pictures & update

Hi everyone,

Things are pretty much the same braces-wise.  The end of the year really snuck up on me!  Only two weeks left until school will be closed for 2 weeks, those two weeks are really jammed with patients though! I had an ortho appointment on monday and I'm in the .17 x .25 wire on the bottom still (which is the surgery wire).  That thing is really stiff!  He also tried to get me in to the .17x.25 on the top (right now i'm still in .16x.22's) but I wasn't ready yet.  He tried so hard to push that thing in! I thought my tooth was going to be extracted with how much pressure was on it.  But of course that would never happen I was just overly sensitive about the pressure.  So hopefully at our next appointment in the new year we'll be able to get into that wire so we're another step closer to being ready for surgery.  

Other than that my biggest worry lately is about a letter I got from my PCP (at the same medical center associated with my dental school and my OS).  The letter basically said that as of January 2012 the medical center is no longer going to be in-network for my medical insurance if the insurance company (BCBS) doesn't start paying them more money.  That throws a big wrench in my plans bc if the medical center isn't in-network anymore I'll have to go find a new oral surgeon at a hospital that accepts BCBS. bahhhhh.  There isn't anything I can do about it now until the date comes around and we see if they actually do drop it.  I really like my oral surgeon, she is the best and I feel comfortable around her.  Starting that whole relationship over with someone else would suck!

Here are some pictures from the whole process so far.  

So this is my bite "before"  My teeth really aren't out of line,  and the few that aren't in the correct position are the ones that we're still trying to correct now.  Notice the second molars on the bottom how they're turned in towards my tongue.  The third molars have since been extracted

This is my "before" pan.  You can see that I still have my lower 3rd molars that have since been extracted.  I really missed them at first!  they were in occlusion with my upper second molars and I would use them to chew, and once they were gone I was chewing onto the gum where they used to be. 

Here is my "before" lateral ceph.  This one really shows the severe discrepancy of my jaws to each other.  Its not just a problem with my teeth that cause my underbite, its a skeletal discrepancy between my upper and lower jaw.

This is where I was a month and a half ago.  My smile looks so awkward like this, I've never smiled biting down before!  Notice that heavy wire on the bottom.