Day 29: The No-Band Smile!

A friend came to visit today, and we snapped this picture!

Big metal-filled smile!

And here's a similar photo we took pre-braces:

We looked a lot tanner back then!

Here I was exercising my classic turn-the-head mouth-slightly-open pose in which I could most comfortably smile.  Smiling involves a lot less effort now, though it includes a lot more pain due to the bits of metal tearing up the inside of my mouth.  Most everyone who has seen me say they see little change in my appearance, which I guess is a positive thing- being unrecognizable would be awful!  

Day 20: FIRST SMILE IN 3 WEEKS!!! :)

The title says it all!  After nearly three weeks of being unable to smile, I finally got my facial muscles to do my bidding!  Greatest day ever.  It looks weird because of the bands, but here are some pics:

My bottom lip appears to still be sticking out in front when I smile in profile, but it's much less noticeable than it was before surgery.  

It definitely hurts a bit, but I consider today to be a big step!  I can now tell I'm going to be happy with the results of surgery.  My midline is definitely off, which I'm just being nitpicky about, but this is a huge improvement from before!  I can't wait to be rid of all the other shit in my mouth and see my braceless smile!  Happy day! :)