Starfish's braces

[starfish88]

Woo hoo! I have a debrace date! The 6th November! I have been so busy because I've found out I'm moving country (again) so I have had to push my ortho to get everything finished! And he is amazing. On my debrace date I get my braces off, then one of the assistants is driving me to a dentists friend of hers office for a clean (my usual hygienist is only part time so I wouldnt get an appointment before I leave) and then after driving me back for permanent and removable retainers! So in a week and a half I'll be brace free!

Freaking out a little as I'll need a checkup and clean from this dentist I don't know. My fear has improved so much but this is still quite a big task. Still, I just have to focus on how great my ortho has been pulling in favours to organise this for me or I wouldn't be getting braces off here and would be looking for another ortho in another country!

Right now I'm in crazy elastics to encourage my bite to settle and I can hardly open my mouth. Even worse I have had a stomach ache due to the moving stress and don't want to risk worsening it by taking painkillers. So have to grin and bare it!

[Dee17]

Wow, that's wonderful news, Starfish. You must be just tickled pink. I hope it all works out with your cleaning. My 1st year anniversary in braces was today. Still no word on when I'll get mine off. Good luck on your move!

[starfish88]

At 1 year I hadn't really go any news about getting them off either but it all go moving fairly quickly after that (helped by the fact I'm moving!) I'm sure it won't be too much longer for you either!

[Dee17]

Yes, I'm sure you're right. I have seen some great changes though. My space is almost entirely closed something I didn't think would EVER happen! There is just a bit left at the top of the two front teeth.
Where are you moving from/to? Are you moving for work? Must be an exciting time for you.

[headbanggg]

great news, i am so happy for you

[starfish88]

I'm moving back to the UK for a bit, for my partners job! Very exciting!! I've also just got a ticker to count down to de-brace day....so excited! It does feel like ages thinking back to when all this began but I would do it all over again if I had to (not planning to though - going to be very careful about retainers - both pernanent and clear) Plus I'm having a bit of a holiday en-route to the UK so I'm excited to take loads of pictures showing my new smile!

[Dee17]

I hope you'll post some of them here. We'd all love to see the New You! Best of luck to you!!

[Anna5]

What a fantastic result, Starfish, congratulations!!!! I am so happy for you! Your teeth look really amazing!

Your upper arch has really widened a lot, which is beautiful. I hope the same for me (have a narrow arch as well, was reccommended SARPE, but declined and now we are trying to get a good result with braces alone). You got such a good result! How did your ortho manage to widen your arch, just with braces or also elastics?

Good luck on your debrace day soon!!!!

[starfish88]

I have had elastics but they werent to widen my arch, they were class II to bring my bottom jaw forward. My arch was widened by the wires alone. A lot of the widening has come from tipping the teeth straight from where they were (tipping into my mouth) but I feel like there has been some actual expansion and I did get gaps between the teeth. Certainly there feels like there is a lot more room for my tongue

[starfish88]

Here we are with less than a week to go! Gosh my teeth need a good clean!

[Dee17]

You look great! Best of luck to you!

[starfish88]

Wow! the first few weeks of braces went so slowly while I was getting used to them, then I sort of forgot about them and life continued as normal at a normal pace. But the last week and a bit has gone so slowly! No one warned me how slowly time would pass waiting for my braces to come off!

Part of what has made this week go so slowly is the now elastics shape I have. It starts on my top molars then goes down to the bottom molars, under the brackets of my bottom molars and pre-molars and up to my top canines. Its meant to level my bite and let everything settle but my teeth really ache. And to keep the elastic in place under the bottom molars and pre-molars my ortho kept the doors on my brackets a little bit open so they have something to hook under. The doors a scratching my mouth up like crazy! My ortho said it would be bad but its only for a week and a half. I think it put my class of pre-schoolers off ever getting braces because my lip caught on one of the doors and started to bleed and the kids were like 'OMG do braces HURT!!!' and I had to like and pretend I was eating a red candy!

Roll on Wednesday!! (The only positive here is that because I'm in Australia it will be Wednesday sooner for me than it will be for most of you!)

[Dee17]

I'm sure Wednesday can't come soon enough, Starfish. That must have been a major ouchie. I don't envy that at all. Ugh. I am expecting that I will be forced to wear elastics at some point but I only have hooks on my bottom brackets so I don't really know what to expect. Post a photo of the new, improved you when you get them off!

[starfish88]

Don't worry Dee they can put hooks onto any brackets so it won't be a problem when/if you need elastics.

I'm freaking out right now with a day to go. I know part of it is seeing a dentist I don't know for the clean. I'm scared they will tell me I have loads of cavities and I will spend the next month or 2 freaking out until I can get a dentist in the UK. When I was waiting to get my wisdom teeth out I was so worried I made myself sick and couldn't eat or sleep much. I'm probably freaking out over nothing but I don't want to go through that again!

I'm also scared that I won't like my teeth after the braces come off. My result isn't textbook perfect and my arches aren't perfectly rounded and full because I refused surgery. Most if the time I'm 100% happy with my result but I'm getting to the point where I'm scared to get them off incase I get massive regrets. What if I still don't like my smile? I've always had trouble looking at my teeth and seen faults where there are none but what if this means I'll never be happy.

Sorry for the angsty post, I'm sure everyone goes through these thoughts when they get braces off. I just wanted to record these thoughts as accurately as possible because it's all a part of the braces adventure!

[Duckyfuzz]

Wow! Your teeth look absolutely amazing! There is no way you won't like what you see! It will definately take a bit of getting used to but you will have a beautiful metal-free smile. Best of luck tomorrow. I can't wait to see your amazing de-braced smile! X