The Natural Bite

I took these pictures while I was riding the Caltrain using the Photobooth application on my Mac a few weeks ago. It’s been almost 9 months since my upper jaw advancement surgery, and I think I look a lot more like I used to look - except that I have perfect teeth and no puffy [...]

For the past week and a half, I’ve been visiting Seattle, the city where I grew up and where my mom still lives.
Though it’s the biggest metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest outside of Vancouver, BC, it sure feels like a small town.
In my short stay, as during all my previous visits, I’ve bumped into [...]

Susan Got Her Braces Off!, originally uploaded by susanfsu.
I got my braces off TODAY!
It’s been a long process of research, decision-making, insurance, braces, jaw surgery, recovery, and still more braces.
Throughout, the braces were always the hardest part. They were so visible, so constant, and so physically annoying.
BUT… IT WAS SO WORTH IT.
Hooray!!

4.5 Months Post Jaw Surgery - Teeth, originally uploaded by susanfsu.
Can you tell my teeth are rubber-banded shut?
They are! Completely.

I’ll cut the small talk, and get straight to the pictures.
Remember this photo? The one on the left was taken about two months before my upper jaw surgery, and the one on the right was taken eight days after my surgery.

Now, three months after upper jaw surgery, with almost no visible swelling left, here I [...]

Last week I was up in Seattle visiting my mom. She, like me, has an underdeveloped upper jaw, giving the impression of a flattened area above the lip and a slight underbite.
My parents are still married, but my dad has been spending much of his time the past few years working on his company in [...]

A reader named Jen recently asked about changes to my nose after my upper jaw surgery.
Did my nose get wider and flatter? Did anything change with my cheeks?
Well, there are plenty of photos on this site, so taking a look through those will let you form your own opinion. The photo here was taken a [...]

I commemorated by getting trashed at my company’s holiday party.
Here is a lovely photo of me from that night, trying to hide my braces and smile at the same time.
I also got a sort of drastic haircut a few weeks ago, so the difference in my former look and my present look is, to [...]

A quick tri-shot. My swelling is almost all gone, and I can make big smiles again. Today I sort of ‘ate’ a very soft scone (shhh… don’t tell Dr. Li, my dentist, or my Chinese medical practitioner!), was semi-productive while working from home, and started feeling nostalgic for the good old jaw surgery days…

After a week and a half, I am looking much more like the ‘old me.’ But, the old me used to be able to manipulate camera angles so that I looked REALLY different from one shot to the next, depending on how much my profile and facial dimensions were on display. Now, my face is [...]