Happy Brace Day to me!

So my first brace day anniversary came and went without me even noticing. I can't believe it has already been one full year but I guess its a plus cause I am about half way thru (hopefully more).

I have actually had two appointments since my last post. The most recent one being last week. I basically did the same thing in both appointments . The first appointment resulted in me having the wire ties at the top teeth doing absolutely nothing as far as I am concerned. My bottom teeth seem to be the sticking point.The biggest change is that the archwire on my lower teeth is now square. I was told that this is the point when they start rotating your teeth roots into the correct position. I could pretty much tell that I would inevitably have to do this just by looking in the mirror. I was actually suprised at the instant pressure that this wire put on my teeth. I had some slight discomfort for the next two days which was completely new to me since I have had a pretty much pain free experience thus far. I did manage to confirm with the dental assistant that my midline was indeed a bit off but he did not seem to concerned saying that 'it will fix'. Of course this led to the next question...WHEN??? It seems that I will have to wear rubberbands at some point in time to get that sorted out. That won't be for awhile apparently cause my bottom teeth need to get with the program first. I had also deluded myself to think I could get through the whole treatment without rubberbands. This is even after my 10-year braces veteran friend told me there was no way around it.

My appointment last week was only to replace the square wire with another square wire. After having so much progression so quickly in the earlies I was kind of annoyed that the first square wire did not put things exactly where they should be in the first rounds. My ortho did say that I 'responded very well' to the wire. I keep goading her to cut more time off my sentence which she is probably sick of hearing me say. My personal new estimate is before Carnival next year lolol. Cause I don't want to play mas in braces (again). The ortho assures me that I am fooling myself, positive thoughts or not.

One of the very nice dental assistants did give me a bit of a boost cause she had not seen my teeth in a few visits and was amazed at my progress. It probably has been a bit of my own fault cause I kind of slacked off with the flossing due to my recent hectic schedule. I used to floss at least twice a day in the earlies. I read somewhere (which was confirmed by the ortho) that plaque build up restricts teeth movement and as I have previously mentioned this would have me most paranoid so that I had to keep constantly picking between my teeth. This past two months I have been really bad with it...it just takes so long. And although I am quite skilled at threading the floss under my braces without the use of implements like floss threaders, it is still a pain in the ass.

The ortho off course had to reproach me for my evil tongue piercing. I'm pretty much attached to it and have not taken it out even though I have literally had it for like nearly 10 years.I had promised to switch out the metal bar with a plastic one for the treatment but did not like how it felt.It caused more irritation than anything. I had went for a few visits with the metal one in and she never said anything about it. All of a sudden with the last two visits she is on my case! She asked me if I would pierce me eye. I was like ummm yeah ! lol! That kinda pissed her off cause she was like "NOOOO I mean your eye ball!Or your finger tips" Apparently all these areas including my tongue have all these nerve endings and sensory stuff that get messed up when you pierce it. Welll so I can't taste salt very well anymore but hey, I always liked salt. I told her that I was a lost cause and her time would be spent better scolding someone else.

I was not at all amused when I was told that my next appointment would be in two months. That sure seems like a looooong time when my tooth does not look like it has far to go. Funnily enough, it actually seems to be getting more out of alignment with my arch now that its rotating inward. When you spend as much time looking at your teeth as I do you start to see all kinds of faults. (I think I found a funny white spot today). The ortho did say we were all waiting on that one front incisor to get in line. I have no idea why its being so stubborn when it just has to nudge itself in place.So onwards and upwards I suppose.

Sentence reduced!

Well I seemed to have accidentally deleted the pics with my powerchains that were supposed to update my last post. I have also been a bit slack with my posts seeing that it was Carnival time and my Carnival blog got most of my attention. I missed a post with my appointment in December but it was really no different than the one in November anyhow. All i did was change my ligs and powerchains.

I had a very positive appointment on Friday. I made sure to eat my belly full of curry for lunch before the appointment because I had not had any since October! I kept forgetting when my appointment until it was too late to get the curry in. While I was buying the lovely beef roti with pumpkin and mango a guy came into the store and I guess the look of anticipation was clear on my face casue he said to me ,'Doh wory, its coming just now". Lol. I was like a crack head waiting for a fix.

Well after making the same mistake twice and getting CLEAR powerchains I made a point to tell the dental assitant to try and find some smoke powerchains this time. His response, to my suprise was "You are not getting powerchains again, the space is closed". Ummm OK THEN!! Instead on the uppers I was given a new archwire at the top with wire ties!! I still have regular ligatures at the bottom. An inspection by the ortho revealed that I only have one tooth on my lowers that needs to fall into position. She also told me that the wire ties at the top were to keep my teeth where they were so I hope that means they are more or less finished! She noted that I would have to file my front teeth to even them off. I am not sure if its just my eyes playing tricks on me but I think my upper midline is still slightly crooked. But then again it could be the uneveness of my teeth edges. I did not even know I had a chipped tooth till she pointed it out.Neithe rmyself nor my mom can even recall me chipping a tooth. I need to ask my ortho if thats as good as its going to get. I am sure no one will notice but me but at the same time, after paying all that money,I will keep it on 3 months longer if I can make them perfect.

The FABULOUS news is that my progress is so good that she said that I took 6 mths off my treatment time. Just that ONE tooth to move where it should. Which means I iwll be de-braced in a year or less!! And I have not even reached my first year anniversary yet!! That means I may be debraced to play Carnival next year! Quite a few of my Carnival pics seemed flawed when all I can see is my braces.I think the ceramic braces sometimes makes you look like you have really large teeth in pics. I don't even understand why this one tooth ( my bottom central incisor) is taking so long to get into place. It was not even the worst of the lot and I was kinda suprised that it had not fallen into place with my last two appointments. You know I am going to be so obsessive about cleaning my teeth to ensure that there is ZERO plaque that could prevent it from moving 0.001mm. The news still made my week.

Better yet I thought that the wire ties on top and the silver ligs below freed me from my curry ban. I was so excited to be able to eat freely without worrying about stains. Well I suppose the curry I got Saturday was some kind of super curry because I was shocked to see that my silver ligs still got a faint yellow tinge!! Just my luck I woul do that the day after I just got them changed. The colour change is not very noticable, but when you scrutinise your teeth like ppl with braces tend to do , you notice these things. So I can get away with curry occasionally but I guess I can't over do it.

The intake lady at my ortho kind of confused me a little when I mentioned my wire ties to her cause she said that they move teeth faster. To my understanding the ortho is not moving anymore just securing my upper teeth ....I guess I will have to ask about that next time.

Powerchains!

So I had my latest ortho appointment last week. Little did I know that it would not be a regular change archwire and ligature day. Oh no, I was in store for much more because it was change archwire and powerchain day.

So I got my upper wire gauge changed again and a nifty set of clear powerchains at the top. The powerchains connect all the brackets on the teeth together instead of the ligatures on each individual bracket. This is to facilitate the closing of the gap and the flare. The pressure was noticeably increased as compared with the regular ligatures. I had some sensitivity when biting down for a day or two but nothing unbearable. I was shocked to see that my gap had started to close overnight. I know this because I cannot fit as much of my tongue through the space as I used to be able to.

The rotated molar at the bottom is moving slowly but surely and I can see that this will definitely be my major keep back in getting my treatment completed. The front incisor will simply not have enough room to fall into alignment if that molar takes its cool time to move where it should be. I was hoping that the incisor would have been in place by now but evidently that is not the case since I only have one powerchain. But nonetheless, powerchains mean progress and I am glad I have at least one still fairly early in the scheme of things.

One thing that kind of annoyed me was that I had a different dental assistant than what I usually have. For some reason she took it upon herself to change the colour of my bottom ligatures from smoke to bronze. (??????) It makes less sense considering the ligs on the back molars are smoke and only the ones in front are bronze. She never even asked me what I wanted or if it was ok to change them. In her opinion it may have been less obvious but in MY opinion I prefer the smoke. She also placed the CLEAR powerchain at the top (not Smoke0 so I have no idea how that will fare ove rthe next few weeks with staining.

My ortho was actually impressed at how clean I was able to keep my ligatures. I had to remind her it was only because I have forgotten to make a curry stop before teh past two appointments. So yeah, it has been about 3 months since I have had any curry. This sucks even more considering Divali and Eid are all around this time.

In other dental news my dentist's receptionist seemed to have completely ignored the fact that I need a root canal. She promised to call me to fit me in and never did. I stopped in and she had the audacity to ask me if I was 'ready'. Now I don't know if it was because she thought I did not have full payment and took it upon herself to delay my treatment even though the doctor clearly okayed partial payment. But she was definitely out of order. I have medical insurance regardless but that does not mean I enjoy pelting out $4 grand at once. So now I am pushed back again to the end of Novemeber and left up to her she might have let me wait until I come to her screaming in agony.

So onward and upward. Updated pics soon

The Tooth from Hell

My very boring Ortho experience got rather interesting about a week ago. However, it had nothing to do with orthodontics. I spend a great deal of time picking my teeth as I watch tv simply because I am completely paranoid that the 1mm of plaque that I may have missed is keeping my teeth from moving all that much faster. So last weekend I picked and picked and accidentally stabbed what I thought was one of my gums. It felt a little sensitive but nothing to talk about. Somehow, the next day...... anytime I drank anything cold , I got a shooting pain in the tooth (not the gum). Things went rapidly downhill from there to the point where I could not put any liquid in my mouth without a straw. Stragely enough when I chewed food I felt nothing. It soon occured to me that all my picking could have shifted one of my fillings to the point where liquids were just able to seep in and hit the nerve.

I immediately called my dentist who managed to see me between appointments. She reminded me that she had told me I would need a root canal on that tooth eventually. I however did not think eventually meant 4 months!! She indicated that if I had a non symptomatic tooth (i.e a tooth where the nerve was dead and I felt no pain) I could have postponed the procedure indefinitely. Unfortunately because the nerve is very much alive and cause severe pain, its gotta be done now. That lovely procedure will set me back $3750!!! Ok, so I have insurance, but still , to find that to put out in one shot is a problem. She said I could pay half and half but I hate owing anyone. Even worse, I could not get an appointment as they are booked solid. So until my pain becomes constant and unbearable and they are forced to schedule me an emergency appointment , I have to wait. I was concerned that I would have to remove my archwire to do the procedure but she says she can work around it.

Even stranger, after drinking from a straw for a week, I realised that I was again able to move liquid in my mouth when I should not be able to.Hmmm, so I sucked it up and took a drink the normal way and low and behold...no pain. So I dunno if the nerve died on me or if my filling just dropped back into place after a few nights of aggressive grinding in my sleep but it no longer hurts. I wonder if I can get out of that root canal now?

I can't help but be bitter with the ortho I initially consulted who after doing xrays told me I had no cavity in the troublesome tooth (which I specifically enquired about) although there was a crater in it. If it was big enough for me to feel it with my tongue, it was big enough to see on an xray. It was only because I was never in pain that I did not double check it with a dentist. All ofthis could have been avoided and I think it is sad that I need a root canal (maybe two!) at my age. And this is even with me always brushing my teeth. I was just alway slack with the flossing. I will see what happens with that tooth and how long I can avoid this root canal.

Adjustment Number 2

I must tell you, braces are really boring. Nothing much happens in between adjustments, at least not with me. I don't really get any pain or irritation in my mouth . I don't break brackets or bend archwires. Its also pretty obvious that you can't see any changes in tooth movement on a daily basis.

So I went to my second adjustment to see how things were moving along. My ortho was actually quite suprised that my teeth are moving as quickly as they are.Although they are pretty much aligned below there is still that pesky front incisor that does not want to rotate fully in place on account of that rotated molar that is taking forever to budge even one millimeter.

Nonetheless, I was able to change the archwire on my upper arch to a thicker wire. FINALLY that gap on the side will start closing up. At this rate I am hoping that I will keep my treatment time to about a year or a little more. I will actually be delighted if I get my rubber bands next visit. cause that will mean I am even closer to the end. Although every one has told me I can't avoid rubber bands I wonder if I will get away from it because I have already been told that my bite does not need any correcting. The one most annoying thing are my two upper front teeth that still seem more crooked than before I started. My ortho says we have a lot of moving around to do still, even though thats hard to believe since they aesthically look like they are almost done.

I have been compulsively flossing and picking between my bottom teeth cause I keeping thinking that there is this 1mm of plaque that is preventing that front tooth from finally just falling into place. I know I am not completely paranoid since I heard the ortho telling another patient that it does not make sense her doing anything else until she gets her teeth cleaned cause the plaque build up has suspended her progress. Thats not only whack but also gross.

As I said no discomfort, no excrutiating pain. Just playing that waiting game now.

First Adjustment

Well I had my first adjustment today. Nothing much to report because they just tightened the wires I already had and changed my ligs. My teeth look basically the same way it did last post so I did not bother to take any more pics. I mentioned to the dental assistant that I thought my top teeth were getting more crooked while the bottom where getting straighter. He claimed that if there was any movement at all that it was not noticeable but that it did not matter cause at the end of the treatment it would all be aligned. At least my incisor that was sticking out is back where it should be , that was the most noticable problem. The rotated incisor is usually covered by my overbite and is almost where it should be.Progress is shown here and at my rotated molar where the teeth were so close together that the ligature could not be placed on the bracket properly. Now they both have the ligature on the entire bracket. As a result there is some increase in tension in these areas.I am hoping that the molar will begin to rotate faster now that the bracket is fully engaged.

I was a bit disenchanted when I was given my payment coupon book today. It has reminders for all the days when payments are due as well as for my dentist appointments.Every time you make a payment you rip out the slip and hand it in and get your book stamped. So I made the mistake and asked what date is on the last page .....september 2009. That is over 2 years from now! I cannot imagine being in braces that long sigh. I am really hoping that time is cut to a year and a half. The assistant said that I may get my top wire changed next visit in 8 weeks. Again its torture to have to wait so long between adjustments. You feel it working for the first week or too and then you have 6 weeks where you feel like nothing is going on.

I am feeling the increased pressure but it is not even remotely uncomfortable.I will see if I will be singing the same tune tomorrow.

Two months in braces and counting

So I have not been really viligant in my updates. But thats cause I have been really busy in work and its funny how you kinda forget you even have braces especially when you're like me and you're not having any major issues. To date I have not broken a bracket or archwire and I have not popped a ligature. I have had several instancs where I am talking to people and they have stopped me to ask about my braces. I forget who has seen me with them and without them. The peopel who don't ask I don't even bother to explain. I have noticed that the clear ligatures have inevitably turned a shade of cream that is similar to tooth enamel so although discoloured, they are not really noticable. That is off course until today when my mom decided to cook Paella and they did turn kind of yellowish. My next appointment is in two weeks and I amnot really sure if I can live with them that look looking like that. I asked my mom what was in the paella that made it yellowish cause I've eaten spanish rice before and got away with it. She told me she put in fresh saffron which was my undoing. Any natural colouring is dangerous to clear ligs!! That includes curry, mustard and saffron!! Funily enough I actually got away with eating doubles a few times without changing the colour, I have no idea why that curry did not stain when obviously it stains in every other form. I still am trying not to have too much curry till closer to lig change day.

Soother than some occasional jaw pain I have been doing pretty well. I only get a sore mouth when I spend and evening taking with friends and forget to keep my mouth moisturised.I supposed that since I was not really in any pain nor was the gap in my top arch looking like it was closing that I wasnot making progress. How very wrong I was! On e day while looking in the mirror (which you do constantly when youhave braces) I realised that the zig zag look that my bottom archwire had was gone. So I had to pull out the old pics and check to make sure. (check previous post or gallery)

And I was stunned to see that although I had a bottom incisor that was still rotated, all my teeth were pretty much aligned in an arch. The other incisor that was sticking forward was back in line to the point where I was not sure which one it was. My guess is once that molar at the back rotates some more to give the incisor more space everything will fall right into place easily. That molar has barely budged so I imagine with my next adjustment that would be tightening and starting to move. So athough not all the teeth are level, the archwire is quite straight.Its funny how I was quite sceptical when I was told I would not have my first adjustment for two months. I could not understand how they expected anything to happen if they were not adjusting the braces on at least a monthly basis.This goes to show why I am not the orthodontist and she is.

I am really hoping that this positive sign is an indication that my teeth are moving very quickly. On the downside I think my midline of my front top teeth has actually become MORE crooked. I have heard that your teeth go through many changes as they rearrange them and may have to get worse before they get better. It is however beyond me why the top teeth are moving at all. I had them on for a full month before I got the bottoms and they did not seem to do anything but open up my bite. HMM actually, its probably the contact with the lower brackets that are causing it to shift. Or maybe the tooth that went back where it was supposed to be, who knows, I have to remember to point that out. I am certainly looking forward to get things moving.

One month in braces

So at the one month mark I still have not seen much progress if any. I must say I am a bit disappointed. I know I may be a bit impatient but I was at least hoping for a gap to close. My bottoms have not been for more than two weeks so I can't expect much there. Just noticed recently that I have another molar rotated but its not as bad as the other one. It was still and ARRGGGGHHH moment nonetheless.



I made the HORRIBLE mistake on chowing down on a wrap I ordered that I forgot contained mustard.Yeah so now my ligatures are lime green. You can't see it unless its close up but I know its lime green. No amount of attempts to baking soda,Listerine Whitening, whitening toothpaste is helping. Sigh, good thing I told them I was changing them before the next wedding in two weeks.Unortunately for you all I took the pics after the mustard incident.



The bottom brackets are feeling fine although my mouth is generally drier.Very little irritation. I took out the all plastic tongue barbell and put back in the metal one. No correction, I took out the half of the plastic barbell that I did not swallow and put in the metal one. I keep losing the o-ring that holds it in place underneath while I'm eating. I swallowed like 3 this week. I don't really want to order more right now and at the rate I'm eating them they won't last long.
Sigh.

You can call me....The Shredder!

So I can really identify right now with this guy, known as The Shredder. You may remember him from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies (the old school ones NOT TMNT). Aside from the fact that we now have a striking resemblance with all this metal in my mouth, I have literally become the shredder.No dental floss is safe around me!!

Now I guess because my top teeth were ok to begin with and were more spaced than crowded I did not forsee the problems I am now experiencing. When I flossed the top teeth I took about 10 minutes tops. And thats me taking my time. I got to be so good at it that I no longer needed to use the floss threaders to get under the archwire. Then again I had the fact that I am very handy with a needle and thread to my advantage. With my bottom metal brackets installed it has become IMPOSSIBLE to floss between some of the teeth. First there is the problem where my teeth apparently shifted overnight so the floss physically cannot pass between the teeth. Then there is the situation where the brackets are riding on top of each other so closely that you can't even see where the wire is to thread beneath it. So I was forced to start using the floss threaders for my bottom teeth which has now extending my floss time by about 10 mins. Yeah so I basically need a half hour to 'brush' my teeth.

In addition to which the metal brackets now shred just about every piece of floss that dares to come close. I have to pull at least four lengths of floss just to get through the bottom teeth. It is amazing that my teeth could be so close together even though the orientation does not seem to have changed.

I have also developed an unfortunate habit. Now that everything I eat sticks up in the braces ,I tend to run my tongue over them to try and dislodge the food as I am eating. This turned out to be a bad idea because now I am blistering the tip of my tongue. It literally took me the past few days to figureout why my tongue was feeling so sensitive. Yet another challenge in this journey.

Lowers Braced!

Well I got my lowers done today. I got the metal brackets. The process was just as uneventful as the uppers. On looking at the end result I had a harsh wake up call. I realised I was really being a bit delusional as to the status of my teeth. All along I was saying that they are ok and I was just being vain by fixing them. No. They are messed up. It really takes the installation of the brackets and the wire to get a true sense of how your teeth are orientated (or rather disorientated). When I saw how many kinks were in the wire and how one bracket on my incisor could not even fit on the rotated tooth I was both embarrassed and relieved for myself. Embarrassed that they have to look this OBVIOUSLY bad for awhile and relieved that I actually took the step to do something about it. Can you look at those pics? I did not even know that molar to my left side was completely turned the wrong way!

A few hours later they generally feel ok but I am starting to feel the pressure on that naughty incisor that is jutting out. I have a feeling tomorrow will be much worse than how my uppers felt on day two. I also discovered that I in fact DON'T have self-litigating braces on my rear molars on the uppers. The assistant put a grey ligature on the bracket instead of a clear one so I did not realise that it had a ligature at all. I enquired as to when I could hope to see my upper spaces closing adn I was told that she the ortho was not going to start closing until they were all aligned properly...SIGH. My lowers also have grey ligatures. I did not even bother with the clear ones on the bottom, I have a hard enough time keeping the top ones clean.Ironically I also learned that the guy in the wedding who interrogated me also went to the same ortho. I should have scrutinised him more to see his end results.

So now I have the best of both worlds and hopefully i will really see some action soon!

Here comes the braceface

So i stopped off at the ortho Friday to get my ligatures changed for the wedding I had to attend yesterday. Although I had advised the receptionist that i was coming in and the reason, the ortho assistants asked me what my emergency was. To which I responded,"I need to look fabulous and I can't do so with yellowed ligs". So the change took a minute if so much.They actually asked me if i wanted a colour to match my dress to which i responded, " Hells no".I then asked the ortho about my appointment on Monday to get my lower brackets. I was shocked when she told me that I would NOT be getting the self litigating brackets because it would not match the prescription she had in place for me. It was only after I left that I realised that the brackets I have further to the back of my teeth don't have ligatures. So if those are not self litigating then what are they? Hmmm I need to ask her again.

In regards to the wedding,the brackets definitely were not my favourite accesory. I was dressed to kill but I still felt a bit self conscious. I was not self conscious when I first got them , I guess cause the people who had already seen me with them were closer friends who already knew I was getting them so it was no big deal. Last week I got a visit from a friendly collegue who stopped by my desk on his way out from a meeting at my office and after a while of chit chat he came out and asked me if I always had braces. When I told him no, he said he figured as much cause I was playing with them as I was talking. I think I was actually trying to hide them as I knew I had curry that day and they were even yellower than before! YUCK! Then at the hairdresser Saturday morning another acquaintance asked me the same thing. Which again just made me feel like I was getting my close up on national t.v. I don't mind people asking when its a constructive comment. Cause to me the only point of asking about them is if you are interested in the process or getting them yourself. By just stating/asking, "Oh you got braces" and saying nothing further is just pointing out the obvious. So its better if you just say nothing at all, you already figured out I have them on all by yourself.

So after getting some shots to my ego, I get to the wedding and the best man asks me like 5 times throughout the reception why I have braces. The first few times I was with a friend and I figured it was a rhetorical question cause to me it pretty self explanatory WHY you have braces. Then he was like 'Oh, so cause everybody getting married now and you run out to get braces." I guess this was on account that its a general consensus that my boyfriend is eventually going to marry me (hint hint honey). Of course this has been in the back of my mind, more because I don't want to have jacked up teeth when the wedding day does come period (regardless of who I end up marrying).It certainly was not the reason I got braces. Then later on when I was with my boyfriend , the guy again asked why I had braces. By then he was asking my boyfriend more than me cause I was not really entertaning him. My boyfriend also ignored him at a first cause then he would start talking about something else and then somehow go back to my braces. I think my boyfriend eventually got a bit annoyed and snapped at him, "Why the hell do you think she got braces? The same reason you did!". I had to bit my tongue to keep from laughing scandalously. I had no idea the guy ever had braces. The guy seemed a bit stung but went on to explain that he got braces cause he had an incisor in the roof of his mouth so he had little choice but he had never seen anything wrong with my teeth so he could not understand what the purpose was. I think I was a bit more sympathetic once I heard he used to have braces and had that bad a problem. So I told him that my top teeth did not really need fixing but my bottom did. Then he was like 'but you only have on the top'. (Sigh) Then I had to explain that I had to open my bite to get the bottom installed. Thankfully after I explained he seemed satisfied enough to stop harping on it and did not ask me anything about it for the rest of the night.

The damage was already done however and I felt like I had flashing lights on my teeth for the rest of the night. Funnily enough after having a few drinks, my sensitivity increased and I felt like I wanted to rip them out my mouth.Before I got my upper bracket installation appointment I was actually considering scheduling it for after the wedding so I would not have them for the occasion.It so happens I got my spacers unexpectedly early and was forced to install earlier than expected. When I had accepted that I would have to go to the wedding with my braces whether I liked it or not, I was again relieved that the ortho would not be doing my lowers until after.Then I got to thinking why the hell was I so concerned about that in the first place? Why was I postponing my treatment on account of what other people may (or may not) think? At one point I told myself I to just shake it off because at the end of the day my teeth will be absolutely perfect so to hell with what everyone else has to say. My teeth will be perfect for my wedding so I really should not care how it looks at theirs. Anyhow you take it, I have another wedding to go to next month and I will definitely be fully braced so let everyone else better deal with it.

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!

Tsum times you can!

Yeah so my friend and I go to one of our favourite watering holes in the middle of the week for no reason. Of course while there we had to get something to nibble. At first we both ordered the crab cakes which i figured was pretty safe.Turns out they were more like carb cakes since it was more flour than anything. Although they tasted good, they did nothing to put a dent in my hunger. So we ordered one of their cheese platters which came with a large basket of Tsum Tsum bread (Arabic crackers). Sigh. My friend had braces as a teen so I questioned her as to the feasibility of eating the damn crackers. She was no help. She said she was good for about the first six months andthen she was eating everything she was not supposed to..nuts, gum etc. With the way I have been going, my track record is progressively worse. After a bit of contemplation I decided to risk it..veeerrry carefully. I picked and chose which pieces I wanted (only the very flat ones) and took my time in breaking them into small pieces before crunching them.

Shortly thereafter some other friends joined us including the girl I met last Friday with ceramic braces. She took one look at the table and was like, "Oh I LOVE Tsum Tsum bread!".She grabbed it up and began to munch away without a second thought.Not a caution in the world! I nearly choked on my Tsum Tsum Bread. Here I was with just BANDS thinking I was going to damage them. STEUPS. I of course wanted to ask her about it but she was some distance away for me to ask without the whole table minding our business.I did not want to put her on show like that since we are not exactly friends.

I hope she did not notice that I was still analysing how the ceramics looked. Being totally preoccupied with the notion I found myself thinking every so often ,"Oh thats how it will look when I talk', 'Oh thats how it will look when I smile". I actually was more concerned with how the bottom looks. I figured out she did not have any brackets on her bottom teeth but I realised it took me forever to figure that out just cause you don't see bottom teeth in general.Observation of the other unbraced people at the table confirmed this. I think I am getting a bit more comfortable with the idea of metal bottoms. I just hope I can hurry up and get this done soon so it will be at the point of no return or before I completely lose my mind. Whichever comes first!

Hanging Tough

Well I am getting kinda bored waiting for my brace day. I have yet to understand what is the reason for the delay. I passed by my ortho the other day to get some forms signed for my (much needed) insurance refund. I hinted to the appointment manager that I would love if my appointment could be moved up. She ignored me. Shortly thereafter she offered me a piece of gum. I thought it was a test to see if I would snatch the bait. FYI you can't eat gum with brackets/bands in your mouth. Apparently it was a 'joke' , I was not amused.

One good thing is that met another adult patient in the waiting room who had full ceramic braces. His set up looked really good, I actually had to ask him if he had anything on his bottom teeth at all, I could hardly see it. Being that I am slightly obsessed with how my brackets will look, I have taken to asking random people about their experience and who was their doctor. I guess once you on the inside you have a tendency to notice people who have brackets whereas you may have over looked it before.

A friend of mine brought his new girl to the club on Friday.He introduced her around outside. I had kinda known her from around since we had attended the same school at a point. She was a couple years ahead of me. The firstthing I noticed was that she had ceramic braces. I guessed it was kinda rude to ask her about them since she had just been intoduced around.... so I waited until we were inside the club.LOL. I am very bold faced. I think I caught her a bit off guard but then explained my situation. She then happily gave me some info once she realised I was not trying to make fun of her. Turns out she has the same ortho as myself and is very happy with the results and the customer care so far. Lucky for her she is getting debraced in two months. Her treatment period was 2.5 years. That was good news as I never really remember her having bad teeth to begin with and my treatment estimate is 2 years. Maybe I will get done even sooner!

The brackets have pretty much settled down more. I no longer feel that maddening poke underneath my tongue. I am still very aware of the contacts between the outer side of teh bands and my cheeks. I cannot imagine that this will ever go away, cause its just THERE ALL THE TIME. I was hoping it would just get numb to the contact.Maybe thats what these extra two weeks are for. I have managed to eliminate use of the wax for now. Which is good cause I'm sure I must have eaten at least two candles. I am toughing it out more because having to reapply the wax everytime you brush your teeth gets annoying as well. It is already a long process to floss ALL my teeth ALL the time.

My brother is investigating visiting a cosmetic surgeon in Miami to fix his teeth cosmetically for even more minor problems than my own. I have been trying to convince him that whatever they do in Miami can be done here now..for less. Like most Trinis, his faith in the local medical system is nonexistant. He wants to get his teeth levelled and whitened and a gap bonded. I advised him to check on the ortho because fixing it cosmetically isn't going to help the underlying problem if his tooth structure is off. (Don't we all become orthodontists during this process ?lol) I am sure he does not know what they really do to your teeth to place veneers. To me if I am going to pay $2-3grand US ($12-18 grand TT) to fix it cosmetically I might as well pay $19grand TT to fix it PROPERLY. But thats just me..my brother has a tendency to be a bit hasty.

Sorry to say I have been bending the rules a bit.My rationale has been that I have not gotten the brackets on yet so I bite everything thats kinda hard with my front teeth. I had a few kernels of popcorn on Saturday. Of course I made the popcorn as soggy as I could before attempting to chew it.I immeditately felt guilty so I stopped. Thats probably the worst of it. Soggy popcorn is not too different from wet cereal which has been ok'ed. I think its the kernels that supposedly get stuck in the brackets.I don't have brackets and how is that kernel different from boiled corn kernels (which have been a bit troublesome as well)?

I just realised that I have two weddings to attend in May and June. Which means I will be well braced up. I guess I will have to get a really hot dress to overshadow my grill. I will be taking a lot of practice pics beforehand to see how I will come out in the wedding photos.I have no intention of having my braces in for MY wedding. I definitely wanted my teeth perfected before my own wedding instead of after cause I would hate to see the pics and have my twisty teeth or my overbite glaring at me in the pics. Yes vain, I know ,but is my wedding dammit! I have a right to be vain!

I tried to get my b/f to take some 'before' pics for me. He thought I was just being dumb. He did take them however. I have yet to upload them, they're a bit better than the out of focus ones I took!

Band of the Year

My bands are driving me insane. I guess sometime in the distant future I will get used to it. At present I fail to see how that is even possible. The sensation of the hardware in my mouth is constant. There is one spot in particular one the right side of my mouth that is jooking into the underside of my tongue. I think that one spot alone is what has me so uncomfortable. I have been using the dental wax constantly in that one spot and one spot alone. If I don't have wax on it, I feel like I want to rip out my teeth. It all does not change the fact that my tongue is already sore. I am not sure if its because my tongue might be swollen or the strange way my mouth is still learning to navigate around the extra volume in my mouth but I feel like I am already starting to speak with a slight lisp (that I never had before).

Wednesday found me staring at the corn on the cob that my mom cooked for lunch in a very resentfull manner. I was having an internal dialogue as to how to eat the corn. On one side I justified it by saying I only had bands on the back so I could still bite the kernels off with my front teeth. On the other hand I heard the dental assistant's voice in my head saying "Broken band=3 extra months +$300". Eventually I cut off the kernels with a knife...my mom thought it was hilarious. She is being suprisingly suppportive. Suprisingly cause I thought she would have hounded me about the expense considering I pay no rent at home. Instead she seems very interested in the process and is glad that I am finally going through with it. I don't know if teeth can be hereditary but my mom, my sister and myself all have the same incisor rotated in the same way.I guess it is something she would fix if she could be bothered but is glad that at least one of us is doing something about our trademark tooth. It does not stop her however form telling me every so often , " Who told you to suck your thumb?!" My brother is getting ideas as well after noticing that he now has a space between his front teeth that he never had before.

I also have a tongue piercing that I am strangely attached too and did not want to take out for the treatment. I managed to beat down my ortho to let me put in a plastic tongue ring for the period. The whole dynamic between the tongue ring and the bands are still trying to sort itself out. The bands itself make me feel like I need to stretch my mouth all the time like how you would stretch your back when you sit in one spot for too long.

I'm starting to get a little concerned as to how I am going to survive when the actual brackets ar on...for two years!!! I don't know if I ever get used to this.

Banded not Braced

Well I thought I would have my braces today. Apparently I was a bit over anxious. Today I got my molar bands put on. These are the metal rings that anchor the braces on your rear teeth.

When I got to the ortho I met with my treatment coordinator who showed me my panoramic x rays and the plaster moulds. The moulds really showed up every flaw in my teeth. I noticed that one of my upper front teeth was actually rotating. The ortho said this is because of the twisted bottom teeth. The bottom teeth looked even more crowded than I thought. I can't wait until they're fixed.

The treatment coordinator went over my contract with me which basically listed all their rules and regulations and what expenses I will incur if I don't follow their instructions. I also got a list of all the foods I can and cannot eat. The actual list is pretty amusing and I am sure it is exclusive to Trinidad. So I can't eat Plums, Kurma, Chennette, Channa or Pommecythere. However I can eat pelau,roti and coo coo. LOLOL Them foods are a different language to people not from Trinidad! If I drop the ball and partake of such banned delicacies I will suffer the pain of paying $300 for replacement brackets. I also have to maintain a rigid dental hygiene so that I won't get decalcification (those yucky brown/white spots on teeth) or cavities.

Once I got into the chair they pulled out the separators. These popped out pretty easily although one required some extra force. I was asked to floss where the separators had been and were amazed to see how big the gap was between the teeth. Back in the seat they sized up my molars to see which was the correct sized band. Just my luck, all four of my banding teeth were different sizes. Even the dental assistant was a bit surprised. After she sized them she had to take them back out to put on the glue. I was given a heads up that this was NASTY. Fortunately she had but some spong ein my mouth to dry up the area and I kept my mouth as wide as possible so I was able to go thru the procedure without tasting it at all.

The bands themselves are not painful. But I can already tell why it causes discomfort. The metal just starts to rub against the inside of your mouth and just irritates it constantly. .After getting read the riot act again about what I can and cannot eat. I was given my own "Dentakit" by the Ortho. They have their own branded pencil cases with everything a person with braces would need. There was dental wax, dental floss, floss threaders, toothbrush (with cover) and a full instruction booklet on how to use all the nifty stuff.Fortunately for my bands seem to be settling in fairly quickly. I used some of the dental wax to buffer the rubbing against the underneath of my tongue but it was more of a pre-emptive strike as I felt that the area was the most likely to get irritated.

The receptionist gave me my next appointment and I was not impressed when she told me that it would be in April!! I asked if its usually so long between banding and bracing and she advised that the ortho decided that was when I should come back. Ok then...What pissed me off was not so much the fact that I have to wait an entire month with these bands chillin in my mouth it was the fact that I told her I would have preferred to wait until april to brace and SHE was the one who advised that since I had the separators in already, I had to do schedule for this week. Seeing that I STILL won't get braced till April any way why rush to put in the bands? Even if the bands have to settle in for a two weeks, I would have been in a better financial position if I had to pay the downpayment in April and not this week. STEUPS. After agonising on the whole braces issue for so long I am a bit disappointed that I did not get the party started today. Just seeing those dental records made me more eager to get started asap. SO....one month till braces.

T-Minus 1 day

The night before I am to get my brackets put on I still can't make up my mind whether to get the combo or all ceramic braces. The ortho's staff called me again today and after a moment or two of dead silence on the phone (ok you called me because...), they asked what I had decided. I was like ..ummmm ....I already had this conversation with the other girl on Saturday, by calling me and asking again all I will do is flip flop around.

I spent most of this evening reading brace stories (good and bad) and watching pictures on www.archwired.com. It really has been a good resource , especially when you want to get feedback from those who have already been through the process.

My bank finally got their act together and I actually overpaid the credit card.So I am good to go for payment tomorrow.

Funny story..when I first went in for my consultation the ortho asked me 'Darling,No ne came with you today?'. I said...why would they? I'm 26! She was actually surprised when she checked my sheet and saw that I was indeed 26. I guess I look even younger than I thought. Hmm..again braces aren't going to help. People might start id-ing me in clubs now lololol!