A story about Bullying, Braces, Bites and Broken jaws

After years of being bullied and humiliated because of my big nose, I decided to get rid of it. At least to get it reduced to ‘normal’ proportions. I wrote about my plastic surgery here and here. Goodbye, my schnozz, my honker. No more Pinocchio, bird beak , circus freak or Ugly Witch insults for me.

You think that plastic surgery isn’t the solution? That it is solving an internal problem with a superficial, external solution? That it is nothing but a patch for insecurity and that that same lack of self-confidence will only make you want / need more plastic surgery after the first one?
Not true! At least, not for me.
It changed my life and my happiness. It resolved a big issue in my life. And I never longed for any other plastic surgery since.

Now what I’m about to tell is going to sound strange after what I just wrote:
my nose job was my first plastic surgery, but -unexpectedly- not my last.

This story finds it’s origin in my youth. When I was in primary school, I sucked my thumb, like many children do, causing my upper-front-teeth to grow forward, creating an overbite.

Picture below: my mother and I, and a not yet very prominent overbite.

Braces were not as common and standard back then as they are nowadays, when every child gets braces to obtain a flawless smile.

But my overbite was getting quite outrageous, so our family dentist decided to give me braces. He made a night retainer with a big, bulky bump/lump attached to the ‘palate’ of the retainer. Like so:

Unfortunately it was never well explained to me. I thought the idea was to make me grow a habit of placing my lower jaw forward. Which did not seem logical or likely to happen, in my eyes . So after a short while I kinda ‘threw out’ my braces; I stopped wearing them.

It wasn’t untill I was 48, that my dentist -another one then the one from when I was young- explained to me, that I had been wrong all these years.
“No, silly, your dentist was not trying to make you grow a habit -of placing your under teeth forward-, he was actually trying to make your lower jaw bone grow!” Turns out that at a young age, your jaw bone is still able to grow. Forcing the lower jaw forward every night, was supposed to create extra growth.

Anyway, no use crying over spilt milk. Nor over sucking my thumbs or ignoring my childhood-dentist’s orders.
Fact was that there I was, 48 years old, with loosening teeth in my upper jaw, despite always being a good girl as far as oral care goes.

Pictures below:

On the left picture you see me on the right; with overbite and double chin, en profile. On the right picture you see me en face. Yes, I am a lot younger on these pictures;-).

My dentist continued: “You got this far, with that overbite of yours, but you have reached your limit. Years and years of biting with your under teeth in your upper ones (see sketch here under) has loosened them so much, that between now and 5 years from now, you will loose them.”

Oops, toothless at 55? I don’t think so!

The picture below is a hoax. It is part of a series of pictures from celebrities that have been photoshopped without teeth. The point being: I did not like the idea of myself, looking like this at the age of 55. Pure horror, right?!

“Okay, how are we going to fix this?”, I asked, all set for a plan-of-action. “Implants? Dentures?” He shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, but those are no options.If the position of your jaws remains the same, you will bite/break whatever solution we would choose.”

What??? I was in shock.

“There must be SOMETHING that can be done?!” “There IS’, my dentist replied, “but you’re not gonna like it.” “Pfff, try me, what can be worse then a mouth without teeth?! THAT really is not an option!”.

He started explaining: “We need to elongate your lower jaw…with one whole centimeter.”

“What??? How?”

“Your lower jaw will be sawn in half and placed forward, attached with screws. (see sketch here under; where it says under jaw I mean lower jaw. Not a native english speaker, sorry.)). In time, the bone will heal and grow back together.”

This kind of surgery is also known as osteotomy of the lower jaw.

I gasped for air and stared at him with abhorrence.
My dentist took my silence as a sign to continue with his explanation:”In order to do that surgery, you will need a period of braces before -and after- surgery.”

The whole procedure sounded pretty scary and horrifying, but hey, once again… a toothless mouth? Seriously?

That’s how it happened, that 40 years after I threw out my first and only braces, I got a second chance. Although that sounds way more positive then it felt at that moment.
I was referred to an orthodontist, who informed me that I was looking at two years of braces. And to a dental surgeon. To be precise: a team of TWO dental surgeons . One senior, middle-aged surgeon, the other a young, charming, ambitious surgeon. Eye-candy;-). Not that I was interested, since besides him being wayyyy younger then me, I had just found love and happiness in a new relationship.

My surgery would take place after 14 months of braces, followed by 6 weeks of recovery and healing of the bone, and finally another 5 months of braces. Not a party, especially with the new boyfriend in the picture. But -as I said- it did not feel as a choice really.

Picture below: I would have never considered this procedure for cosmetic reasons. After my nose-job 15 years earlier, I was content with my looks.

The braces were, well, what braces usually are, even more so on adults: uncomfortable, sometimes painful and not really attractive. And did I mention the new boyfriend? Exactly! It was not pleasant, but the worst was yet to come.

Somewhere during the process the dental surgeons got more involved, monitoring the progress and preparing me for the surgery.

That’s when it happened, during one of my checkups and prep talks at the dental surgeons. Out of the blue, Prince Doctor Charming asked me, casually: “When we operate on your jaw, shall we do your eyes and your double chin too, while we’re at it?”.

If I had been a cartoon character, I think my lower jaw, that notorious lower jaw, the jaw it all began with in the first place, yes, that jaw, I think it would have dropped and fell on my shoes.

My eyes? My under chin? What was wrong with them?! For what felt like an eternity, I sat there and did not know what to say….

(to be continued…)

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