And...we're finished!

Attention, World! I have an announcement to make:

I, Brittany Doyle, am the proud owner of a sixty thousand dollar mouth. (Yay for insurance! And parents!)

Yep, that's right. You read that correctly. After eleven years of oral surgeon, orthodontist, and dental appointments, I am through! My mouth is finished. I can't describe to you how elated I am. Here's the tale:

It all started when I was in third grade. The dentist said I was missing many teeth, and that I would never be able to chew again unless I had major oral surgery work in the future. My parents took me to several oral surgeons, who all said, 'Alrighty! Looks like you need our help. Come back when you've gone through puberty!' And so, things didn't really start kickin until high school. From sophomore to senior year, I suffered through braces just like everyone else. Right before they were ready to be removed, I was given the ok to have my severe underbite corrected by oral surgery. Best two weeks of my life....not. But hey! I lost ten pounds in a week thanks to the liquid diet. Great as that was, it wasn't the end of things, oh no. Next came the five implants (four on top, one on the bottom [front and center]), which required three surgeries in and of themselves: one to put them in and cover them, one to uncover them, and then the pesky one in the back had to be "reuncovered" because some funky growth regrew after the first time. ("Fascinating!" Dr. Austin said. Ha.)Once the rods were in place and properly uncovered, and once I had visited a special shades doctor to get my teeth bleached to the max, my dentist finished the job by placing fake porcelain teeth on top of each one. I had my last crown put on this week.

And that's it! There's a good chance that I will undergo a little procedure about a year from now to fix a receding gum line (don't I sound like an eighty year old?) that happened in the hub bub of all this surgery business. But it doesn't really count because it wasn't supposed to happen, and isn't completely necessary.

Here's the best picture timeline of all this jazz that I could come up with:

Before. This is a terrible picture that was taken my sophomore year before anything serious went down. I look...greasy and gross. But here you have the braces and underbite thing going on, so...yes....

I love this picture. This was taken at the hospital after my jaw surgery. I am hooked up to an oxygen machine, an IV that is also connected to pain killer distributer of some sort, and another mechanical contraption that kept track of my vital signs. Yay for complimentary teddy bears of the pediatric ward!

Ice-packs are a boat load of fun. Really.

I had to wear a funky retainer with a fake tooth on it for many months while we waited for the implants to heal. I kind of miss it.

After. Yay for being able to chew!