At Long Last

I waited 2 1/2 years. They did the surgery, the teeth slooowly moved, and finally, they were done. I got my braces off last Thursday, and have been grinning like fool ever since. My teeth actually still hurt (I guess they have to "settle" or something), and I'm wearing my super rad clear retainer at all times (except to eat), and now I talk kind of funny.

So here's the short story of my teeth.


My adult smile pre-braces. You can sort of tell that the canine teeth were tiny. July 2005.


January 2009. The day I got my braces. Ugh.


A few days later. This was my normal smile for a few months until I had the surgery that removed the baby teeth and put brackets on to the adult canine teeth that were buried under gums and bone.


I tried not to smile like this. I really didn't like the huge gaps in my mouth. July 2009.


So I learned to smile like this. This way you couldn't really even see my teeth. December 2009.


The day they came off. At long last.

Here's a close-up before and after. You can sort of see the difference.

The day I got my braces. January 2009. You can't even see the baby canines. Because they were so small, they hid behind the other teeth.


The day my braces came off!!! July 2011. Not quite perfect, but look at those adult canines!
(If you missed the awesome pictures of the inside of my mouth while the teeth moved, check this out.)


So, so happy. Yay.