Newly Braced momofbrock

Message

#16 Post by **momofbrock** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 6:02 pm

I just had one of those lighbulb moments

I was wondering why my pesky bottom teeth weren't moving at all (it's the two front center ones that are very crooked) when my top ones were.

I was reading about the "blue stuff" on here and how it allows your molars to touch without banging your top teeth on your lower brackets or vice versa.....
I didn't get blue stuff. Instead I got these pesky very stainable "bumpers" that attach to the wire on the bottom and keep my top teeth from touching the brackets.... which is why my back teeth don't touch at all.
They're gawdy and not very tight... just kind of there.

I'm thinking that's why my bottom teeth are staying put. The bumpers don't do a dern thing to move them even though they're attached to the wire just like ligs!?!? Well by golly that explains everything.

#17 Post by **momofbrock** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:14 pm

uuuuuuugh you just never realize how much you do on your computer until you don't have one!
My four year old fried my motherboard so I can only pop on here at work very briefly and can't upload any pictures from my camera.

I have a question! Before they put my brackets on they coated my teeth with some clear stuff to keep them from "decalcification" or something like that. Well the lady put so much on it I couldn't even floss until about a week ago because it was between my teeth!

Anyway.... I have noticed since the "stuff" was put on my teeth stain very very very very easily. A nasty brown color... probably from stir fry... looooove my stir fry!
And there are areas I can't get to with a toothbrush but my little tiny brush for going around my brackets is just too flimsy to get anything off..... so I have gross brown spots on my teeth. Anyone else have this problem? What kind of electric tooth brush do you guys recommend for those of you who use them?????

Okay, that's enough questions for now! Back to obsessing about my brown polka dotted teeth. eeeeeeeeeeeeew

#18 Post by **momofbrock** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:57 pm

Hmmm it's very noticeable between a few of my teeth so I thought for sure my ortho would bring it up.
Instead she looked in my mouth and said I have been doing an excellent job cleaning my teeth.

I can see the line where the glue stops and my tooth starts and the staining stops at the line, too...... and it's in a spot I can't fit my toothbrush in! Ack it's driving me crazy! It looks like my teeth are rotting.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew!

#19 Post by **momofbrock** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:49 pm

Wellllll a lady at work told me to just leave it alone and it'd wear off eventually.... said if I scrub or scrape at the glue I could have a bracket come off.
Being so self conscious about my teeth I didn't listen. I scraped at it with baking soda toothpaste and a little plastic thing I had layin around and I got a lot of it off. Took a long time but I'm just THAT dedicated. ha ha
The bracket is staying put so I think I'm okay.

I will definitely bring it up at my next ortho visit. When the lady put the stuff on my teeth she told me she put too much on and that it'd wear off eventually. She tried to show me how to floss and it was between my teeth, too, so the floss wouldn't go where it was supposed to... it just broke. She apologized and again said it'd wear off. There are spots right up against a couple brackets that I'm not gonna touch because then a bracket could come off.

I guess I'll just keep scrapin away at it as it gets stained until my next visit.

You guys are so helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#20 Post by **momofbrock** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:47 am

Ooookay, I finally got on a computer! Yay!
For some reason my regular HTML that I use to post pictures in my blogs doesn't work on here so I'll just post the link to the pictures:

front view of raging pink ligs:
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j176/ ... ceface.jpg
Notice I can finally touch my back teeth together!!!!!!!! That greatly increases the number of foods I can eat! I had steak last night!!!!!

top view:
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j176/ ... acetop.jpg
My top teeth have moved around a lot!!! If I knew the HTML to post the actual pics I could post the first pictures and the new ones together and you'd see!!!!

bottom view:
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j176/ ... bottom.jpg
Not much movement on the bottom besides on the side because of the dern bumpers... but now that my teeth can go over the bumpers I think the annoying little buggers will be coming off at my next appointment!!! WOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOo!!!

I'm in FL on vacation but I have an appointment a week after I get back.... and then there will be another update and more pics!!!!!

P.S. Could some one let me know the HTML to post a pic????

#21 Post by **momofbrock** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 5:22 pm

Well, it finally happened.... had to make an "emergency" trip to the ortho... I was eating steak and my wire snapped out of my molar bands and was just floatin around in the back not attached.
And, of course, it happened while I was on vacation in FL!!!! Oh well, I just kept pushing it into the back hook and it stayed put most of the time and it took them about 35 seconds to put it back where it belonged today.

And the lady said that happens with the first wire because it's so small and bendy. Then she looked at my teeth and said "But it looks like you will be moving to a bigger wire at your next appointment" which is on Thursday!

Strangely, I'm excited!!!!!!

#22 Post by **momofbrock** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:16 pm

I dont' think it's photobucket, I think the HTML imgsrc= and then the pic and then a > works for my online diary but not on this site.
Can you somehow post what the HTML is that you use to put your link in?

Yeah, for some reason all my pictures that I take close up are blurry or there is a big glare off my teeth. Drives me crazy! I'll get it right soon, I promise.

It's a fairly new camera and I haven't read the manual yet.

#23 Post by **momofbrock** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 6:30 pm

Okay, I have a question! Well, two........ here goes.....

I just had another adjustment. This time before putting my ligs on, the assistant put something on the brackets that looked like little tiny miniature twisty ties. She only did that on 4 teeth on the bottom and ONE on top. Anyone know what those are called or what they do?

And I also got my bumpers off IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!! so my bottom teeth will finally have their turn (and boy do they hurt!) And she put on a weird looking *thing* that looks like a spring. I have one really crooked bottom tooth. The "spring" is connected to the teeth on each side of the crooked one but goes over the front of the actual crooked tooth. It's ugly and if I touch it my entire bottom row of teeth start to throb. Any idea what it is?

Just when we got to the fun part where I get to ask "what is that? What does it do?" my toddler decided he had enough waiting and wanted to go NOW! So I rushed out and barely had a chance to make my next appointment.
So I have metal in my mouth that I have no clue what it is.

P.S. My most crooked tooth on the top that caused me the most embarassment the past 13 years is almost completely straight now! Whatever the little metal twisty tie was that they put on that tooth..... it worked!!!! The next day I was at work and some one said "I don't even know why you have braces on your top teeth. They're completely straight"

~hop up and down~

#24 Post by **Jillianleab** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 6:40 pm

Congrats on having another adjustment!

Sounds like the twisty thing is a wire tie. I don't really know what they are used for, but I'm sure there is something somewhere on this site about them! The spring you have, maybe it's being used to make space for the twisty tooth to turn around and line up? Sounds like it's causing you a lot of pain though, hopefully it will go away soon!

As a side note, I think it's amazing you are able to bring your toddler to your appointments... I babysat my nephew the other day (he's 2 1/2) and I couldn't IMAGINE having to take him to something like that and expecting him to sit still!

Sounds like you are making great progress, have you been taking pics?

#25 Post by **momofbrock** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:03 pm

Well thankfully I just started talking to a lady at work that works an opposite shift as me but was staying late..... she has had every possible thing done to her mouth (the poor dear) including 4 trips to the oral surgeon.

She said the little twisty tie things are to hold those teeth in place so when your other teeth move around - those teeth being held with those won't move to either side.
The little spring thing is attached to the teeth on each side of the really crooked teeth because it's meant to spread the teeth around it apart and make room for that one to come forward. The twisty ties on the left bottom side are to keep those teeth where they are so the spring will make the teeth on the right side move and make way for Mr. Crooked to come forward.

And just this morning I noticed a little gap on the right side where my teeth on that side are makin room! Yay!

Ouch!

Yay!

That lady knows it all.... I think she'll be very helpful. When she looked at my teeth she said "Yep, they're moving those teeth off to the side and then they'll hook the crooked tooth to your wire to spin it around and yank it forward. Ooooh that's gonna hurt!"

But it's the last really crooked tooth in my mouth so I don't really care! I'll be excited when it's actually moving!!!

And thanks for explaining the linker to me, KK!!! Hopefully soon I'll be all set up on a computer at home and can post pics again. I got bright green ligs this time... They kind of make me look like I'm 15.

#26 Post by **momofbrock** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:39 pm

Well I have been wondering how it's possible that my teeth have been moving around like crazy but I've never needed to have my wire shortened.
Well ouch

Saturday night I noticed my cheek was getting a little chewed up but didn't think much of it. Woke up this morning and I could feel the wire stuck in my cheek. And I can't get the wax to stick to the wire.... it just pokes right through it.

Why do these fun moments have to happen on the weekend?

#27 Post by **momofbrock** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 6:50 pm

Wow. Sugar free chewing gum? Do you have any problems getting it off when you're done with it?

I woke up today with a very nasty cold so I didn't go in to get my wire snipped. Since I don't feel like eating or talking it's not so bad today.
I'm gonna have gums of iron when all this is over with.

#28 Post by **momofbrock** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:58 am

Okay, time for a comparison. My first pics:

A pic I took today with a really bad camera phone but you get the idea... and sorry it's upside down!:

And the bottom:
BEFORE

BAD picture but you can see the crowding and crooked teeth.
And today:

The spring is moving my teeth apart nicely to make room to "rotate and pull forward" that stinker of a tooth that is way too far back.

I hadn't done a comparison in a long time and can't believe what a difference there is. Especially the top teeth. A little confused as to how my top teeth can be so straight but he still hasn't done anything with the gap from the tooth they pulled. Hmmmm hopefully he knows what he's doing!

And I had a visit appx a week ago. Got a bigger wire on top (owy) and he "reactivated" the spring on the bottom to keep moving my teeth apart. I was soooo looking forward to getting that dern thing out of my mouth but I'll survive!!!