Maybe I'm a Little Vane?

I called into the ortho today. I could not take the look of my braces any longer! I missed my powerchain that helped cover some of the arch wire, and with going to texas this weekend, I didn't want my braces to look any more obvious. So after begging and pleading, I got my other to allow a powerchain accost my upper arch. I also had them change the bottom from orange to light blue. He used a powerchain that  has spaces in between each link, and it does not come in blue, so I had to settle with a very light silver, hope it last through my vacation without staining.

So Fresh and So Clean Clean

First cleaning with braces, what a trip! Having braces during a cleaning is one thing, but having a figure 8 span all the way across your uppers is not fun. My poor hygienist. She did the best she could, but it was difficult! Water sprayed everywhere and my gums are a little sensitive in some places. But no cavities and she said my teeth look really clean and well taken care of!!!

I'm really not liking the way my braces look right now. Waaaay too much metal showing. What's the point of paying extra for ceramics if I'm going to end up having so much metal in my mouth? I left a message with my orthodontist to see if I could get power chains on top to help hide some of the metal. Hope they say yes! I don't want to look like this for 8 weeks!

Elastics and Polishing.

Lots of changes today!!! First all my upper are tired together with a figure 8. The upper wire went up to a high gage and my orthodontist bent the wire (called a finishing wire) to make my front top teeth appear more broad and flat across my arch. I opted for blue light blue ligs on top again. I liked how they faded to a pearly
white/silver last time.

I feel that my tooth color is starting to yellow so I'm using whiting mouth wash at night. Hope that helps not only improve my tooth color but also bleach the ligs.

The bottoms stayed the same from what I can tell, I'm not sure if the

gage went up at all. I have a power chain all the way accost the bottom.

The big change is I now have elastics!!! The orthodontist assistant was surprised that I got them only 4 months into my treatment. I'm assuming they think I can handle pain, because these babies are tiny and strong! Opening my mouth wide is just about impossible. Honesty they really hurt, but hoping I get used to them fast.


The best thing abut my appointment is my orthodontist did some polishing! He wanted to shave down that one tooth that was shaped like ^ to help my bite since I was hitting that tooth every time I close my house. I also talked him in to shaving down that one top tooth that is all rounded and jaggid. Not perfect but much better!

Today post "polishing"

Pre polishing, notice the roundness on the front right tooth and the awful point on the right tooth next to the canine. 

In addition to a good day at the dentist, that took over 1 1/2 hours (!), I finally got the balls to tell the front desk ladies that I dont want Ashley to work on me gain. 3 times I gave her a chance, and 3 times it was awful! The girl I had today had worked on me before, and she's great!!! So now I have her on request when ever she is available.

Next appointment in 8 weeks. September 17th!!!

Getting shaved

On monday the 10th I had my 2nd wire change! By then all my elastic ties had turned nasty yellow/orange from eating a bowl of chili. I've gotten quite tired of dealing with nasty elastics that just make my teeth look dingy when I've always worked hard to have white teeth.  The wires this time are square in shape, so no more round wires!

I've been really pleased with how much my lower arch has rounded. I've never seen my lower arch look like this before. However. I see that the teeth are not parallel to each other, and that really bothers me. I really hope this changes fast. In addition, my jaw is really out of alignment now! It looks to be off about 1/4" or more! There is a possibility that at my next adjustment I'll get rubber bands, and I'm looking forward to that!

So because of the nasty staining I've been dealing with, causing me to be paranoid and afraid to smile, I asked for baby blue on top! What I did not realize at the time, was that I would have a power chain expanding across my 6 upper front teeth. I've already had 2 cups of coffee, straw free! I also had shaving done in between several teeth. You can see there is a gap in between the 2 front teeth, and a few days later it's almost closed.
He also shaved in between 3 or 4 teeth on the bottom. I'm hoping that makes more room so no teeth will need to be pulled.

So here is my current smile. Not loving having a gap, it feels so strange to have gaps! My orthodontist also shaved down the blue bite blockers, but because of that my bite is off and sore again. Hoping to see lots of changes in the next 6 weeks with these new square wires!

Next Appointment is July 22nd!!

Wow, he didn't lie about big changes!

My orthodontist told me I would see big changes after my first adjustment. Only 12 days left until my next adjustment, and the changes are huge! I'm so thrilled with how my lower arch looks!

However, I'm not so thrilled with how they look from the front view... You can really se that my teeth were messed up on the right side by the wear pattern. One of my teeth is worn down to make it look like an angle, and the one next to it is pointed like a shovel. I'm curious what can be done to fix this. I'm assuming I'm going to need some filing and filling in.

3 Month Comparison! How Far We've come!

I am quite pleased with the changes in the last 3  months. My 2 front teeth are  uncrossed and my smile is much more broad! My upper canines have also moved forward, along with the other teeth behind them. It looks much better having that front wire straight across my teeth rather then the wavy pattern it had before!

May 18, 2013 3 Months

Feb 18, 2013 Day 1

My oh my has the bottom changed! A spring was used to allow room for that tooth on the right to come forward and join the rest of the little guys, which was quite painful! They are all in a row now, not a straight row, but still a row. I think the hard work will be for that canine to come inward so it's not on the outside when I close my mouth. Progress is being made. When I bite down my upper and that lower canine constantly hit each other. So much change has happen in the last 10 days, that I have no doubt this little guy will be closer to where he should be by my next appointment in 3 weeks.

May 18, 2013 3 months

Feb 17, 2013 Day before braces

Little Ducks All in a Row

Everything is finally starting to line up on to bottom like little ducks in a row. It's not a straight row, as the teeth are currently lined up at an angle, but it's still a row!











Unfortunately, from the front view, they look awful! But I'm surprised at how much change there as been in the last week.

My upper and lower canines on the left side (right side on the picture) are also hitting each other now. This makes chewing a bit difficult, but that at least tells me that the lower canine is finally being moved inward where it belongs. I'm hoping that little guy gets moving fast and is in a better place by time I get my next wire in 3 weeks.

And lastly my current smile. Looks much better then week one! I'm starting to get a broader smile that is not so narrow like I wanted.

Change Isn't Always Good

My orthodontist warned me that there would be lots of changes, but these changes are not for the best! My smile is all out of whack! I went in today to have a wire cut that was stabbing the back of my cheek and making eating and talking an awful experience. While there I had my upper ties changed as well, obviously! This time she did a color called obscure. It's like a milk color. I think I'm at the point where the only thing I'm going to drink without a straw is clear water. I'm getting really sick of having nasty yellow ties in less then a week.

So as far as the messed up teeth go, my lower front teeth look awful right now. None of them are at the same level and the arch is all messed up. the orthodontist assistant said this was a normal part of the process...

 Heres to hoping that things level out and straighten up in the next few weeks, because this is awful!

Blue with the Blues

Yesterday I could no longer handle the pain of having the wire ties on my lower teeth rubbing up against my inner lip. I went in to have the elastic bands put on my teeth, and I went with blue!

 

On the unfortunate side, I had the same girl as the previous day, Ashley. She is not gentle at all! I don't know how she expects some one to hold perfectly still when they are in so much pain. I think next time I go in, I'm going to have to call the day before to make sure she's not the one doing my adjustment. I think she forgets that I'm a person, with nerve endings!

And one positive, while there she had to clip the archwire because that awful tooth had already moved. And today, it's moved some more! If you look closely at the tooth with the blue on top, you can see the archwire poking out of the bracket. My teeth really do hurt. Every tooth that has a metal tie hurts like heck! Especially the upper left, behind my canine, the first premolar.

First Adjustment, OUCH!

Today was my first adjustment/wire change. It felt so strange to have the wire out, but it sure was nice being able to floss and brush my teeth better! One the bottom they put in the same kind of archwire as last time. She also attached the archwire to the tooth that is pushed back. OUCH! It hurt so bad to have this done. She also used wires to tie in each tooth to the archwire instead of ligs. I was in so much pain I wanted to cry, or slap the orthodontist assistant! I was going to get blue ligs on the bottom, since the clear ones looked nasty after a while. But since all those teeth were tied in using the wire, I didn't have to get ligs on the front bottom at all.

Now with that tooth being attached to the archwire, it feels strange! I'm glad they were able to get that one moving. The orthodontist said that in the next 8 weeks there will be a lot of changes! During the next appointment he is going to shave in-between the teeth to make more room. He made a point of saying that during that time he will shave in-between my two front teeth, so that the black triangle will disappear. It has not bothered me really, I was excited when it first appeared. This is the first time I have ever has some "space" in-between my teeth.

I was also surprised that they did not have the lower archwire connect to the last molars on both sides. Next time they will though. I'm looking forward to being able to brush those teeth better. It looks to me as if there is some tarter build up already, and my last cleaning was 5 months ago. Luckily, my next cleaning is coming up in a few months.

And finally, what my smile looks like after 8 weeks in braces. Still kept with the smoke color since it did not stain at all. Lots of pain but worth it, still waiting for the vicoden to kick in!

Next Appointment: June 10, 2013

Lets try smoke!

Even though my first wire change is in 5 days, I went in in today to have my top 6 ligs changed, again. Not sure what I ate, but they turned nasty yellow! In addition, when I was cleaning my teeth last time, I was able to easily pop on and off two of the ligs. So this time I'm trying the smoke color hoping they wont stain as fast. If these stain like the clear ones, I'm just going to get the metal ties. When they turn that nasty yellow, they make my teeth look yellow. Gorse!

Smoke colored ligs

2 days ago the wire on my bottom left tooth came out, AGAIN! When I called, they said not to worry since my wire would be changed in a week. When going in today, they just clipped the wire super short. Feels so strange not having a wire there! Looking forward to being able to floss in-between there!

2 Emergencies in 1 Week

Had my second emergency today. Over the past few days my front teeth have became very sensitive. I found that my bite blockers had worn down so much that my front top teeth were hitting the brackets on my lower front teeth causing a lot of pain.
Unfortunately because of Easter my orthodontist has limited hours so I had to go to their other location. Their assistant was wonderful! She really took her time with me and asked if I grind my teeth at night. Because I do, she made the bite blockers higher then normal. Almost immediately, the pain in my lower front teeth subsided. In addition, she added some sort of band and clamp to my wire near tooth 31 to prevent it from coming out again.
I learned something very important today. According to the orthodontic assistant, by chewing only on my left side I can cause more wear on those teeth and that I need to practice moving the food around in my mouth.
On a positive note, it looks like my two front teeth are completely uncrossed!!!!!

First "emergency"

Today I had my first dental “emergency”. If you could call it that. On Friday while eating kashi cereal the wire that goes into bracket number 31 popped out. I’m not sure if it’s completely form the cereal because for several days before, whenever I would eat, the wire would bow and I would have to manually straighten it back out. I also got the top 8 ligs changed since they had started turning yellow. Total appointment time took less then the time to drive there. I was in and out in about 10 minutes. First wire change in 3 weeks, cant wait!

Day 25 and Lots of Changes!!!

I'm in the middle of spring break and seeing lots of changes. My 2 front teeth look awesome!!!! In person you can hardly tell they are overlapping at all. I tried to get a good picture but could not get one that was perfectly straight on.

And this is what my upper arch looks like now! Huge difference!

I can really tell that things are starting to move. When I bite down, sometimes I can feel/hear a few teeth make a crunch like sound, and my front tooth (the one that is overlapping the other) also makes that sound and feels loose. In addition to all the movement, some of the brackets on my lower right side are starting to rub where they didn't before. I'm hoping this is because the teeth are starting to turn to their correct position rather then how they are currently turned inward.

So while away from home, I forgot my threader for flossing, and after taking more then 20 minutes to floss without it, I had to find something. I came accost an amazing product by Crest called Glide Threader Floss. I had already been using only Glide floss so thought I would give this a try. For 30 packs it was just under $6. Much more then regular dental floss, but I needed something and thought this might save some time since I don't have to worry about re-threading. It's fantastic and I will never go back to the old way!

I also tried Plackers Orthopick, but they only fit in a few areas, and the areas they fit in, I was not able to move it around to really clean.  Luckily, they were only $2 per bag, maybe that's why they were so cheap!

Pain free and eating

2 weeks done and change is good! I’m finally able to eat like a normal person, well for the most part. As long as I cut things up small I can eat it, unless it’s hard or really crunchy. I’m able to bite into pizza too!

On Sunday I ate in public for the first time with braces. After the meal I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and several people came in and out, each one looking at me like I was a hobo in the bathroom bathing. I gave up and picked at my teeth in the car on the way home. Maybe I’ll stick to foods that don’t get so stuck next time. Turkey sandwich was a bad choice!

Most of the pain is completely gone. The only problem I have is with my last lower right molar. That tooth is all the way against my cheek and the bracket cuts right into me. I don’t see why I need that last bracket anyway.  I may see if I could get just that one removed when I go in for my adjustment in 6 weeks.

I have not seen any more progress in teeth moving, but they must be because it’s much easier to floss. In some areas the floss just glides in and out easily. I’ve been really good with flossing too. I’ve only missed one day since getting my braces, and that’s only because I was exhausted! 

End of Week 1

It's been a full week since I got my braces and today is the start of week 2! I can finally chew a little more, still only soft foods, but at least I don't have to put everything in the blender! Yesterday was the first day without pain killers!!! Here is a look back at week one and today.

Today

Week One

Day 4 - Feeling Better

When I woke up today, I was not in much pain. I think yesterday was the worst. I took 2 Vicodin about an hour before bed because the pain was so bad. I wanted to have them taken off, but knew that it would get better in time, and it did! I'm still sore today, but only about 1/2 of what it was like yesterday. I have not taken any pain killers at all today, but might tonight since that when the pain is worse. I've been watching some youtube videos about braces and most of the people are young teens. I really wish that I got mine on when I was younger, that way I could have school colored ligatures. I think it would make me look too young if I did that now. I already look like a teenager. I'm really looking forward to getting these off! A positive thing I have noticed, well I think it's positive, is the small space between my 2 front teeth. See that little black dot? That's not food it's space! However, I have not noticed much change on the bottom at all.

 

I'm not sure why I didn't mention this before, but I also have these horrible blue things on my black molars called bite blocks. They make it so I can't close my mouth all the way, so I don't bite off my lower brackets. They are awful! They hurt so bad; chewing is not an option at this point. I'm going to have them for 6 months! They said that after some time they wear down a little and you don't notice, but I don't see that happening anytime in the near future. They also make my back molars hurt!

Day 3, OUCH!

Today is day 3 and it hasn't gotten any better. The pain has gotten worse. I had a can of soup, that I put in a blender for lunch today, but it wasn't enough to get me through my workout. I decided to try and go for a jog after my sociology test since the gym was there anyway, but after a few minutes I got really dizzy and almost fell, so ended up only doing a 30 minute walk at 3.5 mph at an incline. Each morning when I wake up I forget that I have braces and it hits me like a tun of bricks. This pain is awful and I haven't slept for more then a few hours at a time. Tonight I'm going to take something to make me sleep, so just maybe I can sleep through the night. Good news though, I can already see a change in my teeth. My 2 front teeth have already started to move!

Day One

It was must better then I expected, not much discomfort. As I type this I'm actually eating a bowl of chilli. I cant really chew it though. The top does not look too bad at all, I thought it would be worse. The bottom however, not so hot! I have a power chain to make space for that one tooth that is pushed too far back. They also I think I sound the same when I talk, but it fees really funny!

Before Pictures

These pictures were taken by my orthodontist.

Top

Bottom

And one I just took of myself

Tomorrows the big day!

Tomorrows the big day!!! I'm finally getting braces after needing them for at least 15 years. It's a very bitter sweet moment for me. When I was little every dentist I went to told my parents that I needed braces, but since I was not their golden child I never got them, but my younger brother did.  My parents always told me that when they could afford it, they would get my braces too. But that never happen. I'm 27 years old, happily married, and a full time university student. I figured that right now is the best time. I'll be turning 30 the same year I get my braces off, and I want my 30's to be amazing.

I've decided to get ceramic braces on top and metal on the bottom. I wanted invisalign, but was not a candidate. Then I learned about lingual braces, but they cost an additional $1000 and I was told they can cause a lisp and because my bite is so small my tongue could easily become cut. I'm taking speech this semester, so not the best timing! Total cost is around $6500. A lot more then I expected. I'm making even payments every 24 months.

I'm really nervous about tomorrow. I've been looking forward to this for so long, and it's finally happening. I'm very self conscious about how I will look. I'm worried about how my husband will see me. In addition I've decided to take this opportunity to really work on my diet. I'm an emotional eater and a chronic snacker. I'm hoping that this will help me become more aware of my eating. I'm also hoping that with braces my TMJ will get better and flossing, in the end, will be much easier. Right now when I floss my teeth, my floss breaks! Playing everything will workout in the end, and this will be all worth it, $6500 worth it.