On 6/3/14 I went to the orthodontist to get a new wire placed. He also took molds of my teeth to see how my teeth are lining up. These are the first molds I have had in this process (pics below). Other than that, he told me to come back in 10 weeks.... He didn't really say what was going to happen in 10 weeks, so the next day I called to ask what was going on. I talked to one of the assistants and she said I'd be getting a new wire in Aug, then ANOTHER new wire in Oct, then final wires and I could look at scheduling surgery after that, which puts us at December. I was pretty disappointed because I thought surgery was going to be sooner than that. The initial estimate from the ortho had been 6 - 9 months, and I am in the 9th month now.
Fast forward to 6/25/14. I had a cleaning scheduled with my regular dentist and stopped in at the ortho first so they could remove my wire to make it easier for the cleaning. (I highly recommend this. If the wire is not removed they can't get your teeth very clean). Anyway, I go in to have the wire taken out, figuring I will be in and out in less than 10 mins. So the Dr. comes over as soon as I get there and is like "Hey, guess what, I have your molds and your teeth line up. You're ready for surgery."
This was pretty shocking to hear. First of all because after my last appointment I was under the impression it was going to be towards the end of the year. Second of all just because there has been so much waiting around for the braces to do their thing it just always felt like surgery was so far away. Surprisingly, I am not totally freaking out. I was caught off guard by this initially, but I am ok with it now and kind of excited actually.
I had already planned a summer vacation in August when I thought surgery wasn't happening until later. I told my ortho about this and he was totally cool about it. He said there's no rush, that I can do it whenever I want and to enjoy my vacation. So that was a relief to hear.
So next steps are: I'm going back to the ortho next week to get the surgical wires put on. Apparently these are just a heavier wire. I also scheduled an appointment with my surgeon.
Also, I am still going to my orofacial myologist and working on all kinds of stuff like keeping my mouth closed, breathing through my nose and all of my tongue/swallowing exercises. She says I am making excellent progress.
Here is a pic of my progress since I've started in braces. In the collage below the top left is the date I got the braces put on and then every 3 months since then. It's really amazing to see how much my teeth have changed.
Below are pics of my molds. It is so cool to actually see my teeth fit together!!! I think the purpose of the molds is just to see if my teeth are straight enough to fit together once my structure (jaw) is fixed.
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