Two Stories in One: Our His and Hers Matching Braces

[tiffatee]

I'm new to this forum but your story is so cute! Also, I love your positive attitude. I read one of your posts that said some thing like "i feel like i just got punched in the face but I'm so excited!" hehehehehe.... that made me smile. Thanks for sharing your story

[Ellabelle]

I'm in the chair at the ortho right now. Going to get my appliance put in. Soooo nervous.

This is it:

[Dee17]

Hey Ellabelle,
Sending you lots of cyber warm fuzzies. That thing looks like it will be a bugger to keep clean but it will be SOooooo worth it. Keep your chin up and hang in there. You must be about 1/2 way there by now, right?
xoxo

[kids041]

good luck!

[mariawong86]

Good luck !!

[Ellabelle]

Thanks for the good wishes, ladies, that means a lot! Yes Dee about 1/2 way... when I go in for my next appt in January that'll be 1 year in, and hopefully just 1 more to go!

Okay, so this appliance, the Liberty Bielle fixed, feels so SO weird inside my mouth! When I bite down, only the tops of my front teeth touch, so chewing is pretty much out of the picture for me now. I may need to come off the low carb wagon because just about everything I was eating required significant chewing. We went out for lunch afterwards, and I got a grilled cheese that I was able to slide down in little pieces with water to chase it. Really couldn't masticate the food as is traditional. Yeah, I know that's gross, I'm sorry. But bear with me as this will be my life for the next yearish! I really don't know what I'll be eating other than soups and smoothies.

So they also figure 8ed most of the teeth, and put a clear powerchain on top which I am NOT happy about. I asked for pink ligs on the top so you'd think they'd go with a pink powerchain! I'm afraid it's going to stain and look like crap in no time. I enjoy coffee, diet coke, and red wine, so I'm just really concerned about it being clear. I've never wanted clear anything in my mouth. AND my next appt is not til Jan... after thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.... maybe I can see if I can go back in to just have them change that. With everything that's going on in my mouth it's really important to me that everything stays clean and looking nice. Am I overreacting?

Oh, and I should probably mention the pain. Remember when I said elastics made me feel like I was punched in the face? Well they did, but I religiously wore them 24/7 for the entire mouth. But now with this beast in my mouth, my time in elastics seems like a quaint, lovely jaunt through the park. This appliance hurts ridiculously much, and I'm only a few hours in, and I'm ibuprofened up. Universe, help me get through this.

Also my face looks weird with my mouth closed, crazy weird when I open it, makes the weirdest metal on metal sound as I move my mouth, and talking is super awkward and hard. Oh, and I teach kids with ASD to talk for my living. I'm freaking out that I won't even be able to do my job! Ahhhh. So, summary, it is uncomfortable, awkward, painful, and I look completely ridiculous. Ughhhhh. Finding it hard to be my normal optimistic self today.

My honey's teeth are looking fabulous, like borderline perfect. They changed a wire to twist some teeth, so he's in a lot of pain. Blue powerchains top and bottom, which I think look super hot on him! Lucky duck with the naturally perfect bite!!

I'll attach a few pics. Sorry the quality isn't all that great. But just to give you an idea of what my busy mouth is looking like now. I'll try to take some better pics later, as well as some of my FI, and I'll share those when I have them.

Thanks again for your kind words of support, I really appreciate them. I hope you're all having great braced weeks!!

♥♡♥♡♥♡
E

[Dee17]

I must say, that's quite a mouthful! Oh, my goodness, I really don't think I could handle all of that but I'm sure you'll do fine. It will just take a little getting used to, I'm sure.
I had clear powerchains from the time I first got mine. I was also worried about staining but had no problems with that at all. I still have a powerchain on top (clear) but it's almost invisible. Well, maybe it is to me but not other people.
I hope you are not going to have too much trouble with talking. I am still having trouble with certain sounds -- mostly s and c and I attribute that to the brackets. I think you'll be doing a lot of fussing around with your speech with that stuff in your mouth. Good luck with it.
As for your FI having a perfect bite.... that's great for him, huh? I hope he's coming along nicely.

[mapleleafman888]

That is quite the piece of hardware! So I'm guessing the purpose of this is to move your jaw forward or down?

[Ellabelle]

Thanks Dee! That makes me feel better about the powerchain!

Maple, it is to correct my overbite and overjet. Before when I bit down my tops almost completely covered my bottoms.

[Ellabelle]

Oh, I'd like to add that my assistant had no idea what she was doing. And no one else did either. My assistant was asking the DR about which way it went on, and the DR kept spinning it in front of my mouth, trying to figure it out herself. Then the DR left and the assistant couldn't get it cut to the right size, and couldn't screw it in. She apologized saying she'd only done it "once before, a long time ago". Such comforting words to hear as someone's trying (and failing) to put a mid evil-style torture device into my mouth.


So finally another assistant had to come over to help. Who's my regular girl, and I was surprised I didn't have her for this procedure, as she's done it several times before. So the two girls were right in my face, both working on my mouth, one holding, the other one twisting. Or one twisting, the other one holding her hair back. It was just laughable unprofessional.

My FI got it all on videotape, it was quite the debacle. My appt was at 10:15, they sat me right away, and I didn't leave til just after noon. The dr didn't even come back over to check the work. The assistants' total lack of confidence and skill really bothered me. They kept saying things like, "well that's not quite perfect but it's a good start. We can always adjust it at the next appointment." All the while they're fiddling with the pistons, cutting them, but then it was too short so they added "shims", and throughout they're poking me, grating against my chapped lips, not to mention just putting a sh!tton of pressure on my teeth. I got the occasional "sorry Hun", and "good thing 'Ella' has a big mouth!" I wanted to say, hey I have the video on my phone, would that help you? I have a link to the manufacturers website with all the pictures.... The girl finds a little pamphlet from Rocky Mountain Orthodontics, who makes the appliance. "Pictures are good!" she exclaims in excitement/relief.

So, is it just me, or was that all handled in a way that was supremely unprofessional and unprepared?

[Dee17]

Wow! I'd have been having a major fit if that was going on in MY mouth. And you said that the doctor didn't even come over to check things when it was all finished?? Really???? Now THAT is unprofessional in my opinion. I would be having a serious discussion with her the next time I see her. In fact, if it were me, I'd be calling and asking for an appointment to sit down and discuss it with her. Wow! That's really all I can say.

[mapleleafman888]

Your thoughts about the installment saga are reasonable...IMO Anyone running a professional service should be prepared before hand and should at least give off a vibe that they got things under control. If they haven't done a perticular procedure before they should get someone who has, especially the suitor who has a degree and is being paid big bucks to do this for you.

I can identify how you must feel in a way. When my ortho was doing my consultation, I asked him about my 2mm off center midlines and he brushed me off with, "OH your eye must be sharper than mine". the 1 hour appointment turned into 2 hours. If it weren't for his 33 years experience and awesome staff who heard my complaint and brought it to his attention I probably would have changed to a different office.

Good luck with this contraption, take care.

[Norrie]

Wow, what an experience. I would be really bummed out by the lack of professionalism (they could have moved aside to have a meeting about how best deal with you), and your doctor DEFINITELY should have checked out their work. I've got Incognito, and a bracket fell off mere hours after my adjustment on Tuesday. I went back into the office yesterday and had both a tech and the doctor work on me...just to replace a bracket. And then he checked her work again before saying that she could get the wire in place and put ligs back on.

I'm sorry that you had that experience. Do you receive satisfaction emails from your doctor's office? We get them after every visit, so that we can rate how it went. If so, be sure to tell them all about how bogus it was.

As for soft foods, I'm the queen of this, as I really can't chew well anymore. I make a batch of risotto every Monday, and we often have waffles and scrambled eggs for dinner. The waffles are soft enough that I can get through them. I don't know if you have a Qdoba or Chipotle near you, but I find that I can eat their naked burrito bowls if I get rice, beans, chicken, and guac. Their chicken is cut small enough that it's pretty easy to get through. I eat a lot of oatmeal and smoothies for breakfast, chocolate pudding and applesauce for snacks, and when I'm feeling especially sorry for myself, I get chocolate shakes.

Good luck! You've certainly gone through the wringer lately.

[PaisleyGrrl81]

Ellabelle, can you tell me how your fiancé felt when they hooked in the tooth that wasn't connected to the wire? AKA the one that needed to join the party. I have one rogue tooth, on the bottom as well, that is not attached to the wire and I'm not sure what the next step is. I don't currently have a spring between the 2 neighboring teeth, but that may change. My next adjustment (2nd) is this coming Tuesday. Did your fiancé have any pain when they finally connected it? Also, has it been brought all the way forward yet, and attached to the wire directly, or is it still coming forward with the little pulling wire? I'm super interested in this process, because that tooth feels loose, unstable, and occasionally sensitive to temperature. I'm anxious to get it wired in but scared at the same time! Any info will be MUCH appreciated!!

[Ellabelle]

Hey Paisley- he says the tooth didn't move much with the in-between pulling wire (towards the end of the spring process, which made the room). Once they tied it in, though, within about 2 days it was much closer to where it should be, the progress was extremely fast at that point. But he warns to be prepared for extreme sensititivty, because the rapid movement exposes a nerve. It looks AMAZING now, all his little soldiers are in a perfect row. I'll take a pic and post it tomorrow. It's so cool to see everyone at the party! good luck girl, keep us posted! I hope your 2nd adjustment went well!

And let me know if you have any other questions and I'll relay them to him!!