2 months on
I’m still in my retainers full time, for one more month.
I noticed that there are a lot of changes and new things that I had to learn that I never knew I never knew.
For example, for most of my life (i.e. pre-surgery) my lower jaw had two positions: The first was when the molars touch each other, which is what I did when I chew, rest my mouth when I didn’t have anyone to impress. However in this position I couldn’t close my mouth properly because I had lip trap. The second position was when my incisors touch each other, meaning I bring my jaw forward, which is what I used when I bite food or try to mask my occlusion. In that position I had lip incompetence, i.e. a “strawberry chin” because my mouth muscles were straining to keep my mouth closed.
Now that’s all gone, thankfully, and there is only one jaw position for both biting and chewing and at rest.
What I never knew, though, is that it feels weird to chew like that. I wished for this for most of my life and then it felt weird..? My mouth is not used to it and it makes me not want to eat things, but I have to to get the practice.
Also, when I try to bite and chew hard foods, like those really hard gummy candies you get here in Sweden, my jaw hurts. I feel like even though my jaw bones have healed, it does not have the same strength that it did pre-surgery.
















