EJ's Log [2 Month Comparison]

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#1 Post by **e^jtheta** » Wed May 09, 2007 1:57 pm

Hey Y'all,

Yesterday I finally got my braces. Didn't get around to posting because I was too busy staring at them and feeling what seems like my new mouth, among other things.

Since this is a new thread, here is a link to my brief intro viewtopic.php?t=18370.

Getting the braces on wasn't as bad as I expected. Although it took about an hour and a half, it went smoothly and was pain-free (something I'm not used to when it comes to any dental work). Shortly after getting home (about two hours later) I decided to eat a sandwich just to try eating with the braces. I figured it was something not too hard and not too soft, just the right type of food to experiment with. To my surprise it was difficult to chew. Though I managed to eat it just fine, I realized that anything harder than that would cause some serious pain.

Today while walking around I smacked my upper and lower teeth together by accident. The pain spread somewhat like the ringing of a bell. Gon - nnn - NNN - NNN - GGG! That was enough pain to keep me from trying to eat anything remotely hard for the next two weeks (about the same time it took for me to not feel the spacers). I'll gladly stick to oatmeal and shakes.

All in all it's not so bad. The pain is temporary and the discomfort I'll get used to.

Below are some before and after photos of brace day. I'll continue to post photos as the weeks go by. Can't wait for some progress to show.

Before Braces

Braces on Day 0

#2 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Wed May 09, 2007 3:08 pm

Congrats and welcome. Kind of overwhelming to have these little things making such an impact on your mouth huh.

#3 Post by **plasticwings** » Wed May 09, 2007 10:26 pm

Looks great. Welcome!

#4 Post by **e^jtheta** » Thu May 10, 2007 6:07 am

Haha, yeah, you said it well. I was fully expecting to eat that first sandwich with no problems at all, so it was surprising that I had to chew s l o w l y.

These tips that I've been seeing all around the boards are great. I'm doing the saltwater rinses whenever I start to notice the feeling of braces too much. It's a nice sort of RESET. Then the taste of the salt distracts me for a bit and I forget about the braces for a while. The lip balm is something I already do year-round, now I just have an excuse to use lots of it lol.

I've also decided to smile just as wide as I did before. Well, I'll probably tone it down just a bit, but I don't really care (too much) about them showing.

Oh, my handle is read "e to the j theta," where e is the irrational number 2.718..., j is the unit of imaginary numbers, and theta is an angle. When theta goes from zero to infinity you get an arrow (vector) that spins 'round an 'round forever. Like this:

I picked it so randomly that I don't even like it anymore lol.

Call me EJ.

#5 Post by **e^jtheta** » Thu May 10, 2007 10:15 am

It's only been two days!???

AAAHHHHHHHHHH!

#6 Post by **e^jtheta** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:38 pm

Here are some photos of my teeth from different angles. I had to take these now before any changes occured.

Day 2 - Front View.
This is the way my teeth look when I bite down normally.

Day 2 - Low Front View.
This is the way my teeth look when I bite down normally.

Day 2 - Bottom Teeth, Angled View.

Day 2 - Bottom Teeth, Top View.

Day 2 - Upper Teeth.

EJ

#7 Post by **smallbutmighty** » Thu May 10, 2007 6:42 pm

Welcome EJ,
You will be so amazed at how quickly the changes start to happen. You will soon see that bottom wire getting straight. And also what I have noticed is that one day (or hour) you will feel one tooth, then another will be the focus of your attention. It is a pretty intersting experience, like you almost want to run to the mirror to see if you can catch something happening. Hope it all goes really well for you.

#8 Post by **e^jtheta** » Tue May 15, 2007 4:06 pm

Alright, so it's been one week today!

I'm way more used to them now than just a few days ago. I can floss between all my teeth, which I couldn't for three days. There was some glue stuck between my bottom teeth (the crowded ones). It hurt too much to really give flossing a good try, but then I realized that no matter how hard I tried to floss it still wouldn't work. Eventually I realized it was glue and scrapped it off with a metal pick. Flossing was painful (and bloody) the first time, but it's been a lot better since then.

Having the brackets in my mouth is feeling more familiar, but still annoying. Near the end of the day, after a whole day of talking at work, my brackets start to feel like they're in the way and my lips get a little tired of having to "wrap around" them so that I can close my mouth all the way. I'm not sure that I'll ever get fully used to this.

This morning I realized that I had been sleeping with my face in the pillow, and my lips were pressing against the brackets lol. So I had the pattern of the brackets on the inside of my lips. I guess I didn't sleep like that for long, because it didn't really hurt.

Yesterday I managed to eat some meat. That was the hardest thing I ate all week and it really made my whole mouth hurt a ton. Besides that I've had spaghetti, omelettes, sandwhiches (knife+fork), oatmeal, and rice.

Now for the pics...

1 Week - Front View
I noticed that my right front tooth came down a little. I'm hoping that was the ortho's intention, I'll definitely ask about it.

1 Week - Bottom Arch
I don't think much is going on here yet.

Day 2 - Bottom Arch

So not much going on really. Just pain and discomfort. This is going to be s l o w.

EJ

#9 Post by **LaaLaa** » Wed May 16, 2007 2:20 am

Hey e^jtheta, thanks for the explanation on your username. A math whiz?? I hate math with a passion

(although I have to take a couple post calc courses, unfortunately) so seeing theta and e, *shudders*. Nothing against you by the way.

The upper brackets are probably exactly the same ones I have so I'm surprised that the little colored dots are still there. Mine were gone within a day I think.

Your lower front teeth look so similar to how mine are so it would be a real treat to see your pics during your treatment. Keep us updated, I sure will be checking in!

#10 Post by **Phil098342wq** » Fri May 18, 2007 4:21 pm

I have been looking at some of these stories and should post my own. Man I wish I would have found this place before Bday. EJ did the ortho explain how bad the first couple of days would be and the hitting of the teeth together? Mine did not and i am thinking of having a few choice words with him after I calm down. I am going to look forward to your furture posts. My user name came about because I was hacking away on EBay for a user name for over an hour and entered this one and it clicked and I regreted it at first but I know if I go to a site and enter it as a new and it comes up used I already have an account. lol.
I noticed one comment about sleeping, I am fortunate, my TMJ Physcial Therapist recommened a contoured pillow several weeks before for my jaw pain and it has helped me sleep much better these first couple of days than days past when I have had dental pain.
Look forward to your continued success

#11 Post by **e^jtheta** » Wed May 23, 2007 5:10 pm

Didn't get around to updating yesterday, which was my 2 weekiversary! Here goes...

At this point I've officially graduated to eating normal foods. I'd say my teeth are at 85.67% biting strength compared to before the braces, which I'll guess is the best it will ever be until I get them taken off again. And I'm ok with that, I can eat pretty much anything I want with hardly any discomfort at all. Eating sandwiches and rice has become somewhat annoying just because so much of it gets stuck under the bottom braces, but I guess certain things I'll only be able to eat if I know I'll be able to get a good rinse right afterwards.

I don't notice the brackets so much now and I don't think about them as often as I used to. My coworker told me today that my lisp is gone, which wasn't terrible, but you could definitely hear a difference. I'm much more comfortable with my mouth now, and it shows. Everyone I know pretty much is aware that I have braces, and those who don't know I have braces quickly find out because I'm smiling most of the time. If I notice anyone staring I just open wide and let 'em have it 1) to let them know that I know they're staring (which is annoying in general), and 2) show it to them so they can get it over with. I think of it as a sort of "brace-mooning."

Thinking back on how I felt about the braces just two weeks ago... the first few days I was going through what many others have expressed... "what the f*** was I thinking?" Now whenever I notice my braces I realize that I'm at least doing something to change myself for the better. That in itself is a motivational boost to improve other areas of my life. Never thought that I'd be getting any kind of motivation from my braces... but here we are.

Phil, I didn't need for my ortho to tell me that I was going to feel some pain. I was already expecting that from when I had spacers. When the assistant was done putting the spacers between my molars, the ortho told me that I would experience some "discomfort" and would feel like I had "food stuck between my teeth." That's a pretty common explanation for it (and it really does feel like this when you're caught off guard), but I noticed that I personally experienced some pain just from that slight pressure in my teeth. So of course I knew pain was going to be on the menu after I got braces.

In one of my sesssions where I stared at my teeth, I noticed is that I have a thicker archwire on my top teeth than I do on the bottom teeth. That seems like the opposite of what I would expect since the thicker wire is supposed to cause more movement than the thinner one, and my bottom teeth are desperately in need of moving much more than my tops. Anyone else notice this in their own braces?

This week's pics...

Week 2 - Low Front View
This is the way my teeth look when I bite down normally.

Week 2 - Front View
This is the way my teeth look when I bite down normally.

Week 2 - Open Front View
I'm not really biting all the way here, just letting the bottom teeth show.

Week 2 - Top Arch
Top teeth.

Week 2 - Bottom Arch
They've moved a little bit, which I know because I can floss better than I used to. No visible change yet.

Thanks for checkin' in...

EJ

#12 Post by **e^jtheta** » Wed May 23, 2007 5:17 pm

Welcome EJ,
You will be so amazed at how quickly the changes start to happen. You will soon see that bottom wire getting straight. And also what I have noticed is that one day (or hour) you will feel one tooth, then another will be the focus of your attention. It is a pretty intersting experience, like you almost want to run to the mirror to see if you can catch something happening. Hope it all goes really well for you. - [written by smallbutmighty]

smallbutmighty, I totally noticed this in the past week. My top teeth were shifting and I felt the changes go from the front to the side. It was like a really slow wave! It's great because you know something's going on even if you can't see it.

#13 Post by **Danielle** » Thu May 24, 2007 5:53 pm

In one of my sesssions where I stared at my teeth, I noticed is that I have a thicker archwire on my top teeth than I do on the bottom teeth. That seems like the opposite of what I would expect since the thicker wire is supposed to cause more movement than the thinner one, and my bottom teeth are desperately in need of moving much more than my tops. Anyone else notice this in their own braces?

Yes. If you ask me the softer wires work really, really quickly and the bottom wires just kinda hold the shape in place. I've had three different levels of thickness on my bottom arch and so far the first one (the softest) worked the quickest. I would think it would be the other way around too. For me it seems like once the teeth formed a very basic (though drastically improved) arch the stronger wire has just held them in the same place... maybe this is by design. I guess this is one of those "ask your Ortho" kinda questions.

#14 Post by **Danielle** » Thu May 24, 2007 6:31 pm

This is why so many people do like to keep a collection of pictures as they go through treatment - even if they do not intend to post on a blog or such, they are great to refer back to, so that you can really see the changes that have been going on, but that are so hard to see on a day to day basis

Yep, I keep a fantastic collection of pics which by early 2009 will be known as the "Before Pictures."

And your right my arches are slowly becoming more U shaped (go away V) and that improvement isn't always the most visable.

Sorry, EJ for hijacking your thread

Ditto!

#15 Post by **Laurie** » Thu May 24, 2007 7:05 pm

Wow

Awesome photos!

Even though I know your braces have smarted you a good bit I'm encouraged to hear you say that it's tollerable. With all the horror stories I've read I'm glad to hear what you've had to say so far!

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EJ's Log [2 Month Comparison]

EJ's Log [2 Month Comparison]

call me EJ

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