Fully Braced now ~ I'm naked

[ThisIsMary]

Thanks dodger, and jaws for replying. I guess I"m just a little nervous about having even more in my mouth. I have a question for you jaws, Did you have much pain from the expander or just about the same amount as from the braces? I beleive my expander is giong to be like yours, atleast that's what it looked like in the picture the asst. drew for me.

[jaws]

As far as I can tell, the expanders haven't hurt me very much (or perhaps they do hurt and I've just attributed the pain to the braces!). I found getting used to my actual brackets harder/more painful (i.e. I got a lot of canker sores at first).

I'm sure that the expanders do cause my teeth to ache a bit now and then, since they are applying pressure and basically 'tipping' my teeth outward to make room due to crowding. I think I just usually assume that it's the braces that are causing that pain.

The bottom expander doesn't bother me at all. The top expander is more annoying than painful, as it gives me a lisp. Plus it hurt my tongue a bit at first, because my tongue would press up against it (actually if you look at the pic of my bottom expander you can see how the top expander has 'left its mark' on my tongue!).

However I am slowly but surely getting used to all of the hardware!

Good luck, let me know how it goes!

[jaws]

I just realized I didn't show you a pic of my bottom expander--here it is, you can see the lovely mark that my top expander made on my tongue!

[ThisIsMary]

Thanks jaws for answering my questions. You've helped to ease the nerves a little. I've finally come to the realization that yes, I may have a bunch of stuff in my mouth but I'll be able to handle it. I was worried when I first got my braces on but I later found out I was worried for nothing. One day all this stuff will come off my teeth and out of my mouth and I'll be able to smile and not be ashamed of my smile. Almost 2 months down which means only 16 - 22 more to go

Mary

[jaws]

Exactly!

Having lots of hardware in your mouth is definitely tough to get used to at first, and at times you will want to rip everything out, but it will get better!

Any idea when you will be getting your top expander? Let me know how it goes!

[ThisIsMary]

I get spacers on the 6th of june then molar bands and molds for the expander 6 or 7 days after that, then I think I get the expander 2 weeks after that. I'm not really sure, I have the appts set up but the reminder cards are in my car

[ThisIsMary]

well, I wasn't able to go to my appt. so nothing new in my mouth. I did call the ortho today becaseu I wanted to ask him if the expander would cause me problems when singing(I sing infront of people twice a week) he said that i wouldn't be able to sing so his suggestion was to try an expansion wire for a bit and if that didn't work then I would need to have 2 months were I didn't sing and we would put the expander in and fix the crossbite that way. my next appt is june 22. I think I'll be getting the expansion wire on that day. anyway, just thought I'd post a quick update. I"m going to try and post some pics soon if I get the time

[miajessica]

Hi,

I'm 25 and just got my lower brackets(without wire), upperbrackets (with with wire) with TPA . but i have a metal archwire. I really like your tooth colored arch wire i think i'm gonna ask my ortho does he use that kind of wire and does it make a difference in treatment

[CelestialVoices]

wow, now that I can finally see the image, your teeth look great! no 'braceface' for you

[caryca]

hi Mary,

Do you have ceramic bracets? they look very similar to mine and there are sapphine. I envy you the archwire!
I got metal one, but still you hardly see anything from distance! It makes one so confortable!

[ThisIsMary]

Well, I was told by my ortho 2 adjustments ago that my braces would be off this summer. Here's the thing, i see no problems in my mouth whatsoever but I do still have a crossbite(which hasn't improved throughout treatment no matter what they try) that can't be seen when I smile. I graduate high school on JUne 24th and I want these off by then. I'm going ot ask my ortho if anything else besides the crossbite needs to be fixed in my mouth, if he says no, I"m asking that he remove them. My next adjusment is May 24th so I"ll know then. Does this seem like a bad idea to any of you? Here's the thing though, the braces themselves are bothering me more than the crossbite. They don't hurt or anything, I'm just sick of them. I'm also pleased with how my smile looks now.

[ThisIsMary]

I'm going to make sure and talk with my ortho first and see what his feelings about it are. It has just seemed the whole treatment time he's been moving slowly and I'm getting impatient. He always mentions things he needs to do but he never does them. He always says he doesn't want to put me in too much pain. I always tell him that the braces haven't really hurt and I would much rather be in pain and get them off quicker. Another reason why I think the cross bite isn't going to get fixed is because the ortho has tried several things and my second to last molar refuses to budge. The other teeth around it have improved greatly but this one won't move. This whole experience has actually made me want to become an orthodontist because I know how nice it would be to have one that would actually talk to you and one that you can trust.

My next adjusment is on May 24 so I'll give an update as to waht he says

[ThisIsMary]

Well, at my adjustment today, they expanded my top arch wire as well as went up a gage which surprises me since they said that most likely I would never have this high of a gage. They also bent the wire to try and open my arch a little more. I asked what else needed to be fixed other than my cross bite and the asst said we're just waiting for your bite to improve. I'm guessing this means that once my bite improves I'll be brace free. I'm glad I decided to wait on removing my braces but I still can't wait for them to come off

[ThisIsMary]

I'm starting to think that my teeth are more stubborn than I am. The cross bite still has not been corrected, instead I have an overbite to be added to the cross bite, I guess that's from the expanded wire. I just wish my teeth would move but apparently they have other plans, they seem to like where they are now. I go back in on the 20th so we'll see what happens then.


One day my braces will come off, I'll see my new smile, and it will all be worth it.....I hope.

[ThisIsMary]

Well, I go in tomorrow for another adjustment. I'm hoping for a good one where things will get done. What would be really nice is if they decided to remove the bottom braces since the teeth all appear to be corrected. In fact, the ortho hasn't made any adjustments to the bottom braces for at least 2 or 3 months now, nor has he said that anything needs to be done. I'm looking forward to my adjustment tomorrow because I know it will bring me one step closer to being finished. I did want to apologize for my grumbling. It's just seemed that these past couple months have taken longer than the first year in braces and I think it's because my ortho told me I would most likely get them off this summer. Anyway, I'll make sure and post an update and maybe some current pictures becasue I"m proud of how my teeth are looking. I actually smile a lot more which is a good feeling and I can only imagine how much I"ll smile when my braces are off.