Donna from Ontario, Canada

My first day in braces went much better than I had expected. After a sleepless night, worrying about the braces, I went to the Orthodontist. At the Orthodontist, they checked my teeth, polished my teeth and put on the etchant (which didn't taste too wonderful). Next went on the brackets. The Ortho Assistant had trouble getting a couple of the brackets on as they kept turning on her. Once the brackets were in place, she put the UV light machine on each tooth and until it beeped. After the brackets were on, I tried to put my lip over them and they felt weird and cool at the same time. Then I was shown the wire. It looked so tiny. Next the wire was put on. Instantly I felt pressure and tightness but no pain. That was it. I was all done!!

I was then taken into another room and given my goodie bag and instructions on how to brush. Then I was off to pay. Now, that was the hard part!!

Afterwards, I went about my business for the rest of day, stopping at every mirror to see what my new smile looked like. The only soreness I felt was when I went to chew anything. Then my teeth felt like they belonged to someone else (or at least I wish they did).

Because the first day went so well I went to bed that night thinking this is easy. Well, as I grind my teeth, I find out it wasn't that easy. Around 1 am and again at 3:30 am I woke up in pain as my upper teeth had made contact with the bottom teeth during the grinding. Nothing an Advil didn't cure.

I am so proud of my new wire smile as it shows that I am actively doing something to improve teeth. I smile now much more than ever before!!