Life as a Bulldog

Documenting my experience to help those, like me, who have underbites and are seeking treatment. Currently: Stage Two

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Got teeth #5 and #12 removed today. It was local and didn't hurt much but the pressure felt like my braces were going to pop off of my front teeth. The whole process only took about 15 minutes max. I was way too nervous for no reason.

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Hey! I have a youtube now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQsGmQ03bdM

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(1/20/15) LATE POST

Today was an adventure. I went to meet my oral surgeon, and I got pictures taken of my profiles and bite. He also explained how they're going to do it, what to expect, and the risks of the surgery. All in all, nothing was new to me...I did my homework, but going over the final result was so weird. As you can see, the bottom right picture is the estimated "after" look. I know I will look better than this since everyone says you do. It's just SUPER weird seeing the estimate because it looks like you, but you don't recognize yourself. Anyway, I got my new wire today as well, which was super fast and painless. I'm excited for the months to come. Even when my bite gets worse, I know the outcome will be well worth it.

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December 7, 2015: Officially Brace Faced Got my braces on today! Super excited to get this process started! It turns out that I do have to get two teeth pulled, but that will be done January 20th, when I meet my oral surgeon. I don't really feel any pain, just tightness, but that can change in the next few hours. Anyway, I ate for the first time today...well, I ate an actual meal, which is my all time favorite...Ramen from Silverlake Ramen. It's still a bit tough to chew, but I was told to start using my teeth to build up the nerves again. Other than that, I am really happy. Although I look like a prepubescent kid with braces, I swear that I am 18.

[underxbite-blog]

I have an Instagram!

Hey guys! I have a new instagram JUST for my jaw journey. Follow it for more pictures, updates, and more. I’ll try to do something fun with it once I get enough followers. If you have an under bite, or know someone with one and you’re curious, follow me for more info!

instagram.com/underxbite

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December 4, 2015: Day Three of Spacers

Spacers are hell. They feel like serrated knives in between my molars and I have seen eating soft foods since Tuesday. Yesterday was the worst, and I almost cried because I couldn't even eat spaghetti without being in excruciating pain. The discomfort is so extreme, but I know that it will all be worth it. I may hate spacers now, but once I get my surgery in the summer or next January, I will love the result and the pain will be far worth it. Until now, I have to accept that pain is a reality for the next year or so to follow.

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December 1, 2015- Stage Two: Treatment Has Begun

Today I had my conference with my wonderful orthodontist. He showed me my bite mold, x-rays, and tracings of what my jaw/profile is now v.s. what it will be. I found out that my front teeth grew too far forward, so I would need two teeth extracted from the top to be able to make my teeth straighter. However, this will make my bite much worse because the teeth will be brought back with braces, making my jaw seem more prominent than it was before. Anyway, my orthodontist is going to put braces on, but he’s not going to put brackets on the two teeth in case my surgeon agrees that they need to come out. If my surgeon can do the surgery without the extractions, by just cutting the top jaw and bringing the front down somehow, I will go back and get brackets on those two teeth. I also learned that my two frontmost teeth have weak roots, meaning that the root stopped growing, and now it is far shorter than it should be. This is not particularly a problem, however, because of the way my teeth grew in (slightly out) that means that these teeth will be on high watch and are very important if we do decide to extract the two teeth. After seeing my portfolio of all of my pictures, x-rays, and stats, I wanted to cry because I saw my jaw now and how I look and I do not like what I see. And yes, they are ugly digitals where I have to smile big in order to show my bite in which i NEVER do, but it’s all for the records. I can’t change the way I look without going through this process, so acceptance is a big part in moving forward. The part about my bite getting worse made me tear up a little bit as well because I know it would change my speech a lot and make it a lot worse than it already it. But as they say, it gets better. We also discussed my chin, and how it is pointy. My orthodontist said that if my surgeon wants to, he will cut the bone and round it off, for the aesthetics. I am not that fond of my pointy chin, so it was nice to find out that the surgeon may round it out for me. Anyway, I ended up getting spacers today, and I made an appointment to get my braces on. On Monday of next week, I will go in to have my spacers removed and get my braces on. I believe I have decided to get normal braces, not the clear ones, because clear braces are a lot of work to keep clear...basically one pasta fuck up and I’m a stained brace face. Cute, right? Anyway, as of now I am in pain and experiencing major discomfort. I can feel tiny shift in my teeth from the spacers, and that is so weird to me since I never had any oral treatment my whole life. It’s equivalent to biting on a serrated knife, but it also fluctuates to the feeling of flossing too hard. Basically, my back molars are super sore, and it makes it hard to eat and bite down in general. I had broth for dinner, and some ice cream which I kind of tongued because it hurt when my back teeth would touch. This feeling is supposed to go away in a few days, and I hope it does because I feel absolutely miserable now. Yes, I do talk different already, but a very minor change. I am talking like something very minuscule is in my mouth. It’s not too bad because people can still understand me. I just hope that if they do have to make my bite even worse, my minor lisp won’t develop into a major lisp. I am already self conscious about the way I talk, so I am stepping out of my comfort zone, going through this process in order to achieve the end result, which is a perfect bite and super straight teeth. I think I will have a little more tolerance for teeth pain once I get my braces on since I would have gotten used to spacers by then (hopefully). Until now, I’m just trying to get through the spacers experience, and I am looking forward to becoming a brace face. Follow me for more info and a new blog post on Monday! Also, if you ever have a question, ask, direct message, or send me fan mail. I will get back to you with a detailed response asap.

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November 17, 2015

Today, I got my x-rays done. It was honestly quite the adventure because I was put in multiple rooms to get different x-rays using different machines. The first one was very interesting, and I had two prong things put in my ear, then a thing to rest my chin on and I was told to be completely still as usual. The second room was a machine where I had to bite down on a strip with my lips closed and then had to be still when the machine rotated around my head until it came to a stop. Next, I went into a room to get digitals. They took photos of my face front on, profile shots, and then shots of my mouth and teeth. After the digitals, I went into yet another room to get more x-rays of my jaw, similar to x-rays you get at the dentist. Overall, the process took about ten minutes total, so that wasn’t bad at all. I’m super excited to get things started and I can’t wait until my orthodontic conference on December 1st.

Just as a confidence update: I feel a lot better showing my bite to people, especially people who are there to help me. Once I got over the fear of being seen as an abnormality, I have gained more confidence in the way I look now because the result will be completely different. I think that once you accept your flaws as definite facts, nobody can judge you for them.

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Stage One: Seeking Treatment

Hey guys! My name is Elyse, and this is my underbite surgery blog. I previously went to an orthodontist as a child, but was told treatment could not be started until I was fully grown. So, here I am, roughly ten years later, eighteen and ready to get this done and over with. I have an under cross-bite which has been a huge insecurity for me ever since kids at school would point it out or would make fun of how I spoke, and my speech has gotten a lot better if I must say so myself thanks to assholes who'd sarcastically correct me and my speech therapy I did myself. I am absolutely thrilled to get this done, but it is only the beginning. As of now, November 12, 2015, I have started the road to treatment. I go in for xrays on Tuesday and then on December 1st, I have my conference with the orthodontist to discuss my treatment plan, and in mid January, I meet with my oral surgeon. Right now, it is said that I will get braces to align the teeth, and have surgery hopefully in January 2017. I'm honestly blessed to have straight teeth, so fixing my alignment won't take too long. Personally, I am a bit scared and nervous because I'm basically getting a new face shape, which will obviously change my appearance and speech. It's not really a bad scared, but it will be different and I'm nervous about that and what people will think or if they will act differently towards me. Thankfully, I have everyone's support and my boyfriend to take care of me during my down time. I will post pictures periodically of progress during treatment to have a portfolio of before and after. Also if anyone has questions regarding surgery or braces or the whole process, please feel free to ask. I'd love to answer all of your questions or at least try and help because I know how hard it is.