Happily Ever After....?!

Well its been a long time since May 2009. I was 32 and now I am 42. I work for my alma mater now, purchased a home, and enjoying life in Ohio. I am pretty sure no one has read this blog in years but I felt closure was needed. I originally started this blog for 2 reasons. A forum member recommended that I start a blog in order to provide information to those who wanted to see what they may expect. I also felt it would be good to revisit this years later to remember what I went through and appreciate the  outcome I would have. What I realized is it gave me something to look forwarded to as I profiled my emotions at each step. I look back at all my posts and was reminded of every memory and emotion. I was also reminded of some memories that I had long forgotten which I guess I did not feel was worth posting for some reason. Like finding rubber bands EVERYWHERE well after the rubber bands came off. Years and years later, I still found rubber bands in the carpet. Even on the last day when I moved. And yes I vacuumed and cleaned many times! I also remembered several days after surgery where I noticed I was biting my lip. Apparently I was biting my lip for days! Once I pulled my lip away from my clenched teeth I sadly noticed how black and blue the inside my lip was. Or the first time I shaved and cut my lower chin pretty badly because I did not have much feeling there. I was truly thankful for that area being numb on both occasions.

I forgot to mention my dentist, Dr Sud, in a follow up post. I forgot to post about my dentist's reaction once my braces were removed.  I was able to see Dr Sud at my regular dental appt April 2009. She was very happy and said I had a perfect smile. I told her how I appreciated her advice and thanked her profusely for pushing me to get the smile I always wanted. As you can imagine, it was a very touching moment.  A few years later she would retire and move back home to India to be with her family. She visited the dental office when she would visit the states and one day she was in the dental office while I was there. We caught up and I told her how much she was missed. She said she appreciated it and missed my smile. I hope she truly realizes how thankful I am to this day for motivating me out of my stubbornness to get the smile I always wanted.

When I read my previous posts, I also noticed how poor my grammar was. Some of those posts were a rough read too. I literally left out words and letters! I would like to go back and clean it all up but I will pass for now. I even failed at attempts at being funny and witty. I would like to blame all of this on the pain meds! LOL

So how is everything now?  People comment on my smile all the time. I am told how nice they look and how white they are. I don't use any whitening products other than whats in my toothpaste. I am also a daily coffee drinker and I enjoy wine. But I am still pretty regimented with my teeth. Brush, floss, and regularly visit the dentist. With all these positives, I cant say things are truly perfect. But its pretty damn close. I was told that complicated cases tend to be the most resistant to correction/change. And the more likely the teeth (and jaw) would want to return to old position. I am noticing that my jaw and some teeth would like to return to its original pre surgery positions. I am able to stave this off by wearing my retainer nightly. Yes I wear my retainer every single night. I was offered a permanent retainer but I hated flossing through the wires and didn't want to deal with the wire breaking. Plus the retainers were cheaper. I wear a hawley on top and invisalign on the bottom.  I was originally told to wear them about 3 days a week. I didn't realize that the numbness was pretty bad after surgery. I will say that there is still some numbness that the oral surgeon warned about. However it is pretty localized. I have feeling everywhere including my tongue. But minor numbness with the lower right jaw/lip. I have feeling but the sensation/acuity is diminished.  Its tough to tell if toothpaste is running down my chin while brushing on the right side or eating soup that may dribble down my chin. So I brush with my head tilted up and I don't really have soup. Didn't really have soup often prior to surgery anyway. I ate a ton of apples and popcorn prior to surgery but afterwards I rarely have them now. I used to LOVE smoothies but I went a good 8 years without them. LOL  On occasion I have wished I had opted for the procedure that would potentially have less numbness. In hindsight I probably should have since I was banded shut for 5 weeks and the other procedure required me to be wired shut for 6 weeks. But all in all I don't feel the numbness hinders me in any way. I am still happy and thankful with the results.

After all of this I have one piece of advice.....if your dentist, oral physician, orthodontist, etc is recommending jaw surgery/braces....DO IT! Its truly worth it and I would do it all again if I had to. Even to endure those miserable painful weeks again! There's nothing like biting cleanly through a sandwich (or even spaghetti) without leaving a mess