DEBANDING MORNING
Yesterday I was finally debonded at an early morning appointment. When I got out of bed I took my last pics of my braced teeth.
When I got to the Ortho's office I didn't have to wait long and it seemed to all happen very quickly. The Ortho told me although it would take about an hour, the majority of the time would be spent removing the glue.
I kept my eyes closed the whole time and I can only tell what I heard and felt. First she 'sanded' my teeth to clean the surface behind my front teeth where she was going to place the bonded retainers. Then she used something that was spraying water and then I guess washed them off and dried them. She placed the wire so easily that I didn't even know when it had been done until I felt her wiping along the area, and she said that she was now about to take off the brackets but would let me just rinse my mouth with water first.
The brackets came off easily. I heard no popping, it was more like a click/snap such as when using pliers and she seemed to get them off at the first try (which is really amazing as I've never had a bracket fall off or anything and they've been knocked around some). Then she sanded around the surfaces of the teeth again, several times. She used water again and then said she was going to polish them with some toothpaste (I'm sure that's what I heard as strange as it sounds). There was no pain, or sensitivity at all and my teeth didn't seem to feel the absence of the archwire. After the cleaning she let me brush my teeth.
With my newly brushed teeth, I enjoyed just running my tongue along the outside of my upper front teeth. It was not slimy, just smooth and lovely. I got back to the Ortho's chair and she sat me down with the first molds that were made and the last molds and pointed out some of the changes to my teeth. The two lower front teeth of the final mold actually broke off (I'm not sure how) but nevertheless it was very reassuring to see them side by side.
She showed me how to put in and take out the Hawley retainer and let me try it without help just to see. She told me to wear it at night, (more if I wanted to when I asked), and to brush it with my toothbrush and toothpaste in the morning. She told me that I would need to wear this at least every night for one year.
She advised that I bite off and chew nothing on my front teeth, but to continue cutting/breaking food and chewing on the back side teeth. The Ortho said that it would take about 18 months for the bone structure around my teeth to harden again.
She told me to use an interdental brush to just brush between the bonded teeth back and front. This seemed odd to me that she didn't mention I could floss them with interdental floss threader but I didn't realise till I got home why. My bonded retainer is a very, very, thin, twisted round wire that has been affixed to the back of the teeth by basically covering the back of all six upper and lower front teeth with glue. They were held tightly together with powerchains my entire treatment and now they are glued in this position. This means that flossing is out of the question completely. And though I had my teeth scraped a little, there is still the slightest brown line running between them visbly from the front. I will have to speak to my dentist about whether anything can be done now. I'm concerned about this.
I asked whether I could have my first mold as a keepsake and she said she would need to keep it for one year and I could have it afterwards. She will check my teeth again in 6 months time and then 6 months after that again. It was akward at that point in time, feeling like there was nothing more to say, no more adjustment dates to be set. Really weird feeling. I was telling thanks and goodbye when she handed me a certificate the office had prepared. It was a certificate of congratulation for successfully completing my treatment. Nice touch, even though I really felt like a child receiving it, lol.
On the way out, after paying the Admin Asst, she and another assistant who have never spoken to me before actually struck up a conversation. I guess they had just prepared and printed the Certificate, lol. They asked me how I felt, asked to see my teeth and shared some of their own ecstatic feelings when they had their own braces removed. We were talking about it and there was a girl around my age in the waiting area who had at first nervously tried to hide her braces when I entered the room (I could tell by her body language). After hearing the three of us talk so excitedly about how worth it the experience was, I'm sure she got a whole boost of confidence and excitement
The last thing was to get my next appointment in 6 months and for the first time I could choose any time whatsoever I wanted as I guess I was booked so far ahead, lol. Out the door I went wanting to look in a mirror again so badly!I was hardly out the door when my teeth started to feel lopsided and my bite was different (I now know it was because I tried the Hawley before I left). It got better again a few hours after during the day.
MY FIRST MEAL POST-BRACES
For lunch at work I went out and got a whole lot of delicious curry, a roti to be exact (for those who know what that is). It was amazing not to have to worry about green ligs! I have avoided curry and paid dearly with unsightly teeth everytime I caved in and didn't!
TRYING THE UPPER HAWLEY RETAINER
When I got home from work (about 9 hrs after debanding) I decided to try the Hawley retainer. It was awful.
(This is the closest I can get my teeth together with the Hawley)
I didn't mind the expected slurring of words and all of that but my bite was way off. My teeth when closed together as much as they could left a huge space in the front, almost like I had a case of open bite. The sides didn't even begin to fit on the right and I could feel the acrylic for the retainer on the right upper gum. My teeth on the left were just floating as they didn't touch anything. I noticed it shifted my midline right away. It was not at all tight as the Ortho had warned me and I even wondered why I didn't feel anything but the discomfort. I took them out and my midline was awful, like completely messed up. This made me panic a bit. I fell asleep while reading and woke at about 1:30 am and realised I hadn't put the Hawley back in. I choose to try it again and not to risk any major changes while I slept just in case anything useful was being accomplished. It was an uncomfortable night and this morning my bite was all messed up again. After leaving it off for the day so far, this has improved again, but the midline is no longer dead centre. I think I will def. need to write the Ortho on Monday and see what she says. I want to know if this is normal or if the Hawley is working on ruining what I had accomplished on an already tricky bite that still had poor occlusion just before I debanded (I have written about that before and in "Getting 2 Retainers"). I am definitely not looking forward to the night time again
With the exception of the new Hawley issue, and the fact that I will also need to have some considerable gum contouring done, the transformation of my teeth has been amazing. I only have 'before' pics of that on an old cell phone and don't have the cable to upload them. I had flared upper incisors with a space of about 2 or 2.5 mm between them. The lower teeth were better but there was another space between the lateral incisor and the canine and one was not level with the other. My teeth had been a constant self-conscious matter to me. And it prob didn't help that when I was about 12 a kid in class pointed out that I needed braces. So I learnt to avoid photos and had hand-in-front-of-mouth reflexes, didn't like people staring at me close up, not even boyfriends. It made me act extra shy and evasive. It wasn't the worse teeth but it was difficult for me and I always dreamed of straight teeth since I had a nice wide smile and defined full lips, and later on, sang publicly (which I also tried to avoid for same reason).
I would encourage anyone to go for it, despite the hiccups that may occur and the cost, if at all possibe, it's definitely worth it
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