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It's amazing to me how deeply into dental hygiene I am since I got my braces on.
I floss my teeth at night, I waterpik both at night and in the morning, I use my sonicare at night and in the morning, and I use a regular toothbrush after lunch.
Holy Moses! It used to be a good day if I managed to brush and floss once a day, now I've turned into super hygiene woman or something!
LOL, I was just thinking about this very subject last night. In less than 48 hours I am going to be all about cleaning my teeth and analyzing everything I eat.
lol same for me!! I've become teeth obsessed. It takes me about 30 minutes in the morning to wash my teeth (including proxibrush...) then during the day, every single time i eat i immediately go brush my teeth afterwords (that takes about 15 minutes)...and then at night it takes me about 45 minutes...15 minutes for flossing...it is so time consuming though.
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Ceramic top braces: January 9th, 2006
Metal bottom braces: May 1st, 2006
Same here. I was never a big flosser until now. I hope I keep the good habits after the braces come off.
I also feel like I stand in front of the mirror a whole lot more than I used to. I keep watching me teeth as if they are going to move right before my eyes.
Wired on Sep 16, 2005, left canine exposed on Oct 5, 2005, at 52 years old.
same here. i almost quit my job (which is a VERY good job) and threw away my first degree to go back to school to get a second bachelors degree in dental hygiene. luckily, the dental hygiene program only took new students once a year so i had a while to think about it. After a few months, i decided i was only obsessed about my own dental hygiene and didn't need to become a dental hygienst. I'm so glad I didn't do it know, but I was so obsessed at the time.
I also find myself much more obssessed about dental hygiene than I ever was! I wasn't exactly the great flosser or brusher before but now I take the time to brush and floss twice a day everyday!
Hopefully it will pay off even though my teeth don't exactly look much whiter!
Good luck!
-HAnnah
Top braces: 4/28/04
Bottom braces: 11/16/05
Next Adjustment was 1/11/06 but now is rescheduled to 1/21/06
ditto. I'm sure I'll eventually break this routine, but morning and night I brush twice with the spin brush, once with a regular, I swish water and then I use listerine. After all food, I brush and swish until everthing is gone.
On the bright side, my teeth are nice and white! Except for that yucky cement...it turns yellow and the excess is still cominmg off from around the brackets!
four bicuspids removed 1/3/06
clear uppers and metal lowers placed 1/5/06
timeframe for braces: 24-30 months
Okay, not meaning to sound goofy, but how can it take ten minutes for brushing?
Whenever I brush I have at least swished my mouth out a couple times with water to get rid of any loose pieces, and then my sonicare does a great job in about two minutes, or I do a decent job with a normal brush in 1-2 minutes.
Am I missing something? It takes me forever to floss in the evenings, but brushing doesn't take me all that long...
I'd hate to think that I am not properly brushing?
I wasn't exactly the great flosser or brusher before but now I take the time to brush and floss twice a day everyday! 
