Jen's Story

[JenInBraces]

First off, my name is Jen. I'm 20 now, 21 in a month! I had braces when I was younger.. I'm not sure how old I was.. I'd say probably 10? I only had 6 brackets on, but I had to wear headgear at night, and I had a metal spacer thing on the roof of my mouth. I had braces for nearly 4 years, and they really didn't do a good job. They fixed the spacing issues, but that's about it. My smile isn't horrible, I could actually live with my smile now, but I've been having a lot of problems with headaches due to the overcrowded teeth and the bit of overbite that I have. My jaw just gets so tired from not fitting together properly with the upper teeth and I never can figure out how to close my mouth comfortably. That's why I have decided to get braces again. I would love to be able to close my mouth and have everything align properly and comfortably!

On February 22nd I had the brackets put on. They didn't put the archwires in yet, I'm having 4 bicuspids removed Saturday morning. (I didn't even second guess asking questions about it due to the overcrowding, but now that I've joined here and saw a few posts about facial changes, I'm kind of freaking out!) I'm getting the wires put in March 25th.

They estimated my treatment during consultation to be 18-24 months, but in a letter sent to my regular dentist that I also received, it says 24-30 months. Oh well, I'm just happy to be getting this done now. I've been wanting to do this for awhile now, but now that I can afford it I'm able to get the process started!

Anyway, here are some photos of my teeth. My 2nd premolars on top are both turned out. I'm not sure if they ever plan on fixing that or not since they didn't put any metal bands on them?

[Lewick]

Hi, congratulations on getting your brackets put on Your teeth are a really nice shape (hope that doesnt sound too creepy haha) so i'm sure you'll have a beautiful smile by the end of your treatment!

[JenInBraces]

Thanks for the welcome and compliment... not creepy, I get what you mean, =)

[JenInBraces]

Just got my 2nd premolars removed this morning. I was pretty nervous about going in, since I knew I was going to be awake for this one unlike my wisdom teeth extraction. But it actually wasn't bad at all. Though, I ended up getting 15 shots, and the one on the top left, after 4 shots I could still feel some pain, and had to close my eyes and some sweat formed while she pulled it. It wasn't excruciating pain, but it wasn't a very nice feeling at all. The other 3 teeth came out with a breeze and went quite quickly.

Dentist said it'll take about 5 hours for the numbness to wear off. I figure I'll take advantage of the numbing sensation and then in about 3 hours I'll lay down and relax so I don't feel too much pain right away. I could feel the pain in the one tooth that didn't get fully numbed, but a pain pill took care of that.

Just figured I'd update. Now off to relax and take it easy the rest of the weekend!

[JenInBraces]

Oh.. was also going to say that the Dentist accidentally popped one of my brackets off. Not a big deal, but there is rough glue on the tooth now. Is there anything that I can do, since my ortho appt. isn't for another 2 1/2 weeks?

[SilveredChica]

Hi JenInBraces....

I can soooooooo understand what you mean from your initial post (having a lot of problems with headaches due to the overcrowded teeth and not being able to find a comfortable way to close your mouth from the overbite) I have the same problem!


Well take it easy this weekend and recover from those extractions! Wish I had some advise on that glue problem.. but I dont get my braces till this Thursday, you should probably call the ortho and see what they say.... Take care!

[JenInBraces]

The dentist said it would just be a little discomfort and such, BS! I'm in so much pain! My two bottom extraction sites are in excruciating pain. My body is shaking with how much pain I'm in. Is this normal??? The pain killers aren't doing anything for me any more! I'm so not looking forward to going to work tomorrow... it's going to be a very, very long day. =(

[Vieve25]

Ooo! i hope youre ok - You may want to call in the AM _ I dont think you should be in that much pain!!! Hope you feel better asap!!

[Rachel B]

Unfortunately I too did experience one very painful night after my extractions. I thought I had a dry socket but I didn't - dread to think what one would actually have felt like!! Hope u feel better x

[JenInBraces]

Thanks everyone. I did go to the dentist today, the pain just intensified throughout the day, couldn't even handle work. Dentist said I have an infection in each socket on the bottom. It hurts so bad! I had dry socket with my wisdom teeth extractions, and I believe this infection is far worse! At least with the dry sockets the dentist can put the medicated dressings in to make it feel better... but with the infection even the vicodin doesn't help in the least bit. She said the antibiotics will kick in in about 24-48hrs and then I should experience less pain. I sure hope so! At least my employers are great, and I only have to work a partial day tomorrow and I think by Wednesday I'll feel much better!

[JenInBraces]

Pain has only been getting worse... It was so intense last night, that I couldn't sleep, I couldn't sit still, I was completely restless and just in tears. I couldn't wait until 8am so I could call the dentist. My dentist is amazing, she's really nice and very sympathetic and just really good at what she does. She called me from her house, since she doesn't get to the office until later in the day. She scheduled an appt with an oral surgeon for later in the day. When I saw him, he told me that I had dry socket. (I didn't really like that office at all, nobody seemed friendly in the least), so I went back to my dentist, since the only thing the oral surgeon could do is put dressings into the sockets and remove them the next day... problem is I have to work and the office closes before I get out. My dentist was nice enough to put in stuff that dissolves. I'm also leaving out of town on Saturday. My dentist also numbed me up really good, one shot on each side, and also put a "blocker" on each side. That felt amazing... it only lasted 3 hours, but it was the best 3 hours in 5 days. The one nice thing about the oral surgeon is he said while I'm out of town, he could find an oral surgeon where I'm going so that if I run into problems and need more medication that they would be able to pack it for me. Very nice..

Both the oral surgeon and my dentist were really amazed I had dry socket, because apparently when you look at it, you can't tell, but if you stick a tool in, it's obvious. I knew something was wrong, because the amount of pain that I'm in just doesn't seem normal. I'm glad I didn't try sticking it out, and went back. Though I can say the medication isn't helping much, and neither are the pain killers or ibuprofen. Oh well, I think it may be an -ounce- better than last night, but now my jaw just aches and throbs in serious pain. I hope I heal fast! But at least I know what's wrong...

[Vieve25]

Im so sorry you ar so uncomfortable! thats just awful!

[determined419]

Tooth pain is the worst pain ever. They shoot up into your ear and your head and all you can do is squirm and clench. Hopefully its gotten better!

[JenInBraces]

What a pain braces can be! After developing dry socket, it took quite some time to get over the excruciating pain. It took about two weeks until I was able to stop taking the pain meds, and switch to just ibuprofen. Then a few days later, I was able to stop taking everything and life was good again... or, I should say, until the day they finally put the wires on.

That process was pretty quick and all. They put the bracket back on, the one that fell off during the teeth extractions. No sooner did they get that one on, they put the wires on, and on the bottom where my one tooth is over crowded and pushed back, well with so much pressure and so little space for the bracket, it popped right off. They didn't bother trying again, figured it would just come back off again. They ended up putting a coil on that extends from either side of the pushed back tooth. My teeth were pretty sore for about 5 days. Now the pain has relieved and only a few teeth hurt when pressure is put on them. One of the very front teeth is pretty sore to the touch, which is a real bummer when trying to eat. I pretty much have to cut up all my food into tiny pieces, because there's no way I can tolerate biting anything with the front. I hope that one stops aching soon, it would be nice to enjoy food again. It's been about 3 weeks now since I've ate much, other than soft foods. I've been itching for real food!

Oh, to answer one of my questions I had from before, about what in the world was going to happen to the 2nd molars that were left without anything on them... well they put 4 spacers in, and they're going to put the metal bands on next visit. They said they just wanted to take small steps since my teeth are crowded and such. Just a relief to know things are finally starting to play out, and now I'm only curious and anxious to see the results in motion.

Next appointment is April 26th. Hey.. I'll be 21 in two days! Hopefully by the age of 23 I'll have a beautiful smile!

[SassyCatLove]

You're on your way! I remember when I first got mine... I thought, this sucks. Its just beginning. But before I knew it I am past the halfway point and you too will be in no time!!

Horray for the bestest smile you can have yet to come!!!

Congrats!

-Donna