Mackenzie's Braces

[mackenzie]

Hi! My name's Mackenzie and I'm 16. I hope that's not too young to post here. My "story" is probably pretty boring to read but I'm happy to have a place where I can write down what happens.

Anyway, I've been thinking about getting braces for a few months and I decided to go for it. I didn't get them when I was 12-13 like everyone else because my teeth didn't bother me back then. I think I wanted braces to be like everyone else and that made me feel stupid so when my mom took me to the ortho I said I didn't want them.

So now almost everyone I know has straight teeth and since I'm a pretty vain person (I'll admit it) there is no way I'm going to sit around with crooked teeth looking at everyones pretty straight ones when I could fix mine. Also, this site gave me a big kick in the butt because I don't want to be really old (like 25 haha) and get braces.

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Once Upon A Time...

Mackenzie and her 13 year old brother JT went to the ortho. She is really nice and said I will need braces for 18 months. I cried because I want them off by my senior pictures next summer. She said I could make appointments every 4 weeks instead of every 6-7 and that would cut my time down to 12 months. Now I'm wondering why everyone doesn't go every 4 weeks. Maybe it is to make you have more time to pay. (You have to have paid all of the treatment cost before your braces come off.)

JT has to have a palate expander for a few months then braces for about 2 years. It is funny, his teeth look so much nicer than mine but he needs way more work done. I'm glad to have him doing this with me.

Our mom came with us and she signed the contracts because I want to get things started ASAP. JT gets 3 spacers and we make an appointment to come back then next day.

Next morning I drive JT to the ortho where he gets impressions for his expander (his spacers out now) and I get spacers. They don't hurt too bad that day, just some pressure and my bite is a little funny because my top and bottom spacers hit each other. It is fun because it makes my mouth sort of "bounce" open from the rubber hitting. This was all on Wednesday.

Thursday I wake up and OWW my teeth hurt. It's not unbearable but I take some Aleve and make oatmeal. It takes me 20 minutes to eat it. I'm going to a water park today so I take a quick shower and go to my boyfriend Brandons house to meet up with a friend and her boyfriend. We head off to the waterpark and it's fun and it keeps my mind off my ouchy mouth. I have to eat soft food all day and even that hurts. Brandon keeps forgetting and a few times he's watching me eat and says something like "Actually bite into it this will take fore--oh sorry I forgot." (Because I give him a dirty look.) That was pretty funny. He's my best friend and he had braces when he was about 13 so he tells me what to expect.

Today is Friday and I woke up with no pain just a little pressure. Yay! I haven't eaten yet but I think it will go well. Also, I can tell my teeth are moving since they're a little more crowded. I'm supposed to get top metal braces Sept. 6 but I'm going to call and try to get in sooner because I want to get the show on the road. The sooner on, the sooner off.

[HollyDontSpend]

Congratulations Mackenzie! The pressure is kind of weird those first days huh? I would involuntarily try to push my braces off with my lips because it felt like I had food in my mouth. HA! Oatmeal sounds like a great start. I ate a lot of mashed potatoes and soups. I was too much of a wuss to eat anything rougher. Good luck with the rest of your treatment!

[braceface1230]

Awesome, Mackenzie has some braces going on in a few hours. You won't regret the decision to finally go through with it. Best of luck with it!

[mackenzie]

Soo...they're on. I don't care too much about them, went with light pink and they look cute...I guess. I'm really suprised that I just don't care.

Getting to the Ortho was an adventure today. I left my lights on while I was in school and the car wouldn't start so campus security came to jump it. I was running late tho so my mom came and got me. Brandon (boyfriend) was going to jump it after school but amazingly I got it started.

The hooks on the molar bands are poking my cheeks a little but not bad. Teeth a teeny bit sore but not bad. Everything's going good. My top teeth are good anyway so I guess they are just moving out so the bottoms can go on.

Ate a rolled chicken strip pita thing for lunch and a BLT for dinner with no problems at all. I did get the BIGGEST hunk of bread caught on this little hook thing that's on the canine brackets, but not a big deal.

Day one down, aprox. 363 days to go.

[nahky]

Ate a rolled chicken strip pita thing for lunch and a BLT for dinner with no problems at all. I did get the BIGGEST hunk of bread caught on this little hook thing that's on the canine brackets, but not a big deal.

Day one down, aprox. 363 days to go.

I can really relate to the problem with the canine hooks. They are freaking annoying! For me, they catch on to my lips at time which is painful and annoying. When i first strated out, hey really hit my lips, now they are in a more comfortable position.

Day one down, aprox. 363 days to go.

you only have to have them for a year? Im jealous. I've been sentenced to 18 months, but i have to keep them for 21 because of insurance problems. at least they are coming off before my 19th birthday.

Congrats on finally getting braced.

[mackenzie]

So...over a week down and it seems like things are going too good. A few of my teeth were a barely noticible ammout tender on the 2nd day if I bit into something hard, but nothing the next day. Never thought I'd say this but I want some pain so I know they're working. I had 2 little sores/cut things but they went away in a day or 2.

Tomorrow I am going to ask them about my lack of pain because I am going to the ortho to get my archwire out, to the dentist so he can slenderize a crown, and back to the ortho for the archwire back. Maybe I can get a new color. It's going to be over an hour of driving back and forth though.

Q for anyone, what direction are my teeth supposed to be moving? They are being repositioned so my bottoms can go on and I won't bite them off due to my overbite. I just want to know where to watch for progress.

[mackenzie]

Got the fake tooth slenderized. I thought he accidentaly did the tooth next to it and I broke down crying. I was like "I can't get that back!!!" But it turns out that tooth is just deformed and you couldn't tell before. I'm not too happy about how many of my teeth are messed up. I have 2 chipped ones, one fake one, and one teeny deformed midget tooth. I'm trying not to be negative but I'm worried they won't even look good when they are straight. I guess I can always look into laminates or veneers on my front teeth when everything is done.

Anyway, I got a new wire in already after 2 weeks. It looks thicker and I know it's stronger, it doesn't move when I push on it. Still though, hardly any feeling from it.

Now I have a little gap next to my front tooth from the filing down of my fake tooth, and I'm hoping I will get a pretty powerchain in the future.

[mackenzie]

So...here they are. I never knew my bottom teeth were that bad, but I think that's because they got really crooked from spacers. Sorry about the blurry-ness. You tell that my right central (I think, I'm just starting to learn the tooth names) is fake. It's thicker then my real teeth and the metal post shows thru it on the back.

[Zephyrine]

You may have answered this in another post, but why is your right central fake? Is it an implant? If so, do you have any problems with it? What was the implant surgery like? Why did they make it thicker than the rest of your teeth?

I'm really sorry to interrogate you like that, I'm debating whether or not to get an implant for my impacted canine and I want all the info I can get.

[mackenzie]

It's fake because I cracked the real one in half in elementary school. I got the bottom bonded back on and that was a good fix until the bonding came off on a caramel sucker. By then I had a new dentist who ground down what was left and made it into a post for a crown because he said what was left of the tooth was going to turn brown. That crown was HORRIBLE it was so ugly and off color and just BAD. Needless to say that dentist left town. I have a new dentist now and insurance won't pay for a new crown for a few years but my new guy said he could give me a composite crown made of plastic and bonding that he gauranteed would look better for $200.

At this point I'm really glad I don't have a porcelain crown in there because you can't file those down but bonding you can so my otho did that to make more room and stuff.

I don't think that is considered and implant but I have a post implanted in there.

No surgery but I did have a root canal with no pain killers and it didn't hurt much at all.

No problems with that tooth except that it doesn't match the others perfectly.

I don't know why it's thicker I think it is just because they had to make the bonding material thicker? I really don't know.

Hope I helped a little.

[Guppie51]

A root canal with no pain killers?
YIKES, maybe its just me but my root canal hurt... quite badly.

Chin up... people can be really hard on their smile after all is done, I really hope you are happy with it.

[Zephyrine]

Hope I helped a little.

You did, thanks a lot!

[CelestialVoices]

Congrats on your progress so far

[mackenzie]

Had my 1st official appointment 2 weeks ago and I got another new wire. So I'm on my 3rd wire in my first month. That seems like good progress. It's a reverse curve wire to open my bite so the bottoms can go on. I haven't noticed anything yet. The gap next to my fake tooth is closing up on its own, I guess from pressure from my molars.

At the next appointment they told me the otho is going to look at my teeth and maybe set a date for the bottoms to go on. I've got a feeling she might say waiting for reverse curve wires to open my bite is taking too long and I have to get a biteplate. I'd rather not have to do that but it's better then wasting time waiting for my bite to open. On the other hand, if I have to get a biteplate it would mean I could have had one for the last month and a half and things could be happening.

JT got his expander and turning the key took some getting used to. But now my mom and I have it down, JT figured out how to eat again, but he is still talking a little funny.

[mackenzie]

I think you're attitudes great that your'd rather get your bottoms moving than worry too much about the bite plate!

Thanks! I'm so anxious though because I really want my braces off before Senior pictures when I graduate high school. If things go as planned they should be. Do teenagers get senior pictures in Australia?