Steel wires are on

I had an archwire adjustment today at the orthodontist and things went as usual, but I got the news that I'm now in surgical wires! They're stainless steel as opposed to nickel-titanium. I'm a bit surprised that I'm in steel wires so far ahead of my proposed surgery date but I'll take it as a good sign that things are progressing well and staying on schedule. My OD said that at the next appointment I'll have an x-ray and impressions taken to document my progress, and models will be made for further study. If he thinks that my teeth are ready for surgery then I can begin scheduling a surgery date. This process seems to be going so fast! Pretty soon it'll be surgery time...yikes!

I've noticed that my open bite has improved quite a bit since getting braces on. I still can't touch my front teeth together but they're much closer than they were. I've also noticed that the size of the space on the right and left sides of my mouth are more equal. The open bite used to be much bigger on the left side than on the right. Maybe the plan to straighten out the slope of my upper teeth is working?

Here are some pictures of my "relaxed, natural" bite:

And this is what my bite looks like when I'm posturing my jaw to make my teeth fit together the best that they can (ie. my "public" bite):