I've finished paying for my braces!

This was a nice surprise for the middle of the week!  I logged on to my internet banking today to check my credit card and wondered why my orthodontic payment had not been debited this month.  After checking my treatment plan I realised that I actually made my final payment last month.  Of course the payments I have made cover my whole treatment plan so I will continue to be seen - it just means that I no longer have the expense each month.

Time for a happy dance!

It's been too long - here's an update to my journey

A blog is a big commitment and sometimes it can be really easy to think 'I'll update it next week'.  I've been super busy with work, travelling quite a lot for both work and pleasure and I also moved to a new apartment.  Then I realised that almost a year has passed by since my last post.  I am still very much on my journey and the biggest step is yet to come, so I thought I would finally give an update and will commit to keeping this blog up to date.

So what has happened in the last year?  

To start with the expansion device had to stay in my mouth for a good 3-4 months after the braces were on so my jaw could stabilise.  It was a bit awkward having both in my mouth so you can imagine my joy when it was finally removed - I could touch the top of my mouth with my tongue again!

Since then it has been braces all the way - and my face has changed a lot.  I knew that it would take a while to close the huge gap that was between my front teeth - I just didn't realise it would take so long, but now I am really happy to say that the gap has almost closed.  In fact, there is only a 0.25mm gap right now thanks to orthodontic power chains.  You can see the result for yourself in the photo below - needless to say I am extremely happy with the result.  When I used to smile wide, there used to be huge gaps at each side of my upper jaw due to how extremely narrow it was.  Now my teeth are as wide as my smile.

When you look at yourself in the mirror every day you do not always notice the changes.  Looking at my upper jaw here though - it's amazing to see the changes.  And yes, it's another stupid pose!

I mentioned power chains - but what are they?

Well they are definitely not as scary as they sound.  At first when I heard about power chains I expected metal chains to be placed in my mouth and across the braces.  In reality, a power chain is just a plastic set of links similar to the o-rings that hold the brackets closed on your braces.  They go over the top of your regular o-rings and are quite tight, and that tension pulls the teeth together which in turn closes any gaps you may have.  There are different types of power chains and as the gaps get smaller, so do the links between each o-ring on the power chain.  In the image below, you would start with the power chains at the bottom of the image and slowly move to the ones at the top. 

Other results of the braces

Aside from the closing of the gap, the braces have also greatly reduced the over-jet of my front teeth. I didn't expect the result to be so dramatic because reducing the over-jet has in turn reduced the appearance of the overbite.  I still need double jaw surgery to fully correct everything, but I am well on my way to having a functional jaw.

This side profile shows the reduction of the over-jet

Of course the main function of braces is to straighten teeth and while my upper teeth were always nice and straight, my lower teeth were a mess.  I had a fang on each side of my lower jaw and these were not in line with the other teeth - but the braces soon worked their magic and straightened these teeth out.  In fact this only took a couple of months before there was a big change.

And that's it for now!  I will be posting a couple more updates soon on how to live with braces and the next steps in my treatment leading up to surgery.  Until then, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment - your support means a lot and your questions are always welcome. 

Tax time and medical expenses

For those of you in Australia and keeping up to date with tax laws, you will know that as of today - 1st July 2013, the Australian government has done away with the net medical expenses tax offset.  The tax offset helped people who spent a large amount of money on medical expenses during the tax year, by providing a rebate of either 20% or 10% over a set threshold - depending on your income.  The offset had been declining over the years, so I guess it was inevitable it would go - however this will affect a lot of people, especially pensioners who spend a lot of money on medical services.

What a lot of people don't know (and I only just found this out myself) is that while as of this year it has been scrapped, if you claimed the offset in the 2012-2013 tax year, you can also claim it in 2013-2014. And if (and only if) you also claim it in 2013-2014, you will be able to claim for one final year in 2014-2015.  This is great news for people like myself who are due to spend another $20-$30K or so.  It won't stop the government further raising the threshold and lowering the rebate, but at least it's something for the next couple of years.

That's it - just a quick post really, but useful information for those who need it.  And remember, if you did claim it in 2012-2013, ensure you continue to keep good track of your medical expenses.