HeyBuckey!'s Story

[HeyBuckey!]

Thank you!!!!! That has been the sweetest victory since getting braced! I was so excited everything came out ok! I even figured out why some of my pics were smaller than the others. Turns out when I turn my phone off an on it resets my camera setting.

Thank you on the compliment. I've been brushing my teeth with baking soda for the past 6 years now and even though most don't like how it tastes it works as good as whitestrips (it's healthier too ). I also do an occasional peroxide rinse. I highly encourage anyone who wants to brighten their smile naturally to go this route. Not to mention...It's DIRT cheap . When the people I know saw me with braces, (I only told one person at work, and my father and grandmother in Missouri) they gave me this really puzzled look like why the heck did you get braces?

Once I gave them a peep show of my overjet, they understood shortly afterwards.

What's funny...I always thought my teeth were too big for such a small mouth as mine. Next to having bucked teeth, the size of my teeth were talked about by others. Especially in those awkward teenage years when nothing seems to fit right on your body and everyone decides to point it out!

Maybe I'm lucky, I didn't get the molar bands yesterday! I'm going to go into detail about it in my next post. My mouth still hurts though . The pink ligs happened to be my favorite! I have ruby ligs now. Not being able to change the color of my grill turned me off of the self litigators and ceramics. Not that ceramics were even an option for me .

I wanted to be able to color coordinate my outfits with my teeth

I have the strangest ortho. I kid you not. I see him for about two minutes during my visit and have to ask the techs all of the questions. Usually I bombard them and then forget everything I was going to ask, after I get one, two, or three main questions answered . I know I get a stonger wire in December or January. Once I get my extractions and they've healed they'll move on to giving me a power chain and rubber bands to get my bite corrected. I'll put more about the procedure in my next post. There a few things I know but there is so much more I need to find out.

ALL READERS FOLLOW PrettyWoman's ADVICE AND DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SWALLOW A KITKAT WHOLE!!! Only Buckey is allowed to do that . I almost literally swallowed my pizza for lunch yesterday. I don't think I've ever eaten something like that, that fast. Two slices, 12 minutes, in fact I can't remember if I did any breathing while eating. I probably ate that fast because I knew I'd be in pain today.

I was a fairly slow eater before the braces as well...at least yours stuck with you . Mine just kinda floated away, and on top of that I crave all of the things I can't eat! Like popcorn! I am dying to crunch on popcorn! What am I going to do if I go to the movies?! That's probably why I bit into that pear. Not to mention, I was being impatient...again. And I haven't even learned my lesson yet. . I get to be in the MOLAR BANDLESS club with you! Yay!!! Now if only I could be more patient with food like you...we've all definitely got something to learn from one another!

Pics for the new ligs come later on today.

[alibracket]

Finally I was beginning to think you were nothing but a 'molar tease' trying to excite us metal mouthers.

But anyways I can already see them straightening out. Lots of progress, especially your upper lateral incisors. I might need to throw in some peroxide into my routine.

would type more but im at work. now back to my job grrrr

[HeyBuckey!]

Good day ladies and gentlemen .

I DIDN'T GET MOLAR BANDS!!! Hooray! I guess...I'm kind mad that I had to wear those brutish spacers. Oh well! At least I have space between my teeth to floss now! Hopefully they won't decide to put them on anyway forcing me to have to get those evil things again. If my bite in the back stays the way it is now I won't have anything to worry about! <<I really hope nothing shifts in a bad direction in the meantime>>

The tech had a pretty hard time getting those metal spacers out yesterday. I wonder if it had anything to do with my fillings...Maybe, it was the fact that I bit them so far down they were making a new home beneath my gums. The first one in the back was a killer. I thought I would feel relief when they were removed. Instead I felt pressure and immediate pain after they were dislodged from my gums. My left side didn't want to let them go. There was a lot of wiggling to get that first one out (which happened to be on the left side). like that song says "I keep bleedin love," yeah...well so was my gum after that first spacer was removed. It was the only one that didn't want to give. The other bottoms had a little pressure and discomfort but that was about it. An upper right didn't want to give either now thinking of it. I remember seeing those clippy thingies coming toward my mouth after that hook didn't work, and thinking "this isn't going to feel very good." Boy was I right! It wasn't as bad as the first but it wasn't the easiest one to get out either!

Then came the wire removal and flossing! OH JOY!!! Usually it takes me about 10 mins tops to floss. It took me a whopping 2 minutes! A fifth of the time! I was so excited. And so disgusted when I saw what had snuck and hid in the crevices of the spacers. Whew, was that nasty or what?! I didn't know so much food could be found between teeth! I then continued on after ewing to brushing. My mouth felt clean, minty fresh, and disinfected (many thanks to Listerine). Then my troubles began. I like this tech, she was the one who originally put my first set on. She was so kind and gentle to my teeth and...SHE HAD BRACES!!! She got an A for the day . Lucky her she had hers removed recently, and has a dazzling new smile that I can only dream of for the next 2.5 years. She put the lip separators in and gave me that tongue thingy (what is this thing called?). Then she let me know she wasn't going to torture me with molar bands because my teeth meet well in the back so instead my 1st molars were bracket. Besides, I still don't have a ton of space between my molars either, so I'm glad she didn't give them to me or I probably would have wanted to bite her fingers like I wanted to do to Senorita Man Hands!

Once she began, got my teeth all smoothed and primed and brackets placed, my brackets started to "swim" as they called it making it hard to place them in their permanent position. It took a while. On the bottom right I had a two brackets placed and top left two, bottom left one, and top right one. The tech had a higher up tech check my top left and bottom right and left checked but had to have the Ortho check the top right. Then I picked my color (Ruby) and she proceeded to put my wire on. Right off the bat, she didn't like how the bracket on the bottom left molar looked so she clipped it, smoothed it, reprimed it, and reattached it. Same with the top left (the one that originally broke off) bottom right, and the top right. In a nutshell I know how it feels to get braces removed already. Luckily it wasn't on the front teeth because they were feeling awfully sensitive yesterday.

The higher up tech comes over to check my freshly placed brackets and asks the tech working on me, "What are you doing?" My tech said "I'm replacing brackets because I didn't like how they were placed." The higher up said "didn't the Dr. check the brackets?" My tech said "he did, and said we're good. Obviously he just looked in her mouth and kept going." The higher up tech then proceeded to mimic the Ortho's manuerisms when it comes to examining brackets.

Man was she right on.

I was even a test dummy for the newest intern tech. I must rock! . The new tech got to see a thumb suckers damage and what they do to thumbsuckers. My favorite tech let me know they do what they can to save teeth and extractions are a final option. It felt great, but it sucked to know I was the final option case . After being freed after an hour of work, I was informed that around late November I should think about getting my extractions because come the 3rd or 4th adjustment they are going upgrade to a thicker wire a 16 to continue on the treatment, making my new name...HEAVY METAL!!! . She also said my wires are still light ummm...is she sure about that? These new wires are kicking my d.o.n.k.e.y. Also that my incisors will begin to match up after that mean little tooth gets in line with the rest.

And now my mouth hurts like h.e. double hockey sticks.

Hopefully you don't get bored reading this .

[HeyBuckey!]

Hiya Alibracket!

I was beginning to wonder if anyone thought I was one of those braceface counterfeit stalking weirdos aka molar tease:). I'm legit I promise! I've got the pain to prove it...well...that can be faked to but, I'm a true metal mouther!

I've waited a long time to get my face on the web and this past week has given me all kinds of trouble but finally, FINALLY it's happened!

I'm pretty excited about the progress too! That's my mean little tooth. Before deciding to get braces I always wondered what my smile would look like had that little tooth straightened up.

You gotta try peroxide and baking soda. They work like a dream when it comes to achieving white teeth. Have fun at work. Work is where I do most of my AW posting. Fills time between calls and homework .

[Emms]

Yay Heybuckey, I see your teeth. Wow they are so white, I am definitely buying my baking soda toothpaste tomorrow, that's for sure. Hope you're not in too much pain after your appointment today. Ooh the thought of getting brackets removed, now that is all we ladies dream of well as you said, it gave you some idea what's ahead of you on debracing day!!!!!

[opera^gal]

Congrats on the molar-bandless treatment.....for now. Make whatever sacrifices to whatever molar deities you can think of, so you don't get the surprise down the line of more spacers and bands..trust the lil opera singer..zero fun credits for that!

[HeyBuckey!]

Hello all here are a few pictures from yesterday's adjustment.



Another bite pic



From the right side



From the left side



Try to smile pretty!!!

My midline is pretty off to the left. It was like that before braces and now with my left incisor being longer than the right it has made it more noticeable to me. I also noticed before the treatment began...My left incisor was longer than my right! Why don't people tell me these things? Ay yi yi!!! You'll also see where I am to get my extractions done in both side pics. Yay... . How do the ruby color ligs look? In honor of the new color. I wore a shirt that matches it .

Opera^gal! Hellllllllloooooo!!!!

I know you've experienced the anxiety that I'm feeling right now about possibly having to go through spacers again! I wonder if I'll get another Commarade Sadistica or Senorita Man Hands. I'm kind of scared of both should I have to get spacers again. I definitely trust you! I was quite upset that I didn't get the friggin molar bands because I had to wear those cursed spacers!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I am just bracing myself (no pun intended ) for the possibility that I'll have to get those heinous molar bands.

[HeyBuckey!]

Hello Everyone!!!

Longtime no see right? Well maybe. Anywho! Man has life been a circus recently! Next to having a decked out grill that story on the news about the Balloon Boy is driving me batty! First it drove me nuts that they wouldn't stop talking about the happy ending story, now they are driving me nuts because it was a bunch of crap in the first place, and they still won't stop talking about it. I absolutely love kids! Love them to death! But they're not the best method to use when you are trying to perpetrate a scheme of any sort...they are just too honest. I loved how he thought about what he was going to say before he spilled the beans. If they would have just left it alone, they would have had their little reality show...

Well right now, my teeth hurt. You know that teething thing. My next pictures will be posted at my next adjustment. I may post some others that I had hidding in my phone but we'll see. If you had looked at my bottom row straight on it didn't look that bad at all! When I looked at them from another view they looked kind of like that character from Aladdin at the beginning of the movie that Jafar was disguised as. His famous quote was "JUST GIVE ME THE LAAAMMMMMMPPPPPPP!" You can't help but love kids movies. Aladdin happens to be one of my favorites!

I'm sure they didn't look that bad, but they definitely weren't as straight as they are now. The view I had my phone made them look pretty jagged and out of line. Thank goodness once again...I got braces.

[PrettyWoman]

Hi Buckey,
Really like your ligs! Never thought ruby would look so good on teeth I also liked your pink ligs and the baby blue ones. These are the same colours I would have chosen if I needed ligs... I believe my ortho offers ligs even if they're not needed - just for fun. I'm starting to consider getting them on my first adjustment...

I continue to marvel at your teeth They are sooooooo white.... I will definitely try baking soda, but not until my braces are off, otherwise I'd end up with lovely white teeth with ugly yellow stains where the brackets used to be

Your teeth have made a great progress in such a short time. Your uppers are coming along nicely and from the front they look close to perfect. Glad you didn't get the molar bands, but it's a bit irritating that they made you go through all that pain and hassle of spacers for nothing Hopefully you won't need them anymore. Keeping my fingers crossed for your next adjustment and looking forward to seeing the updated pics

[alibracket]

Ruby Red looks nice. Like prettywoman i didnt think it would look good when the assistant showed me-(i thought it would make teeth look like the teeth were bleeding )but it really does look nice. Like valentines day or Christmas. I wonder which lipstics/lig combos work (and which ones dont). Have you decided which ones you will do next?

I think you mentioned you were getting extractions. Do you have a date yet?

[HeyBuckey!]

Hey, Hey PrettyWoman!

Next to turquoise this color happens to be one of my favs! Can you say...sophisticated in metal . It makes me feel like such a big girl

Cool! You can get ligs on damon's? That's friggin awesome!!! I'd try just for kicks . It'll make your experience all the more worth while! I wonder if it'll make your wire feel tighter...

You know what's funny? It looks like I have porcelain stains on my teeth because of the stuff they use to get the surface of my teeth clean. I can definitely relate to how you feel about the BS . Theirs nothing worse than an unevenly toned smile. I take that back! Theirs nothing worse than an unevenly toned smile with oral weirdo like me staring in your mouth .

Thanks so much . Sometimes it still feels like those hunks of scrap metal are still in between my teeth and to make it worse! I don't have anymore space between molars

[HeyBuckey!]

Alibracket!!!!

Yikes! I never thought of that! Hmmm hmmm good, I was more worried that someone would think they were pieces of chocolate stuck on my teeth. Yeah...I know they're reddish but some (including myself occasionally) can be color blind. I'll just try to keep up the brushing and try not to smile, which by the way I'm getting more comfortable with!

Next time around I think I'll get this blue it's like sapphire. That's another fav! I don't have or wear much blue but it is a must that I try every color I can think of. Except...their lilac. That color is so ugly. It looks...gray. If it isn't silver I don't think I want it on my teeth.

I haven't set an official date for the extractions yet. I was thinking some time after Thanksgiving because I've GOT to eat! I couldn't imagine everyone passing around food dishes and not being able to eat any of it! That would be cruel and unusual punishment...

[HeyBuckey!]

Buenos Dias!

This is about all of the Spanish I can handle in one setting, but it's a great opener! I hope everyone's doing well and things are moving along smoothly! For me, I had something else interesting happen to me. As we all know I had my first adjustment on October 21st, and I had a few additional brackets placed on my 1st molars because I OPTED OUT OF MOLAR BANDS!!! OH YES!!! I was very happy about it . In spite of wearing metal spacers that burried themselves into my gums for 2 weeks and 2 days, having difficulty eating for basically, the whole time . And now, still feeling as if the spacers are in between my teeth and wondering what I'm crunching on when I bite down . Hopefully, it's not my fillings. Even though, I don't think they would make that crunching noise/feeling (yes, there is a NOISE that comes with it!). I heard molar bands are not the greatest in Orthodontics and I got out of it.

What happened shortly after I got my new hardware, was fairly interesting.

I was brushing my teeth after my shift at work was over. I like to smile big to make sure I got everything out of my brackets and wires. I noticed I did well and proceeded to rinsing my mouth to finish things up. And that's when I saw it. I examined my mouth and thought I was seeing things and noticed this phenomenon was on all of my first molars!

I thought my ortho's office had given me Damon Brackets on my first molars, I thought I was really someone special (read post for 1st adjustment). I even tried to open the little doors and failed. This ladies and gentlemen allowed me to recognize how much I still really need AW to inform me that they in fact were not Damon Brackets, but were buccal tubes...

Internet! You have failed me! Or...I wasn't paying as much attention as I should. I'm kind of glad I didn't share my findings with any of my co-workers who had braces. They would have thought I was a total block head

[PrettyWoman]

Hi Buckey,

Wow, the spacers horror story continues! Looks like those things just won't leave you alone... I thought once you had them taken out, that would be the end of it, but they just won't let go! That noise is suspicious, have you called your ortho to find out if it's normal?

Not sure what's the deal with the Damon brackets on your molars, but I have self-ligating braces and still have buccal tubes on my molars. Maybe that's a standard procedure

Hope your teeth are aligning nicely and not causing you too much trouble

[HeyBuckey!]

I never think to call my Ortho about strange things like that...Thank you so much PrettyWoman for the idea on a course of action. I do get a little worried that I may chipping at the enamel on my molars. I'll call my Ortho today to find out what's going on.

After surfing AW, I found out my very last brackets are in fact...buccal tubes . I am baffled at how much buccal tubes look like Damon Brackets. The only difference is buccal tubes have a slot and Damon Brackets have doors. To me, it seems as if the idea for Damon Brackets was conceived because of these first molar brackets but I'm no rocket scientist so I'll leave that up to those who created them . You gotta tell me do Damon Brackets really hurt less? I know that's hard to say since you have Damon's and not traditional, but it does kind of hurt when my Ortho secures my wire with ligatures .

On my right, my incisor and lateral incisor (my mean little tooth) have been aching. My lateral incisor is beginning to really make it's debut and join the rest of the teeth. I think I may have to take pictures before my appt next Monday because of how quick the little sucker is moving! Now I'm actually excited to get my extractions! Well...kind of .