Where to begin - Part 2

Here I sit in 2013, with braces...again.  Why again, you ask; well, allow me to tell you.  I think everyone has that one thing about their appearance that they just HATE.  I have a few, but my smile is kind of at the top of my list.  As I mentioned yesterday I have a bulldog smile -- see for yourself:

Aren't I lovely?  Look at that mug!  Haha, I kid!  Is it weird that I found this picture on a website for braces?  I think so.

In all seriousness, I do have a bulldog smile:

Please excuse the hair and rather tragic appearance...this is from my trip to Africa (July 2012) and it was the first day...and it was hot...and I wasn't about to dry my hair or really care that much of what I looked like.  But I digress...If you look closely at my smile, you will see how my front teeth sit behind my bottom and I.  Hate.  It.

I realize having a "unique" smile is a very vain reason to put yourself through the torture and agony of jaw surgery (or maxillofacial surgery, if you want to get technical), but it was/is one of the driving factors.  However, it isn't the only factor.

My top jaw, in actuality, isn't that much shorter than my bottom.  In fact, it may only be 1/100th of an inch shorter.  You wouldn't think this would cause a lot of problems, but it does.  It has become second nature to me so I don't really notice it, but I force my front teeth to sit behind my bottom teeth.  It's the only way teeth other than the two front top and bottom touch, and is the only way I am able to chew (which may not be a bad thing.  I could stand to lose a few L Bs).

While this forcing of my teeth to close together is essential to my life it also causes:

(1)  My top and bottom front teeth graze each other every time I close my teeth together.  This is wearing the enamel down and if not stopped I will require false teeth.
(2)  My jaw joints are under some serious pressure causing terrible headaches and the potential for TMJ.
(3)  I can't bite all the way through things.  Eating a sandwich in front of people is rather embarrassing.  Close your eyes (just do it), imagine your top teeth behind your bottom and then imagine yourself biting into a sandwich...see what I mean?

With all this going on, I've been asked why I didn't go through with this before, and the answer is quite simple:  it wasn't the right time.  After getting my second set of braces off, I didn't want to set foot in my orthodontist's office for a while (no offence Dr. Z!), I had just graduated college and was poor, and I was scared.  But over the course of the last eleven years, things started to change; I changed.  I found a pretty stable, "adult" job with great insurance.  I am still scared, but my "want" and my "need" out weighs the fear.  Technology has come a very long way too.  Right now I am being told that only my top jaw will have to be broken, which is a gajillion times better than both.  And they don't wire you shut anymore.  They place these pretty tight bands on your braces to keep things together while you heal.  And last but certainly not least, I am ready and it's the right time.