Signing Off

Well here it is. It's been a few months since I've posted last and I think it's time to move on. Things are great. I'm wearing my retainers every night and every time I bite together I feel great about the whole process.

I'll be keeping the blog around for others to glean from. If any of you ortho-buddies-to-be need some insight you are welcome to leave a comment and it should still forward to my address.

Again, thanks to everyone who has helped me, and encouragement to those yet to take the journey.

Chris

Numbness

As per Anon's request, a quick note on numbness. I don't think numbness is really the right word to use. In the "half-of-my-face-is-numb-from-Novocaine-at-the-dentist" type of numbness there's absolutely none. If I poke any part of my face with a pushpin I know it's there. Now there is a type of "internal-tingling-like-a-sleeping-limb-waking-up-but-without-the-pain-part" feeling when I press my lower lip, chin, and a little bit of my right cheek, but it's not painful or even annoying. In fact, sometimes I find myself playing with the tingling if I'm thinking something through. Oh, and my upper gums used to be absolutely dead to the touch which was awesome. No seriously, it was. You know how easy sitting through a teeth cleaning is when you can't feel them prodding around? It rocks. For better or worse though, the feeling has been coming back.

p.s.- Can anyone think of a reason why we even have pain receptors in our gums? So we don't FLOSS too hard? I'm willing to bet that's never happened in the history of humans or floss.

Thank You

To my dentist, Dr. Anton Misleh, for putting a bug in my ear to think about getting braces again. And to his amazing crew, Linda, Amanda, Miko, Denise, and everyone else who will keep my smile beautiful from here on out.

To my orthodontist, Dr. Paul Styrt, for being a perfectionist with my smile. And his wonderfully pleasant staff including Vicki, Kira, and Wonderful Jessica who has moved on but was integral in making this all happen.

To my ENT, Dr. Michael Keefe, for making it so solidly clear how my malformation was the cause of so many little daily problems.

To my surgeon, The Chainsaw, Dr. Adel Tawfilis, for being so talented, and for being tough on me in physical therapy. Kim, Victoria, Medea, and the male technician whose name I never seemed to catch are the epitome of professionalism.

To the nursing staff at Sharp Memorial Hospital, for being patient with me because I couldn't easily express myself with a broken face.

To 24 Hour Fitness, for making pre-surgery training possible.

To the makers of CytoGainer, Jell-O, Vons Signature Soups, Lortab and Hydrocodone, for making post-surgery recovery as tolerable as can be expected.

To my grandmother Beverly, for giving me a comfortable sanctuary (twice) to get through my recoveries.

To my mom, Toni, for her constant words of encouragement. And for not forcing me to have these procedures when I was a teenager.

And to my amazing girlfriend Kelly, for her care and strength when I was in pain.

To all of you who have helped make this happen, big or small, directly or indirectly. From the bottom of my heart, Thank You.

Before/After

Here it is. The moment you've all been waiting for. The qualitative analysis of before/after photos. I have to say, looking at these I realize how lucky I am and how well things turned out. Everyday I'm in awe of my new biting capabilities and I'm glad my face didn't completely change because of it. I mean of course I look different but I'm still definitely me, only better!

The Results Are In

As Expected

Two weeks or so now with the braces off and just as I figured, I'm ecstatic about it. Why wait this long to post then, you ask? Well if you don't know me by now you may never ever ever know me, wooo-ooo-o-ooo. It's just great. My mom bought me a couple pounds of mixed nuts which are now gone. I've been eating tortilla chips by the basketful. Hell, I'm even flossing everyday! The abutment for my implant is installed and I have a temporary crown on until I'm done bleaching my teeth. Then they'll match the color to make the real crown. The temp pops off pretty easily when I take out my lower retainer so I'll try to remember to take a photo of the post underneath so you can see what's going on. Having it put in was SUPER easy. Other than a couple pinches here and there I truly could not feel a thing. Oh and Dr.Misleh had this tiny little torque wrench to tighten it into place! Cutest torque wrench ever. Anyway, everything's amazing. I couldn't be happier with the outcome (even that little gap I was whining about earlier closed itself up!) and would do it all again without thinking twice.

(*I was going to snap a quick picture because I happen to have my camera here at work and found my battery had died. Check back in a few hours.)

One Week Countdown

Not much time left now. I went in to discuss a small gap with Dr.Styrt yesterday so he loaded me up with TWO overlapping powerchains to take care of business. He thinks it'll be sorted by next week but I didn't mind mentioning that if it's not ready I'm ok with waiting another week or another month. I'm not keen on letting it slide and having the dentist "fix" it with veneers or something like that.