Day 10 - Liberation Day!

Today is the best day ever! Got my wires off today. Had my x-rays done early this morning and my wires came off at 11:30 AM! I am so excited. I kept thinking what if something is wrong and they don't take them off!

It was a little painful. Doc was poking around at the sutures to make sure they were not infected or anything. Kept pulling on my lips and stuff. While he was pulling on the wires my jaws were a bit sore. If you can take some liquid Motrin before you go. If you don't have any then make sure you bring some with you. They gave me a 600 mg IB before I left to help with the soreness.

He then left me a toothbrush and some mouth wash and told me to brush well. This was very hard. I could not open my mouth wide enough to really get the brush in there. You should bring one of the children's toothbrushes with you to help with this. Feels so nice to have a clean mouth again. Also feels nice to not have all those wires poking my cheeks and lips.

Once I was done he came back and put the rubber bands on me. I will have to wear these 24 hours a day for 4-6 weeks. Have to take them off to eat and to brush my teeth. These are really not easy to put on and take off. Especially since my lips are still so sore that it hurts to pull them back a bit to see the hooks.

Speaking of lips, the bottom one seems to almost be back to normal size. Still no feeling on the right side and partial feeling on the left. The upper lip seems to have full feeling on the left and none on the right. The right is also still puffy. I look a little lopsided now. Left corner of my mouth is pulling back while the right is pulling down.

Doc also gave me some exercises to do. I am supposed to regularly try and wiggle my nose. This will help me get some feeling, movement, and muscle control in my cheeks and sinuses. I am also supposed to pucker my lips like a fish regularly. This will help with my cheeks, chin, and lips. This one hurts for now since it makes the raw, sensitive skin on the inside rub against my braces. The last one is just to open and close my jaw. Even without the bands on this is hard. The first two exercises you can start doing right away. Obviously, you can't do the last one until the wires comes off.