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!