Day 48

So almost 7 weeks post-op and I've been given the OK to go back to an unrestricted diet. YAY! It'll take a bit of practice before I'm able to eat foods like almonds again, but I'm excited regardless.

07/22/2015                      02/12/2015

When I got home the first thing I did was try to eat this crunchy chocolate graham cracker cookie and it felt like I was biting hard, but it was really difficult to bite a piece off. I still haven't gotten used to biting into things  with my front teeth. It just feels wrong, but at the same time it's a lot more convenient than biting sideways.

My doctor said that at this point the osteotomy has healed and it should take 6 to 9 more months of braces to finish this whole process.

Overall I still think I'm a bit swollen, looking at pre-surgery pictures of myself, but it's hard to tell because I've gotten used to looking this way. My mouth is still numb, but there has been a slight improvement with my chin, though not so much with my lower lip. De-numbing is a slow process.

From the surgery itself I have two scars, kind of. They're just little red marks on the sides of my cheeks from where they put screws in. They're not that noticeable and I don't mind them.

I'm actually really excited right now. I think I'll make some popcorn and watch a movie. And I'll cut up an apple. The possibilities!!!!!

Day 41

07/15/2015

So, with the removal of my splint last week, it took me a while to realize that the whole roof of my mouth is completely numb. I literally poked around some more and discovered that the entire inside of my mouth (except for my tongue) is numb. I feel like this is normal though...

I think this is actually a really cool thing because I can't feel hot or cold, so theoretically, I can never burn myself on hot drinks again! More or less. Maybe. The point is that the numbness inside my mouth is less noticeable/uncomfortable than the numbness of my lower lip. It also makes my braces more bearable for sure, what with not noticing any sharp wire ends and such.

Let's see... Today I went to the orthodontist and got a wire thing put in the roof of my mouth to keep it from shifting. I asked how long it would be in and they said for the remainder of my treatment!? I hope that's not true because I can tell that it's going to be a pain to keep clean and it makes it difficult to speak. It gives me a slight lisp, but I'll probably learn how to talk around it at some point.

My diet now is basically normal, except that I don't eat things like apples, celery, or corn-on-the-cob. Anything soft or thin or semi-soft I eat or attempt to eat.

Activity wise I feel like I'm back to normal with exercising and sports. It probably wouldn't be good if I were to get hit in the face with a volleyball or something, but barring that from happening, I'm back to my old self.

Day 34

07/08/2015 - Splintless!

My splint was removed today!! I can talk normally again!! Woooo!!!

 It was a painless process, just a bit uncomfortable because it felt like my mouth was being stretched too far. But now the splint is out and surprisingly, my teeth are pretty clean. I do have rubber-bands again though.

I'd like to thank my waterpik (which I started to use again about two weeks ago) for the condition of my teeth -- It's really difficult for me to tell when I have food stuck anywhere because I still don't have feeling around certain places on the inside of my mouth, but the waterpik just blasts it all out. I definitely recommend one.

So for the first time I can actually see my teeth touching! It's wild to see and so weird to feel the sensation. I haven't gotten used to it yet. The only reservation I have is that it seems like I'm more likely to bite my tongue now. I never had to really worry about that happening before because of my open-bite. It just seems like a dangerous way to live, having your mouth be able to close completely...

07/08/2015

I asked my doctor about numbness because my chin and lower lip are still pretty numb and he said that it can take up to 6 months for full sensation to return. So there's that, but one good thing is that since my bottom lip is still pretty numb, I don't feel the braces and hooks cutting into my lip anymore. Up top it's a different story which requires a lot of wax.

Face-wise I definitely have more jaw definition now that the swelling has mostly gone down, but I have a kind of jowl thing happening due to that liquid diet I was on. My jaw muscles atrophied a bit and now I'm in the process of rebuilding them so in the future my cheeks won't be as droopy.

I also went to see my orthodontist today and that was one of the more painful experiences I've had mostly because that was the widest my jaw has been opened post-surgery. They took all the surgical hooks off and put in new wires and spacers. They also took an impression so I'll go back next week to get the wire thing for the roof of my mouth put in.

Yay progress!