Braced Week 2

So week two of my adventure and nothing much to speak of. It tends to get a little annoying when I eat (especially bread) because gunk gets stuck in the brackets.It has also become a great deterrent for late night snacking. After you brush and floss for the evening its just too much hassle to do it again after a snack.

I have no seen very much progress at all in terms of the gaps closing up. I suspect that it because my treatment plan required that my bite be opened up before my bottom brackets can be installed.I am guessing the ortho has not even adjusted the brackets to start the gap closing. I called the ortho to see if I could move up my appointment on the 7th May to the 4th. I have a wedding to attend on the 5th and my clear ligatures are starting to look a bit dingy on my brackets so I really wanted to get them changed. I was quite surprised when I was told that my appointment could not be pushed up because they have special days reserved for installation of brackets and I would be getting my lowers on that day. At a glance, my bite does not look any different than when I started so I was surprised that I would be getting them so soon. It was then that I started paying closer attention to what was going on in my mouth. I had noticed that my mouth feels particularly dry and my teeth sensitive when I get up in the morning. At first I thought it was because I sleep on the side of my face. But now (andI might be paranoid) I think I have noticed slight changes in my bite almost daily.Its almost as if they only move in the night or rather that I only notice it overnight. On closer inspection I realised that my bite really has opened up quite a bit. It is just so weird to have your teeth sitting in a completely different position that I may have been subconsiouly trying to force my teeth back into the old bite position.

These pics are really after 1 week but blogger was giving me trouble to post them. I figure I will update the pics again again after my first adjustment.

Braced 1 week

So I make a turn in the uptown pharamcy looking for orthodontic supplies. I am sure at the end of it all the cashier thought I was mad or had OCD or something. I ended up with 3 differnt types of toothpaste, all kinda dental gadgets and two toothbrushes (One of them being Spongebob). Why? Cause I like Spongebob. Lol ok but seriously, from reading on the Metal Mouth Forum and from my ortho , it is advisable to use a toothbrush with a smaller head and softer bristles. All the small toothbrushes had kiddie designs on them so I did not have a choice.

So after 1 week in braces I have not seen any drastic progress, I really have not noticed any movement. Hmm this might be harder than I thought. If you can see a difference let me know! My teeth feel ok except for the incisors which feel a bit weird when pressure is applied. I am having a bit of difficulty biting into things since its still sensitive.

Things I've learnt this week...

1. Blue Listerine does not stain your clear ligs
2. If you drink cranberry juice with a straw it won't stain!
3. Dental wax is your friend.
4. Whitening toothpaste does not really whiten teeth, just removes recent stains.
5. Its going to be a loooong two years

Brace Day 2

My friend who used to have braces had me extremely paranoid that today would be HORRIBLE for my teeth. I go up this morning and rushed off to yet another meeting without even attempting to eat anything. Attempts to bite down created some discomfort that I just was not ready to deal with till later on. Later on turned out to be lunch time since my boss had me doing circles in work.

I found myself in the grocery nearby looking to stock up on soft foods and find something to eat for lunch. Fortunately for me I love pasta so I thought I would be ok. I soon realised it posed some challenges. Many pre-packaged pasta dishes come with marinara (red) sauce. Because I have the clear ligatures and the wedding to attend soon I am very hesistant to even risk eating it and then end up with red ligs. I think I will have to do some experimentation closer to my next appointment to see what I can get away with in terms of staining foods. I ended up with a few packs of Ramen noodles, some clam chowder and some macaroni and cheese (white cheddar variety). I was suprised to discover microwavable baked potatoes fully dressed in a remote corner of the grocery freezer. Then I realised I hate an entire half gallon of cranberry+grape juice in my fridge that I had not managed to finish off before I got braced. I tend to drink a lot of cranberry juice for health reasons but it definitely would not be ideal now. So I found the white cranbery juice but unfortunately its a juice cocktail and not 100% juice. Sigh. So with my food purchases I realsied that diet wise this experience could be really good or really bad. Good because I definitely will be keeping my portions reasonable , I have also just lost the interest of snacking late at night (every night) as I usually do cause it means I will have to get up and brush my teeth again. Bad because most soft foods are high carb foods e.g potatoes,pasta. I am generally all for low carbs after following the South Beach Diet for some time now to live healthier. This experience is really going to throw me off a bit.

My next stop was in the pharmacy for dental products. I figured I would get a wider variety of options than in the grocery. I was wrong, at least with this particular pharmacy chain. I wanted to get a new , softer toothbrush and some white toothpaste. So I gave up quickly on the toothbrush cause I was not sure which would be best..I will have to do some research. The toothpastes started frustrating me cause they all seem to be tinted with some fantastic flavour or other. I noticed in using an Aquafresh Brand that it was turning my plastic tongue ring orange. I figured it would turn the ligs ornage as well. Next thing, every single toothpaste claims to whiten. I am a little concerned about using whitening toothpastes for the next two years. I don't want to have brown squares on my teeth when my braces are removed but I can't seem to find a 'normal' toothpaste.Same with mouth washes..why are they all blue or green? Umm Clear please?Hello? The only clear one I saw was the Listerine whitening which again...is whitening! Now I realise that it does not seem to be antiplaque just anti funky breath so its not really helping me now is it? One thing that is annoying is my dry lips. I have a really bad habit of biting my lips nd ripping them to shreds. The fact that I have the braces is definitely not helping my case. I was already lax with the lip gloss, I dunno how I am ever going to maintain that properly.

So after my rounds I sat down to have something to eat. Although I had to eat a little more gingerly, I did not get the pain that I was expecting. Big relief! Doh mind that I had already stocked up on Motrin. All in all, day two was uneventful and bearable. I have a feeling the bottom teeth won't be as easy a ride!

Braced!

Well my boss completely pissed me off by telling me at the last minute that I HAD to go to a meeting at 9am in San Fernando. Well you may know the story with me and S'ando already. But I was even more annoyed that I would have to make that drive and somehow get back up into town in time to make my appointment to get my brackets put on. So I calle the ortho to reschedule for a later time or the next day and she tells me that I won't get another appointment for brackets until the 28th April! Oh hells no! I already waited a whole month to get my brackets on and I was not giving up my appointment for anything! I tell my boss straight up that meeting has always been a waste of my time and come hell or high water I was leaving early enough to make my appointment.


So, so said ,so done, I high tailed it out of there and got to my apointment on time!So I got my top brackets on. It was a pretty painless process. The worst part about it was when they put in the cheek expanders to keep your mouth open. Then there was the part where they inserted the wire....I felt the pressure on my teeth instantly. After that I was done in no time. YAY!It so happened that some dental assistants/students were training in office that day and the ortho was describing my condition. I was pleased to hear how she described my case as being very simple, with natural teeth, no extractions. She then went over the xray with them and indicated that my roots are well lined up on top. It made me feel as though my case was straight forward and simple. That is very encouraging in terms of treatment time.





When I checked them out in the mirror I was actually suprised they looked as good as they did.Once I had decided I was going through with it,I actually did a bit of prep by getting in the habit of brushing my teeth after every meal etc. I did this with whitening toothpaste in the hopes that when I got my brackets they would be closer to my tooth colour. Being a tea/cola/coffee drinker, I knew my teeth could have been a shade or two whiter with a bit of persistance.From the pics you can see I only got ceramics on the 'social six'. I did not really scrutinise them until I got back to work. Although my top teeth are pretty good,I have a bit of a flare that does not look cute when taking pics from the side. I did not even notice the spaces between my incisors until the ortho pointed them out.


The dental assistant went through some flossing procedures with me and which point I realised that I had something floating around in my mouth. I spit out a ligature which I actually thought was the keeper for my tongue ring. I asked him is that you or me? He was obviously confused as to what I meant. Oh yeah BTW, I have a tongue ring which I refuse to take out until I am middleaged with kids. My ortho give me a good lecture about it but I eventually compromised with her to wear a 100% plastic tongue piercing retainer. The keeper keeps the bar in place and it looks just like a ligature. It was then I realised he never asked me which colour ligarture I wanted! When I pointed it out he said he assumed that since I got the ceramics I was going for camoflage. I was like duh yeah but I was very iffy about using CLEAR ligatures. I was thinking more grey... to avoid stains.


I have a wedding to go to in two weeks and my next appointment is the day after that. So I have to maintain these ligatures in PRISTINE condition until the day of the wedding. Yeah they will think I'm mad when I pull out my toothbrush from my evening bag. I swear though, the brackets make your teeth look even more crooked than they really are! Oh maybe they are just more crooked than I would like to believe!lol


The only one who even noticed I got the brackets was the one person who knew I was going to get them that day.My mom actually asked me what happened and why I did not get them today.Yeah, then she put on her glasses and said.."OH!"

I was very pleasantly suprised when I read the ortho's monthly newletter and there was an article about them getting the self litagating braces. I immediately ran to the mirror to check outteh braces on my my back teeth. And yep..there were the self litigating braces with no rubber bands. FYI these are said to move your teeth faster with fewer appointments since they eliminate the need for ligatures.They are also a bit smaller in size than older metal brackets.Wow!! For a third world country we are really up to the times. It nearly got me thinking that I should have asked for all metal! I would be done in no time. That definitely motivates me more to put metal on the bottom.

So a few hours later and no real pain. Some pressure. I ate more or less as normal with just some extra effort to place the food on my back teeth. That is extending teh time it takes for me to eat as well. It is getting real old , real fast though. Between the food sticking up in my teeth and the time it takes to chew everything, I lose my appetite. Every now and then I might get a sharp pain in one of the teeth that a bit sensitive but I'm learning how to avoid thats sensation. I am so glad I finally got the ball rolling!!Onwards and Upwards!