I just spent a good 2 minutes trying to figure out how long it has been since surgery. I counted 333 days. Time has certainly flown by, and so much has passed without an afterthought. In addition to school, I have traveled to New Orleans for Habitat for Humanity to help build houses during Mardi Gras, wrote my dental aptitude test in February, and decided to take another year of undergraduate studies. The only issue I have is the fact that I have braces. I've taken grad photos, and just last weekend I had a Kinesiology formal and flashed the metal everywhere. It was such a good time with a limo, banquet dinner, and open bar that it wasn't an issue.
Where's my progress right now? My bite is lining up very nicely, and my bottom row needs to be narrowed. My teeth are straight and there are no gaps. I just saw the orthodontist, he bent the wire inwards and it went back inside. Of course I asked for a date and I got July. July. Just as scheduled so I cannot really complain. All I can do is wear elastics 24/7. I found out that the point of elastics is to pull the teeth together so that they are always biting together to angle both top and bottom jaw inwards. Just a little tidbit. Here is what my bag of elastics look like. They are 5/16" (7.9mm) and light(2.5oz)
4 comments:
Hi Gordon,
I just came across your blog and overall I think your results look great. In an earlier post you state that your teeth fit even the posterior teeth. Is this for real? Do you still have braces on? I hear that some surgeons take around 7 hours for your type of surgery, did your surgeon really do this in 2 1/2 hours? That's crazy! Well your journey has been very helpful thanks for posting!
Pauline
Hey Pauline,
Sorry for the late reply as I am actually in Europe on a trip with some friends. Yes my teeth originally were fitting, and now I am at the state where only 1 more tooth on the bottom layer has to be moved inwards. Otherwise, the rest of my teeth do fit flush.
Yes, braces are still on and should be gone in July. It may be difficult to see the braces but they are in the picture.
Surgeons do require a lot of time for the multifaceted surgery, but Dr. Tocchio is very good at what he does and was able to get it done in a short amount of time.
Thanks for reading, if you have any questions feel free to ask!
Hi Gordon,
you look really good and I'm very happy for you. I saw your videos and also your answers for the comments. I had my surgery 3 months ago, upper jaw was surprisingly brought forward ( actually from the profile my upper jaw looked to me like a neanderthals mouth ) and the bottom jaw was brought also forward ( I had an overjet/overbite, assymetry, gummy smile and so on). I see that your nose was not wide and big before the surgery, do you still have a swelling around your nose? Will your nose get it's own size and shape? Because my nose looks soooooo huge and wide that I am even getting under depression.
Thank you for your posts and blogs, you did a great job.
Sayuri.
Hey Anonymous,
I just got back from my eurotrip and just checked my messages.
Thanks for the kind words. Seems that like me you also had a similar double jaw surgery except for the overbite.
Since both of our front jaws were taken forward I can only assume that our faces would change similarly because the top jaw affects the nose the most. I had swelling for many weeks before my nose swelling went down, but for a while many people I knew pointed out my nose for being wider and pointier. It is 80% back to where it was before. Don't sweat it, it should probably be the same for you! I'm already past a year so it takes time.
Gordon
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