6 Months-Rebonding Appointment

Well, I’m 6 months in. It feels like an eternity. Ha! Nah, they aren’t that bad if you like having a mouth full of metal, sore teeth, and cuts on the inside of your cheeks. Ok, I’ll stop with the complaints now. Onto my adjustment update….

I went in on Tuesday May 21st to see Dr K. I knew I was getting a few brackets rebonded but wasn’t really sure what I was in for. For those that don’t know, Rebonding or repositioning is when they remove your bracket and then put it back on your tooth in a different spot. The different position allows for different movement. They started off by taking off the brackets on my two front teeth. Ouch! I didn’t realize that was going to be so painful. It kind of made me worried about when I get them off for good. (Kind of-not really) Those things just didn’t want to come off! They took the first one off with me just holding my mouth open. For the second, they had me bite down on a cylinder cotton thing. That was a lot more comfortable. Once they were off, Dr K removed all of the glue and prepped for the replacement. The brackets were placed a little lower on my teeth. I’m assuming that will help with the overbite/overjet? Not sure. They did this same process on a couple of other teeth as well.

Once they were done rebonding, they put a bracket on each of my back molars. I always wondered why I didn’t have them there from the get go. These babies have done a number on my cheeks! 2 words to help with this Gishy Goo. Amazing product. Google it. They also replaced my upper and lower double arch wires with 1 thicker wire for both.

Wednesday morning I felt like I had been punched repeatedly in my mouth. It felt just like after I had first gotten them! But after a bunch of ibuprofen and a soup diet, I was good to go. I go back for my next adjustment on July 2nd. The only thing I know they are going to do is remove my bite guards. That will be really weird. I hated them when I first got them, but I’m used to them now.

Here are some updated pics!

Broken Bracket

I want to first start this post by saying that I typed a HUGE post last week, but it seems to have disappeared. It really irritates me. hahaha  I’ll try to sum it up.  Basically, I have the type of braces that do not require ligature bands. They are self-ligating braces. My wires snap in place.  When I first got them I was expecting the little colored rubber bands, but it never happened. Then at my second adjustment they added an additional (tandem) archwire to my uppers.  On the third visit they added a tandem to my lowers.  So, I have 4 archwires in my mouth currently.  I never understood this until I did some research.  If you are intersted, you can read all about it here http://3munitektraining.com/contrib/documents/AL_LIB_17.2009121695453805.pdf

I found it rather interesting. 

Now….fast forward to yesterday….

I went to see Dr K. yesterday morning for my 5 month adjustment.  He is very impressed with the movement he is seeing.  The only thing that was done was the removal of ligature band that was holding on my wire on 1 tooth.  The wire was fully engaged on it’s own so it wasn’t needed anymore. I was then told I needed to get x-ray’s. 

The xray machine is the thingy that you put your head in and have to bite down on a stick. Then the machine moves around your head.  When I went to bite down I hit one of my lower teeth and it knocked a bracket off. Oops! I didn’t hit it that hard and it didn’t even hurt, so it must’ve been loose.

I had to make an appointment to come back later in the day to get it fixed.  It was pretty basic, they took out my lower wires put the bracket back on and then replaced the wires.  But man….I have been sore ever since.  They didn’t do anything else, so I’m not sure why.

It amazes me how much movement I have seen in just 5 months.  My original sentence treatment time given was 26 months.  I just can’t see it taking this long.  I hope I’m not setting myself up for disappointment. 

Hope all is well with all of you readers.  If you ever have any questions or topics you would like me talk about, please feel free to let me know!

 

 

5 months (almost) continued

More pcs that didn’t upload on the other page.

8 Week Appointment

Today I had my 8 week appointment, which was my first adjustment! It was very exciting to go in and see what was going to happen. Dr. K was very happy with the movement over the past 8 weeks. My cross bite is almost out! I can’t believe how fast it moved.

So…I got a new top arch wire. Which on part of it there is actually 2 wires. Has anyone ever heard of this before? I meant to ask when they were done, but totally forgot. Ugh…I hate when that happens! I also got a power chain on one of my bottom back teeth that needs to be turned. No new wire on the bottom. I go back n 6 weeks for more!

Here are a couple of updated pics.

5 Week Update

So, it’s a been a few weeks since my last post. That’s probably because its been pretty uneventful. All of things that I was complaining about have pretty much gone away or I’ve gotten used to them. Eating has become more ‘normal’ again. There are some things I won’t dare try to eat, but others that I thought would be difficult that ended up being ok. I had steak and baked potato with a salad for dinner on my anniversary on December 1st. I did opt out on the croutons with the salad.it went really well, I was very happy. The one piece of advice I would give is to take it slow. It’s not a race. Just take it slow and you should be able to eat all of the normal foods you enjoy. Although I really miss my almonds. I haven’t gotten the courage to try those yet. 😦 I had to go back to the ortho last week for a comfort visit. I’ve worn my bite guards down a lot! I had teeth hitting teeth and I was scared of knocking a bracket off, so I had them build the guards back up. All is good now! I’ll get some updated pics out this week. Happy week all!!!

2 Weeks Down….### To Go!!

So, Tuesday (11/13) was my 2 week mark since being braced. I’d say that things are going well now. After you get used to the foreign objects in your mouth, produce scar tissue on the inside of your cheeks and lips, learn how to eat, brush, and floss all over again…and remember to not fall on your face…you’re golden! 🙂

Eating was the most frustrating for me. Still is to an extent. I’ve basically been eating the same foods for a few years. Lots of chicken breast, raw almonds, steamed veggies..etc. If your a braces veteran, you know that one of the #1 rules is you can’t eat nuts anymore. I miss my almonds!!! If anyone knows a way that I can still eat them and get the health benefits while being braced…please let me know! (No almond milk please! lol)

Flossing has gotten better as well. The first night I had braces, it took me about an hour to floss. Last night it took about 20 minutes. I have a feeling this is going to keep getting faster. I’ve been thinking about getting an electric toothbrush and one of those waterpik thingy majigs. Does anyone out there have any experience with these? Does the waterpik work just like flossing? Any help with this would be great!

Here are a couple of pictures that I took on Tuesday. I’m not sure why my teeth look so yellow…but oh well. Do you see any changes??

Waffle Fries and Chicken Wings

Tonight I hit a milestone…I ate food that you don’t eat with a spoon!!! This is so HUGE!!! It may have taken me forever and a day, but I ate it and it was good. ‘It’ would be waffle fries, chicken wings (they were boneless-but chicken wings nonetheless) mozzarella sticks and chicken quesadillas. I was in fattening, solid, fried food heaven.

While I’m happy now…I will hate myself at the gym tomorrow!

1 Week Down

As promised, below are my 1 week into treatment pics.

As far as how I feel about them? Ugh. I don’t want to deter anyone from getting braces, but I’m still miserable. My teeth are still too sore to chew…and even if they weren’t sore I don’t think I’d be able to anyway. Not only because of the blue bite guards on my uppers, but because I’m scared to death to break a bracket or wire. I brush at least 5 times a day but still feel like I have bad breath.

Enough bad talk. I know this will be good in the long run. The long 25 months and 3 weeks I have left. Ok seriously.,.enough. I’ve always wanted pretty, straight teeth. I know I’ll be happy when this is all done. I just never knew how much I would miss chips and almonds! Haha

Here are the pics….

Front view

Uppers

Lowers

Unplanned Orthodontist Visit

Today, Monday, I had to make an unplanned visit to the doc. Friday at lunch I experienced the dreadful “poking wire” right into my cheek. OUCH!!! It really hurt. I had tried to be a little more bold at lunch that day. Instead of mashed taters and soup, I tried tofu stir fry. First time having tofu too.

So…the appointment was very quick went in and they clipped both sides of my upper arch wire and put a little clip on it so that it doesn’t shift. Already feels much better. I was thinking of trying chicken fajitas for dinner…well, my family will be able to enjoy them if I can’t. I doubt it will work for me, but I’m going to attempt!!

Oh, I took a little tumble on Friday night (middle of the night I tripped over the fan on the way to the restroom) and landed right on my face. I had a gigantic upper lip for a few days and some cuts on the inside of my mouth. Now the swelling has gone down a lot, but has left behind bruising on the outside of my upper lip. Goodness. Friday was a horrible day!

Let’s hope this week brings better news. I’ll also try and post my 1 week progress pictures soon.

Here’s a quick pic of the bruising. The red stuff is the carpet burn! Take it from me. Don’t fall on your face…especially with braces in your mouth!

Thank God for WAX!

Today I had to use wax for the first time. Oh my am I glad I have it! My back uppers were tearing up my cheeks. No blood, just very sore. My teeth and gum are still pretty sore today. I have eaten a ton of mashed potatoes and soup…and sugar free chocolate pudding. I’m not sure how long it will be before I can et some normal things again, but it seems like its forever away. At this point I don’t see myself ever getting used to this, but I’ve read so many blogs/discussion boards that say you do after a few weeks. I just hope it happens fast! I can totally understand why they say this is tougher on adults. We are set in our ways. Oh well…I gotta suck it up!