BRACES ARE OFF!!!!!!!

[sifumacho]

hi clairey fairey a.k.a my twin! (can i call you as my twin?) hehe..
anyway congrats on getting braces on your upper teeth! i'm sure you'll be used to them..just be patient!

I can't feel the lower brace at all now, I forget its there

as we're twin,the condition is always the same,huh? i forget about my upper braces also..as i'm more emphasizing on the lower one..which is exactly 7 days old today..

Facing everyone at college must have been the worst thing so far, but they all said that you can only see it when I smile and you can't tell its there when I'm talking

is it a coincidence?my classmates tell me the same thing also..they dont notice the braces except when i'm smiling..hehe..

k..best of luck..hope to hear about your progress soon..thanks and take care!

[platinum]

Your ceramic lowers look nice!

I am as well quite scared of exractions. I hope that my lower arch grows bigger so my overjet gets smaller.
I got my lowers first, too. I have metal lowers, and I am happy to get ceramic uppers. Metla ones stick out too much.

Waiting for pictures to see how ceramic tops look

[Clairey Fairey]

Hey, I've finally done the pics!!!

Heres they are....lets hope they work first time...

In full brace glory, showing my bottom teeth too!!





Top teeth only....



Yey nice ceramics....





Yey the pics have worked, I think I've got the hang of pic posting now!!

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Thanks for all the replies

Platinum - Thinking back I think I should've gone for metal lowers, coz it would've been a lot cheaper!! I'm really pleased with the ceramics though.

sifumacho - Glad everythings going well in your treatment, I bet your practially used to the lowers now

linda21 - Yep that saying is true. Can't wait to see the 'getting better' stage. I'm sure it'll make it all worthwhile.

Thanks KK and Meryten for all the groovy advice

[Clairey Fairey]

Well its been 4 weeks or so since I became 'fully braced' but theres still no sign of any movement.

My teeth haven't hurt at all since, I was hoping to see them straighten up a bit before my next adjustment. As soon as they are straight my ortho wants to do IPR so I'm hoping for quick straightness!!

Maybe I was expecting too much. My boyfriends teeth seem to move so quickly (he had his brace off today after only 9 months), but then again I think his ortho was using a different type of wire and he had metal braces. There is a theory that ceramics take longer....

Anyway, maybe they have moved and I just can't tell, but even if they have they are still far from straight. My next/first adjustment is on the 13th so hopefully they will start to straighten after that!!

I'm just a bit worried that they aren't moving as fast as they should and it will delay the treatment time.....but having said that I'm going to trust my ortho and wait until I next see her before saying anything!!

Well thats me expressing my concerns, I'm writing this so that when my treatment ends I'll be able to read back through this and remember how I felt and what was happening through all the different stages of the treatment!

I'll update again after the 13th!!
Time for bed me thinks

[Clairey Fairey]

Thanks Meryaten, Linda21 and KK for your messages of support

Meryaten your teeth look amazing, one thing I have noticed about yours (and a lot of other peoples on this board) is that you all seem to have nice wide arches. Mines so small, which is why the teeth don't fit and to get them to fit they have to flare out

Hopefully by this time next year mine will be looking more like yours

Apparently when I went for my moulds and x-rays by bite itself was 'normal' just an overjet. But since the spacers my bite feels all wrong aswell!! Many questions to ask on Wednesday!!!

Ohh guess what....I got asked for ID in a pub tonight!! I've not been ID'd for years. Must be the braces!! It was great seeing the barmaids face when I showed them my driving licence confirming I am 24!!!

[Clairey Fairey]

Well it has been a week since my 1st proper adjustment but due to having a stack of assignments to do I haven't really had the time to update on here!!

So anyway, 9 days later and I can see movement yey!! I asked my ortho why I couldn't see anything before and she said that the teeth had moved, but the movement was a slight rotation of some of the teeth to get them in the right position to align them. So thats good, something did happen in the last 6 weeks!! She also re-assured me that my bite will go back to how it was, again its a get worse before it gets better situation.

She asked me if the brace hurt at all and when I said no she asked if I'd like her to tighten the brace as much as she can at this stage (coz I think she will take it slower for people who experience a lot of pain), I said 'yeah go for it' so she tightened it as much as she could

I could feel the tension and ache in my teeth for a few day after, but still not enough pain to need a pain killer. If theres one thing I have learn't fom this experience so far is that my pain tolerance is a lot better than I thought it was!!

So anyway YEY my top teeth are starting to move and groove!! I think they've moved as much as they will do now for the next 6 weeks coz the aching has completely gone. But its so great to see that the teeth that were half 'underneath' my two front teeth, have started to move out. Woohoo!!

Bad news is that I went to my dentist for a check up the other day and he thinks I should have 2 upper teeth out and that IPR won't create enough space to really bring in the upper teeth and give me the facial profile that I want. This is going against what my ortho says as she assures me that I will have a great smile by the end. The dentist is saying that my teeth will be straight but not brought in enough

I know I should probs trust my ortho as she is the ortho and is bound to know more than the dentist, but it still sucks that they are both saying completely different things. I think I'll wait until I see the results of the IPR before saying anything though. Having 2 teeth out will be scary....but worth it if thats what it takes.

Good news is I don't need any fillings yey and apparently I've been really good and kept my teeth nice and clean

Anyways, thats about it I think. Again I haven't had time to take any pics but will do soon. End of term on Friday and 5 more assignments left to do!!! All nighters and lots of caffine required!!

[Clairey Fairey]

Hey Karen

The term tighten was used, it seems to be a common term for adjustments. What she actually did was change the archwire, but maybe tightening ment the amount of tension in it?? I'm not too sure what she actually ment but apparently it was tightened as much as it could be at that adjustment.

I think the teeth do move throughout, for some reason I had it in my head last night that they only move for the first few days and the rest of the time is spent allowing the bone to re-shape. Not really sure why I thought that as I've been told many times that teeth continue to move throughout the 6 weeks. It was 2am in the morning when I wrote that so I was probably half asleep!!

[Clairey Fairey]

Ok, me thinks its about time for an update!!

Had my 2nd adjustment just over 2 weeks ago on 25th July. Had a much chuckier wire put in which looks kind of rectangular. I think this is used to pull the teeth outwards to line them up.
When she took the original wire off it felt strange, last time I hardly noticed but this time when I pushed my tongue to the back of my upper teeth they felt really light, like all the pressure had been realised, which of course, it had!
It got me thinking about how amazing (and light) it must feel once the braces are removed.

I was also given elastics to wear overnight. I have included some pics below. They must be quite stretchy elastics as I can yawn in them and haven't broken any so far.

Anyway these elastics hurt for the first few days, it was the same pain as spacers (e.g. only really hurt when eating). So I was back on the porridge and mashed bannana for a few days coz I couldn't chew on my molars.

We went for a meal the evening after my adjustment, having worn the elastics all day to get used to them (instructed by the ortho) and even after those first few hours the only thing I could eat was lasagne!! I was gutted that I had to leave my Garlic bread!!.....ummm....garlic bread....yum yum. Ok getting a craving now!!

Anyways, eating is completely back to normal now and my bite has definately improved. My front teeth meet when I bite together again, woohoo!! I have missed that feeling as it's been impossible to get them to meet since the spacers!!

Life is also going well. Coursework is complete and I got a distinction for the 1st year of my course yey!! I also have a new job in a pet shop which I'm loving at the min, so it's all good

Here are some pics of my elastics, bearing in mind that these were taken the day I got them and movement has happened since.







Oh and heres some major movement from the last 3 months, my top arch has levelled up alot woohoo, here it is now:



And before braces: (sorry the pics are a bit blurred as I can't find the 'sharpen' tool on my photo software!!)

You can see there is less crowding around the front teeth - yey!!







Well thats it, hope everythings going well for everyone that reads this!!

[Lisa65]

Things are definitely moving on for you there, Clairey Congratulations on the distinction. I always fancied working in a pet shop, but never did.

Here's to the elastics doing their thing. Your teeth are starting to look really nice.

[markybwoy]

Wow - you can really see your upper right canine has rotated around into line.

Sounds like the change to rectangular means you've completed a phase of the plan.

Looking good!

[Miss Smiley]

Elastics, sounds fun Your teeth look great!

[Clairey Fairey]

Thanks guys for all your great responses!!

It was only recently that I looked back at some of the old photos and actually realised that so much has happened, you really can't tell just by looking in the mirror each day.

I didn't expect to get elastics so early to be honest, but its all good, just got to get the IPR done which will hopefully be sometime before xmas. Still on for an expected brace removal for next June. Fingers crossed!!

Working at the pet shop is fun, we've already brought a hamster, I can see us having a house filled with animals soon!!

[mikecl]

Claire

Your progress so far is amazing and you must be well chuffed with the braces, uni and the new job all going so well.

This may be a daft thing to say but I didn't know you could get elastics with ceramic braces on account of the apparent lack of anything to attach them to.

How has the ortho done it ? I've looked at the pics but can't how it's been done.

All the best

Mike

[chillin-in-grilz]

Wow awesome pics!

[Clairey Fairey]

Mike:

I'm assuming its done the same way as it is with metal braces. There a hook thing on the top of the bracket on each of the upper canine teeth. Hard to see in my latest pics but it is there sticking out of the top, but as they're ceramic coloured it is harder to see



You can see it in this pic, above the bracket. (old pic, my teeth are straighter than this now yey)

The bottom of the elastic is attached to a hook in the lower molar band. That hook was really irritating when the bands first went on but I don't notice it now.

Theres hooks on 2 of the bottom brackets and the top molar bands also, incase the elastics needed to go the other way around and pull the lowers in. However, its my uppers that stick out so its gone the other way.

Hope that makes sense.