Foods you can't eat easily with an open bite!

So. Why would you put yourself through such a long, strange and swollen process? Doesn't your face look pretty much the same? Was it worth the money?! Does it actually make your bite better?

These are all questions I've been asked by folk who are not trying to be mean in any way, they just don't quite understand why I'm cheerful when I say "Oh yes, my jaw was broken in six places!"

In addition to the other benefits (mouth not hanging open, better breathing through nose, increased sense of smell, cosmetic side effects), a very major reason for jaw surgery is functional. If you have an anterior open bite (your teeth don't touch at the front of your mouth), you will find it very hard to bite certain foods. Anything smaller than the gap between your teeth just isn't going to get bitten unless you: a) cut it up with a knife and fork and by-pass biting altogether, or b) you can get some kind of grip on the food and tear it lion-style by gripping it with your back teeth.

It was just this kind of lion-beast tactic that landed me in an embarrassing situation one day in a Burger King. It having been a stressful day, I was tucking into a chicken burger and had unwisely chosen to sit in the bar-style seats facing out of the front of the restaurant window. They don't have knives and forks in Burger King (or not that one anyway) so I was forced to resort to dysfunctional biting techniques.

I tore into my chicken burger, gripping it with my back teeth as described above. As is often the case, this tactic didn't prove majorly successful and most of the burger components slid down my face and neck. I looked up, mayonnaise-chinned, to see a group of relatively fit guys about my age staring at me through the window in horror and disgust! This is all very funny looking back, and them being strangers and only RELATIVELY fit, I removed the lettuce from my bosom and continued munching away.

So in homage to my previously gammy jaw, and in anticipation of all the things I will eat without a thought when my teeth are back to normal after recovery, here are SOME of the foods that are difficult to eat with an open bite!

Burgers are hard because of all their flat layers that go through the teeth gap!

Any kind of meat on the bone is very tricky because without front tooth contact, it's very hard to get meat off

Pizzas, or any kind of topped bread, are dangerous because of their flat toppings that won't get bitten! Be prepared for all the topping to come off in one go because you can't make a bite...

Sliced meats like ham are another tricky one! They're just too thin and go straight through the teeth gap

Salad sandwiches or anything involving sliced lettuce/tomato/cucumber etc that isn't eaten with a knife and fork is very tricky! Salad is just too thin and you might as well play 'look what I can do!' by sliding bits of cucumber quite happily between your teeth gap

Fruits that you bite into are tricky, unless they will 'snap', like apples. Things like plums, peaches and strawberries are tricky because your front teeth can't finish the bite. There would always be a bit left in the fruit where my teeth hadn't closed and bitten it off. Always best eaten chopped up with an open bite!

Sushi or any kind of canapé can be tricky, again because of thinly sliced components. If you can't shove it all in your mouth in one go, be prepared for sliding toppings and trailing bits hanging out of your mouth!

Bite before and after: Day 80

 

Here are a few pictures of my actual bite before and after, as best as I can take them! Sorry for the selfies...next time I will try and get someone else to take pictures, or get the official pics from the surgeon.

Bite from low angle to see overbite and open bite: After (right) and Before (left)



BEFORE: Bite from low angle

BEFORE: Resting Face



teeth smile AFTER
 

AFTER: Resting Face

teeth smile BEFORE

bite before

 

 



 

Day 79! Braces off and before/after

 

9th August: benefitting from a little residual swelling!

So...I've been extremely lax with my blogging. Not much changed for a really long time after my previous post. Mid August, I managed to start eating solid food. Anything without a sauce tasted reeeeally dry at first - bread particularly! This wasn't helped by the fact I had braces on the front AND back of my teeth, so there was plenty for them to get stuck to.

I took a picture where I'd lipsticked my face to show the numbness remaining on July 26th: my top lip took a really long time to come back, which seems unusual compared to most people's experiences. I did lots of exercises screwing it up and screwing up my nose, to try and loosen the tissues, which seemed to help a bit. I had stitches just above my top lip, so I'm sure this is all related to the segmental osteotomy part of my surgery. So here was my numbness remaining then:

Now, on Day 79, it's better than the photo above but not perfect. Here was a picture from August 4th:

This may sound funny, but I actually miss that little bit of swelling! It was nice having fuller cheeks :-) I was still getting spasms, which worried me a bit. I was annoyed at myself because I forgot to mention it to my surgeon when I saw him. It has settled down now though and so I think my orthodontist was right - they were mostly caused by the elastics.

So the big news now is that I got my braces off!!! I was (and still am) worried it was too soon, but I decided to trust the orthodontist. We had a target for getting the front braces off by the end of August because I'm a teacher and it'd be a hell of a job teaching 6 classes a day with front and back metal work in my mouth! There was literally nowhere for my tongue to go. I was worried about the gap between my last set of molars on one side, which is big enough to stick my tongue through. All the other teeth touch, though, and the orthodontist and surgeon did not seem worried about it. There are no brackets on those teeth so there was no chance really of braces bringing them together. I'm a little disappointed my bite isn't perfect, although that seems quite common from a lot of blogs I've read. I guess I can't complain - my front teeth bite together and my bite on one side is perfect, just the other is a bit off right at the back! Much better than it was before, just I'm such a perfectionist. I did express my worries about having the braces off too soon to the orthodontist and surgeon, but they both seemed happy so I guess I have to trust them - they are both consultants after all!

So braces free life is wonderful, and so much easier to speak. I am constantly terrified that my bite will regress, but perhaps that's just my own paranoia! Some of my teeth are hyper sensitive at the moment so taking the braces off was surprisingly painful...it wasn't pleasant at all but I don't want to scare other people because I think my experience was very unusual! I don't remember it hurting when they took my braces off as a teen.

So here are some before and after shots! I'm really happy with: a) my bite at the front, b) my improved side profile, c) the increase in width in my lower face and d) my ears protruding less. My only negatives are 1) the imperfect bite on the left side, and 2) my fear that the work will regress! I have a retainer for my top teeth, and the braces are still on the back of my lower teeth (I couldn't handle any more removal that day!) so I am not scared of the teeth unstraightening - more the bite relapsing. I guess we'll see!



Side profile after: hello 45 degree change in chin!

Side profile before:taken in a changing room with good mirrors



 

 


Before



After: I feel like my face is better proportioned here