"All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth"...to come together with my bottom teeth!

Wow. I apologize for not updating this blog since July! Since then, my teeth have completely changed, with the most recent changes being the most noticeable & most painful.

-My right front canine is finally out from hiding and fully functional! woo! It almost feels like it is out too far/came down too from the gum-- but I have to remember that this is a PROCESS! Things constantly give and take; it should be okay in the end.

-The left side of my mouth/the side I chew on touches nicely and is better for chewing than ever. For a while, my bite seemed totally off and nothing touched well/top and bottom teeth didn't come together at all. I kept grinding them accidentally, in effort to find my "bite." ...but things are coming together now- LITERALLY! :D

- The top of my mouth has expanded significantly. My smile is so much wider!

now, for the best news [i really don't want to jinx anything, but...] :

-My bottom front teeth appear to be BEHIND my front top teeth, as in I appear to not have an underbite anymore. Interestingly however is that my back molars still exemplify underbite characteristics, with the bottom molars in front of the top molars. As to what this means in terms of jaw surgery-- only time will tell!! AH!

I mentioned this new development to my orthodontist a couple weeks ago. I told him that I am all for jaw surgery if I absolutely need it--but... things are certainly looking better than anticipated. Upon further "looks" and measurements, he simply said

"hold that thought. I hear and understand your question,"

at which point he wrote down a bunch of numbers, redid my archwires, attached yet another hook, and gave me new rubberbands(back to Quail Bands!) with a new arrangement.

I don't return to the orthodontist until January. I suppose I will begin to receive a more direct answer to my thought/question about the necessity of jaw surgery then. *cross your fingers* ...but I don't want to get my hopes up only to be disappointed- so as of now, jaw surgery is still on for summer 2011.

Since my last appointment, my braces/rubberbands have hurt more then they ever have before [the pain of spacers is close]. Over the past week (exam week, conveniently enough!), my right top jaw, gums, and teeth began to feel tremendously painful (maybe a 5-6 on a scale of 0(no pain)-10(worst pain everrr!). The pain would "flare up" at random times. For unknown reasons, the pain would randomly become more striking and throbbing at some times more than others. Throughout the week of aching gum pain, eating was almost never comfortable or normal; the pain would flare up after a minute of chewing. While aleve normally works for me, it did not alleviate any of my tooth/gum pain. Oragel provided temporary relief, in the form of numbing (yay benzocaine!) but I didn't want to use too much oragel (see internet/wikipedia/FDA for side effects of too much benzocaine- bad new bears!) All in all, the relief from oragel was too short and my "flare up" pains too unpredictable and frequent for oragel treatment to work.

Right now- the pain seems to have returned to it dull ache, nearly dormant stage. Maybe it seems that way because I'm used to the pain now or maybe my gums are chillin' out for a moment and trying to recuperate from all its recent movements.

Who knows... hopefully, all of this pain will culminate into possibly no longer needing surgery.

Whether I end up getting surgery or not- one thing is certain:

NO PAIN, NO GAIN!!