What Happened

I was the last patient of the day at Dr. S' office and the girls sent me straight back to the chair with a happy wave. The other girls were punchy and happy because it was the end of the day. They joked and chatted with me as Dr. S looked at my teeth and made notes.

The office is a training office, so frequently you'll get a new assistant who reefs of your teeth as though you were a training head. Theresa, the girl I usually get, who has been at the office for years and years, can change my o-rings and wires with a feather-light touch, and I won't have any pain after. The girl I had today was another matter. She tried. She was pleasant and chatted with me when she realized that I was a regular. She also asked me why I wasn't an assistant, because I kept rattling off random terms, midline, tooth location, etc.

They took impressions, changed my upper wire, took off the power chain (thank god) and the appliance on my front teeth that he was using to flare my teeth out (to make more room in my mouth for my lower teeth after surgery).

I was told to come back in two weeks, in which time I'll be given a "Yea" or "Nay" on whether or not I'm ready.

The only thing wrong now is that my top midline is not straight. It used to be, is all I'm saying.

SO.

What does this mean?

Probably no surgery until October, because Dr. L's trip in September. If he can't do the surgery in early to mid-August, then he won't have the 4 weeks that I'd need him for post-op.

So, I probably won't have surgery until October unless they really rush after my appointment on the 11th. They'd have to schedule the surgery for the next week, which is possible, I suppose, but probably unlikely.

I have a migraine from the new assistant yanking on my wires and brackets, so I'm going to have some cobbler and whipped cream, because its soft and damn tasty.

Have a good night, kids!

4:00 PM EST

I have an orthodontist appointment with Dr. S today. I called in and requested it because the appliance on my front two teeth is really starting to bother me. It's meant to angle my teeth in, and now my bottom teeth are hitting the root of my tooth in the roof of my mouth. LL25 is hitting the root of UL8, if I've got my Alpha numeric codes correct.

I'm also hoping that we'll get an thumbs up that he's spoken to the surgeon (Dr. L) and we can get this actually scheduled for next month. Because I'm going to be pissed if I have to wait until Dr. L gets back from his practice in Nicaragua in October. :(

Wish me luck!

Blue Steel

One of my husband's favorite past times is teasing me. Which drives me totally and utterly nuts, but I know he does it because he loves me. But his favorite thing to tease me about are the faces that I make in the mirror.

Some time ago, whether before or after my orthognathic journey started, I don't remember, I started sliding my jaw forward to try and simulate what I would look like if my chin wasn't so recessed.

Unfortunately, my husband, R, must have noticed. He started calling me Zoolander whenever he saw me gazing into the mirror, my jaw thrust forward in it's correct positioning. It would seem that the face I make is remarkably similar to Ben Stiller's intelligence-challenged male model.

It didn't occur to me that there was anything wrong with the structure of my face until I was 16 and on a youth group trip to Chicago. Demorée, a girl a year or two older than me and a wonderful artist, started sketching portraits of some of the kids. She starred sketching me, but stopped because I was moving too much, and besides, she needed "a subject with a stronger jaw."

Never once before that did it occur to me that there was anything wrong with the way I looked (outside of the standard female insecurities about complexion, hair and weight). It bothered me, and I vowed that someday I would get a chin implant and cheek implants to balance my features. Assuming of course, that I somehow got a fabulous high paying adult job to fund said plastic surgeries. Still waiting for that job, if you were wondering.

I had no way of knowing, despite years and years of orthodontics, that there was anything wrong with my mouth besides crooked teeth. It wasn't until I went in for a 6 month cleaning at my dentist and asked about my lower gums receeding on L27. I was told by my dentist that it was actualy being crowded out and that if it wasn't fixed (by removing teeth and surgery) that I would lose that tooth and others.

I was aghast. Why hadn't this been mentioned to me during the years and years of braces and retainers? Why hadn't anyone mentioned that there was a structural problem with my jaw?

One week later, I was in my orthodontist's office and it was explained to me. When I was a child, orthognathic surgery was not a common practice and in fact, was avoided as treatment. Dr. S (senior) my old ortho was pretty old school. His son, who inherited the practice when I was in invisibles in college, takes a more modern approach and suggested the surgery, explained that many of the problems that I experienced daily (breathing problems, headache, jaw, shoulder and back pain, was all because of my weak chin. He offered an alternative; to shave down a couple teeth and make room in my mouth for my teeth, or put braces back on and have surgery. As you can imagine, I was horrified at the prospects of any more time in braces or major surgery, but in the end I opted to do just that.

And here we are. 4 years, 4 removed teeth, dozens of orthodontic appointments later, here we are. My husband calls me Zoolander and I'm going to be cut open very soon.

And maybe if I'm lucky, he'll call me something else. As long as it isn't Gaylord Focker.

Orthognathic Hullabaloo!

Hi, you can call me Cassie. I'll be your tour guide for the next few months as I navigate through Orthognathic Surgery.

I have been in some sort of orthodontic device since I was eight years old (or 19 years, if you're counting at home).

I started in the third grade with my first retainer; a Frankel that left a perminant impression in the roof of my mouth, which I accidentally left in my lunchbox and my mother threw away. I graduated to braces in the fifth grade, cursed with the stigma of wearing glasses and braces during puberty. And then into clear retainers in the tenth grade, and then back into braces at the age of 23 in preparation for my orthognathic surgery.

When my boyfriend proposed, I pushed our wedding off for a year and a half in the hopes that I would be through with my surgery and could have wedding pictures without braces. Here we are, a month after my first wedding anniversary, I still have braces and haven't had surgery yet.

One week ago I had an appointment with my oral surgeon and was told that my teeth were as ready as they would ever get and that we can schedule surgery.

So finally, for the first time in 19 years, we will be treating the problem and not the symptoms, and I will have my surgery soon, hopefully in 5 weeks.

I am looking forward to it, but am also vaguely terrified. Terrified of how the surgery will go, of how recovery will go, of 8 weeks of a liquid diet, of how I will feel and how I will look. All of which sounds silly, even to me, because I have been waiting for this for so long.

So, stick around and I'll give you a guided tour through the ups and downs of my orthognathic surgery.