Preparing For Braces @ 23

[NICURN85]

Good luck today!!!! Let us know how everything goes!!!

[ShikabaneHime13]

Update:
So the brackets are offocially on (along with a slew of spacers in the back). Didn't bother me when they put the spacers in (the assistant couldn't even believe I didn't wince at all) and it wasn't too bad sitting through the bonding procedure. Next week on Thursday will come the bands and my wires (I kinda do look forward to picking my ligs).

Since I had gotten my teeth cleaned at the dentist yesterday, I wanted to keep my teeth in pristine condition and hadn't eaten any solid foods from 3:30 pm all the way until about 2pm today. I had a small bowl of instant oatmeal and the experience of eating with the brackets and spacers was so not fun at all. I'm already starting to feel scratching on my inner bottom lip but I'm gonna try to refrain from using the wax for now unless absolutely necessary since I want my mouth to toughen up. Of course, after I had my little meal of oatmeal and a bottle of apple juice(through a straw), I took my first stab at brushing my teeth. The assistant today showed me how to do it and even gave me a laminated instruction card with pictures to guide me. But still, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I was in the bathroom a good 20 minutes trying to do the finer workings of flossing, brushing, rinsing and rinsing some more. The hardest part for me is the top braces, but I'll obviously be working to improve on it this week since it will only get harder when the wires come on. So... It's gonna be a loooooong week.

Here are some picture updates, as I promised (please forgive my ugly looking chompers) :

Pre-Braces (After the cleaning yesterday)


My Metal Smile


So I will be making updates through the week following my experiences.

[NICURN85]

Im glad to see everything went great. This makes me even more excited to start my journey next month. Have you decided on your lig color yet?

[ShikabaneHime13]

Well this is just...dandy. Mom bought over some tilapia for dinner (it was fried but the breading was soft from sitting in the box for a while). So I'm chewing a piece slowly and all of a sudden I hear a little crunch. Spitting into a napkin, there's one of my brackets... One the first day! *Cries* It's not fair! I was being so careful!

[gapsbegone]

My ortho told me it's pretty common for that to happen in the first couple of days & that they expect a certain failure rate with the bonding process. It probably wasn't anything you did wrong.

[ShikabaneHime13]

I'm already to the point I'm scared to chew now so I'm literally swallowing my ramen noodles whole.

[southernbelle]

I had two (2!) brackets fall off the first day! You are not alone!

[ShikabaneHime13]

Well I was allowed to come to the office this morning but not because of the bracket. Somehow one of my spacers came free from between one molar and the receptionist informed that it was necessary to come and get that taken care of right away. And my nice assistant from yesterday was there! So she said they will re-bond the bracket next week when I come in for the bands and wires.

[OldBikerBag]

I would suggest make liberal use of the wax if your mouth is getting cut up. It will toughen up regardless of whether you experience the pain or not. It doesn't make sense to keep aggravating an open wound rather than let it heal. The faster it heals, the faster the tougher scar tissue will develop.

I used the wax. I had four "hot spots" that really bothered me. Oddly, not all at the same time. It was in sequence: upper right first molar, lower left first molar, center front and then upper left first molar. Yes, I swallowed some wax. I think it's bees' wax, so it won't hurt you.

The theory of "toughing it out" doesn't make sense in this case. All you're doing is "picking the scab" and extending the length of time the injury is open.

[ShikabaneHime13]

Well, I'm also toughing it out because I do not like putting my hands in my mouth for any reason at all.

[catgyrl]

I also broke a bracket, either in my first or second week. I totally freaked out, and called the ortho's "emergency" number. Turns out he doesn't define "emergencies" the same way I do. I had about another week until my next appointment, and he told me if it was still attached to the wire, I could just gob some wax on it and keep it there. It had been attached to a porcelain crown, and I guess the glue didn't hold well. But when I went back, he "roughed up" that tooth a bit, reattached the bracket, and it's been no problem since.

The only time they'll get mad at you for breaking a bracket is if you're eating or doing something on the "no-no" list (like my eating corn on the cob, which I did not disclose to anyone! LOL!)

As for your mouth getting cut up: USE THE WAX!! No need to be brave and tough it out. I'm over 2 years in, and as I type this, the inside of my lower lip is being shredded by my elastics and hooks. I have no idea why, because those teeth haven't moved in months, but that's how it goes. I put Anbesol on it, gob wax on, and by morning it's usually feeling lots better. It should feel better once you get the wires in. For some reason, the brackets feel scratchier when they have no wires in them.

[ShikabaneHime13]

Well, I didn't use the wax at all over the past week and it wasn't so bad. By day 3, my little sores from the brackets rubbing against my inner lips had already healed over. So no harm, no foul.

Update:

Today my bands and wires came on. It was pretty ok, but I wasn't too fond of the process for getting the bands onto my molars, so thankfully that was over and done with pretty quickly. They replaced the bracket that had come off last week with no problems and then proceeded to put in the wires afterward.
During the past week I had debated what color ligs I would have put on for my first month and initially thought I would go all black or red and black since those are my favorite colors. Well, it then dawned on me today when the assistant showed me the plethora of available colors that my ballet recital was coming up this Saturday and I easily made a choice. I ended up picking metallic royal blue since it matched the color of my recital costume perfectly!

My royal blue smile

[NICURN85]

The blue ligs look great!!! That is great to hear your sores healed in so little time. Hopefully when I start my journey at the end of the month mine will heal just as fast!! Have you encountered any pain since the wires were put on? Good luck at your recital this weekend.