Braced tomorrow!

[Louise!]

Hello everyone! I'm starting my brace journey tomorrow morning at 11am and I'm ridiculously excited. I've had clear brackets on the majority of my teeth and spacers for the past week, for some reason my ortho prefers to have the brackets cement for a week before attaching the wire. I'm 22 but I've struggled with the way my teeth look all my life. I have a large gap (diastema?) between my top two teeth which is the main cause of my insecurity which I believe stems from being allowed a pacifier up until the age of 6 as a child. I also had eye teeth which grew in above where my canines should normally be, but rather than pull them down with braces the correct way they were removed, leaving me with a gappy top arch.

As a child and teenager my oral hygiene was most definitely sub standard. I had a premolar extracted due to decay when I was 14ish, and as a result before starting my braces I had to have an extraction in the same place on the opposite side in order to preserve my bite. I've also had to have quite a number of fillings, and over all am really kicking myself for not taking better care of my teeth when I was younger.

I first intended to start this journey aged 18, however I had a crippling fear of the dentist due to past extractions and experiences and when I learned I would need a number of fillings before starting treatment I chickened out and here I am 4 years later wishing I'd started it then. It's taken 4 months of tooing and froing from my dentist, having fillings, check ups, cleanings, X-rays and consultations, but I'm finally at the point where I start to make real progress and I couldn't be more excited. I'm so tired of people telling me my teeth are 'fine', my gap adds 'character, etc when I know if they were in my position they'd hate my teeth as well. It's amazing how much it as effected my personality being unable to smile both in real life and in photos, socially its been quite crippling because I come across as cold and distant due to my tendency to keep my teeth covered as much as possible which people don't understand.

My prognosis is 18 months which I'm pleased with as 4 years ago I was estimated 24 months, so will just have to see how it goes! Even just having them on my teeth knowing I'm actively doing something about it will make me so much happier, as I keep telling myself those 18 months will pass either way, might as well spend the time fixing my teeth while I'm at it. Sorry for the life story, I hope to post pictures and document my process once I'm able

[drbucky]

Good luck for tomorrow!
Sounds like you've thought of this (like me) for a long time and I too am excited about finally doing something - well done for getting around to it sooner than I did (i'm turning 34 on Friday). I'm sure it will be all worth it!

[sfgardengnome]

Best of luck today ! 18 month sentence isn't bad at all I was given 24-30 months I've had my ceramic braces placed on
1/2/13, so I'm one week ahead of you Please keep us posted of your journey

[Louise!]

Thanks! Back from the ortho, teeth feel very tight but I took two ibuprofen and so far no pain. Dug out my camera so I can take my first day pics, hope I see a lot of movement quickly!

[braceface74]

I could almost have written that myself except it took me a lot longer than you to take the plunge.

Good luck, the time will fly by.. can't wait to see some progress pix

[Louise!]

Thank you for the kind comments! I tried to floss earlier and my central two incisors are suddenly so close together that I can't thread floss through them and I managed to cause myself some pain trying to get the floss in and out At this rate I'm going to have to invest in a waterpik!

[braceface74]

I have to say that i did invest in a waterpik but probably only used it maybe the first 3 months in braces til the novely wore off lol. I persevered with the flossing and have to say that i floss now more than i have ever done in the past. Once i get the floss up to the gum line i simply let one end of the floss go and pull the floss all the way through, so not back down between the teeth. The other thing i used is the interdental brush (tepe), i have always managed to get that through the gaps of the teeth at the gum line.

[Dee17]

Hi Louise!
Welcome to the club. You've found a great site where you will get lots of support and help from other people.
I also have a rather large diastema between my two front teeth and have been wearing braces since the end of October. It's estimated that I will need to be in them for two years. Have yet to see much progress but I know it will be happening. Just hoping it happens sooner rather than later!
I'll be following your progress. Good luck on your journey!
Dee

[Tobilei]

Hi Louise Welcome to the board and to braces I bought a thing that attached to my tap that has the same head as a waterpik and honestly, I never use it. Sometimes teeth do get too tight to floss between, I just do my best with them, it's never long before they move again and I can get the floss back in there. I just brush really carefully around those particular teeth.

Hope everything is going okay for you!

[Louise!]

Hello all, thanks for the comments today has been the first day since I got braced that I haven't had to take pain killers, but I'm still unable to chew without pain and so I've been on a diet of pasta, soup and rice pudding since Thursday which has got me feeling a little down. I absolutely love food and not being able to eat so much as a bit of chicken or a veggie bigger than a pea is pretty depressing! yet to see any movement apart from my very tight incisors that I still can't floss between but of course it's not even close to being a full week yet. I'm also finding that no matter how much I brush and use mouth wash, within three to four hours I'm having to brush again because my mouth feels dingy and tastes a bit grim. It's all a bit of an experience!

[Dee17]

Hi Louise,
I know it probably sounds hollow right now but hang in there; things will get better. You'll find that you're able to eat more and more as the days go by. Last week, I had a slice of pizza and it tasted heavenly! If you've already graduated to not using painkillers today, I'd say you're doing very well indeed!

[Tobilei]

Hang in there Louise! Like Dee said, it does get better (not totally back to normal but better). I couldn't really eat for the first 2 weeks and even into week 3 I was still eating nothing harder than a sandwich. Now I can manage meat and chewy things most of the time

The dingy feeling (sorry, I've gone blank, did you get clear braces?) does pass too. Mine felt AWFUL at first. All sort of dry and chalky and a bit scratchy. Now when I eat something cold or certain foods they still do that a little (kind of like when you eat swiss chard and you get a chalky mouth) but mostly that feeling passes too.

Hoping you feel a bit better soon. It's taken me up until the last week I think to really feel like I can deal with this (I still have the odd day where I think I can't though, but they too pass!)

[linzlizrob]

I hear ya Louise! I just got mine put on Yesterday. I LOVE LOVE LOVE food. It has been almost heartbreaking not being able to eat anything more than yogurt.

I wish you well!! At least your not having to take anything for the pain, and hopefully, like they keep saying it will get better with time.

[Tobilei]

Oh I KNOW! Me too! LOVE it! All pleasure went out of food for the first month. It's starting to come back though

[Dee17]

Ditto for me. Most of the pleasure of eating has gone away. It is slowly starting to come back but the pain of having to brush my teeth right away as soon as I'm finished eating anything sure puts me off even wanting to eat anything.