Dfac001's journey-all pics posted 8 mos progress Pg.2 :)

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#16 Post by **dfac001** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:18 am

Later tonight I will have my first adjustment~

I believe I will get a wire change. If you have read my other post, my bf is one step ahead of me. He lost his bite plate and went back to get it 2 wks ago. The ortho forgot the purpose of his visit and just put him in the chair and changed his wire. So the ortho said he would be ahead of schedule and he would have another adjustment in 2 wks.

Good for him but what a setback for meâ€¦so far I have noticed nothing. Almost 2 months with No change. It just looked so scary. Am I gonna be in braces for 3 yrs or so?

I work in a city with no Thai restaurant around. I want Thai curry so badly. Because of the possible yellow stain I gave up curry. I resumed back to having coffee occasionally because life was dull w/o great food.

#17 Post by **dfac001** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:19 am

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#18 Post by **dfac001** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:22 am

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#19 Post by **dfac001** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:45 pm

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#20 Post by **dfac001** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:46 pm

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#21 Post by **dfac001** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:58 pm

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#22 Post by **dfac001** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 5:03 pm

Oh...something was wrong earlier...I didn't get confirmation that my post went thro...oh in face i kept posting the same thing again n again...oops...can i delete posts?

Anyways getting off work and going to the my very first adjustment

post later~

#23 Post by **dfac001** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 12:50 pm

had my first adjustment. They changed the wire to a different one with spring coils to open spaces on the 2 sides to create room for my setback teeth to come into the arch. All but the setback teeth were now connected together.

I was thinking of trying the silver colored ligs. But it looked dark. Maybe it would look good once they were on. But I stayed with the clear ligs.

When the assistant put the coils and wire in, she asked if i could withstand the pressure or she could adjust to a smaller pressure. I was like did that correspond to the time I would spend in braces. Just bring it on lol.

By the time I walked out of the office I could feel the soreness already. So so painful but I am still not taking any painkiller. I am in braces to lose weight too. So no painkiller= can't chew=eat less=lose weight.

Yesterday I attempted some crazy eating tasks. For lunch I ate the Vietnamese French Baguette sandwich. If you have never had those Viet baguettes, they are super hard bread with cold meat and pate and carrot and chili peppers and veggies. I tore the bread pieces apart. I managed to eat half of that before it was too painful and gave up.

For dinner I had Louisiana BBQ. It was awesome but the meat was a bit hard to chew. It was so painful tears almost went down.

Today is the third day. Still super sore. But the wire and the coils just look like some action is bound to happen this month. I'm so excited.

Sorry guys still no pic. My brother took my camera and he went to China his very first time.

#24 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:27 pm

Totally understand the banh mi situation. Curry situation, I have resolved by getting silver or bright colors, and trying to eat curries the night before my adjustments! Hope your teethies are less sore by now.

#25 Post by **dfac001** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:37 pm

No braces pic yet. But here is my pre-treatment record pic. Yay!

I didn't think my teeth were that bad. Not picture perfect teeth. But not super vampire or not super buckteeth or anything. That was the reason why I didn't get braces when I was a kid. But it was very hard to keep clean.

Anyhow, byebye bad teeth lol. This would all be history.

#26 Post by **dfac001** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 2:27 pm

Last wk I was in my bf's car...driving around (gas price is like 4 bucks in LA now...CRAZY~

I yawned and then my jaw got a bit stuck. And then I tried to close my mouth and a loud crack sound and a bit pain came from the joint. The left side.

I never experienced anything like this. My TMJ are not the best. Always the little cracking sound when I open and close my mouth. But a loud crack and got stuck, that was the first time.

Basically after that day, now my left side always have that loud "Knock" sound when I yawn.

Do I need to worry or does that go away with the progress?

My 2nd adjustment is in 2 wks. My general dentist appt is in a month. So I plan to wait and see.

#27 Post by **dfac001** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 2:42 pm

As far as movement goes...NOPE...NONE...

A tiny gap between my 2 big front teeth...that's about it...
At this tiny rate to open up spaces...guess i'll be in braces forever.

I know I am not the best candidate for braces. I am a very impatient person.

#28 Post by **dfac001** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 4:15 pm

Long time no writing my own story

No more whining...when I wrote my last post, I was desperate to see changes. And then time flew by. Until one day I realized...omg....how did the changes take place without me knowing?

The setback tooth...is coming out too.

When I still had the springcoil to opening up space for the setback tooth, my ortho said my teeth moved fast and he wanted me to go back to him every 2 to 3 weeks. He made me all happy.

The setback tooth is now getting ready to join the rest for the first time in my life!! Which of course brings up the ultimate question, WHY DIDN'T I GET BRACES EARLIER???

Hygiene wise I need to see my dentist next wk. Hopefully he would tell me i do ok with the cleaning and brushing and stuff.

Bottom braces are set to go on next month!! We shall see. I may get shocked when I finally get fully braced. The bottom braces would be all metal. Maybe I'll need time getting used to my metal look.

I'll post pics soon I promise~

#29 Post by **dfac001** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:11 pm

2 premolars extraction this afternoonâ€¦.now Iâ€™m scaredâ€¦

I havenâ€™t dealt with my wisdom teeth yet. My general dentist does not push to have my wisdom teeth taken out because they do not bother me. My ortho did not push to have my wisdom teeth taken out as well.

So here I am at 25, and never really have tooth pulled out since childhoodâ€¦and as I rememberedâ€¦.having baby tooth pulled out was a piece of cakeâ€¦the baby tooth was loose anyways. Now we are talking about 2 sturdy permanent premolarsâ€¦.

And I am more worried about the sunken face lookâ€¦.

I just never asked about the possibility of getting sunken faceâ€¦

All the ortho I had consulted wanted 2-4 premolars taken outâ€¦and I have severe crowdingâ€¦so I guess this is the only way to fixâ€¦.but will I get sunken face????

Bottom braces is scheduled to go on next Friday hooray!!

#30 Post by **dfac001** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:34 pm

wow It has been almost 8 months since I had upper braces on.

I honestly don't how good my progress is. I read a lot of other peoples' stories but every case is unique so I can't compare.

The one thing that bugs me right now it's the increased overjet in my upper arch. And some friends made comments about my apparent buck teeth and how unattractive. They think I get braces to be miserable and make things worse.

My teeth are much straighter now and the vampire canines are gone. But apparently some ppl only notice the negative parts. Maybe it's because they do not have the big courage to take the plunge, like us. So they can't stand us being on the road to perfection.

Anyhow, let me post some pics of my progress, finally~~~

Pre-treatment photos

Just started taken 02/06/08

3 weeks progress taken 02/24/08

Almost 2 months progress taken 03/23/08

3 months progress taken 05/04/08

4+ months progress taken 06/24/08

And then my digital camera got dropped into the water while kayaking, and I'm too broke to replace it. So no pic for a long time until i figured to use webcam instead.

So here we go, my teeth 8 months taken 09/29/08

Thanks for reading and Good luck everyone on our journeys
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