

Now I'm thinking, it wasn't because I ate French fries, but probably because I brushed my teeth too soon. I started Day 17. That's just past two weeks. The doctor didn't stop me, though. I just should had waited. I remember now that it was painful to open my mouth. Then I had to move brush between small space between my upper jaw and lower jaw. I think that did it. Somehow some point I must have pushed too much. Then that caused this shift. Yes. Call me stupid. That's how I feel. Why why why I didnt wait? First of all, I never imagine that the jaw would move like that. They are. bolted together. But then, like my orthodontic dentist explained, upper jaw is like Plastic Easter egg. Only if I knew.

Too late.

I just have to live with my own mistake and every time I look at my tilted teeth, I just know how stupid I am. Right? Great!

Sorry, I'm really downer today. I'd better stop writing.

Day 118 --- Getting better?

I had another dentist appointment today. This one is to check if my jaw is still moving without rubber bands. It's been one week since I went to the dentist, and it looked like stable. He said so, too. There is still small gap between my upper set of teeth and lower set of teeth. He said it's easy to put those teeth close together moving teeth. But he doesn't want to do it until he's sure that the jaw is stable. So that's what we are checking. This time, it will be for two weeks until the next appointment. I think after that, he may try to move my teeth to come close together. My teeth are lining up better, though. I think so and one of his assistant who hasn't seen me said that too. Last time she saw me was when I told the dentist my teeth are tilted. She said they look a lot better and she doesn't notice the tilt so much. Well,
"so much" is the point, isn't it? It's still there. But not so obvious. So if you don't know me and look at my teeth, you may not notice. That's what I'm hoping. There is a slight hope now. It looks like I don't have to live with huge tilt in my face. Non of faces are perfect, right? Everyone has little difference between left and right.

Anyway, I'm happy for now. It may take another couple of months before braces are off. But at least, the dentist try to make the best of it.

Day 116 --- Taste buds

Ever since the surgery, I have carvings for salty foods.
I always liked salty foods, but now unstoppable. I have to have some.
Maybe because inside my mouth is still numb, my taste buds seem to
want to feel stronger taste. I liked chocolate and sweets, too. But
I don't have cravings for sweets anymore. Strange. I guess the surgery
messed that things up, too.

Day 111 --- Interesting New Truth

I had an appointment with orthodontic dentist today. The result, no changes.

First, he asked me how I felt.
Well, I don't know. I'm just tired of wearing this braces not knowing
where this is going.
Then he checked. He said they look better. I think so too.
They lined up more or less. He said the bites are fine.
Okay what else??

He said, "If teeth stay the way they are now, you are done. But I don't know."
"How long should I wait?" I asked.
"It's kind of up to you," he answered.
"I could be done now. I'm getting tired of thinking." I said.
"Okay, then. Let's see if teeth move or not without rubber bands for a week or so,
if they don't move. That's good. You may be done." He said.

So this week, I will see if nothing moves or not without rubber bands.
I don't think they will. I pushed myself hard, and they don't go anywhere.

He had resident girl today, so he was explaining more details of what happened.
He said "yeah, her left side of face is smaller than the right side, so lower jaw is actually tilted."

WHAT?

LOWER JAW IS TILTED.

"and surgeon matched to what she had on the lower jaw, so naturally, it is tilted."
Thanks a lot. I noticed my nose isn't straight, and surgeon matched to my nose,
so now I have not only have bend nose, but also shifted teeth. The center of
teeth somehow matches to the center of my nose. But that's not center of my face.
Do you get it?

I know everyone has something. But isn't it too much?

He said "ideally, you should have had lower jaw extended to level."
It's too late now. I'm not going in again. I guess it wasn't sever case,
then they think it's too much to go through double jaw surgery.
So they decided without asking me the option. Well, I don't know if I
wanted to do the double jaw, probably not. But finding out later that things are
not perfect in the first place doesn't make you feel good.

So in the way, that's the best they can do.
Bites are fine, and as long as they don't move, they are good, even though
there is a slight tilt. I don't see the tilt as much as when I first found out.
So that's good. I can live with this. The dentist said the same thing,
"I can live with that," as long as they stay.

My advice to anyone who is going to have surgery, the trick is to know
your face WELL. They don't know anything. They just do routinely. If anything
happened, that's not them to live with it. I wish I knew that my nose isn't the
center of the face. I didn't look at my face that closely.

The other complain is that after the surgery, the second appointment I had with
this dentist had to reschedule, just because I had school stuff. Then, they
didn't put me in for extra 3 weeks. That's the long time. They might be busy,
but after surgery, things are time sensitive. If something happened, and they found
it sooner, there was better chance to recover. I feel that I wasted that
three weeks. By the time I saw my dentist, it was too late. It's been 6 weeks.

Now they see my problem, they put me in whenever I want. See? How world works?
I should had spoken up. If anyone faces the similar situation, please not be afraid
to tell what you think. Most likely you are right. You know what's best for yourself.

I will see what will happen this week, eat carefully, then go back to see him next week.

Day 106 --- ENT doctor appointment

Just to make sure if everything is okay, I went to see ENT doctor. The result, FINE. Good.
I have this on and off ear plugged situation. I don't know why. But the doctor said my tube is clear, and hearing test was normal. So just some after effect from the surgery and "it will heal in time." he said.
That's a relief.

Sudden ear pressure change

It happened around 3:30 p.m. My right ear, right, the ear I had problem with after the surgery started feel pressure, or muffled. I can still hear. But it is different. I don't know what is happening. Hope nothing serious. Someone told me to go to see a doctor right away. I wish I could. It is Saturday tomorrow.

I'm wondering... as my jaw moves (if it is moving) it might be disturbing my inner tube. Or worst case scenario is minor stroke inside my head.

Oh I just hate those post surgery complications!

Day 100 --- When to give up

This is me smiling, taken today. See you can still see it's not quite strait. 

But wait a minute. My nose isn't quite straight, either. When they did surgery, 

as they moved my upper jaw forward, tilted down, they also rotate a few 

millimeters to match the center of bottom teeth. Maybe that's why it looks 

"not straight." Over all, I think look tolerable now. No body has perfect 

symmetric face, right? 

Now, here is my worries. There is more gap between upper set of teeth and 

bottomset of teeth. It looks more straight than before, but at the same time, 

that made more gap. This picture is how they sit together. They don't go 

any closer. I remember that right after the surgery, both sets of teeth shut 

together perfectly. So obviously, this happened after that. After the shift. 

I don't know if this is the way it will be, or things will keep moving, although 

the part that we want to move doesn't move at all. 

My dentist appointment next is November 20th. I don't know what 

he will say. He wasn't happy how things are. I don't think he will happy to see this. 

But the question is that will he be ever happy about my teeth? I don't think so. 

Unless I'm wearing this braces FOEVER!  

I'm tired of braces. I want them off. I start not caring about this, although 

it bothers me, of course. I just want to forget about this. Because I'm wasting of 

my time worrying and complaining how things turn out. But there are more 

important stuffI have to take care of. I just wish I read all the blogs before 

the surgery. I didn't prepare myself enough. For the people who will have surgery 

in the future, good luck! and hope you won't have the same problem I had. 

Day 97 --- Over bite

My bites feel different everyday. I don't know if it's a good thing or not, if it's improving or messing up. I think my jaw is still slightly tilted. Just I don't notice as much as before. I may just got used to it. I don't know. One thing I noticed is over bite. When right after the surgery, my both jaws and teeth were completely shuts and met. Now I see gap between upper set of teeth and lower set of teeth. That might means that I may be starting to have over bite. AGAIN. What I'm afraid is that since my upper jaw was only touched small sections and screwed, does it come totally off from scull? As it moves off from scull, teeth will come forward, right? I hope this isn't the case. Because if that happens, for sure I will have to go back to do the surgery again. I don't know if I could go through the same thing again.

The other thing that I'm not happy about is the WIDE SMILE. The dentist thinks that's the good thing. But my face was skinny before. My chin points out nice triangle. But now, because my smile is wide, I feel my face is much bigger, or wider. My mouth is bigger for sure. Maybe I waisted all that money and time only to get more problems. If I was 20s, that might worth it. But I'm half way in 40s. I guess I was too late to care about this. Disappointed.

Day 90 (3 months) --- Orthodontic Dentist App

I had another orthodontic dentist appointment today. I was almost hoping to take out braces. Not because it solved the problem, but I was getting tired of it. I'm tired of wearing braces, I'm tired of thinking my jaw is tilted. I'm tired of why this is happening to me.

But unfortunately, it didn't happen. The dentist said it is improving a tiny bit, but not perfect. I was wondering in my head, "forget about being perfect. It won't happen." He said "I'm not worried about now or couple weeks from now, I'm worried about 2 years from now." Well, that doesn't sound good. The thing is, even we made some improvement, there is not guarantee that will stay that way. It already moved. There is a possibility of moving even more for worse.

What we did today was add another rubber band to pull straight down. So right now, I have two rubber bands that pulling one to the side, and one to straight down. I can feel a little pressure on my teeth. So hopefully this will improve some, so I could be done with it.

The truth is, my jaw is still tilted. It is very unfortunate. Maybe I pushed too hard to brush my teeth after a few weeks. I don't know. Only it is not as obvious as before, or so it seems. Maybe I just getting used to what looks like. Here is a picture I took today.

If you see the other picture, probably the wire line is getting a tiny bit even. 

I just want to believe so. Another three weeks, then he'll check again. 

I guess I'm not in a hurry, so see how this goes. The dentist comment, 

"if we pray really hard, that side might come down to make it even." 

Okay, let's pray now :) 

Day 82 --- Changes in bites

I'm not sure if my tilted jaw is moving or not. But I can feel something is changing. My bite on the right side is very tight, almost grinding teeth together. And now I feel left side is getting close to bottom teeth. I don't see diagonal line in my front teeth. So in a way, I'm happy that my tilted jaw isn't so obvious. At the same time, I'm not quite comfortable eating with these bites. I feel sore to eat. I don't know that's because my braces are too close to my cheek and bothering, or the bites. I will have my dentist appointment in a week. Maybe he could tell me what's going on.

Day 75 --- Adjusting Relapse

It's been a week since dentist visit. I'm not sure if rubber bands are working or not. However, I don't see too much diagonal line of two front teeth anymore. If I see it closely, I can still see right side is lower than the left. But the gap between the teeth might have been slightly smaller. I don't know hot the "right bite" feels like since I have never had one. How I feel is that right side I feel upper teeth and lower teeth touching. The left side, some of teeth are touching but not as tight as the right side. One thing I wonder is that my teeth on the left started scratching inside the mouth and kind of painful. It wasn't like that before. Does that mean my teeth are moving? My jaw is morning, too? It doesn't look like, but if that's the case, even though it will be impossible to be back to where they were right after the surgery, they might settle where I could tolerate. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Day 70 --- Jaw Relapse

Continued from yesterday. I've been wearing the rubber bands hoping this gap will close and bring the left side down so the angle of jaw will be straight. I think it is moving tiny bit. Because I could feel left side teeth are closer to the bottom teeth when I close my bite. The question is, how much this will move, and how long do I have to do this?

I think why this happened could be many factors, but probably my own fault. I started eating more or less around 33 days. That was only 4 weeks. I don't know why I didn't think that could mess up things. At that time, probably #1, I was getting tired of liquid diet. #2, when I was with someone, didn't want them to feel bad, so pretended I could eat normal, #3, jaw surgery in my head was DONE thing, and I didn't imagine whatever I was doing could affect it. Stupid!!!

If I only waited for couple more weeks! I spent all the time energy and money plus my family's help,
I totally messed that up! There is not many people like me is that no one is as stupid as I was.. that's what I feel.

How the normal bite feels like? Are those teeth (upper and lower) touching when closed?
My right side is touching, and my left started touching since rubber band. But my bottom teeth feel sore
because of it. I don't know if I could bite anything, or chew anything. Since my bite changed, I almost don't know how to chew! It feels different. Also taste different. Inside mouth (upper side) is still numb. When I eat something, it taste almost like metallic taste. My ear seemed to be improved. But sometimes, I still feel lightly plugged.

What I have been eating is.. nothing special and nothing THAT hard. Probably french fries were the hardest food I have eaten in this two months.

I browse around the internet to find if anyone had relapse problems. There were a few, very rare.
I also found some people still have different problems like sinus and so on. Thinking about having other problems, I definitely not want to go back to the second surgery. So at the end, I will probably just give up and take whatever it is.

One of my friends said the funny thing... "Refund! Refund!" it would be nice when something didn't go the way it should be, and they refund money like any other business... I will take that happily :)

Day 69 (10 weeks) --- "yes, jaw slid" the dentist said

I had an appointment with orthodontic dentist. I told him my concerned about tilted jaw, and yes. He confirmed. Well, yes, I was right, but then what can we do???

1. Rubber bands. Hoping the jaw moves back. Well it's already two and a half months past (that's 10 weeks!) The chance of my jaw moving back to where supposed to be is slim.

2. Another surgery.
I don't want that. But he said that might be the only way. Shifting happening to the jaw, not teeth.

Possible reason why that happened.
While healing, I must have moved too much. The orthodontic dentist pointed out the rubber bands to shut the jaw together after surgery is the wrong procedure, although all dental surgeons do. Because as lower jaw moves, upper jaw moves. Upper jaw needed to heal without bothered. And if let both jaws free, lower jaw won't affect upper jaw as much which will let that to heal in the right way.

I understand the logic, but it's too late. What can we do? Is my question.
Things are healing up. He said still healing, things could move.

They said this is very rare and almost never happens. Didn't I tell you I'm always 1 % of unlucky mistakes doctors every make?

I didn't take many picture early days, so much to compare, but I just found the one 

I took at the dentist's office when he told me to take off the braces and told me 

my bites were perfect. That was September 11. Almost month ago. 

At that time, I was still wearing rubber bands. 

So it looks like I found out right after I took off all the rubber bands. 

(only a few days laterfrom dentist visit). And the bottom picture is today. 

You can see rubber bands going across to the back. I'm really hoping this will work. 

I also checked what I have been eating. I haven't eaten anything really hard, 

because I just couldn't. One thing I wonder is.. ever since non of my bite 

doesn't bite together, I was eating left side of my mouth. I actually never used the 

other side. Now that's the side bite doesn't go together (going up), and the other side 

is coming down. I wonder if this tilt is something to do with how I eat? 

Then even things are fixed, that could happen at the any time... 

Day 66 --- surgeon visit

I just wanted his opinion before taking out braces. But I didn't have guts to ask "did you screw up?" it is obvious now that's not straight. He confirmed one side had tighter bite than the other and the gap between upper teeth and lower teeth are not even. But what he said was that the rest was orthodontic dentist's job. And he cannot say if the dentist could fix it or not. Hey, that means he knows that's the jaw. Because if that's the teeth, he could say "ortho dentist should fix that". The fact that he doesn't want to say is that he knows he cannot fix. Hummmmm.

I'm really disappointed the result. The next Tuesday, my orthodontic dentist is planning to take off my braces. It seems to me that they just want to get rid of me before I find further problems. I will have to tell him that I'm not happy. And ask if anything he can do to tweak it.

Why I'm always 1% that rare mistake the doctors make? My husband said that I should play lottery, I may have a better odds.

Day 56 --- shorter jaw and face massage

I had an open bite. As they fixed open bite, the position of my jaw went up. Which means that my face got shorter than before. It is subtle. But it is shorter. As my face got shorten, some of my fat on the face got sagged. Well, I'm 44, so that also something to do with my age. Now, I want to like my new smile. On top of my tilted jaw, I have to live with sagged face? NOOOOOO! I found a good face massage on You Tube, and this works! My face got smaller in just a few times trying. You may think this is ridiculous especially if you don't understand Japanese. Anyway, I've been working on my face fat to fit to new size.

Here is a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaCwt78hjpQ

Day 52 --- Tilted Jaw

This is what I mean. What do you think? Anyone? Can you see the middle line isn't quite straight down? There are many reason why it looks tilted. My upper lip on the right shows more teeth, and also right side of my teeth have receding gum. However, you can see clearly that my braces wire isn't strait across. Which means that jaw is tilted. I was excited when the dentist told me to take off my braces, but now I don't know. Obviously I don't want to go through this surgery thing again. That means I just have to live with it, right? That's not fair! I dealt with two years of braces, plus surgery, and not perfect? I don't know what to think of this. 

Day 45 --- Slightly diagonal?

Everyone told me my teeth are perfect now. But really? I just have to question myself. Yes, it is definitely better. You can see my impression for that. But I can see it might be a slightly diagonal... I mean, my upper jaw was slightly diagonal. I see a gap this side smaller, the other side bigger. It is small difference and probably no one notice. I'm just thinking if I should ask orthodontic dentist to fix the angle of my front tooth. One seems to be coming towards center from outside.. which means it is not strait. Bites are perfect, but who see the bites. I care more about the look. Whatever it is I have to wait for 4 weeks to see the dentist. In the meanwhile, I'll try to forget.

Day 44 --- Hot flash and dizziness

I was helping school's media center yesterday. Everything was normal until I was standing for sometime sorting all the students library cards. Suddenly, some sort of hot flash went through my body, and got dizzy. I had to sit down. I don't exactly know what happened. Maybe because I didn't eat lunch very much. It took me a while to recover from it and I didn't like the feeling of it. I don't exactly know if this is from surgery, or just me getting old. But I could feel my body isn't 100% yet. Almost there, though. I still get ear pugged when I walk a lot, or do something active. It's cleared out with Neti Pot which is my favorite thing, now. I don't want to keep having this trouble. It is kind of scary to feel sick with kids around when I have to do something. I still cannot eat very much. I eat, but small amount at one time or I got tired. Hopefully this is just a single episode.

Day 42 (6 weeks) --- Braces Off???

Today was Orthodontic Dentist Appointment after the surgery.

This is actually the second appointment since surgery. But first one, they didn't do anything, just peaked. So this is the real appointment after the surgery, and I got unexpected offer... He said "I can take off your braces off today! WHAT??? I said. I thought he's going to do some fine tune up after this, and it would take another 6 month or so. TAKING OFF BRACES??? and he said "yes, because your bites look perfect and nothing more for me to do." WOW! I wasn't expecting this. So I was surprised and happy. I thought I was wearing braces until Christmas time or something.

What did I do? well, there is one thing I wasn't happy with, which was my front teeth. There was a tiny gap near gum area. That started a while ago.. the position of braces on the front teeth weren't quite lining up and made a gap. I had to leave it for a few months because The ortho dentist told me that could be fixed later. But because it left it a while, my gum was going up a little, and made a gap. After a few months, I bothered him for that gap, and he readjusted one brace on that tooth. It seemed to resolve the situation, but left the gum went up and stayed.

So when he mentioned to take off braces, I was concerned not to have this problem fixed. As a result, he sanded one side of my front tooth to come closer to the other one. He said that tooth had round edge, and not really same shape with the other tooth, so it doesn't want to go very close. I personally think this isn't a problem of teeth, but my gum is the problem. But I guess once your gum receding, nothing you can do. I don't know. If anyone knows, please let me know.

Anyway, so he sanded my tooth to come together with another front tooth, then tight it up, put back wires, and decided to wait another 4 weeks. Then if everything look okay, braces will come off! Wow!

I haven't seen my teeth without braces for two years. That will be so nice not to have these, and be able to eat normal. At the same time, I'm a little scared if everything will go fine. I may find bunch of cavity on my teeth. After braces off, I will have to have general dentist look at my teeth and probably some fixing to go through.

My teeth are sore today. Need good food :)

Day 40 --- Numbness inside mouth

I mentioned numbness around nose was gone. However, still I have part in my mouth that is numb. The doctor said it will take a bit longer to recover. It's not a big deal as long as it comes back. One thing I realize, though is the taste. I thought when you eat, all the taste we taste with tongue. And now I found out that's not true. When I eat, I cannot feel the texture of food because my upper side of mouth is numb. Then things are different. It doesn't taste like it should. When I brush my teeth, I don't feel upper teeth. So I cannot tell if I brushed enough or not. It is interesting how human body works. You don't realize until you lost it. So even though I can eat some food now, it still feel different and taste not quite the same. It is no pain eating food which is good. But I cannot wait to have my feelings back.

Day 38 --- Doctor's visit #4

I had a doctor's appointment today. It's been great, so I report that. And he checked me, and changed rubber bands again. Only this time, LESS RUBBER BANDS! Yay. He left the one on the sides. So I'm really happy about that! He even said that depending on my next appointment with ortho dentist, I may be free from all rubber bands! Well, I'll see. That's coming up next week. I can't wait!

Only problem I have is biting my cheek. He commented that I'm still recovering, so not to worry. It will change. If I keep biting it, later on, he'll take care of it. Because there is a little parts coming to flip flap around in my cheek. But that's okay. I'm positive. All he said is coming true. and All is going well. So I trust my surgeon, and that's a good feeling. And my next appointment with him is in 6 weeks. He said once I'm done with surgery, not much for him to do. So after that, I will go back to do final touch for my braces and hopefully they will be off in some months away. Exciting!

Day 35 --- Numbness suddenly gone!

It was wired sensation. I was watching TV after kids went to bed. And I felt my upper lips were pulling, like my incision was pulling. I thought my upper lip got stuck on one of hooks. So I went to check it on the mirror. It looks normal. It didn't look like pulled anyway. Then I realized I could feel my nose, like normal touch on my nose. It's been feeling like stiff and as if I had fake nose or something on my face. It is gone! It is gone! Finally the numbness is gone! Yay!

I almost thought it may not recovered as I wanted to. I had two c-section when I gave birth to my daughters. There are parts on my stomach that never recovered the sense, left it numb in a way. Even my husband warned me that could possible. But it fully recovered! This is exciting!

Update for my ear plugged situation, it's also recovering. I almost don't need to take Sudafed anymore. When my ear slightly plugged, I use NetiPot, and that clears out!

Do I like wider smile.. after $14,500?

This is almost stupid to think after all these braces and surgery done now, but cannot help thinking, is this really working? Do I like new look? My braces costed me about $8,000. Then for preparation of surgery, I had to take four wisdom teeth which costed me $2,500. The surgery was covered by insurance after some co-pay and stuff of $3,500. Pre surgical check up is $500. So total of $14,500!

What my problem was over bite and open bite. The dentist told me that my lower jaw didn't grow in the same rate as upper jaw. Then upper jaw went forward, didn't have lower jaw support, so turned V shaped. When I looked at my old picture, my face was very narrow, and in the way skinny. I see two of my front teeth when I smiled. Now my teeth lined up, my smile became wide. They said it looks good. I hope it does. But in the way, my mouth looks bigger now. My face became slightly short, too, after surgery, so that also make my face look wider than before. I don't know what to think about this. I guess I have to get used to it, and when my braces are off,  it will be all right. I hope. Any thoughts? Anyone?

Day 33 --- Normal Food

I ate some normal food today! Yay. I was told that I could eat "soft" food. Well, what do you think soft food is? First I was trying noodles, pasta, mashed potato. But I realized I could eat french fries! Not the hard one like McDonalds'. But we went out for outside festival over the weekend, and they had soft fat french fries, and that was pretty good! I also ate some Sushi! Of course, I cannot bite off big piece, so I cut smaller size to put in my mouth :) Sometimes when things are dry, it tend to stuck somewhere in my mouth. So I didn't eat chips. I'm excited. I actually chew a little which I don't know if I should have. But my jaw didn't hurt. Only problem I sometime have is cold sore. One of rubber bands pinch inside of my mouth. When that happens, eating isn't go well for couple of days. I hope those rubber bands will go soon. I will have doctor's appointment the end of this week!

Day 31 --- Update on my ear plugged situation

I mentioned my right ear was plugged since the day of my surgery. Since last doctor's visit, I've been taking Sudafed 12 hours. And it seems to be working to clear my ear. Now, I tried not to take one to see if the problem is really solved. Because the doctor said "normally, it's clear out by itself, but sometimes takes time." It is not as bad as it was, but still I can feel a little pressure on my right ear, and slightly plugged. So that's not solved yet, unfortunately. I cannot wait it is truly heal. For now, I will take Sudafed 12 hours again so I don't have to deal with this annoying situation.

Day 30 --- Soft food

Wow, it's been 30 days since my surgery. It seems to be forever, and at the same time it went fast. Over all, it's been great, but still I feel weak. I have two daughter who's 7 and 5. So they need active daily routine. However, I haven't been able to do much with them. I get tired very quickly and want to sit down or lay down for nap. One progress today is food! Last time when I tried soft food was painful. But today, I could eat quite a bit without hurting myself. I started the day with shake, then ate grilled cheese for lunch, and pasta for dinner! Yay! I hope I won't gain back weight too soon. I wanted to loose some weight and this was a chance. I only lost 4 pounds, so it is too easy to gain back!

Here are some soft food that's easy to eat:

scramble eggs

grilled cheese (not too toasty)

pasta

ice cream

soup

risotto

Day 29 --- Waterpik Waterflosser

Since I left hospital, I've been using this Waterpik for cleaning my teeth, and I love it. First two weeks of course, I couldn't even open my mouth. And my face was somewhat sore, so this spraying water gently to clean works excellent. Long time ago when I first started braces, I got different kind. I think that was for adult. And it was too intense and spray water everywhere. So I returned it next day. This time, I got one for kids with braces, so it has gentle cycle and water pressure isn't too intense. I can still change that settings to higher pressure, but for now gentle cycle is just perfect. I put some mouth wash with water and feels just as good as it should be. I'm thinking of using this even after braces are off.

Day 27 --- Biting my mouth.. OUCH!

I mentioned that now I could eat soft food, right? Well, it wasn't as easy as I imagined. Without front two rubber bands, I could open my mouth a bit wider, but not that wide. So I actually cannot really put anything in it. I could slide in spoon like I drink soup. I tried small pancake first. After a few bite, my jaw were too tired to try anymore. My upper jaw inside the mouth is still numb. So in a way, I don't taste anything really. I was disappointed about eating, and went back to my shakes. After trying a few times, I bit myself way in the back. I think that's where my other rubber bands are. Once you bit it, you keep biting it. So now it hurts and bothers me. I'm getting tired of usual shakes and soup. I have to find something to make me feel better.

The other thing I notice is that after I eat or try to eat something, my throat get swollen. Sometimes that leads to my ear plugged up. Maybe I have to eat very very slow, or very very little at a time.

Day 24 --- Doctor's visit #3

Things are good. The doctor changed my rubber bands to stretchy ones. Plus he said I could take those off when I eat. Yay! AND I could start soft food. Yummy! There is almost no pain, unless I have to talk a lot. My right ear was plugged, so I mentioned it again. He told me to try Sudafed in the counter, and in case that doesn't work, referred me to ear doctor. So on the way home, I went to pharmacy and got Sudafed 12 hours. I took it and shortly after, I can hear from my right ear! Yes!!! I have been waiting for this time for three weeks! I feel so much better. And I'm relieved that I don't have to go to ear doctor for that.

Day 19 --- Clogged ear

Most of things are going well and better. One thing that still bothers me is my clogged ear. It's been like this since surgery. Only right side for now. When I'm too active, that moves to both sides which is really hard for me to hear anything. The doctor said that will get better. Well, I hope so, and I hope that will happen soon. FIrst week or so, when I got up in the morning, even brief moment, my ear was clear. Now it is plugged all the time. I wonder what happened. When I clean my nose with NetiPot, there is less and less yucky stuff to come out. In fact, it's been clear for couple of days. Too bad I cannot clean my ear in the same way. I'm sure something stuck up there. I guess only thing I can do is to wait and my body heal by itself. In a mean while, I'll look around online.

Day 17 --- Second Doctor's visit after surgery

Everything went well. He checked me, and changed my rubber bands. I asked him to let me brush my teeth before putting another rubber bands, and he did. So I felt so much better! I also could open my mouth a bit more. That makes it a bit easier for me to drink soup and stuff. I'm a little sore, though. When I tried to open my mouth to brush, around my jaw joint hurt. I guess it's still healing. I could eat pretty well, some soup and shakes. But all my teeth are sore from brushing and swallowing. Maybe that's why the doctor said "next week, you can start eating some soft food such as mashed potato. You've been doing so well, so just wait a little longer" I guess over doing is always going backwards. I can wait. I thought I would loose more weight, but I only lost 4lbs. total, which isn't too much. Oh well. That's okay, I guess. I'm wondering now that things are settling down, if my bite will be really perfect, and my smile will look better than before? I saw X-ray picture of my teeth, and that looked pretty good. But my smile is somewhat not natural. Maybe I'm not used to my new shape of teeth and mouth.

No more Peanut Butter shake!

I loved to have peanut butter shake. But since I drunk it two days ago, little piece of peanut butter stuck near my throat and bothering me so much. If I could open my mouth, that's no problem. Since my mouth is shut, this is just annoying factor. I cannot swallow, and can't do anything! Next doctor's office visit, I have to ask him if I can brush my teeth before shutting again, then maybe I can clean this piece of peanut butter off from my throat! I really hope so!

Day 15 --- I gained weight!

It's been had not to be light headed, so I've been trying extra hard to drink whenever I could. Then look! I gained weight! Oh my! Before surgery, I weighed 111.45 or something. After surgery it went down to 104. Today it was 107! Well, I ate (drank) a lot today. I had probably 3 fruit shakes with banana and oranges. Then two servings of soup for lunch and dinner. V8, water and juice. I guess I had enough today. Oh I know the big reason why. I bought a new blender for one serving. And that is so easy to make smoothies, and clean and make it again. I'm happy that makes my life easier.

Good friend with blender

I have been getting used to liquid diet. The daily meal is like this:

Breakfast: Banana and Strawberry Smoothie.

Morning snack: Coffee or Juice, or vitamin water.

Lunch: Soup.. something like chicken noodle soup, of course without anything in it.
I tried to make Gazpacho and that was delicious, so far my favorite.

Afternoon snack: V8

Dinner: Curry soup.

Night time snack: peanut butter shake. Yum Yum!


My blender is working full time now. I was getting tired of bought juice and drink quickly, so this is a good and healthy way to keep up with my meal.

My favorite Gazpacho recipe is this:
2 cups chicken bouillon
1 large tomato, peeled, seeded, chopped
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp garlic juice (I used garlic powder)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 drop hot pepper sauce
dash of pepper

So all in blender and ready to go!

Day 12 --- Drink, drink, and drink...

It was okay day. I haven't had any bad nose bleed. Since I washed my nose with NetiPot, my stuffy nose improved. Only problem I've had last couple of days is dizziness. When I walk around, I feel weak, and needed to sit down. Normally I'm pretty active, never describe myself as "weak".

I think that's because of how much I've been eating (drinking). I don't necessarily feel hungry. So sometimes I go a few hours without drinking anything. It is hard for me to keep drink and drink and drink, even though I could drink whatever.

Today, I went out with family for dinner. Of course, I ordered soup. Unfortunately, they only had Tomato soup. Well, I don't recommend anyone for Tomato soup. First of all, it will stain your rubber bands. The second, the one I had was pretty thick which I couldn't drink. My mouth is still shut. The doctor loosened up tiny bit, but all I could try was to stick my tongue out a little between my bite, which wasn't enough to pour my soup in. After some trial, my jaw started to hurt, or got tired of trying.

Before my surgery, I thought this drinking habit wouldn't be any problem. But I started to wonder if there is any local medical service that provide IV therapy. I know I should just keep drinking whatever, but it would be nice if they just give me IV for an hour and I feel much better.

Last impression: before and after

This is the first and last impression that my orthodontic dentist took. You can see how much overbite I had and all the teeth were over wrapped one another. Now, the right one is the new one. You can still see open bite. but when upper jaw tilted 4 mm forward, all lined up perfectly. Amazing!

NetiPot for stuffy nose

Today, I tried this for my stuffy nose. It worked better than Nasal Sprays, that's for sure. And I felt pretty good. It felt like all yucky mucus was cleaned out. But I still couldn't get rid of chunk that stuck behind the right nose. I guess that's the tough one. It might be scab or something. So I just keep trying and see if I could slowly minimize this. 

Day 11 --- Dizziness and diarrhea

Now that I feel stupid to be too active in the first week. I should have been recovering better, now it is taking long?? Nose bleed totally freaked me out. Even though doctor assured me that's okay to happen. It is not fun to deal with.

Since the doctor's visit, my nose are more stuffy. I think because I started to have nose bleed there, doctor cleaned it to look at it, which probably affected delicate area.

I was hoping to do minor grocery shopping today, but I wasn't feeling so good.
There was no more nose bleed, though. What a relief! But all day long, I felt dizzy, and had a many trip to bathroom. Well, I don't know what kind of stool I should expect from liquid diet, but it was all black! Probably because I swallow so much blood. Yuck! Sorry I probably shouldn't mentioned this, but in case anyone who go through same thing is wondering about others.. here it is!

Probably I've been dehydrated. I've been drinking whatever I feel like, but in fact I wasn't feeling like anything. So not enough drink, and too much went down. And that causing dizziness. I spend most of day sitting in my arm chair. I cooked dinner, but during that I started sweating just tried not to faint.

My nose is still stuffy so I'm a good friend with nasal spray all day.
I'm going to bed now, but hopefully, it will improve tomorrow. At least I didn't have nose bleed all day.

Day 10 --- First doctor's appointment after the surgery

I had my doctor's appointment in the afternoon of August 10th. After my nose bleed on August 8th, I was freaked out, so I was taking it easy for a day. But again, I drove myself to my doctor's appointment. Just because no one was available. In other words, I felt good enough to drive.

My doctor (surgeon)'s appointment went well. They took X-ray and my teeth were perfectly lining up! That's good to see. He changed my rubber bands for less, although my mouth is still shut. He said everything is going well, and I look fantastic. I thought I was in trouble driving there by myself, but the nurse said to me that "Great! that means you feel good!" So I was okay. Most of my swell went away, so if no one knows what happened, I looked pretty normal outside.

I asked about my concerns:

Nose Bleed: he said not always happened, but it happens to some people since my surgery was right below my nose line. He said it will all heal eventually.

Numbness: Same.. it will probably come back in a few weeks.

Ear plugged: Same.. as scar tissue heals, it will go away. Probably still swollen inside which might be pushing ear tube. So not to worry.

Okay, so nothing to worry. Good.


BUT. The same day in the evening, my nose started to bleed, and I almost fainted.
I had something in my throat that didn't go down. I was trying to swallow, then blood started to flood in to my throat. I pressed my nose but not too hard, because I couldn't swallow too much. That made more blood to come out. At the end, I probably lost too much blood. When I tried to get up, I felt really dizzy and had to lay down right there. I was also having trouble breathing. Because my nose were both plugged, and something in my throat, if I swallow, I felt blood came back up in my nose. So I panicked. My husband told me "you are breathing." but in my head, I couldn't breathe. Maybe because of that dizziness, I couldn't think it strait. After calming down, I just lay on my bed and slept for a while. I couldn't breathe through my nose, so I breathed through my mouth which was also hard.

In the morning, I was extremely dry. I drunk some water by the bed, still a little dehydrated. Because I had been drinking something at least every two hours, but after nose bleed around 8:00 at night, I went to sleep. I slept okay, though. Because I wasn't breathing through my nose, my nose were dried, too, which probably helped to close whatever opened up in my throat.

Day 8 --- Consequence?

Maybe I was too active too soon. The night of August 8th, I had a bad nose bleed, and didn't stop. I was freaked out! First, I felt something went down my throat. Some chunky thing that hard to swallow. Then blood started to flood out of my right nose. Yes, that stuffy nose. Not the nose with tube during the surgery. I quickly got up to go to the sink to wash, but just keep pouring which was scary. I woke up my husband to help me because I didn't know what to do.

He told me to plug it with tissue paper. I tried it, but blood was coming down so much so fast if I did that blood went down my throat. I couldn't swallow that much blood now I was gagging. It was hard to even gag with closed mouth. I couldn't spit out, so felt like I was chocking myself. After struggling sometime, changing bloody tissue paper every 5 seconds, it stopped.

At this point, I was freaked out. So we called the doctor. It was in the middle of the night. So on call nurse took our message, and that was that. The doctor's office called to make sure if I was okay the next morning. But already blood was stopped, so nothing was done.

But after this incident, more frequently I had nose bleed, and it was all bad. I got a little more efficient myself to stop it, but each time it scared me. Also, my plugged ear wasn't improving. So those are two major concerned I had for my first doctor's appointment.

Day 6 --- Outing

I don't recommend, but I was bad. I drove. Well, doctors and nurses told me "if you are taking medication, you cannot drive" and I wasn't taking medication. So that's that. And I felt good enough to drive for 5 min.

We went local kids program to run off some energy. Then we went Target to do some errands.
I could talk to my friends, they said I looked good. Still it was some difficulty talking too much, but I could still manage and wasn't too tired.

After the day, I had an evening nap for an hour, but other than that I felt like I was coming back to normal routine. My night sleep, though was tough. I couldn't get comfortable in sit up position, and woke up a lot during the night. Only good thing about sleeping like that was after the night sleep, my ear was clear for a short while. It went plugged again as I took shower.

Day 7 went more or less same way.
We had a play date for kids, and I chatted with my friends. I was tired a little, but feeling recovering well.

Day 5 --- August 5

Each day went pretty much same. I didn't have to lay around. Hey I mentioned that I had two girls, right? They are 7 and 5 and didn't let me rest. I have my mom helping me to do stuff around the house which has been great! But as soon as they saw me, they kind of expect me to act normal. I was feeling well enough to act 70% normal at this point. So we did some activities around the house, went for a walk and so on. By 5th day, my face looked more or less normal.. maybe 10% swelling to come down. I wasn't in pain anymore, and most of my antibiotic was gone.

Only problem I was having was sinus. It didn't seem to improve very much and Sudafed wasn't helping. Nasal spray is the same way. Afrin was helping slightly, but not too much. Still my right ear was plugged which made me hard to talk. 

Although my talking was improving at this point. My husband said I sound normal when he talked to me on the phone. I guess because swell went down on my lips and I could move my lips better. 

Oh I forgot to mention, my nose has been numb. I think my left nose which had tube in it during the surgery is normal. I could breathe, and I could feel. But the other nose is stuffy and numb, so is right ear. 

Other than that I was feeling really good, and kind of ready to do some activity with kids. Because they were home too much and going crazy. I knew I wasn't supposed to drive, but I was planning to bring them to a hour and half program 5 min. away (by car) next day. 

Day 1 --- Adjusting Home

I was discharged in the afternoon of August 1, 2012. Before leaving the hospital, I tried to drink vanilla shake and chicken broth. Surprisingly, I could drink out of straw, and cup. However, it was difficult, so I didn't drink very much of either drink.

Adjusting pain medicine was okay. The pain medicine seemed to work, although not as well as the one they gave me through IV. Probably because there was no steroid which worked wonderfully for swell.
I had a pain medicine, antibiotic, Sudafed for sinus, and nose sprays. I didn't like any of those tastes, but hey what can I do? One thing is that I wish Sudafed would work better!

I've had stuffy nose, and Sudafed didn't really gave me much relief. Nose sprays were the same way. I could feel it cleaned for a second, then went back the same way. My right ear was plugged which added some annoying factor.

Diet: I drank water, juice, v8, protein shakes, regular shakes, smoothies, broth, and anything that I felt like. Drinking wasn't too bad. Most of time I used a straw, but I could also drink from cup.

Hygiene: often I read "do not use Water Pic" but I asked my surgeon and he said it was okay. So I've been using Water Pic ... only for kids version which has gentle cycle to clean my mouth whenever I want with water and mouth wash solution. If feels pretty good outside, getting yucky inside.

The day of my surgery 03

A little after waking up in the recovery room, they moved me to my room. They check my pain in the level 1 to 10 which I was about 5. Huge ice pack was around my face, and humidifier over my mouth. They also put some sort of massage thing to wrap around my legs entire time up until next day. They said that would help not having blood clots. Goody, that was comfortable.

So after moving into my room, not much to do. They come and go to check on my and gave me pain medicine and new ice pack. I was pretty comfortable and not too much in pain. Only that was hard to swallow. But rested the rest of the day.

My husband came back after work late that day, I was still swollen, but talked through notepad.
The surgeon said that if I was feeling well, I could go home the next day. I wanted to go home. I miss my daughters, and worried that they might be worried about me. So I wanted to show them I was okay. Probably that thought gave me some good energy. So after the whole day of rest, I went home.

The day of my surgery 02

When I woke up, it was 3:15 in the afternoon. I was wondering what happened to my surgery. It should have only been two hours.

The surgery went well. What happened was, after slicing and placing my upper jaw to new position, the surgeon realized there was some waggle. So he had to take off screws and redo everything. That was one thing. Then, my jaw joint. He explained to my husband that normally there is a place where upper jaw and lower jaw click to fit. But for some reason, my bottom jaw was too shallow that he had a hard time finding the perfect position. Also, something happened and my surgery was bumped to 8:30. So those are the reason why I was waking up in the recovery room at 3:15 p.m.

I was feeling pretty good at the point. Only thing that really hurt was pulling out the tube from my nose. Other pain was managed through IV. My face was of corse swollen. One thing I didn't realize from watching other people's videos were my throat was swollen, too. And that made me hard to breathe and swallow. One point during this time, I felt chocked and panicked that there was no air way anywhere. My nose were stuffy, and my throat was swollen, and my mouth was shut. I struggled to call nurse. After that I don't remember. I think I was really panicked. I only remember I was moving arms and legs really hard to call attention to nurse. When I realized, I was okay. So I might have fainted or something.
That was the worst part, then after that was stable. They gave me steroid to keep swell under control and that seemed to work like a magic.

The day of my surgery 01

July 31, 2012. The day of my surgery. My surgery was planned at 7:30 a.m., so I had to go to the hospital at 5:30 a.m. I signed in, and within 5 minutes, I was guided to pre-operation area. I changed into hospital gown and socks. I realized I brought way too much stuff, clothes and stuff.. which I didn't need at all! There, some last minutes paper works, and check up was done. Soon my IV was in, which hurt, and anesthesiologist came to tell me what to expect. One of the things he told me was about tube on my nose. He asked me which nose is better nose to breathe! I have never thought of that. So I just picked left. Then he told me the tube would have to stay until waking up to make sure I could breathe. So I would feel a little pain to pull out. WHICH WAS COMPLETELY TRUE! Ouch!!! After meeting my surgeon, then without noticing, I was asleep. Next thing I know was watching the clock pointing 3:15.... 3:15??? Why? What happened? That's what on my head.

Pre-Op Preparations

I've having my braces for a year and 9 months. I started when I'm 42, and now I'm 44. First, I didn't think I would go through this jaw surgery thing. It was too scary as a mother of two little girls. But because I had an open bite, having braces doesn't fix all. Not only that, braces showed the worst look stood out! After several moths into this, I figured that I just have to go through all the way. It was a big decision. Also I had to change my insurance, and having taken four wisdom teeth which costed me $2,500. But I got time. So everything was ready for the day.

Also, because everyone wants to have surgery in summer, only two available dates were given to choose from. My orthodontic dentist gave me "go" the end of May, then I called dental surgeon right a way. They gave me either June 6th, or July 31. So I picked July 31, just because I had more time to prepare. If I didn't take either date, it would have been in September.

Two weeks prior to my surgery, I had a last check up with my surgeon. My surgery is upper jaw surgery, and expected to be done in about two hours. He took two impressions of my teeth, upper and lower, which weren't pleasant experience because I have really bad gag reflex, but it was done okay. Then again I saw him the day before to check up my hooks on my braces, and last minutes questions.
He was very calm meticulous type which made me feel good about my surgery.

Why I started this blog

Hi everyone, I'm writing this from my experience. I hope to help other people who will go through corrective jaw surgery,  as some of blogs, you tube videos helped me to understand what to expect.