I didn't have any approval until sometimes early June!! Not just that… I was hoping to get full coverage for the surgery AND the orthodontic treatment. However, they told me I only get coverage for 35% of the braces and 100% of the surgery:( that's not good enough.
Then they changed it again to 20% of braces and full coverage for surgery. *arghhh* I just kept on calling my insurance… finally, I get what I want: Full coverage for surgery AND orthodontic treatment. I can save up Nfl. 5000... Woohooo!

Now, the real work can finally begin….

The end of June, the spacers were put in. Gosh, I forgot how painful getting braces could be! Spacers are tiny (in my case, blue) rubber elastics that they inserted between your molar to make space, hence the name, so band can go in round the molar. I got them for a little over a week (translated: eating soft meals & pain for the same amount of time).

In the following week, they took out the spacer and braces(!) were put on my lower teeth, followed a couple days later on my upper teeth.
This is how they put braces on your teeth:
First, Banding, they put in a metal ring known as band on my molar to hold on archwire. Hey, it wasn't painful at all like years ago when I had my 1st braces!
Then, they bonded tiny metal/ceramic part (bracket) using special glue to each of my tooth, followed by the archwire. I opted for a mix of ceramic & normal brackets. By this time I was hoping to get the surgery done in September. I want to get over this as soon as possible.