Naked!

Hi everyone. I have great news! After 10 months and 29 days I am free at last, yesterday I got my braces off! The entire process of first fixing the permanent retainers, braces removal, taking new impressions and photographing the final outcome took about one and a half hours, and my mouth was open at least 85% of the time so I was glad to finally be done. It wasn't really bad at all except for the removal of the glue that held the braces on. The brackets just popped right off but left behind a lot of icky glue that had to be ground off by what sounded and felt like a belt sander. It was pretty uncomfortable and the sound was just as disturbing as fingernails on a blackboard. But once they were polished I was all done and ready to see the final result. My initial impression was, "Are my teeth really that big?" They look huge since then have been mostly hidden by my brackets for almost and year and I feel like it looks as though I have too many teeth in my mouth. But they are straight, REALLY STRAIGHT! My teeth look pretty good naked. I got a chance to look at the impressions that were made just before the braces went on and I was shocked at how crooked they were. Not anymore! I will post some pics soon, maybe even those that the orthodontist took so you can really see the difference (if they aren't too graphic, close-ups of someone's mouth might be a little too much information). I am going to start using the white strips that we brought back from the US this summer tonight so in a couple of weeks my teeth should not only be astoundingly straight, but glitteringly white as well! I am not having any problems with the retainers that were fixed yesterday, I am just glad that they are not visible. The only issue that I have had is that I am lisping a little bit, my S's don't sound the best but hopefully I will be able to adjust to that and for my new and improved smile, it is worth it!