Corrective Jaw Surgery of upper and lower jaw.. I am Proud of my Results :)

I had an under bite since I was little, it was inherited from my dads side. It never really bothered me as much until I became aware of what I really looked like! That may sound weird, because how can a person not know how they look right. Well it was exactly how it sounds, I didn't really pay any mind to the fact that my lower teeth came over the top teeth as a young girl anyway. All I knew was that I loved to laugh, smile, make friends and have fun. Long story short, I came to realize that I had a problem with my face around middle school. You know there would be some comments made about my chin being long but I still never paid any mind to it, I was still me. The outgoing funny girl, that was cool to hang around. Growing up I made friends like this *snaps* it was so easy to make a friend in a new neighborhood or school because I wasn't embarrassed or ashamed of my appearance until... I was 14 or 15. A freshmen in highschool. Thats when things began to set in, that I looked a lot different from all the other girls my age and the older ones. I remember the very first time I came to notice my under bite. I will never forget this. I was, I think 15 and I was helping my nephew brush his teeth in the bathroom and I had told him to say cheese, and I flashed my "say cheese" smile and when he did I noticed that he put his tiny bottom teeth over his top teeth. And at that very moment is when I realized something was wrong with my smile.

Fast forward I ended up getting braces in 10th or 11th grade, I can't remember all I remember is that is was in the year 2007. And I began looking for doctors to perform my surgery. It wasn't easy, it was tough because I didn't want just anyone to perform this major surgery. So it took some time, a lot of time. Then there were financial problems so it brought things to a halt for a while. So I stopped looking. Then things started to get harder for me with my social life, I began shutting down little by little. My attitude changed. I wasn't the outgoing person I was growing up, I was becoming different, I was more quiet and I didn't like to smile. I hated smiling lol. I didn't like the person that I was becoming so I found a way to try to disquise my bottom teeth from showing when I talked.. bad idea. Because that only resulted in me pronouncing words wrong smh but I still continued to do it. It seemed like I had dodged a bullet because no one seemed to notice my under bite but only just the fact that I had a long chin. So I began my hunt again for a doctor and I had finally caught a break!

I was referred to Dr. Meredith August out in Boston, Mass at Mass General Hospital. She is the best! I started seeing her back in April of 2012 and we went over my situation and I was comfortable with her performing my surgery. She was like an angel lol she gave me hope. Everything seemed to be going how I had always pictured it but the only problem was money. I had learned that I would have to come out of pocket for the surgery, which was $3000!! So that put things to a halt! Here I was 21 at the time, living on my own, trying to find a way to come up with money so that I could have this surgery! The surgery that would change the way I felt about myself, the surgery that would stop my tears from falling when I was alone or wherever I was cracked on or talked about, the surgery that would give me a beautiful smile and a normal jaw line so that I wouldn't have a long chin. A surgery that would stop me from crying whenever I thought about my appearance or whenever I talked about it to anyone. I was really distraught about the way I looked but I never told anyone how I really felt. I always kept my feelings to myself. So whenever getting this surgery became a topic of discussion I would cry, I would literally get choked up just talking about it. So I never really did talk about it, but finding Dr. August gave me hope that I would one day get it done.

So January 12, 2015 was my big day and I was all of excited and nervous at the same time but I was ready to get it over with! By this time my whole family knew I was getting the surgery, I had finally became comfortable talking about it to some people so it made things a lot smoother. So I arrived at Mass Gen bright and early, I was the first case of the day. It took 6-7 hours to perform this surgery that would move my upper jaw up and my lower jaw back. By this time, I had read everything that I could find about this surgery! I had Googled pros and cons, before and after pictures and stories. I was hipped lol so I knew what I was getting myself into. So there I was at Mass Gen finally getting what I always wanted and I couldn't of been happier!

It has now been 3 1/2 weeks since the surgery and I feel great! My face is still a little swollen around my cheeks and upper lip and I am still numb around my mouth area. I was told the numbness would last for a while but if Gods willing it will go away sooner! I eat fine, I am obviously on a liquid diet but I don't need a syringe, my jaw wasn't wired shut. Although when I first came out of surgery I thought I couldn't talk lol. But I am home, I still live on my own, taking care of myself. My mom was here for the first 2 weeks but I became more equipped with what I had to do, so I took over lol. So yeah, I am on a blenderized and liquid diet and its been good so far. I eat whatever I want, I just have to blend it up first lol in the beginning I was blending up pizza and chicken and stuff lol but then I thought why not use this to my advantage and lose some weight. So now I eat healthier. I wear elastics to help guide my bite and keep it in its right place. I am not sure when I will be getting my braces removed but hopefully buy this summer or before my 25th birthday (11/05) :). The only thing that sucks is that I have to sleep upright when I love to sleep on my side! But I'm getting used to it. I was told I would have to be on a liquid diest for 6 weeks, so 3 more weeks to go! Hopefully by then all the swelling will be gone and I'm praying the numbness will go away right with it! I am ao ready to bite into a burger! That is all I really want! Oh and pizza! Pizza and burgers mmmm yum! I go see my doctor in two weeks so yeah I'll see how things go :)