One Year Toothiversary!

Time has flown by! Actually I have been very aware of the time as I have been paying attention to my nerves and mobility monthly… but it still doesn't seem like it has been a year.

I spent my Toothiversary in a beer hall in Brooklyn with some fabulous friends. I was planning an adventure for a tooth shaped relic to commemorate but got sidetracked. Eventually I will own all the tooth related goods!

First off, I wanted to share two photos: One is from April of last year (before surgery) at my Light Grey Art Lab opening and the second is from this weekend's Myplasticheart opening (one day shy of a year)…oddly enough wearing the same shirt.

A number of friends say they dont think I look that different, maybe because they see my face a lot, while others think I look completely changed. I tend to agree with the latter. Look at those swanky teeth.

Here are some more "then vs now" images, although the now was taken in January when I got the braces off but before I was allowed to go get a cleaning. Still swollen but still interesting to see, even if I am disheveled in both images.

So whats new now? Well the nerves are still on my nerves. Super long process but perhaps it is coming along, ill check my past graphics to see how its doing ;)

Nerve chart racing stripe

Green: My hyperactive tingling racing stripe. This stripe follows the same path to the inside of my mouth, so the front and back of my bottom lip gets all the numbs. It still feels like there is a clothes pin or chip clip stuck to my lip. I have the feeling of secondary motion when I talk, like my lip is carrying something heavy and it takes a min for it to move. It travels down to my gum line. When I brush my lower front teeth it is really uncomfortable. Just have to try to ignore it and keep on. It should start to come back more and more as the months progress. Fingers crossed.

Teal: The tiny dot in the stripe. This spot has pretty much no feeling. It really doesnt bother me at all but if I run my finger in a circle around my chin I can tell where it's "property lines" are. This will probably not come back. meh.

Purple: These are the spots I get some pressure. Like somone has their fingers there and they are pushing slightly. It comes and goes. The right side sometimes makes a few of my teeth hurt. This is also the section that was throbbing when I was at 10k feet in the mountains of Colorado recently. It was unpleasant. The surgeons office said that they could go back in to remove the screws here if needed buuuuut I think I will keep the slight annoyance rather than cutting my face open again.

In other news, my tongue has been a bit of an issue recently. Apparently when I work and I am focused I push on the back of my teeth. This is slightly moving the right side out a bit. Right now I am just going to wear the retainers a bit more during work hours and keep an eye on it. I will probably need more teeth shaved down but hopefully we wont need to move the teeth anywhere more aggressively.