smiles and stuff

Well, it's been a few days since I have been wearing this splint and I have to say...wow!  Seriously, I had reservations, especially when I saw how big it was at first and how I sounded, but it's gotten so much better.  And I have had virtually no neck/ear pain at all and only have had a minor headache once.   For something to work so well so fast, I am in shock.

Here's a pic of the thing, which should give you an idea about how misaligned my natural bite is...it's purpose like I said before is to allow me to bite in the correct way, not how my bite has formed on it's own:

(hmmm...wow my mouth is crooked huh)

As you can see-on the right side of this picture (which sits on the left side in my mouth, there's kind of a big difference and doesn't lay flat.  So now that I have this, my bite is even on both sides.  Yay!

Even by Friday the swelling I had from just having the new splint on full time was gone and again I was feeling tough and gangsta:

(you wanna mess with me?! What!!)

So, I am feeling good.  I mean, if after only a few days I can really tell a difference just in how I feel physcially and even when I am eating I can tell when I bite down it's different, then I am pretty excited for more to come.  And I am pretty confident that this is the right thing for me to be doing.  I went to my acupucturist's office, the amazing Dr. Amy Fleetman, and even she could tell there was a major shift in my neck/head and that was Thursday, just one day after wearing the splint.  I am hoping that since this has been working so well thus far that the next step, which is braces, will come a lot sooner than 2-4 months.  Yes, I know I must be patient, but I am honestly just really excited to move on and do this!

So at the end of today, I am smiling happy smiles! and ones that don't hurt in my ears and neck! 

(Indiana and I-he's happy too 'cause it means more cuddle time since I won't be hurting!)