The short version is that I'm a 29 year old girl (still allowed to say 'girl' - I'm not 30 yet! :-) ) and I began my journey towards jaw surgery in September 2012. I'd already had braces to try and correct the problem as a teenager, but they didn't work. In September 2012 I met with my wonderful surgeon (aka Jaw God) and in April 2013 I got my braces. I have lingual braces which are a little unusual, so I'll do a separate post about those later for anyone who might be considering them.
I have kept a photo record of my progress since the beginning of this journey; I'll upload the whole lot when I've made sure I'm doing this blogging business properly and not deleting everything!
For now, here are the most recent pictures. I have an open bite and an over bite, as well as a slight cross bite which I think has only developed since I've had the braces. I'm having a bi-lateral split osteotomy to move my upper jaw upwards and to widen it, and to move my lower jaw forwards and upwards. I'm also having my ears pinned slightly, which is a separate and totally non-medical issue - I just figured, I'm paying for this shiz myself so I might as well get rid of another insecurity while I'm in the hands of a great surgeon!
In these pictures, you can see my recessed chin and how my mouth natural sits open at the moment in a rested position, because of my overbite. I can't bite together because of my open bite, and the whole thing also makes my face look very flat and narrow. You can possibly also see that my ears are not symmetrical and stick out a bit (I know it's not masses, but enough that I am very self conscious of it and never ever wear my hair up - a lot of the time, not even at the gym!)
and this is far as my teeth close. Yep, that's an open bite! :-)
