Day 24 - First Orthodontist Visit (June 1)

It's the first day of June, and the weather here in Toronto is starting to make up for what seems like a month full of rain. It's 25 degrees Celsius, feeling a bit hotter with humidity.  I'm actually penciled in to referee soccer (doing linesman, so speaking is not necessary) tonight, meaning I will be running up and down the lines. This is something I easily can do, and thankful that at after the 3rd week I am capable of doing. 

I had my first orthodontist visit yesterday. The secretary, a few staff, and the orthodontist saw me and said, "Wow, I didn't recognize you, you look so much better!" Maybe I can't take a compliment, but I didn't reciprocate the enthusiasm as I had liked because I was tired when I got there, and two, I was sort of conflicted on their opinion. Since they have both seen their fair share of jaw surgery patients they would be very qualified to recognize a difference, but at the same time, they've always been very nice to me and supportive, so I was taking it with a grain of salt, whereas I probably should have gone with the flow better. I feel guilty somehow about not being as excited as they were. I'm playing mind tricks on myself over nothing. Basically, the ortho trip was about getting my teeth looked at and how they were aligning with the elastics. Everything seemed fine, and what I was told was that my back teeth are touching more than my front teeth, so in a way I have a minor minor open bite. However, the benefits of braces and elastics is that it can manipulate the jaw in the finer movements, where the jaw surgery was meant to move the jaw over a larger area. That was pretty much why I needed the surgery and braces were not going to move my jaw as drastically as surgery could. A bracket had also came off my top teeth since my top jaw was expanded so much it must have snapped off. The ortho said that for now, they did not want to risk putting it on, since my jaw is still very fragile and still needs to grow back. The verdict was to come back in a month, and then put that bracket back on. Fair enough, I just have to wait.

I also made an attempt at some pre-made macaroni and cheese salad. I ate probably about 3 tablespoons worth the entire day and it took me like 45 minutes. Every noodle was eaten individually, and boy it's not as fun as I thought. As much as I look forward to food again, that experience was really just a reassurance that I will someday chew again. Until then.