Pictures & Extraction talk (yikes!)

I thought it might be helpful to post some of my 'BEFORE' pictures for you. I kind of love that I can say "BEFORE" pictures now. :) In 24-30 months my smile won't look anything like the train wreck you see below!Yay!

Front of my Crooked Smile 

January 2011

(Front)

 Left Side 

(Jan. 2011)

 Right Side

(Jan. 2011)

 Upper

(Jan. 2011)

 Lower

(Jan. 2011)

What a mess, right? My left side is actually OK, pretty straight. my right side is a whole other story though! Just a mess! I'll be thrilled when that one snaggle tooth on the upper right side blends in with the rest of my teeth and doesn't stick out anymore! Same goes for that rogue tooth in the photo just above this paragraph. Clearly, it has no place else to go so it sits in the back row behind the rest of my teeth. Yuck! It actually bothers me the most, physically too. While that upper set of teeth make my crooked smile super obvious and just NOT cute, that rogue lower one affects the way I eat, pronounce certain words, KISS! I have even inquired about just yanking it out, but then I get the symmetry speech so instead I'll be getting 8 other teeth removed. Yes, you read that correctly, E I G H T! Ugh!

I knew I'd have to get my 4 wisdom teeth removed. They started erupting when I was about 23. By the time I was 26 they definitely started bothering me. I'd have random days of soreness from inflamed wisdom teeth. They haven't really bothered me in about a year now, but they still provided constant pressure to the rest of my teeth. And while my smile was by no means straight prior to my wisdom teeth erupting, I KNOW they got a lot worse afterward. Every dentist that I've seen since they popped out has strongly encouraged their removal. My two lower ones are impacted. One is "textbook" impacted and should be only slightly more challenging to remove than the non impacted ones. The other is very impacted (there's a medical term, but I'll have to edit this later with that info.) and may be attached slightly to my jaw (xrays don't show 100%) and different dental professionals have given me various opinions of it. One dentist told me he'd just chisel my jaw bone a little to get it out, one told me he didn't think he could get it out so he may just leave it alone and one told me it's no different than the others(?). None of those dentists will be performing my oral surgery though so I'll have to wait and see what my oral surgeon says. Now i wish I had gotten them out years ago when my dentist(s) started telling me to. Then I'd only have to deal with the 4 other teeth my ortho wants removed. here's a diagram to show you all the teeth they plan to pull...

 Upper Extractions (circled)

 Lower Extractions (circled) See the back impacted wisdom teeth?

 I guess it makes sense. What's the point of getting braces if my teeth don't have anyplace to move to? Extracting the ones mentioned above will create the space needed to straighten out my smile. No pain no gain! I guess.

Now I just need to decide on which oral surgeon to see. My dentist and orthodontist referred me to two different surgeons who both practice at the same exact facility. Surgeon A has tons of great yelp reviews, a website etc. I can't find ANY info. on Surgeon B! No yelp reviews, no complaints, no website, nothing! i can't even find him when I google his name. I just find this very odd. NO info.? He does however have both his DMD (dental degree) AND MD (medical degree), while Surgeon A only has his DMD. Of course surgeon B is the one my ortho is highly encouraging me to see. I need to make my decision like NOW. i'll let ya know who I decide to go with.