Braces Journey from Chaotic Choppers - Australia

[Chaotic Choppers]

Morning Greenman!

Hope each day is getting better with your invisalign! It sounds a lot different in reality than what you read in the brochures! I heard that reading out loud can help you get around a lisp fairly quickly?? But it will probably go in time anyway.

My ortho said that adjustments will be 6 to 8 weeks apart. My first adjustment will be 8 weeks to give him an idea of how they're moving. He said he can straighten my teeth without extractions but that wouldn't correct the protrusion. So my guess is that he'll get them all in line before the extractions are done...

Almost time for you to change aligners already! Let the countdown continue!

[Chaotic Choppers]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to tell you of my successful and not so successful soft foods so far:

Success:
MASH!!!!!!!!!!!
Frozen baby peas, carrot and corn steamed
Chicken sausages finely chopped
Slow cooked beef casserole finely chopped
Maccas cheeseburger pull out pickle and you guessed it, finely chopped!
Soft cooked raisin toast torn and dunked in cool tea or coffee
Le Rice (creamed rice)
chicken SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM (cooked well but not burnt/crunchy)
Soft boiled egg with torn up soft cooked toast torn up to dip
Porridge

Failures:
French fries (they came with the burger and I could eat some but it wasn't enjoyable)
Crunchy raisin toast unless dunked
Anything too hot
Small whole button mushrooms that I thought would break down easily (they don't- cut them up and they're fine)

Hope this helps anyone that's starving!

[Greenman]

Almost time for you to change aligners already! Let the countdown continue!

I wish!! Unfortunately each aligner has such a small adjustment (thanks to my ortho). Might take a while to see improvement. Sorry to hear that the fries are off the menu.

[NICURN85]

CC!!!!!

I am so glad you are able to manage some food!! WHOO HOO!!! My pain has slowly easy off which I am super excited about!! I am still sticking to the soft foods right now also! I also don't feel like I want to rip these braces out anymore. Now it is on to having the extractions done on Wednesday. I am trying to have a POSITIVE attitude about it this time. Hopefully I can chow down a good bit of food before it happens on Wednesday!!

[Chaotic Choppers]

Slow and steady Greenman! At the beginning things tend to seem longer anyway and then you start forgetting and then time flies!!

And yes, quite bummed about the fries! Especially seeing that there was a 10 year old boy in braces absolutely demolishing a quarter pounder and fries the other day (yes I was JEALOUS!!) So that might be me in a few months lol!

Kimmie!!! Glad your pain is easing a little!! Have something yummy to celebrate before your extractions!!!!!!! Sending hugs to get you through!!!!!

[NICURN85]

I am going to take your hugs with me! After work tonight I will try to rest and relax before tomorrow morning!!

[Chaotic Choppers]

TWO WEEK UPDATE PHOTOS

Hey everyone!

It's photo time! I know the photos are bad but I'm hoping to get better at taking photos that you can compare! You can't see a huge difference in the photos (I don't think) but the differences are as follows:

Some uprighting of slanted premolars
Front tooth is sticking out less and is starting to drop down a little to match the other one
My right bottom canine is pushing its way into my arch again!
A few extra spaces that you can't tell on the photos

Here is a photo of Day 1



And here is a photo of Day 14



Have a great day all!

[NICURN85]

Looking good CC! I can tell some difference. Teeth sure do move fast!!!! Hope you are having a great day!!

[Chaotic Choppers]

Thanks Kimmie They've been quite sore the past 2 days... mainly my premolars that are uprighting yay ... when I flossed tonight there was a strange noise and movement in one of them when I yanked the floss out... I'm exaggerating but it reminded me of a loose brick moving against other bricks -creepy!

Anyway hope all is well! We're almost 3 weeks in!

[krystina123]

Hey!

The pain will move from tooth to tooth, it also happened to me and gave some relief so I could chew on one side of my mouth. Did your ortho give you some numbing gel? If not, go get some from the pharmacy and put it on your gums. Relief!
As for dry lips, just lather your lips with lip balm, like seriously. I destroyed my lips from biting off the flaking skin till they bleed, oh it wasn't fun!
I had a lisp for the first 2-3 weeks of having braces. I can talk completely normal again now and I don't even notice them! I have speed braces, they're actually smaller then Damons!
If you can't chew food properly, then stick to a soup, mash potato and spagetti diet for the first week. Having ulcers with braces ain't fun! One month later and I can actually CHEW meat.

My next appointment is on the 14th, so I'll post how that goes, on my story (:

[Chaotic Choppers]

Thanks for the advice Krystina! I'll keep it all in mind I think I'm gradually improving on the whole and the ulcers have healed up! Sorry to hear that you've had a rough time too!

How has the weather been in Perth? We're so looking forward to some warm weather in Syd - it has been too cold this year!!!

I will have to find your story and follow it so I can see your progress! Hope you're seeing lotsa movement!!

[krystina123]

Just make sure that if your wire is poking out the back of your brackets, get it clipped! Seriously! I made the mistake of not getting it clipped and it destroyed my mouth.

And I'm from Geraldton. It's 4 hours from Perth. It tends to rain alot more in Perth than it does here. It was raining all after noon and all night yesterday. Was a nice change

I get all my treatment done in Perth though because there's only private orthos here in gero and the place I'm going to in Perth is a school of orthodontics that runs through the government dental system. It's for people who can't afford to pay $8000 for braces and have a low income, which is my situation. My mum can't work, my dad works but doesn't ran enough and I work as a check out chick. Hahah. I'm glad I found out about it though. $1300 and my braces, retainer, wire changes, appointments are all payed for. it's crazy, yeah?

My story is called "braces at 17". You'll see what I went through and lost a heap of money over a private ortho here. My story is about, half way down the page

[Chaotic Choppers]

Wow Krystina!! You certainly need and needed to go to a lot of effort to get to your appointments but it will be so worth it in the end! And the price is fantastic!! I'm so happy that you were approved and have now started treatment! I've found your story and will keep an eye on your progress

My parents didn't have the money either when I was younger and the government orthodontist was very quick to say that my case was purely cosmetic and that they wouldn't help fix them (which really wasn't the case and I'm quite annoyed that he let me believe it my whole life). Needless to say I'm now 29 and have jaw dramas and pain related to my teeth and I decided that enough was enough! So very happy to be on my journey now!! It's amazing how much you can ignore the pain when you've struggled so long to get braces in the first place!

Have to dash but will catch up again soon to see how you're going!

[Chaotic Choppers]

Hi everyone!!

I can't believe that tomorrow marks 1 month into my braces journey!!! Time has just flown!! And it is only a month to go until my next ortho appointment which is sneaking up on me quickly!! Hopefully I will remember to take some photos of my progress tomorrow!! I think you might be able to see a couple of little changes this time

Foods that I can eat:
Meatloaf
Brocolli steamed well
Zucchini steamed well
Had chinese on the weekend and the way they cook meat is so soft!!!!!!! Had garlic combination with fried rice (which was yum but got stuck everywhere- well worth it when ur eating at home
Crustless quiche
Homemade chips
Chicken, pasta and veg soup with a roll dunked into it
Strawberries not cut too small or too big...too small and u inhale and start choking! Too big and it's too hard to chew.
Pawpaw
Hot dog torn up and messy but yum!!

Failures:
One hard piece of carrot in my chinese!!
Cabbage not cooked long enough
Macca's thickshake was so thick it felt like I was sucking my teeth out! Had to wait for it to melt a little!!

So... I'm gradually getting back to some normal food!! Only now I've caught a cold and feel too sick to bother with much besides chicken soup!! The good news is that my braces aren't making the cold any worse than it would usually be so that makes me happy! Just trying to avoid throat lozenges because I don't think they'd be good for my teeth...that is annoying cos my throat is red raw!!!!

So teeth-wise they are all taking turns at being sore...mainly my right side at the moment which is the side that needs the most change so that is great! Getting a few more gaps and a few more teeth that I can't fit floss between so things are definitely moving around. My premolars are almost uprighted now from / to | Stay tuned for photos!

Catch u all again soon!!
CC

[Chaotic Choppers]

Photo Update

Hi All!

I know it's a bit late but I've been waiting for the photos to start really showing a difference...and I think that time has finally come! So here is my 6.5 week photo!!!! The lighting was bad but it's better than nothing

So here was week 1


And here is week 6.5



I'm eating almost anything now so long as it's small enough (still can't eat with my front teeth).

My first adjustment is next week! EEK! More pain and possibly the order to arrange to get my 4 teeth pulled! See how we go!

Hope everyone is going well!