Kourtney Kitty's Story

[Kourtney Kitty]

The saga begins...

I am a 23 year old full time student and employee. I was supposed to get braces when I was 17 but my ortho gave me the option of using hawley retainers instead. The only problem was I rarely wore the retainers so my teeth were never straightened. Fast foward 5 years... I am having the worst time with my TMJ. I have chronic myofacial pain and my jaw even locks open sometimes. I am at the point where I am willing to do anything to recapture the disc in my jaw so I can chew, speak and smile normal. I have a kinda lopsided smile because of my TMJ issues.

I saw an ortho about a month ago because my primary dentist noticed my TMJ has gotten signifigantly worse. The ortho said he thinks he can recapture my disc and straighten my teeth all at once. I have crowding, a crossbite and narrow arches. My sentence is approximately 2 years with the possibility of early parole because of good behavior

My appointment for x ray's molds and spacers is set for this Thursday, and my appointment for braces is March 30th. I am going to try to move my installation appointment up if it is possible. I'm ready to get this show on the road.

Here are some pictures





The upper picture, which really shows off my narrow arches and crooked right side.


Here's the frontal picture of my teeth. It seems as if my whole right side came in crooked.


I will post again with a detailed diagnosis once I so to my appt on Thurs.

LET'S GET IT ON!!!!
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[Kourtney Kitty]

I can not resize these for the life of me... sorry. PLEASE HELP. I resized them in photo bucket but it's not showing here.

[hollywood_smile]

heya welcome
and good luck!

[belmikry]

congrats on starting your journey and I look forward to hearin your progress!

[Kourtney Kitty]

What should I do?????

I got sick yesterday and my appointment is in one hour!!!! Should I still go? I had a fever of 102 last night but it's come down since then. I've been taking Tylenol faithfully and Airborne every 3 hours. I hope I can shake this bug!!!

[belmikry]

oh no! I \'m asorry i didnt see this until now!

I'd say call them in the future and let them know- then go to the doctors

[Kourtney Kitty]

Well I made it to my appointment and I got my xray's and molds done. I am still scheduled to be braced on the 30th. I'm going to try to go in earlier since I am going out of town the last week in March. Oh yeah, I didn't need spacers either.

[rockexrolloh]

Hey Kourtney. I love that there are people older than me getting braces. I'm only 18 but I still thought I was too old. It's good to know that braces aren't just for younger kids.
And it's nice to know someone here is as excited as I am to get braces. I'm so stoked! I can hardly wait.
I hope you update when you get braces so we can all see your progress. <3

[Kourtney Kitty]

I am soooo impatient! I'm scheduled to get braced in 4 days (Thursday) but I really want to go out of town on Wednesday. I've been calling my ortho checking on cancellations for a week and so far nothing. I hope I dont have to wait until Thursday afterall!

[Kourtney Kitty]

I got my braces put on yesterday. I was going to go out of town but there is no point since I wont be able to 100% enjoy myself.

Well, my appointment was at 11:00am but I got there at 10:30, I signed my contract and sat in the 3rd chair in the patient treatment room. The assistant told me to open my mouth as wide as possible so she could put the lip seperators in. She then began to suction my mouth until there was no saliva left. She polished my teeth by hand with some purple gritty stuff that didnt taste too bad and told me to go rinse. After I rinsed she put the lip spreaders in again and began to suction my mouth out. This time she suctioned me so much that my tounge felt like cement. There was absolutely no moisture in my mouth at all! Then the assistant put the nastiest tasting stuff I've ever had in my mouth. I mean it was NASTY!!! I tried not to move my tongue around but I couln't help it.

The orthodontist then began to put the braces on my teeth. The entire process took about 35 minutes and I kinda zoned out while he was working. Once he was done, he told me to go brush my teeth and come back. Once I sat back in the chair, the assistant asked me what color lig's I wanted. I chose hot pink and black on the bottom and clear on the top. It took her about 10 minutes to put the archwire and ligs in then I was done.

My mouth is REALLY sore today as I expected, and I am eating soup for breakfast right now. Everything I put in my mouth gets stuck in between the archwire and my teeth. It takes me like 3 minutes to brush and I havent even attempted flossing. The wire is poking me a little on my right molar but I've just been keeping wax on it.

The whole time I was getting my braces put on the ortho was screaming about how much he hates invisalign and why he will avoid it at all costs. They were doing a mold of this poor mans mouth for like the 3rd time because he kept having issues with the fit of his alignment trays.

Here is a pic of my new mouth. Notice my jaw is still crooked. My lips look extra silly here but its the only way I can show you the bottom and the top braces.



I'm going to rince with warm salt water once I finish this soup. I've been working at it so long that it's cold!!!

[belmikry]

hey hey- looking great! love those ligs!

g;lad you were able to eat! my first days were torture- I don't think i'll ever be able to have a protein shake again!

theres a ton of recipes/suggestions on the site for meal choices- i'd throughoutly suggest checking them out- my personal favourite was melting pieces of a cupcake with icing on the roof of my mouth

your teeth already look fabulous- can't wait to see your progress!

[Kourtney Kitty]

Maybe it's just me but, I dont feel like anything is moving in my mouth. I noticed my bite was a little different and a tooth has rotated even though it didnt need to. Now its actually out of line. All of this movement happened in the first 10 days and I havent really felt anything since then. I dont feel or any extra wire hanging out. Is this how things normally are or am I just overly paranoid?

I'll take some pics in a sec so you guys can see what I'm talking about.

[Flora2006]

Hey! Everyone's movement is different. I remember not being able to see any movement the first few weeks but I knew something was hapenning because the wire was poking and cutting my cheeks.

The fact that you feel your bite change is good...that means there is something happening. Really, don't worry too much about not getting any movement...teeth move slow and even though you might not feel like they are moving...they are.

Also, from your pictures, your teeth look pretty good already so this might be another reason why you don't see change...It's easier to notice teeth moving when they are very crooked or someting very obvious...but its harder to notice movement when teeth are already pretty good looking.

Remember, things can get worse before getting better...so that tooth moving into a position that seems wrong...it has to move in order for other teeth to move...

Good luck with your progress, and keep us posted

[Kourtney Kitty]

Today was my first adjustment! My ortho added 2 new brackets on my bottom molars. I was wondering why he didn't put any there the first time.
I can see alot of movement in my teeth over the last six weeks and hopefully you can too.

Here are some pics...










I'm going to go eat before the pain sets in.