Tomorrow is The Day

[tiana]

Hello,
tomorrow i am getting braces!! I am really excited.
I went to the ortho last week to get separators in molars and now i am looking forward to get them off! I can stand them no more: all my mouth is painfull and i cannot chew anything. Plus, my gums are itchy: is that ok? Some of you had itchy gum because of separators?

[Ciara]

Good luck tomorrow! I'm getting my spacer/separators out tomorrow too and brackets on my bottom molars (finally).
Your ortho will be able to advise you about the itchy gums.

[SunshineRay]

Good luck!

[tiana]

Oh well... i am a little disappointed. He put me on only the upper sides. It is scarcely noticeable.
I guess it is ok to have braces put in different times, but i thought to have them all together.
At least, i have pink elastics.

Next visit in a month.

[Ciara]

Oh well... i am a little disappointed. He put me on only the upper sides. It is scarcely noticeable.
I guess it is ok to have braces put in different times, but i thought to have them all together.
At least, i have pink elastics.

Next visit in a month.

This is very normal specially if you have an overbite. If you do and your ortho put on both at the same time, you could bite off the lower brackets and damage your teeth. Glad to hear your appointment went well and the pink elastics sound cute!

[tiana]

Yes, indeed i have an overbite. Pink elastics were choosen by my 5-years-old daughter.
She is really supportive .

[jens1]

I am getting my braces on the upper teeth only for the first four to six moths of treatment. I have a deep overbite. Sounds like you are off to a good start. I wish I could get color on my braces (sounds silly coming from a 33 year old), but I am getting damon clear on the top and metal on the bottom. I went to an orthodontist that did traditional metal braces and she wanted $3000 down. The ortho I am going to for treatment, added my insurance to my down payment so it came out to be only $600. They both charged about the same for total treatment and retainers. A little over $6000.

[tiana]

Hi all, my first night went well -- at least i almost slept and i do not have sores, not yet.
I have headache and itchy gums, and also a strange, unpleasant smell. I have brushed my teeth a lot yesterday, for fear that the itchy and the bad smell meant that i was not able to clean it well, but it did not worked.
Has some of you had itchy gum after braces? What can i do?
How do i know that i have well brushed everything?
Will eventually the headache disappear ?

Thank you.

[Ciara]

Hi all, my first night went well -- at least i almost slept and i do not have sores, not yet.
I have headache and itchy gums, and also a strange, unpleasant smell. I have brushed my teeth a lot yesterday, for fear that the itchy and the bad smell meant that i was not able to clean it well, but it did not worked.
Has some of you had itchy gum after braces? What can i do?
How do i know that i have well brushed everything?
Will eventually the headache disappear ?

Thank you.

I had a headache too for the first few days. I think it was due to the pressure of the braces but as I adjusted the headaches went away. The bad taste could be the glue but I can't really help with the itchy gums. It took me about 3 days to get rid of the taste of the glue.
With regards brushing, do the best you can. My method is to be be systematic. I start on the upper teeth at one side and work my way around to the other, making sure I brush each tooth, above and below the archwire, then use the little interdental brushes to get a closer clean around the bracket. Then I repeat the same with the lower jaw. Finally, I floss between each tooth, rinse well with mouthwash. I brush my teeth 3 to 4 times a day and floss twice. My ortho has told me that my hygiene is fine.
Hope you feel better soon.
Ciara

[tiana]

Hi all.
Thank you for suggestions.
Now , after a couple of weeks with braces, every disconfort is passed by: no itchy gums, no headache. I feel very well and i keep thinking that i should have put braces on, ten years ago, when i was asked to.

At the end of April i will have a teeth pulled off and then all the upper brace installed (now i have only upper-laterals ): i am looking forward to see my front teeth aligned.

[Timetoshine]

Great to hear of your braces success so far! Gives me confidence :)

[tiana]

This morning i had a tooth extracted. I was not as terrible as i believed.
Next week the ortho will tighten the arch a lot, so teeth will really start to move.
I am excited.
I also have a photo of my teeth. I am sorry... they are so bad. They seem worse than in the mirror.

[Tobilei]

They don't look so bad. And I know what you mean. I never thought mine were that bad, then I got the photo's from the ortho's office and was like I think it's because your lips are retracted and the photo is solely of teeth instead of the whole face so you pay attention to just them. Glad things are feeling better for you!

[tiana]

Well... yesterday at the phone my father said i was crazy to have a perfect sane tooth extracted. He said that if it were up to him, he would never have done that.
I could not say anything.
I do believe that having "all" the teeth but croocked is not as good as having them aligned and missing one.
But i am not sure that it all will work. What if there will be problems and things will not resort as i expect?

I would like to be smiling at photos. A wide open smile.

[joeyyeo]

Well... yesterday at the phone my father said i was crazy to have a perfect sane tooth extracted. He said that if it were up to him, he would never do that.
I could not say anything.
I do believe that having "all" the teeth but croocked is not as good as having them aligned and missing one.
But i am not sure that it all will work. What if there will be problems and things will not resort as i expect?

I would like to be smiling at photos. A wide open smile.

Don't worry about it. I'm sure your orthodontist knows what he/she is doing, and sometimes extractions are necessary to achieve the straight smile that you are seeking treatment for. Of course, there are some cases where they regret extractions, but that is a very small percentage of people. I know many people who have extracted 4 teeth (myself too) and their smile looks perfect, you can't even tell they have had teeth extracted! I'm just saying, trust your ortho, he/she knows what's best for you