Shannah's Braces Adventure

[Sbebs]

Well here I go with braces for the first time in my life at 25 years old. I am getting ceramic uppers today and I will follow with ceramic lowers after my uppers have flared enough. I'm pretty excited and nervous. I certainly wish my parents had gotten braces for me when I was younger and it was the "cool" thing to do. But hey, better late than never. I just wish my boyfriend was even half as excited about it

Adding to my braces adventure is the twist that I am my ortho's first patient. I'm not too concerned sinced he has been in training for months now and has consulted with the pros on my case.

I took some before pictures so I can track my progress and share with all of you. Anyone else never known how bad there teeth actually look until then did their before pictures? I didn't. I guess my one upper tooth has been the main focus so I didn't pay attention to the rest.

I thought my horoscope was appropriate for today "You have a vision of what you want the next year of your life to be. Today, go out and start turning that vision into reality." I can't wait for a perfect smile!

5 hours to go...... Wish me luck!







Sorry about the 2 big pics I tried to reduce them!



Thats not slimy teeth...I took the upper picture with my bleaching tray in

[joney]

Hi Sbebs

Good luck with getting the brace on, I hope it goes well for you. It's a weird feeling at first but pretty soon you'll get used to it and it will just be a minor inconvenience in that you will need to clean more thoroughly. Wax has been a great lifesaver for me so my advice would be to use it as much as you need at first and as time goes on you will need it less and less.

I think you're lucky to do this at 25 rather than like me 42, I wish I'd done it years ago. You will be amazed how quickly your teeth start moving into place. As to your boyfriend, this is a lot more exciting for the people getting their teeth straightened than for others, even though my daughter has a brace she finds the whole topic boring, thank goodness for archwired!

It is good have photos to compare, in a month or two you will be amazed by the movement and it really reminds you that things are happening. I know what you mean about the photos, I thought my teeth were bad but it was only when I saw the photos and impressions that I realised how bad. Your teeth look pretty nice, just a bit out of line, in no time at all I'm sure they'll be fantastic.

Good luck with the first few days getting used to them, after that you'll be flying. Great horoscope by the way.

Regards
Joney

[MarvinBrace]

Hi Sbebs,

I just want to wish you all the best TODAY.
You will adjust pretty quickly. I hope this journey is going to be PAINLESS for you.
BTW nice pictures, so you can compare them later in your stages.

We will keep in touch...Bye...Marvin

[mayday]

Hey Shannah, that's cool that you're on your way!

Of course it would have been nice to have had everything taken care of when we were younger, but I think that I'll appreciate it more now. Not to mention, I'm way more anal about my oral hygiene than I was 8 or so years ago.

I just have my upper ones on right now (one week), but most all soreness has subsided at this point, so if you're feeling pressure, I'm sure you'll adjust soon.

[Sbebs]

Well I did it! The only pain I experienced was at the beginning when they decided to use a child sized plastic cheek extractor. Whenever they pressed down on it I was hoping to pass out because the pain was sooooo HORRIBLE. But luckily they noticed my discomfort and switched to some cotton rolls instead. The rest of the process went very quickly and pain free.

Below is a picture of my new braces. They are 3M Clarity instead of ceramic. Which is even better to me. When they are on all you can see is the arch wire.






If you wondering..."wow thats wierd, I don't see any teeth?"...or "I thought she was getting them on today?"... thats because 15 minutes after i left the ortho a bracket popped off...then a half hour later..another one. I hadn't eaten anything and 4 had popped off. By the time I went to bed all but the back two brackets on each side had popped off - so I pulled out the wire so I didn't choke on it. I go back in today to have it reapplied.

Does this mean I get two B-Days????

[Clo]

Lol !!

I come to this site for more than 3 years now. And still there are members
who are able to show something that was never seen here. Like your brackets
that popped off, I mean about ALL of them, so that you could take out your
braces.
I think of this : girl, you will have to choose what you want. Or you have a
removable brace, or you have fixed ones. But you can't have removable fixed
braces.
So sorry, couldn't resist.
More seriously, your ortho obviously did something wrong I think. I hope he
finds out what ...

[Sbebs]

Well if it was going to happen to anyone it would happen to me...I have that sort of luck!

My ortho seems to think the bonding agent didn't work because I have whitened my teeth which affects the enamel. He's the one who gave me the bleach so I don't think thats my fault. Hopefully the other cement he uses today will do the job.

Its amazing that thin little wire had enough force to pull them off. Guess its good to know that its doing its job

Thanks for all the advice. I felt very prepared yesterday with my lip gloss, otc pain killers, and bathroom stop before going in.

Does the "my lips aren't big enough to cover my brackets feeling" go away pretty quickly?

[Sbebs]

oops, double post

[Sbebs]

Well the ortho decided to wait a couple weeks to allow the whitening gel time to clear out so the cement wouldn't have a slick surface to attach to. Also, he is ordering all new brackets to be on the safe side. The pre-cemented 3m's may have been a factor as well.

The good news I have the two weeks to drink my cherry flavored crystal light and finish off that christmas peanut brittle.

[Tin Indian]

Sounds good Sbebs!

[Sbebs]

Well I am officially re-braced. It went much faster this time and no pain at all since they didn't try to use the cheek spreader.

They have been on for a half hour now and all I feel is some slight pressure. Nothing really painful at all.

Keep your fingers crossed the the brackets are all still attached tomorrow morning!

[Tin Indian]

Congratulations Again Sbebs!

[Sbebs]

Thanks everyone. So far they only adjustment I've had to make is relearning how to eat. Hopefully I don't wear down my molars in the process. I'm still so nervous one of the brackets is going to pop off

I haven't had any comments on them yet from anyone at work. Either the ceramics are that unnoticeable or people don't know what to say about them?? hmmm

[Sumendoza]

Sbebs,

I just got my braces on two days ago and it's been hard to get used to them; specially when eating.

I wish you the best of luck in your journey

[Sbebs]

Well its only been a week and I can already see movement. My two front teeth were slightly overlapped and I can see a big change.

Sorry about the yellowed clear ligs - I'm getting them changed today to something that is hopefully less noticeably staining!

One Week Ago



Today