I had malocclusion since I was young, which led to a prognathism and slight asymmetry. When I was a high school student, I went to a dentist near my house for a checkup and they said that regular orthodontic treatment would not be enough to fix my prognathism and that I would have to extract two canines for correction. From then on, I realized that the only solution was bimaxillary surgery and started researching in detail on the internet and in books. At that time, bimaxillary surgery was just beginning to become known to the public, and I dreamed of saving up money to have bimaxillary surgery later.
So on July 22, I had bimaxillary surgery, square jaw, and prognathic surgery at Waigang!
<1 month after surgery>
I finally had my wafer removed and started orthodontic treatment.
I applied for Invisalign. I chose Invisalign because it was said that it was almost invisible from the outside and less painful than wire braces. However,
you can only drink water while wearing Invisalign, so you have to endure the discomfort.
When choosing an orthodontic treatment, I hope that others will carefully consider the pros and cons of each method.
When I visited the hospital for the first month, I took an X-ray and checked with the director to make sure there were no abnormalities before attaching attachments to my teeth. These attachments are used to secure the braces in place. They
also attached screws to attach rubber bands to the molars.
The doctor taught me how to put on and take off the braces and how to attach the rubber bands, but it was so hard at first.
My cheeks were already swollen, so if you don’t push them out with your hands while putting them on, your cheek fat will get caught and it will hurt a lot, so be careful.
I can’t eat food with the braces on, and since the braces wouldn’t come off, I was really stressed out at first. I couldn’t eat anything for half a day on my way home from the hospital to Gwangju, and when I got home, I barely managed to get them out and ate porridge.
Then I decided to practice putting them in and taking them out right away and find my own method. In my case, it was easiest to lift the upper and lower left incisors with my right index finger and remove them from the left side. Once I found my own method, I had no trouble putting in and taking out the incisors or putting on rubber bands. However, I had to brush my teeth and put them back in after eating after taking them out, so I could barely eat. After a month, the swelling went down so much that I could walk around without wearing a mask. There is still some residual swelling, though. They say that correction takes from 7-8 months to 2 years, but if you wear it properly for more than 20 hours a day, it won’t take long. It’s a battle of patience from now on.
<3 months after surgery>
I’m only 3 months in, but I still have a lot of residual swelling.
I can feel it when I press it with my tongue. Still, it’s amazing when I meet my friends after a long time after the surgery. Friends who didn’t know I had the surgery all tell me that I lost a lot of weight. Of course, I lost 10kg by eating only rice and liquid food while wearing the wafer, but no one asked me if I had surgery. Even friends who knew I had surgery said they didn't know. However, both of them said that their faces became much gentler and they looked younger. Some people said that they used to look like a mischievous kid, but now they look smart. I used to wear big round glasses, but now that my face is smaller, they say that the glasses look too big and tell me to change them to smaller ones. When I hear these words, I feel proud, but I'm also excited about how the swelling will go down, but I'm also worried because it hasn't gone down for a long time. Now, I don't have any pain in my chin and cheeks, and my sensation has really come back. Before, when I touched my lower jaw, it felt like it wasn't my flesh, so it was really unpleasant, but now I can feel it well. I brushed my teeth after eating and exercised my mouth three times a day. As a result, now in the third month, I can put three fingers in my mouth. Sometimes I feel anxious and want to give up because I feel like my mouth won't open any more. However, if you believe in yourself and consistently do mouth exercises, you will be able to lift three fingers before the third month. They say that if you neglect mouth exercises, your muscles will become fixed and it will be more difficult later, so I hope you do them consistently. I had orthodontic treatment before surgery, so at first, my molars didn't fit well, so it was really hard to chew. My right molars were floating and my left molars were only half-aligned, so I could eat little by little. After two months, my right molars started to fit, so now I can eat most foods, whether chicken or meat, without any discomfort. However, I am still careful when eating hard and chewy foods like jerky. After three months, it seems like all I can do is wait for the swelling to go down. If you are considering double jaw surgery or are just starting out, I hope you will endure the pain and discomfort at first, but just endure for 2-3 months. After that, you will only feel a sense of satisfaction and a change in yourself.
SUNGYESA
