The Unveiling

Twenty-two weeks (155 days to be exact) of dental hell drew to nearly a close on Monday, April 20th.

I've been through having my jaw wired, unwired, temporary crowns, root canals, crowns, and partial crowns. I've had drilling, shaving, and sanding done. All to restore my teeth to what they used to be before the accident. I've had to wait for teeth to come in, only to find they were not correct. More shaving, more sanding, and even more waiting. Finally, the veneers came in and were attached to my teeth. Naively, I thought this would be a simple and painless process. All they have to do is glue some porcelin to my teeth, right?

Wrong.

The veneers came in and my dentist placed each one over the tooth to make sure the alignment was correct. Then he had to essentially sandblast my teeth to make sure there was absolutely no plaque or bacteria of any sorts. Did I mention that my front teeth on the top aren't completely stable yet? So pain insued as my teeth were stripped clean. Then the cementing comes, which involves a lot of pressure on the teeth and UV lights to cure the glue. Then more shaping with a drill to get the teeth to look natural, along with hacking through my gums for good measure, just to make sure I realized that this procedure would infact hurt. Armed with no novicane, my dentist kept asking me if I needed a break. I gargled "no" through the pool of spit/blood in the back of my mouth, and we continued on. I got a 5 minute break between the upper and lower set to rinse my mouth out, but thats about it.
3 hours later, I had a new smile:

Someone remind me to put makeup on in the morning. Those are some nice under-eye circles. yikes.

Monday evening I also went and had my hair cut. I wasn't planning on doing much, but the fabulous Royston disagreed with me, and told me most of the length was dead. I told him I needed to be able to put it in a ponytail, and since he styles seemingly half of the girls on the team, he knows better than to take away ponytail abilities. So, he chopped between 6-8 inches of hair, and gave me this new do. I didn't do anything with it this morning, so it kind of looks like crap, but when I actually take the extra 5 minutes to blow dry with a round brush, it looks great.

I'm still getting used to the new smile. It's weird to have teeth that aren't shaved down. I think being able to drink something cold is the best part. The front teeth still aren't totally stable, and the oral surgeon, whom I saw yesterday, wants to keep a close eye on them. I go Tuesday to start the implant - more on that later.

When I sent a picture to a friend in LA, aside from the compliments on the new grill, I got "whoa mauldin (we go by last names- two Lindsays in the group of friends)... did you have Collagen done?" No collagen here, completely natural. Naturally enhanced by scar tissue though. You see, when I crashed I almost bit completely through my lip. The result: a giant "pouty lip" through the center of my bottom lip. I've highlighted where I sank my bottom teeth:Note the bump in the center above my teeth marks

So there you have it. The new smile, complete with free Collagen-esque enhancements.