Introduction

Introduction

Hi everyone, and welcome to my blog. Like many other jaw surgery patients, I’ve decided to start blogging my progress during the healing process. I’m definitely excited to see what’s in store for me, and track the healing and changes that will come along the way. Also, I will make sure to include some recipes that I've found, transformation pictures along the way, and some hobbies/activities that I will take up.

Here’s a little bit about how funky my bite is.
I have the following:

•           Cross bite
•           Open bite – when I chew, the only part of my bite where I can feel my teeth touching is in the right side of my mouth from my canine to my back molars. Also, when closing my lips, the right corner of my lips don’t meet
•          Under bite
•       Under developed upper palate

So why jaw surgery?

When I first went to the consultation for my braces back in May 2011, my orthodontist Dr. Daub told me that because of how my jaws are and the way that I bite down, braces would only help to straighten my teeth, not help solve my bite problem. Before getting the braces put on, I traveled from Milwaukee to West Bend to see Dr. Schmidt for another consultation to check why my bite was so goofy. We discovered the lovely details about how unique my bite was, talked about any habits that I had grown used to because of how my bite was, and determine exactly what was needed to be done. Dr. Schmidt explained that I needed to have 2 jaw surgery procedures done, one for my top jaw, and one for my bottom jaw. Instead of going under the knife once, healing up, and then returning to get surgery again, we decided that double jaw surgery would be best.

The jaw surgery process explained

Although it’s been a few months since I last saw Dr. Schmidt, I do remember what he told me about the surgery process. Upper Jaw: because my upper palate is so small, Dr. Scmidt and his lovely team of surgeons are going to make two incisions along the front part of my jaw to widen it, and also pull the jaw forward. Lower Jaw: Two incisions will be made along the front part of my bottom jaw, and the jaw will be widened a little bit.

Problems I've faced with my jaws

When it comes to eating and my open bite, I have a very difficult time shredding anything with my front teeth because of how open of a bite there is. Eating an apple is nearly impossible, and shredding any meats or lettuce is a pain because of the gap in my bit, so I always have to chew to the side of my mouth.. It was never anything noticeable to other people, but for me, I was always a little embarrassed eating in front of people.

Also, because of how small my upper palate is, breathing has been a difficult process for me. Ever since I was about 16 years old, I have developed chronic sinus problems, ranging from being plugged up and having to sound like an elephant when I blow my nose, to suffering from sinus infections and terrible headaches. I have barely any air flow through my nose, so the only way I can breathe is through my mouth. Imagine having to sound like you're snoring throughout the day, and then at night, you're a human bug catcher. Its a little embarrassing to be caught sleeping with your mouth wide open, so I've resorted to covering the lower half of my face with either a blanket or sheet.

I have also attached a youtube video from my vlog talking about the jaw surgery. I'll be juggling between the two, so stay tuned. :)

Thanks for checking out my blog!
If you would like to contact me to ask any questions, my email is kerikat@sbcglobal.net, or you can reach me on aim at specialKisSPECl

Until next time,

Keri