Anticipation of Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a big day for me.

Tomorrow marks a day I have been looking forward to for a long time.

Tomorrow... my braces get removed!!

It's been 2 years, 7 months and 7 days. Or 135 weeks, 5 days. Or 950 days. But who's keeping track? Heh.

In September 2010 I had a full set of upper and lower braces put on. I had an underbite, and a jaw that didn't fit in my mouth because it was too wide and positioned too far forward. So, after consultation with my dentist, orthodontist and an oral surgeon, it was decided that I would have jaw surgery to correct my bite and I'd need the braces to move all the teeth into position for surgery, then to adjust them after.

The surgery, in February 2012 was... interesting. I ended up with pnuemonia which made my recovery that much harder. Coughing with your jaw wired shut is miserable. And consuming all my food (read: thin liquids) through a large syringe stuck in the corner of my cartoonishly swollen mouth was brutal.

I can eat most foods now, though my jaw gets tired fairly quickly. I've done everything my surgeon & orthodontist have told me to in an effort to make sure I get these braces of in the shortest possible time frame. I've never popped off a bracket because of eating something I shouldn't have, and I have (by all accounts) taken meticulous care of my teeth and it hasn't been easy. I actually miss flossing (yes dad, you read that right) and I look forward to not brutalizing toothbrush bristles on a regular basis!

So yeah, tomorrow. Eight AM. I feel like a kid waiting for Santa!

Here are my before and after surgery x-rays... before on the RIGHT and after on the LEFT

I'll be sure to share what I eat first... and how my mouth feels!

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