Appointment with Surgeon in 5 days!!

Hey everyone,

So I have an appointment with the oral surgeon on tuesday! They have called me twice in the last 24 hours. First, in the middle of my astronomy lecture, and I forgot to turn my ringer off. That time was to confirm. The second time they called was this morning, and I was in bed sleeping. I have no classes on thursdays so I like to catch up on sleep as I stay up late studying. Anyway they wanted me to come in at 8am on tuesday instead of 11:30. Ahhh! so early! I don't even get up that early for classes. The earliest I get up right now is 8:30 as all my classes are 10:30 or later. I also have to drive there which isn't around the corner. All in all, looks like I will be getting up at 6:30 for this appointment!

Also, to everyone out there having had or still undergoing jaw surgery, I have a question for you. I got a comment on my youtube saying if I like my nose the way it is, I shouldn't get jaw surgery.

Well I don't know who this person is who posted it, but I guess it didn't make much sense to me. I mean with all the problems a bite issue causes, why would I be so concerned about my nose changing, I mean this surgery changes the whole face! I do realize that my nose will look different, and I think thats a good thing. My nose is really narrow and convex and I hate it. I mean from the front it looks small and fine, but from the side it just looks like the most prominent thing on my face. Also. I figured these surgeons know what they are doing, and they are not going to try to make my nose look awful, obviously.

Just wanted to share that.

Also I will be doing finals for the next two weeks so I will try my best to make a video after seeing the surgeon but I'll see if I have time.

Thanks for reading :)

Midline

My feelings towards jaw surgery

Hey guys!

First I want to say thank you to all the great people who read my blog! Thank you so much, I've already reached over 1000 views in a month, i think, and I don't even have my braces on yet! I really hope my information can be useful to people. I also want to say thank you to everyone out there who has shared their stories with me, via blog, youtube, or forum. thank you so much! You guys make the whole process seem so much less scary. I will probably do a post listing some of my favourite videos and blogs when I get a chance. I have two weeks off in about a month so I'll not only know exactly whats happening with my braces and surgery, but I'll also have time to make a new video and link some really great stuff to my blog.

Quickly I just want to say that the archwire forum has been a huge help to me! Not only have I gotten to talk to people who go to the same surgeon I'm going to, but I also got so many questions answered that I didn't even know I had yet.

To everyone who has gotten the surgery and wrote about it, or blogged about it, thank you!! You guys are inspiring! So many people have taken their time to answer my questions and I really appreciate it.

I'm sorry this turned into a gratefulness post but I just wanted to say that.

Ok now to the point if you are still reading this.

These are reasons I am all pro-jaw surgery

1. I'm sick of having a convex profile: I searched convex profile on google and I got horses, and a dog shaped like a banana.
2. The pain my bite causes it literally unbearable: I have constant headaches, neck pain, and TMJ pain
3. I'm sick of having a lissssspppthhh: Yes I am sick of avoiding words when I talk that point out my lisp, I'm also sick of people pointing it out like I'm from another planet.
4. I would like to chew with all my teeth: right now my back teeth on the left side are the only ones I chew with, the cross bite makes it too hard to chew on the right side.
5. I would like to be able to close my mouth naturally: Right now when I close it I get bumpy chin, so attractive, I know!

These are reasons I am not so crazy about Jaw Surgery!!!

1. Being in University with braces: its bad enough people all think I'm 18, despite the fact that I am 24, but I don't think braces will help.
2. Having to possibly spend next summer healing my jaw: Looks like the only time I have for jaw surgery is in the summer, so much for getting ahead with courses, or going to the beach.
3. General Anesthesia: I am terrified. I haven't had a surgery that required it since I was 5 or 6, can't remember, so I'm just super paranoid.
4. Needles!: I hate needles, I have this bad habit of blacking out when I get needles, and I know that surgery is going to require lots of lovely things like bloodwork and IV.
5. Not being able to talk: This is mainly for the fact that my brother is an asshole, and trust me I will be tortured about it the whole time. When I had my extractions and I couldn't eat without spilling everything all over myself, he just sat there and told me it was all going in my mouth, yet I was literally covered in milkshake.

Class III Malocclusion + Convex Profile

This is all very confusing to me now that I think about it. I overhead the orthodontist say I have a class III bite but he also said I have a convex profile. Class III malocclusions are common in underbites, and despite the fact that you can't see an actual underbite from looking at my teeth, my bottom molars are way ahead of my top molars, so my top molars are touching my bottom wisdom teeth while my top wisdom teeth are further back touching nothing when I bite down. Its all very weird. I just wouldn't expect to have this combination I guess because convex profiles don't usually go hand in hand with a bottom jaw thats too far forward. Hmmm

Optimism

Hey readers,

So I know that everything is still a while away and I'm in a waiting process right now. Still about another month until I find anything out.
the whole thing has been driving me a little crazy though, knowing I'm going to be back in braces, and that I have to have jaw surgery. I'm also nervous about correcting my tongue thrusting habit as it is something I feel I have very little control over. If you have read my previous blogs you would know that the orthodontist thinks that what caused my jaw issues is this habit where I push on my front teeth when I shallow instead of on the roof of my mouth. Its weird I know, but its also just what I have ben doing my whole life.
I'm taking the whole process as a good reason to keep my teeth and gums super healthy, so I am trying to cut down on the sugar and floss like crazy. I've already been good for flossing my teeth, but I'm just going to try to be even better.
I did get the waterpik but I'm still going to use superfloss as my teeth are really close together and very hard to get in between. I bought the whitening attachments for the waterpik and I will give them a try when I am home in a few days. I always find its hardest to keep my teeth super white in between so i'm hoping this helps. I have been a huge fan of whitestrips and I can tell you this much, THEY WORK! Like literally, even my orthodontist pointed out that my teeth are very white, I haven't even used the strips in a while, but the results last! Honestly give them a try before you spend a fortune of professional whitening. I've used whitening trays in the past and the results were nowhere near what I get with whitestrips. Even the classic ones work great!
Well thats my little dental rant for the day, I will let everyone know if the whitening attachments for the waterpik work.

Open Bite Causing tooth grinding

This is one of the many reasons why I am going to fix my bite. my open bite has caused me to grind my back molars, and without fixing it i'm going to cause further damage.

Jaw Surgery and Braces (Pre braces and surgery

Tongue Thrusting Definition

Tongue thrust (also called reverse swallow or immature swallow) is the common name of orofacial muscular imbalance, a human behavioral pattern in which the tongue protrudes through the anterior incisors during swallowing, speech, and while the tongue is at rest. Nearly all young children exhibit a swallowing pattern involving tongue protrusion, but by the age of six most have switched to a normal swallowing pattern. People who tongue thrust do it naturally and are usually unaware of the behavior.

Pictures from the Orthodontist

WATERPIK

I have to admit, everyone who has braces, gets stuff stuck in their teeth all the time, has permanent retainers, or just likes a clean mouth needs to get a waterpik! I will endorse this product over and over because I love it! I am not so excited to use it because it leaves my teeth feeling super clean. I still have my wisdom teeth and I find it so impossible to reach them well brushing, let alone floss them, they are a pain!!. I'm always getting stuff stuck back there, thank goodness the waterpik gets everything out!

I got it with attachments including one to clean braces which will be very useful in the near future.

The only thing, the first time was so hard, I couldn't get my brain to remember that water sprays out of it so you shouldn't remove it from your mouth without holding the pause button down. My bad! I got water all over myself, my mirror, and everything else in the washroom. I bought it in Canada and it was around $67 which sounded pretty cheap to me, there are probably places that have it for cheaper online, and its probably cheaper in the USA.

Tongue Thrusting

so I had no idea I had this problem until very recently, and to my surprise, I do have a jawline in my side profile, its just being pushed out due to my poor tongue posture. My ortho has suggested speech therapy for this after the jaw surgery and braces but I think I might take the initiative to start sooner because I now realize what an issue this is. Check out these two images. The first one is my current tongue position, and the second one is my tongue in proper position. I just need to learn how to keep it there.

Surgical Correction of Open Bites

For all those people not understanding what jaw surgery entails. Mine may be double jaw or single, I don't know yet

Post Orthodontic Consultation

I had an orthodontic consultation yesterday.
I have to say I really liked the place, the staff was really great, the facilities were very modern including their approach to braces. I had x rays and imaging done during this appointment and one of their orthodontists did an examination of my bite. These were a few of the issues listed:
>Bite discrepancy
>Upper and lower front teeth do not meet
>improper end to end bite
>Crowding and malalignment of the upper and lower teeth
>Certain teeth are in crossbite
>lower front teeth are shifted to the left
>Excessive wear due to bite and/or grinding
>Tongue thrusting habit
>Right and left jaw noise evident
>lower jaw is small compared to upper jaw
>unfavourable vertical jaw growth

Thats most of the comments.
I am going to make a video as soon as I can to give a further explanation, I will also try to scan the images from the consultation.
I have an appointment with the surgeon in a month.
I am very nervous now knowing I'm going to get the surgery so I would really appreciate any comments.
Goodluck to all of you going through this!

PS I have no idea how to stop this tongue thrusting thing, since I have been doing it all my life!! ahhhhhh