Jenn's Jaw Surgery: 9 weeks post op (lots of before and after pics)

Sorry I have been MIA for too long. I kept taking pics after I got my splint out but I didn't make time to put them on my blog. I will have to upload all those pics and show the progression later. The last pic I had up was the day my splint came out and I was swollen again because my face was not thrilled about my extra metal being ripped out. My cheeks still feel a little swollen and my jaw line is still not completely smooth but Dr said it should smooth out with time. It feels a little weird along my upper jaw where my stitches were but not often. Honestly, I feel totally normal, other than still being numb, and can't even believe I had my surgery and was so miserable a couple weeks ago. Amazing! I love my smile now. I love smiling and only seeing teeth. No gums on the top or sides anymore. I put some pics of me before braces because when I used to smile you could see ALL of my gums. Look below to see a jacked up smile. :( So glad it is gone now. You could see the whole top and the sides all the way to my molars. It pretty much looked like you lifted my upper lip up and just looked at my entire upper jaw. I love, love my new smile. :)

A few days after I got my splint out my husband and I went to a wedding. I was nervous that I wasn't going to be able to eat anything. Plus I was not excited to continue my practicing to eat in front of people. To my surprise I was able to eat the chicken cut into tiny pieces and covered in sauce. I found that the more liquid on food the easier it is to chew it. I can eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as long as there is a lot of jelly and soft bread. I tried to eat a tuna sandwich but I had to put a lot of tuna on the bread to even try to eat it. Cereal has to be almost soggy to eat it, which I'm not a fan about. I can eat pancakes and waffles but again with a lot of syrup. I tried to eat a hot dog on a bun but I had to rip it apart into tiny pieces to be able to chew it.

I find myself chewing with focus and my mouth tends to be open. I try not to eat in public yet if I can avoid it and if I have to I just put my hand in front of my mouth, which is what I did before surgery anyway. My braces moved my teeth so far out that I felt like they were sticking out. So I felt more comfortable with my hand in front of my mouth. Sounds sillier than it looked. I tried to eat a bite of salad and that was a joke. Not possible.

My teeth are still pretty sensitive when I brush them so I have to make myself brush them longer and just get through it. It is worse when I eat something that gets stuck in my braces easily since I have to really work to get my braces clean. I try to avoid things that do that. My chin and lower lip are still numb. I can feel my lower lip more than my chin. I can feel my chin pull when I try to say certain sounds but I practice talking in the mirror to make it less noticable for others. It still feels like I have novacain on my face. Also, the lower part of my nose/nostrils is still numb. My lips still swell up when it is cold outside but it doesn't hurt. It just feels tight. Actually I like how my upper lip looks when it is slightly swollen. I was joking to my husband that I almost want to get a little lip filler because I think it looks better when it is slightly swollen. lol.

My midline is off again, thanks to my surgery, but that is easy to fix with my rubberbands. Now my ortho has me in 2 rubberbands to fix my midline and one side that has a bit of an openbite. I see my Ortho on Feb 16th and will continue to see him every 4 weeks. I don't see my surgeon until April.

Most people that have an overjet with a gummy smile do a really good job of hiding all of it. I have read a lot of blogs and saw that people tell them that they look like they had work done on their face but can't figure out what it is. They just look refreshed. My changes are subtle but and they just make my face look similar to what I worked hard to fake. It is so nice not to have to think about my teeth or my smile anymore. Just for that alone this surgery is worth it. I have gotten lots of compliments from people saying that I look younger. Woo Hoo! I saw the nurses and receptionist at my kids Drs office right before surgery and then just recently saw them again and they totally noticed a difference. Three different people at different times asked me what was different about me. They said they couldn't figure out what it was but they were looking at me puzzled asking what was different. I told them I had jaw surgery and they realized that my smile was different. They had wonderful things to say about my new smile and loved that it was all teeth now. I was cool to get such positive reactions from people I have known for 9 years. My husband and some family and friends have commented that my eyes look bigger. I always had really squinty eyes when I smiled big and they stay open more when I smile now. You can see a difference in the before and after pic below. Not a big difference but I see it too. Not sure if it is swelling but my cheekbones don't look as prominent either. My upper lip and the area between my nose and lip isn't swollen at all, unless it is cold, but my cheekbones don't stand out as much as in my before. Who would think jaw surgery would affect my eyes. Crazy. I like the newer me so far and can't wait until I can see the real final results. :) Can't think of anything else right now. Thanks for going through this journey with me and I will try to update at least every month. :)

~Before and After~

Before big smile

After big smile

Here the pic from the day my splint was taken out on day 41.

I like to compare the swelling side by side.

Funny thing is my new big smile is similar to my before fake smile

This is a pic of me trying to do my fake smile while waiting for the nurse to take me to the OR.

These are before pics of a genuine smile years before braces. They are pics from my wedding day. I usually deleted all the bad pics of me smiling with a gummy smile but I kept all the good and bad ones from my wedding for some reason.

I rarely let myself smile this big normally. This was the night before my wedding and I was so excited I guess I kept forgetting to do my normal fake smile.

(This is almost 11 years ago so I look like a baby. lol)

Happy cry. Smiling super big and trying to hide it with my hand.

You can't even imagine how much I hated that this picture existed.

See how you can see ALL of my gums, all the way to my molars? Ugh.

This is me doing my fake smile. Didn't want to only show ugly pics of me from that day. The hundreds of pics from that day all were good ones. The 3 above were the only ones that I hated and showed my genuine smile.