Thursday, June 7, 2012

Hi!

Last summer prior to braces.

 My name is Allie-- I am from California, eighteen years old, 5"4' 1/2, blonde, and currently entering my sophomore year of college.  Some of my interests include: spending time outside, being active (track & field- pole vaulter!), the beach, meeting new and interesting people, chocolate, writing, traveling, crying spontaneously, laughing a lot, experiencing new things, learning, thinking, dreaming,  family, art, music, good movies, good books, singing(badly!), dancing(worse!), being silly, philosophy, stacking things, rock-climbing, and having some incredible friends that I hold dear to my heart!

I rarely smiled with my bottom teeth- here you can see my underbite prior to braces.

I have also known for about a year now that I have a class three malocclusion that requires a Lefort 1 orthognathic surgery to correct.  Though my underbite is not as severe as some others I have seen, my orthodontists have assured me that I will experience problems in the future if I choose to ignore it.  I was in high school when I made the difficult decision to get surgery.  Looking back, I question whether I was mature enough to dictate my future at that time.  I, like many others in high school, battled insecurities that mostly concerned my appearance.  Therefore when I was told I needed surgery, I agreed. 
 Photo of me in braces taken a few weeks ago - open-mouth smile!

However, my first year of college brought with it an unimaginable surge of confidence, peppered with engaging, interesting, people and a wealth of learning(in class, and about myself!).  I matured a lot in those seemingly short months, becoming more confident in myself than I could ever have hoped for.  Then I got braces.  Though I tried to push away the insecurities that began creeping back, they nevertheless took hold of my thoughts once again.  I was lucky to have been my orthodontist's first patient to have Invisalign braces for the majority of the year.  I then was only in metal braces for three months, a period prior to surgery that for similar patients is much much longer.  So I'm fortunate in that sense, but once the braces came on, thoughts of surgery plagued me daily.  I began reading several blogs about others' experiences with surgery, which inspired me to create my own!  My surgery is in exactly a week (AHHH!) and this blog will hopefully help others as others have helped me!  I will be posting pictures of my progress (hopefully!) daily.  Wish me luck on this crazy journey I am about to take on! :)








1 comment:

  1. Just looked through your entire blog since I didn't start following it until a while after your surgery. Your changes are awesome.
    It really relieves the nerves to see that others have gone through the surgery and are doing well. I'm two months away and I am getting more and more nervous but I think I'll just start crying before surgery lol
    I'm so happy your journey has gone well :)

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