I went to my 3rd hospital appointment yesterday. I just saw the orthodontist this time instead of the surgeon. I haven't met this orthodontist before but she said that she'll be the one doing my braces throughout the process.
First of all she took me to stand in front of this big bright, white screen and took some photos of my face from the front with a relaxed mouth, and then smiling, and then from a kind of half-front, half-side 45 degree angle, and then one directly from the side.
Then she did some close-up photos of my teeth from loads of different angles, and then took some measurements and did moulds of my top and bottom teeth. I also had to go along to the x-ray department to get some x-rays done for their records.
But during the appoinment she kind of dropped a bombshell on me...up until now I've thought I was just getting lower jaw surgery, but she said that she thinks I'll need upper jaw surgery too! I said that the surgeon had only spoke about lower jaw surgery, but she said that she thinks I'll need upper jaw too to get rid of my gummy smile. This is something I'd definitely like to change, but now I'm even more worried about the surgery, as there's more chance of numbness, swelling, and apparently upper jaw surgery can change the shape of your nose. This could be a good thing for me though, because I've heard that it makes your nose wider, and I have quite a thin nose, so I don't think it would necessarily be a bad change! I think it might also make my nose a bit shorter too, which I wouldn't mind as I think I have quite a long nose anyway!
Anyway, she said I'll discuss this properly with the surgeon nearer the time. But I think if I'm going to go through all of this, then I might as well get everything done - the top and bottom jaws, otherwise I'll just end up regretting it like I regret not having the surgery done when I was first offered it. I assumed up until now that just having the lower jaw advancement would get rid of the gummy smile, but obviously not. I don't want to go through all this and have a nice bite but still a gummy smile! So I think if they think it's for the best then I'll just trust them and do the whole thing!
She also informed me that I have a hole in between my wisdom tooth and the one before it on the left side of my lower jaw, so she's told me to go to the dentist to get it fixed, but I booked a dentist appointment today, and they gave me 11th February, but I don't know if this will be too soon after having my wisdom teeth out on 31st January!? Or should I try and get the filling done before I have my wisdom teeth out?
