"Welcome to the First World..."

[dreamrio]

is what my dad told me the day my braces made their debut. I was born in the Philippines and moved to the States when I was 4. Although my dad's been a naturalized citizen for 20 years he says he's never felt more American than the day he saw me and my sister in braces on the path to getting "American Teeth". lol.

Anyways, I'll be sharing my journey to "American Teeth" here. I'm moving my post re: 2nd adjustment from my The Bracket Club thread to this thread. All subsequent posts pertaining to my journey will be in this thread from now on.

2nd Adjustment post:

Hi everyone! I'm approaching my 3rd month in braces on the 19th and just had my 2nd adjustment yesterday. I've had no major changes since getting braces but my left wayward canine that used to flare out now points down, yay! I can't wait until it aligns properly. I wish I could show you before and current pictures of my not-so-bad bottom teeth and my truly jacked up upper arch but I have none to share. I lent my digital camera loaded with before pics to my analog dad in order for him to capture my nephew's piano recital. The camera was returned with my pictures erased and blurry pictures of my nephew in sweater-vest and tie. And since then my 8 year old camera just keeled over and died on me. RIP.

When my ortho first put on my braces back in May, he mentioned that he hoped to put a spring over my right lateral incisor which was pushed waaay back and semi-successfully hidden behind my crazy right canine in order to make room for it and to place a bracket on it like the other cool teeth and bring it forward to join its friends (individuality cannot be tolerated in my mouth!) Looking very much forward to the day I'd no longer look like the great toothless wonder, I crossed all fingers and toes during my 1st adjustment back in July for a spring and, yet, no spring came. Yesterday, I had high hopes that I was finally ready and still no spring. :sigh: Here's hoping that the 3rd time's the charm.

A couple more things: I unknowingly broke the ceramic bracket over my left canine at some point during the last 6 weeks. I was bummed to hear it as I thought I was taking great care of my braces and monitoring them closely. Apparently not. Have you ever broken your brackets? Is it a normal occurrence with ceramic braces? I have the Clarity brackets if that makes a difference. Also, my ortho replaced two of my metal brackets on the lower canines for "better alignment". Is that normal? Or did he mess up in the beginning and was now fixing his mistake?

Oh, and I decided to have a little fun with my ligatures and got purple on my bottoms. I stuck with clear on top. I just realized that I better limit my tea and coffee consumption to the bare minimum (I'm an addict with the Starbucks Gold Card to testify it) to prevent ANY yellowing lest I want to be mistaken for a Laker Fan (ewwww) who's decided to express their team devotion during the offseason/lockout through orthodontia. To any Lakers devotees out there, I'm j/k. Sorta.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

[Bron]

Hey, Good luck with your journey.
Like you I too have a wayward canine (affectionately referred to as my snaggletooth ) that has hidden my lateral incisor in the back. Thankfully my ortho put a spring in on my first visit. While i can't see huge changes I can tell it is on the move. I'm sure your spring wont be far behind. I think mine will be there for a while as there is still no rrom to fit a bracket to that little incisor.

Fingers crossed your spring comes soon! And I look forward to following your story and hopefully seeing some pics too.

[dreamrio]

Hey Everyone! I had my 3rd adjustment on Saturday. I was in and out of the office in less than 15 minutes. I still didn't get a spring over my right lateral incisor like I hoped, boo. Ortho says there's still a slight curve in the archwire over my canine and he wants it to line up with the rest of my teeth a little more before he starts making room for the lateral incisor. :sigh: He did say that I'm close so hopefully next time. Despite not getting a spring I am stoked that I got new archwires I'm not sure what size they are but they're rectangular and pretty significant in size - I can't imagine them being any bigger. Right now my teeth are a bit sore, which I honestly kind of like. When I don't feel any pressure I feel like my braces aren't doing enough. I've seen some slight changes in the past from previous adjustments but I'm looking forward to what changes these new wires bring.

Also, I see my dentist in 2 weeks for a cleaning and a general exam. I'm kinda nervous about that. The first 2 1/2 months of wearing braces I was obsessive about brushing after every meal and snack and flossing 2x a day. The past month and a half or so I've totally slacked off. Still brushing after most meals but the flossing is down to like 2x a week. Gross, I know. I really need to invest in a pack of Floss Fish. Using Glide Threader Floss is costing me a small fortune. Hopefully the Floss Fish can cut down on those costs and I'll floss more - my dentist will be happy about that!

[dreamrio]

Went to the dentist during lunch today a week earlier than planned and have nothing but good news to report Dentist said I was taking great care of my teeth which was a relief. I admitted to him and my hygienist that the past month and half or so my flossing has been reduced to 2-3x a week. When it came time for the hygienist to floss my teeth she struggled and said she didn't blame me for slacking. I've always loved getting my teeth cleaned and the feeling afterwards but even more so now with braces. Since getting these suckers on I feel like my teeth are not as thoroughly cleaned as I'd like them to be. Now that I'm at dental ground zero I thought it'd be the best time to buy a bunch of fun new dental care products to incorporate into my routine so I can blow my dentist's and hygienist's minds with my newly recharged oral care prowess and acuity at my next cleaning in January.

So tonight I got:

G.U.M. Gum Stimulator. Never used one before.

Alcohol Free Listerine (purple). I think this is new. I currently alternate between Phos-Flur in the morning and Rembrandt whitening/enamel restoring at night. Still not sure how I'll incorporate this into my routine because I still want to use the other two. Probably just use the Rembrandt 3 nights a week since that shizz is expensive and the Listerine for the other 4 nights.

Periobalance Dental Probiotic lozenges (yep, I'm the biggest sucker ever). Usually $25 a box but on sale for $11 so I bought 2. Plan on using this after brushing my teeth after lunch. I'm skeptical but they do taste great.

Waterpik! Excited about this. I used a Via Jet growing up but never bought my own once I moved out of my parents' house years ago.

Sonicare brush heads.

And my Floss Fish order came last night.


This all adds up to one exciting evening of dental care