Pictures: Before Braces

As you can see from that first picture, none of my teeth actually touch. When I would smile, you couldn't see that I had this problem, but my top teeth are slightly crooked leaning to one side. I learned it's because my jaw on one side is higher than the other! So that will all be fixed with surgery. I will post my orthodontic/ct scan pictures when I get them from my Dad (hopefully he didn't lose them).

ps---yes I dyed my hair brown but it's just temporary! 

Where it all begins

      Hello everyone! I am on my journey to getting double jaw surgery and thought I would share it with you all. I'm 19..soon to be 20, and live in the VA. I am no stranger to braces, this is actually my 4th time with them on ( yes that's not a typo). And this will be my FINAL time with them, and my jaws will have to live with it. I will start by giving you some back story. It all started in third grade when I got a fabulous palette expander. If you have had one.. you know how much of an annoyance those are! Then I got my first set of grills in middle school, for 2 years, and actually they were pretty perfect. I won best smile for 8th grade superlatives (oh how times have changed). Then as I started to grow, my jaws and teeth got all out of whack. I got braces another 2 times, but just on the top, and that made my teeth straight for the most part but structurally it was still a mess. About 4 months ago I went for a consultation with a new orthodontist who is a really great one! And I got some horrible news I actually needed surgery to fix the problems I'm having.
      I have an open bite, and although it was manageable  it was going to get worse and worse and cause me joint problems. So, I took the frustrating  exciting, changing leap of faith and decided to fix my mouth problems once and for all. I learned that actually only four teeth in my whole mouth do the grinding when I eat, and certain foods were nearly impossible for me to bite on. (Especially lettuce!!!).
    ( Fast-forwarding a bit) This is my third day with a metal mouth, and let me tell you, I am in so much pain. Not really from the tight brackets but from the cuts that have occurred from all the sharp crap in there. I am super frustrated at this point, knowing this is my fourth time with braces, but ultimately I am excited for surgery and having a fully functional mouth! This will be a two year journey (hopefully less) and surgery will be in the middle of that two years.
     I will be posting on here when something major is happening, every time I have an adjustment, and of course throughout the whole surgery process.
Hold on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!