Switchblades' Braces Story - Updated 12/17 (New Pics p.2)

[grneydfairy]

Yeah, all of my (former) piercings and all of my tattoos my dad says "at least I'll be able to identify the body if I have to" haha

Anyway, your teeth are looking very nice good luck with your adjustment on the 5th!

[switchblades]

Thanks for the encouragement guys, I always know when I have a bad teeth day (is that kinda like a bad hair day? I dunno! ) I'll have someone to vent to who knows what I'm going through! (Other than my 12 year old cousin )

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. I managed to get Saturday and Sunday off ( I work in a busy mall and it's the weekend before Christmas!) because my guy made us dinner and hotel reservations out of town. I am sooooooo looking forward to getting away from it all for a night!

See y'all when I get back!

[switchblades]

Well, it's been an interesting few weeks, to say the least. My weekend getaway with the boy was not as much fun as was planned. I had a cold, and Saturday night about halfway through the Christmas party it moved into my chest, so we left early and I went up to the hotel and attempted to sleep, whilst not being able to breathe. Four hours in the car on the way home, racing a snowstorm wasn't very fun in my state, and when I got home and called my mom to let her know we were safe, she dropped a bomb on me: my uncle had had a heart attack and passed away that morning. I went home to mom and dad's that evening and stayed until Tuesday evening, when I went back to work. We had no power because of the storm, so it was not only cold, bt there was nothing to really do to pass the time either, so that Monday (December 22nd) was pretty tough. I've never lost anyone before, and my uncle and I had a pretty special relationship. I never got to tell him I finished university, but my mom was talking to him the day before he passed away and she told him, she said he was immensely proud of me. Needless to say, the holidays weren't quite the same this year.

Onto a happier note, I had an adjustment on January 5th, and my ortho says I'm ready to go for my surgical consult! I should be getting a call from OMS Consultants (the Maxillo-facial Surgical firm here) soon to book my first appointment!

One thing I've noticed is that my gums on my lower front teeth seem to be receding a bit. My ortho didn't say anyhting about it but it worries me. My dad had to have grafts done when I was younger, and he said they were super painful Hopefully I'll be able to avoid that!

On January 5th I had my upper archwire changed, to one with a weird bend between my upper front incisors. Not sure why it's there, but it has successfully managed to drive me up the wall. I also had my upper 2nd molars tied in. My wires are a bit too long, and as a result have been digging craters in the back of my mouth, I meant to go get them trimmed, but have been called into work all but two days in the past two weeks, and it happens that those two days the office was closed. They're not really hurting anymore, but they're still annoying so I may go in tomorrow.

And now, Pictures! I'll take some more soon, I've had a lot of movement of my lowers since these were taken!

January 4h, 2009: day before my most recent adjustment

Upper



Lower



Open



Closed



January 5th, 2009: After my adjustment

[switchblades]

So, I had another adjustment this morning, and will post pictures soon, probably tomorrow or Wednesday, as I managed to have a big chunk of broccoli stuck in the bracket of the one tooth I was focusing most of the pics on

My teeth are definitely straightening quite nicely, it felt sooooo weird when he took the wires off though! I am no longer in lighter aluminum wires, he put stainless steel on both uppers and lowers. He also crimped the wire on my left lower canine because it sites up higher than the other teeth. I'm quite surprised that he is already working on levelling, but I think that is to see how much they will need to move my jaw. I don't bite evenly on both sides, which is very much apparent in a lot of my pictures.

One big thing I've noticed, is that these wires hurt WAY more than any other adjustment so far. Perhaps it's becaise usually he will only change either the top or the bottom, as I only got my lowers on in December. But either way, usually the day after is when the pain starts. This time, I went from my appointment (ended around 9:30am) to the police station to pick up a criminal records check for my new job (yay, I'm not a convict!) and by the time I got home at 11:30 I was already in a lot of pain in the front. My molars were okay, so I made a big lunch - garlic-butter stuffed chicken, long grain & wild rice with mushrooms, and steamed broccoli with cheese sauce. I then took 2 extra strength ibuprofen and went for a nap.

I'm just glad I ate when I got home, rather than waiting for supper...because I had DQ soft serve ice cream for supper on my way to work and it hurt just from the pressure of smooshing it in my mouth!

[Tommm]

Looks like you're making some awesome progress. Congrats on the new wire. The pain must mean that it's working!

[changes09]

It seems like you may not have to wait to a year till you get your surgery. Your teeth are moving so quick! I bet if you didn't take the pictures you would not have realized how fast they are moving. When is your OS appt?

[switchblades]

<b>Tom:</b> I hope it means it's working, otherwise, why the heck am I doing it?

<b>changes09:</b> I haven't heard form the consulting firm when my consult will be, but since my teeth have moved so fast my ortho said I'm ready for my consult any time. He had originally said surgery in September/October, and while I don't know what there is to do after my consult to get me surgery ready, I'm hoping it won't take another 7 months from now!

[switchblades]

I finally got around to taking some pics a little while ago, though my lower arch kept coming out fuzzy or too dark because I'm a genius and dind't do it when it was bright and sunny in my apartment all day.

Lower Arch:



Upper Arch:



Bite from Right Side (Closed):



Open:



"Step" in wire by my lower left canine:



The pain from the thicker wires is finally gone today! Woot!

I also have some fun news that's kinda of a big deal (for me anyway): I've been wanting to get into modelling for YEARS (like, since I was 4 or 5) and I FINALLY got up the guts to do a real photoshoot with a friend who is a photographer...braces and all! I even got to play with swords and daggers Who says you can't kick butt with braces??

[Tommm]

Who says you can't kick butt with braces??

So true! Go get em!

[switchblades]

I started my new job yesterday, and I was kind of wirred about being taken seriously, but everyone seems to like me, and they'r really glad to have the extra hands to help out! It was supposed to be just a temp job until the end of March, but one of the Nursing Coordinators is having double knee surgery - she just had one done in january, is back on at work for a few hours twice a week - but is going back off for a while next month. They asked me to stay on and do some of the scheduling and such too! I've never had any experience in that but they showed me how to fill shifts for sick calls today - which involved checking through various seniority lists and calling to offer shifts in union order - and I think it'll be pretty easy! Plus I've got a job for more than a month now

On a brace-related note, I noticed over the weekend what I now see in my pics: the wire on my lower left premolar, right beside the stepping on my canine, is out of the track. The ligature is stretched and it won't hold the wire in place properly. I called my ortho and they booked me in for Thursday to check it, and they had a cancellation literally 2 minutes before I called for an evening appointment for a cleaning, so now I don't have to wait until the middle of March to get my teeth cleaned!

I noticed today, my upper left 2nd molar is REALLY sore, like, hurts to run across it with my tounge. It's to the point it's hard tot ell if it's brace pain or a toothache, I'll find out Thursday but it's really annoying!

[switchblades]

Sorry it's been so long since I've been around, a lot has been going on in my life, braces-related and otherwise.

If anyone remembers from my previous posts, the wire around my left lower canine was 'stepped' down to bring the tooth vertically in like with the other. The wire on the bicuspid beside it had slipped out of the track, the ligature not strong enough to hold it in. My ortho had me go in on the 12th to have that fixed, and he had to figure-eight the ligature to get it tight enough. It's worked wonders, the tooth is now in line and everything is where it should be.

I had my first cleaning since getting braces done, also on Febuary 12th, and I was horrified at some of the stuff the hygienist was getting off of my teeth and from along my gumline. Stuff that was really badly stuck there, that I couldn't see no matter how well I brushed and flossed. Then she shocked me: She said my teeth were amoung the cleanest she'd seen with braces, even amoung adult patients. I was blown away.

On a more exciting note, my ortho sent a rather unpleasant letter to the surgery firm regarding my referral...I guess in the past, they've been lazy about calling back patients to set up consults, and my ortho sent my referral in December. They called me the next day while I was at work, and when I called them back they informed me they only work from 7am to 3pm, Monday to Friday. Wow. I don't get sick time from work, so I have to either take a day off or go on my lunch break, so I'm going to attempt to get to the office, have my consult done and get back to work on my one-hour lunch break...

ON MARCH 9TH.

This date was set only a few days ago, but it seems so FAST! I know I won't be able to get my surgery done for months yet, as I cannot take time off work (I'm in a temp position, and fully intend to work to the end of my contract...which is at least the end of June) but the fact that the ball is rolling so quickly is exciting

I'll let everyone know what the verdict is shortly!

[brika]

Hi switchblades,
I'm glad to hear you've been making such good progress these past few weeks! Wow, I hope my hygenist has such glowing reviews of my teeth when I have to go get them cleaned! ;)
March 9th does seem quite soon, but at least you'll have the consultation out of the way and know what needs to be done. How exciting!
Good luck next week!

[switchblades]

Thanks for the encouragement, brika!

I had a bit of a snag today, I bit into a sandwich and my upper teeth crunched down on my lower brackets (I havea deep bite) and now two of my brackets are not attached to my teeth anymore! It hurt soooooo much, and while they're staying put, I'm worried they'll fall off before I can get in there again! I called right away but the office was closed - of COURSE it's the ONE Thursday they're not open until 8pm! They are only in until noon tomorrow and I work (can't take time off - I was sick Tuesday and didn't go, and it's only a temp job so I don't want to push it!).

Hoping this won't affect my consult Monday. I'm going to have to be REALLY careful this weekend to not hit my lower teeth on anything. I'm debating taking the ligs off those two teeth and removing the brackets to put them in a safe place, but I also don't know if that will cause more problems??

[brika]

Ack, that doesn't sound good at all! Have you been able to get an earlier appointment with your ortho?

[switchblades]

I was going to go in at lunchtime yesterday, but the receptionist said only the hygenists are in on Fridays. She had a cancellation for Tuesday night, and so bumped my adjustment up to Tuesday instead of Thursday. Which is good, because in the two days I've not had brackets on thsoe two teeth, they have begun to move a LOT. If you look at my first pics, it's the tooth that was pushed back really far from the rest, and the one to the right of it. It's kind of painful at well, but I've been managing that with Ibuprofen.

I'm trying to come up with a list of questions for the surgeon on Monday...any ideas?