Blackcats Brace Log - first three weeks, updated with pics!

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#1 Post by **Blackcat** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:06 am

I'm 36 years old and regular dentists in the UK told me my gums were receeding and that I 'might need surgery in the future'.

I moved to Greece 3 years ago and the pain in my gums and roof of my mouth increased so I visited a dentist here (11th Jan 07). I HATE going to the dentist due to some bad experiences as a child. Anyway despite smoking in the room (!) she was very good and suggested I see an orthodontist as there was nothing wrong with my gums but there might be tooth problem. Over the next two weeks I had lots of cleaning done and my gums felt better. The ortho is on the mainland which involes a 6 hour round ferry trip (not so ideal but my only option) and I went on 2nd Feb and was told I had a bad overbite, a too small upper jaw and a problem with the lower jaw. My bottom teeth are going inwards and are touching the roof of my mouth behind my two front teeth. I had elastic put in between my molars (slightly uncomfortable) and a cast taken of my teeth (which didn't hurt at all). The elastics hurt more and more as the two weeks wore on. I went back on 13th March and had my top braces put on - it was much better than I had expected (being terrified about going back).

My ortho is a little economical with information and mentioned I would need a bite plate, but wouldn't tell me when I was having the lower braces put on. Thanks too this great website I now know why! and lots of other things.

Anyway I also have head gear (eeekk) which has taken some getting used to. The first time I put it in (after being stranded on the ferry for 19 hours with no painkillers or soft food!) it hurt so much I actually banged my head against the wall. My teeth are sore but it's bearable. I go back in one week for my first tightening and I'm frightened! Am I being a big baby? I am missing raw carrots so much

Am getting married in June too and it worries me that I might have the bite plate in then.

I have seen quite a change in just three weeks, not an ideal one though as one of my front teeth is now much larger than the other!

These are my teeth before (Feb 07)

Now three after the braces went on...

#2 Post by **Blackcat** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:10 am

I am glad I am having this treatment (ortho said I would loose my front teeth in 10-15 years without it) but I feel apprehensive about it all now. It's great to be able to post messages and ask questions as I think it's getting on my partners nerves a bit - I stress out about my teeth moving and about the head gear!!! he's being very supportive though.

#3 Post by **Blackcat** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 7:32 am

I'm quite suprised to see how much movement my teeth have had in just 3 weeks! - see pictures above.

Something funny happened today...I live on an island where the mainlanders believe we are all crazy. A man stopped his moped and said 'I assume you have to wear that?' (my headgear) Like I would choose to! When i said 'unfortunately yes' he said it was OK as we were all crazy anyway, adding that I look like an extra-terrestrial! I couldn't stop laughing!!!

Thanks for your help KK I will attempt to get some info out of the ortho on Tuesday!

#4 Post by **Blackcat** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:34 am

Off to the ortho tomorrow for my first adjustment. I'm quite nervous but I will concentrate on the fact that exactly 1 week later I will be compiling my wedding gift list instore with my fiance - I will mentally travel that store!

The brackets where my headgear go in have been very tender the last few days. I think my molars may be moving very slightly as they make very small cracking noises, as if they are moving, when I take the headgear out. Also when it comes out the headgear catches one of my brackets which hurts too!

Anyway I'm hoping to be in the chair less than an hour as if I run I can catch the afternoon ferry home rather than waiting around for 8 hours.

#5 Post by **Blackcat** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:31 am

Well Iâ€™m just back from the ortho, not only did I manage to catch the early ferry back, but it didn't hurt as much as I'd anticipated - only about 10 seconds. She simply clipped part of my wire out and added more spring coil thingies to it and did something at the back and I was done! I was in the chair no more than 5 minutes - good for me physically but a very expensive 5 minutes financially!

I took some painkillers before I got there and they are just wearing off now, so I have a little pain. Most of this is from trying to get my headgear back in as I think the bracket on one side has moved and it was very difficult to line up. Looking back i should have asked to have that checked. I even considered using WD40, but drew the line at vaseline

The best news is that she said I have made great progress and also that 75% of the work is on my upper teeth (deep overbite) so I won't have to have the bite plate on for a while Y I P E E !!!!! I was dreading having it put in just before my wedding. She was also proud of me for earing my headgear out of the house, and now I intend to more often as it's REALLY working! I feel motivated about it all (for now anyway

) maybe less so tomorrow if I need to eat through a straw!

#6 Post by **platinum** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:26 am

I moved to Greece 3 years ago and the pain in my gums and roof of my mouth increased so I visited a dentist here (11th Jan 07).

HI, i hvae similar problems

I went to dentist because pain in my front teeth, gums and face. I was told I have deepbite and overjet.

The best news is that she said I have made great progress and also that 75% of the work is on my upper teeth (deep overbite) so I won't have to have the bite plate on for a while Y I P E E !!!!!

I have overbite as well, and in my case most of the work is with my lowers ?! I have bite plate thing, not very comfortable. I have had my lowers now 1.5 months. Teeth look straighter, but i havent seen any change in my bite, though.

#7 Post by **Lisa65** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:55 am

Hi BC

Interesting story so far.

I have an overjet but not much of an overbite. At the moment my ortho is trying to move my molars using screw implants but headgear may be a possible too, as they are not moving as quickly as he'd hoped. I'm impressed by you wearing it outdoors as I'm not sure I would be brave enough

Hope your wedding plans are going well. Is your fiance Greek? My mum lives in Turkey and she has regaled me with worrying stories of Turkish dentistry. I don't think her dentist smoked in the surgery though

#8 Post by **Blackcat** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:20 am

I don't think there's been much change in my bite but my teeth have moved so maybe that will do something. I keep clashing them together though.

If you do have to have headgear Lisa65 don't worry too much about it - you don't have to wear it out as long as you wear it as much as you can - at first I felt like something from a Marylin Manson video but to be honest now my mouth hurts more without it in. I concentrate on the fact it might lower my total time in braces - besides if you saw some-one with it on how would you react? I think most people think 'god, I wonder what that is?' or 'does it hurt?'rather than nasty thoughts. Having said that i didn't wear it today on the ferry!!!

My fiance is from England too. The dentists seem pretty good here, mostly trained in USA and I've had much better experiences than in the UK. In fact the last dentist i saw in the UK had a sign on the door saying that she hadn't yet passed her proficiency in English exam! So the language barrier is no worse here

#9 Post by **Blackcat** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:24 am

hey Platinum have your teeth moved at all? How does the bite plate fit & feel? My ortho says I'll need one when I get my lowers. Do you have upper braces too?

#10 Post by **Blackcat** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:28 pm

It's 9 hours since the adjustment and I'm now in lots of pain - all localised on my back molar. The wire is also sticking in my cheek where it's swollen. I'm not sure if the pain is from the adjustment or from trying to get the headgear back in. Anyway I've waxed it and taken some painkillers. I'm off to bed now, feeling a bit sorry for myself

and a little happy that I had the magic 'PROGRESS' word. I shall try to stay focused on that!

#11 Post by **platinum** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:27 pm

hey Platinum have your teeth moved at all? How does the bite plate fit & feel? My ortho says I'll need one when I get my lowers. Do you have upper braces too?

My teeth have "moved", they have tilted forwards. I do not have uppers yet. I will get them in three months. I have a retainer that works as a bite plate. It is kind of hybrid of retainer and bite plate. It really sucks. I can't speak clear, and i look stupid. Esoecially, since I have lower braces only onewould not really see that have braces, but this retainer metal wire goes over my front teeth.

I have the biteplane because otherwise I would knock my lower brackets.
You can always hope that your uppers have moved so much that you do not need a bite plane.[/quote]

#12 Post by **Blackcat** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:46 am

Whoops - spent too long without headgear in during a journey to the UK via ferry, bus and air which lasted quite a long day. daren't do the headgear thing that day for some reason (although I put it in during the flight) and it hurt having it back in. Didn't beep through checkin though!!! will try harder

My ma has bought me some weird mouthwash called dentyl that has disclosure stuff in it - gross!!! Leaves your mouth super clean though, I have the clove flavour which is pretty strange, I think mint would be preferable.

#13 Post by **Blackcat** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:22 am

Well tomorrow its my next adjustment and I've got quite a few questions to ask! I have wires poking into the back of my jaw - it's almost impossible to get wax there, and it makes me gag when I do. I also keep eating it by mistake! I have a wire sticking in my lip too which i guess is progess as my tooth has moved lots. I guess having to put up with the discomfort of wires sticking in me is the problem with having to travel so far to the ortho!

My mouth has been very sore over the last few weeks which has corresponded with me trying to widen the variety of food I've been able to manage. So back to sloppy food for a while for me, and no toast! I can see lots of difference in my teeth though and it's only been just over 2 months. On the other hand I'm really sick of the discomfort and constant jaw pain.

My headgear seems to have gotten smaller (?) and it's grinding inside the brackets. it's also stickig to the inside of mouth at night.

Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow when I've asked the q's.

#14 Post by **Blackcat** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:19 am

OMG

OUCH! I can only describe yesterday as one hour 10 minutes of agony. Today I am in a world of hurt! After removing my wire and knocking off one of the headgear brackets to change it (I thought I might faint) my ortho put a titanium wire on - great I thought, no looping bits or springs. When he had finished I felt like someone was crushing my top jaw in a vice. When I pointed out it was painful and not 'just tight' he said I probably wasn't ready for it and took it out. Therefore I had to have another wire fitted which meant taking it in and out several times to adjust it plus I have the loopy bits back and a transparent thing to accelerate the movement of one particular tooth. Needless to say I have quite a small mouth so it was difficult to do this. Anyway today even my eyes are swollen!!!! and it all seems to hae triggered my CFS. It takes me 3 hours on a ferry to the mainland to get there and then I have to wait for the evening ferry back - so boring and tiring and doesn't help me feel better.

BUT I ALSO HAD EXCELLENT NEWS... ortho very pleased with my progress, don't need to go back until June, will have the titanium wire for my wedding (slightly more discreet), my headgear doesn't hurt anymore, I asked the q's I wanted and got answers and the best of all I will have no gaps at the end of my treatment (despite having several teeth missing). So i am pleased as well as hurting which I guess cancel's itself out!:lol:

Also on the plus side the pain from eatig ensures that I loose those extra kg's for my wedding!!!! [/list]

#15 Post by **Blackcat** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 11:01 pm

Feeling quite a bit better today. Ate some nice homemade soup yesterday and some baked beans on toast. I am very concious about my eating habits and I eat very well. As I'm veggie I concume large amounts of veg, I prepare and cook all of our meals from scratch so my diet is good. The extra kilo's result from scoffing too many Cadbury Creme Eggs - now made temporarily impossible so thats how the weight will drop! Plus eating large amounts of thickly buttered bread isn't so easy anymore! Thanks for your concern and good wishes KK.

My headgear fits well again but has gone back to being uncomfortable due to the swelling in my cheeks! I woke this morning with marks on both sides of my cheeks even though I slept on my back ha ha! Much more postive again, I am concentrating on the good parts of the treatment. Anyway as the sun is shining I'm off to tend to my newly created vegetable garden.