The deed is done!

My upper lateral incisors are officially gone...extractions were yesterday. I would have posted sooner but they looked kind of icky plus I had a sick and cranky kiddo. I will say I'm not a fan of the gap however my family, friends and coworkers have been really supportive which has made the transition easier. I know it's only temporary and will look the best in the long term!  The canines will still need to be reshaped and bonded after braces are removed and after I have my teeth whitenened...

On a more exciting note, my lonely unwired bottom tooth has now been connected and is on the move literally has moved since yesterday (ouch but YAY!!!). My lowers are more sore than the extraction sites! I also have a bit of a lisp now but think this will improve with time once I adjust to the extra space for my tongue now that the especially wonky upper tooth is gone.

Here are the latest pics:

Upper arch with extractions

 

Before braces photo for comparison

Lower arch, gap on right closed, left side smaller, all teeth strapped in...yipee!!!

Before braces photo for comparison

Smile with "the gap", excited to be able to correct my upper midline!

Decision made...

So I made my big decision and have decided to go with extracting both laterals. I'm not excited about the process but know the end result will be worth it! It's funny to me that I debated more about this than the jaw surgery. Now I'm waiting for my dentist to get back from vacation so I can hurry up and get it over with. They removed the spring on my upper arch and the space where the lateral is now seems to be getting smaller again which is good, less of a gap to close :)

As an aside, I was a little frustrated at my last appt with my OD. I know he's busy and sees a lot of patients but he often asks the same questions or does not remember important things about me. I asked him if i chose extractions how the upper teeth would move (would the front teeth move back or back teeth move forward?) and he went into answering about how the only way to correct my bite was for me to have jaw surgery...HELLO my surgery is booked for next March!!! I was really quite shocked, told him my surgery was booked already, if it happens again I will call him out on it but in the moment I didn't really know how to handle it. I just needed to rant about this, feels better already!

Anyways, that's all for now. My next post will likely be after my extractions once I get my appointments coordinated.