Dental Journey!!

[bridget51992]

Time for a wee update
All my extraction sites look really nice to me (I mean as nice as a hole in one's gums can look; nothing is oozing and all bone is VERY happily covered), and my stitches have finally all dissolved. No more salt water. Yayyy
I had the first adjustment on Thursday, like I said, and I got a new wire on both top and bottom to go over the extraction sites now. Before, the wire had ended before reaching those teeth, so now everything but my back molars are encompassed. I'm not liking having to constantly put wax on the end of the wires on the bottom though... and neither do my cheeks. Since Thursday, I've been spitting up a lot of blood when I brush my teeth. Is that normal? I think so, since those extraction sites are still rather fresh and I've got wires poking into my cheeks constantly (just a little poke, but still uncomfortable).
Since the extractions, I've noticed that my bottom teeth closest to the sites have begun moving a bit; there's more room between the teeth when I'm flossing. So that's nice to see
However, just when I had thought my open bite may have been looking slightly less open - as soon as I left the orthodontists' on Thursday, I thought my bite looked more open than ever. asdfhjkdsfhdsajfh I just want it to close... I hate seeing it. I decided I'd just post photos on the 1-month mark, so that maybe I won't obsess about it in the meantime. There's really not much to report yet anyway, that I can see.
I'm getting used to myself in braces though! I'm trying to really embrace the idea of them looking cute. I think that's best I can have with them, but I will gladly take it XD

[bridget51992]

Blargh, so discouraging. I just took my one month photos, and the only difference seems to be in the ligatures.

Day 1
One Month

I just need to be pattieeeennntt... but it troubles me that I feel like it's only gotten worse.
I didn't take very good photos from Day 1, but I got a new camera for my birthday so everything's not so blurry now!
Day Before Getting Braces (I also was at sort of a different angle, so maybe that accounts for the difference.)
One Month
I have less teeth!

I've heard a lot of people say that with braces, sometimes things get worse before they get better, but I don't like it... I guess I'm just having trouble understanding how braces even fix an open bite. I'm afraid I'll have to have the surgery, and I don't want that at all.
I will just wait to see how things turn out and hope for a Regina Spektor smile (one of my favorite musicians who also happens to have gorgeous teeth)! :

[bridget51992]

You know I do see a bit of a difference now:



Not sure if that will make sense to everyone, but it seems to ME that the tooth underneath the blue arrow has moved quite a bit toward the space left by the extraction site (illustrated by the beautiful red X's). It is a lot looser to floss around that tooth now, so I do see that things are moving. I didn't expect a massive amount of movement within the first month, but it is encouraging to see just a little bit.

Although that movement doesn't help the appearance of my bite at all XD but at least it's something.

[catgyrl]

Hi Bridget-

When I clicked on this post, I started looking from the last post-up and saw Regina Spektor's pic and thought that was YOU! I thought, "Wow, she got them off already??"

Your teeth are really beautiful, Bridget! Except for that bite issue, they're nice and white and straight. I'm almost positive you will be "blessed" with elastics at some point because those are little Miracle Workers for fixing bites. I, too, had no idea how they would bring my upper teeth down to where they needed to be, but after a few months in elastics, I see them doing the trick. Not gonna lie - they kinda suck at times - but they work.

If your pokey wires get too out of control, you may want to call them to see if you can run in and have them clipped. I find that if I have to have wax on it all day... every day... for more than a couple of days, then it's too long. I had a couple of months where my teeth moved so quickly, that the wire poking out the back was ridiculously long; too long to put wax on, and plenty long enough to impale the back of my mouth and render me speechless (literally... unable to move my mouth!). My ortho assistant told me I should've come in earlier. Now she's very diligent about making sure I feel absolutely NOTHING back there when I leave.

-Cathy

[bridget51992]

Haha! Nope they're definitely still on
Thank you so much for your kind words Cathy; I do like my teeth, the bite issue is just bothersome because they were fine until the last couple of years! I feel like elastics will definitely be uncomfortable and I'll probably be all vain about them too, but if they do the trick, then I'll be grateful for them.
Pokey wires haven't been a problem yet! But thank you for the tip; I'm sure they will be in the future! The main issue I've had with wires lately is that the wire over my upper right extraction site was digging into the inside of my cheek constantly and formed this big sore that would get caught there. It was sad. But it's finally starting to go away, after almost a week!

[catgyrl]

Oops - I'm so sorry! I totally mis-read your post. All I saw was "wires" and "blood". I'm glad to hear it's getting better.

[bridget51992]

No don't be sorry - I did have problems with pokey wires, but I was able to cover them up with wax relatively easily

[stepher7]

I definitely see progress! I think your bite doesn't look quite as open as before, so I think things are probably moving along the way they should be! I completely know how you feel about being discouraged with things getting worse before they get better! I have a tooth (one of my upper centrals) that seems to be shifting behind the lateral beside it, just a bit. It's not really noticeable right now, except to me lol but I'm concerned that it's going to get really bad before my next adjustment which isn't for another month. I know it's still early SPAM SPAM SPAMMING and can be fixed, but it is definitely discouraging when you see things looking worse than they did before braces. Oh well, I guess we just have to trust our orthos and what they're doing! And I'm very jealous of how straight and white your teeth are!!

[braced33]

Hi Bridget!

I agree with Stepher, your bite really is changing and I can see that your teeth are moving back. It's probably harder to measure the progress since your teeth are already so straight and the changes may not look as obvious as when crooked teeth straighten out.

I really like your pink ligs!

[bridget51992]

I feel very silly now for getting discouraged, especially because I've only had my braces for one month. I guess seeing other people's changes within the first month got my hopes up too much! I guess we just want to see real progress so badly because it's a sign that we're doing the right thing for ourselves by dealing with all this metal every day

Stepher, maybe if you call your orthodontist, he or she can give some encouraging words about the tooth in question? Best of luck with it! I can already see your teeth straightening out! !! And thank you very much for the compliment on my teeth; they'd be a real mess if I hadn't already had braces when I was a kid!

Braced, thank you for the encouragement and compliment as well. Those ligs were supposed to be lavendar, but once they got onto my teeth, they looked pink! I'm enjoying having colored ligs (It seems like a silly thing, but I think it's really fun to get new colors). I haven't really noticed changes in the bite, but I know it'll look completely different once my extraction sites are covered.

[braced33]

Ooooh, lavender would be neat too!

I've been going with the boring clear colors but maybe I'll get brave enough to try some colors in the future. How fun and it gives you something to look forward to at adjustments! Not a bad idea...

[bridget51992]

Hi Archwired!

I had my last ortho appointment on Tuesday, July 5, and it was rather eventful. I got caps on my back molars, a new wire to reach them, and my personal favorite, new ligatures! I am not exactly enjoying the back molar caps at present. I woke up this morning with a big pain in the way back of my left cheek from a sore the cap had made inside my mouth, so I sealed that sucker off with some dental wax.

I decided to go a bit bolder with my ligatures this month, and I am really glad!! My boyfriend even seemed really happy with it when I smiled as we left the orthodontist's (I don't know why but he seems to like going with me. I guess he enjoys the time sitting in the waiting room reading National Geographic and having to listen to my lady music in the car on the way there ).

My ortho, and even the lovely receptionist, said they're seeing definite movement in my teeth! I thought that was weird because I hadn't really noticed anything, but when I took pictures, I saw that my front teeth have actually moved down to meet the ones on bottom a little bit!! There's still that open space, but now when I smile in pictures you can actually tell that yes, my mouth is closed. Yay! This is encouraging. If my Internet will stop being an idiot, I can post a photo for your viewing pleasure.

I heard my orthodontist say that next month (August 2 - not such a long wait this time!) I'm going to get a... I think he said "lacefront?" chain on my uppers. This sounds a little scary, but I think it would just be like a power chain to close in my gaps? Not really sure. Does anyone else know what this might be?

I hope everyone's dental journeys are going as fabulous as can be!

[bridget51992]

A photo of Day 1, a month in, and 2 months in, respectively:


Does anyone else see a difference?
I still don't understand how the whole braces thing even works, or why my teeth would look like they've been brought down when I haven't even had elastics yet. Oh well, I'm just glad it's happening. : )

[stepher7]

DEFINITE difference!! It's looking good! And how cute that your bf goes with you that's a man to hold onto!

[White Fang]

Yes, I definitely see a difference!!

You ARE brave (and smart) for doing this in college. I had an opportunity to get them in what would have been my last year of high school plus first year of college and decided I would do it later. It only took 15 years! And of course my teeth are in much worse shape now than they were then. Yours are going to be 100% fab!