11/13/12 - time to commit!

let me start this blog off with a quick little history. I've had braces three times on the top, once on the bottom. I had a weird top tooth that didn't like staying in place. I've always had a little under bite which didn't help the teeth stay put as well.

fast forward about 20 years. my under bite has progressively gotten worse over time. it's hard to eat, teeth that probably aren't supposed to be touching are and are slowly grinding little spots, I keep biting my lips when I eat... I could go on, but I won't. just know that I have been somewhat suffering. I have slowly gotten the courage to investigate and pursue jaw surgery.

that's where blogging comes into play. I did what any intelligent person would do- surf the Internet. haha. I kept coming across people's blogs about their journey. I found it incredibly interesting. I think reading personal accounts instead of what doctors have to say about the pain and recovery is way more helpful. sure it's nice to read the facts. but hearing straight from a patient puts it into perspective.

so I decided like many others to keep a blog about my adventure. I hope it is both informative and amusing. I am also doing this to help keep friends and loved ones up to date with progress. here at the beginning the posts will probably be a couple times a week. I'm sure it will be pretty lame notes about food and how weird it is to have braces again. when it gets closer to surgery and especially after I will try to blog everyday.

i promise to post lots of pictures of my progress. and you have officially been warned. i have no shame in posting photos of gross stuff. :)

but keep this in mind. I am not going to worry about comma placement, proper sentence structure or spelling. just keeping it real. :) like any person with an art degree would. expect lots of pictures and quick updates.

with that being said... here we go.

I got a referral from my dentist at my Spring cleaning session. below is a and x-ray that my dentist took of my teeth/jaw to carry with me to the appointments. (pretty cool how my earrings are in it!)

step one- went for a consultation with a jaw surgeon and an orthodontist back in May. got the cold hard truth that I will need to be in braces for about a year. six months prior to get my teeth ready. then surgery and about another six months fine tuning after. There will be weeks of being bound shut with heavy duty elastic bands in between. joy! 

step two- freak out about braces and breaking my face only to be held together again with metal plates and screws. See below. it will be something like this... I won't know exactly the game plan until it's go-time.

step three- put on my big girl panties and decide to take on this challenge full steam ahead.

so I called the orthodontist on a Tuesday to schedule my appointment. I intended to start this craziness in Jan 2013. well 20 minutes later the lady had talked me into coming in that Friday to get braces.

YIKES!! I got off the phone and sat there a few minutes in shock.  I just did that. oh my. here we go for real!

BRING ON MAY!! I'M READY!!