After several teeth out to make room for wisdom teeth/adult teeth to come through, i registered with a orthodontist at the hospital.

 

Initially i had to wait for my jaw to grow and then i was referred up to a London hospital to another orthodontic department to have full braces fitted in 2004/5. I knew then that braces would not fix my open bite alone and that i would have to endure surgery! The dreaded word! Nevertheless i decided to go ahead for the full journey in pursuit of the perfect smile!

 

Brace work up at the hospital continued until 2006. I had a great orthodontist who was so lovely! My operation was pencilled in for the Christmas break 2006 but i had had braces fitted for such a long time that under recommendation i had them taken off and a retainer fitted. I was given an idea of straight teeth when the braces came off BUT even after several months my teeth started to move back into their old positions! This would have no doubt happened if i hadnt of had surgery!

 

I had the brace re-fitted in 2006 and it was another 4 months before i was ready for surgery again. From that moment the preparation for the operation was really quick!

 

I saw the clinic team a month before my operation in February 2007 and they took an endless amount of measurements and impression models. I was able to see on a model how my bite would be and how my smile would look.

 

The day before my surgery in March 2007 i saw my surgeon and went through the final plans with him. I was scheduled for a Bi-maxillary osteotomy which in plain English means:

'Breaking my top jaw and moving it upwards and forward slightly (6mm) and breaking my bottom jaw and moving it backward'

(I also had my top jaw twisted to the left 1mm as my central line between my teeth was to one side).

 

Phew!

 

After my operation i was fitted with 2 elastics which i could remove myself. A week after surgery i only had to wear these at night and in the evenings to support the jaw.