Catgyrl's (Cathy's) Journey at age 42...

[opera^gal]

Yay for understanding docs!!! Glad to hear you went!

[SonyaM]

Sounds like a great visit! Glad you feel better about your toofers now.

[catgyrl]

Thank you, ladies. Murhpy's Law: We had a Halloween party at work today, and one of the goodies were chocolate cupcakes with BRIGHT GREEN frosting on it! I so very badly wanted to eat that, but can you imagine what my sparkly, new ligs would look like after that?

[Snowglobe32]

Cathy,

Please post photos when you get a chance. I love following your progress.

[catgyrl]

Hi Snowglobe32

Which photos did you want to see? I just posted some on Tuesday with the pink ligs (they're one page back, I believe). You want some with the Pearl ones?

[Snowglobe32]

Yes, Pearl please!

My bottom powerchain is grey. I think they use that one because my bottoms are metal brackets. I am curious to see what the color looks like. I might ask for a clear PC next time.

Thanks!

[catgyrl]

Hey Snowglobe32!

Here are my Pearl ligs. You can see on the right side of the pic that my canines and molars are higher up than on the other side. That’s because of my wonderful powerchains pulling things back… and apparently UP!




Here’s a pic showing the “Obscure” powerchains. I kinda like them. They really blend in nicely with my teeth. They also seem to disguise (a bit) the fact that there's a gap there (well, in person they do). I think I’ll try this color as ligs next month.



The clear chains are nice... while they're clear. They do grab onto staining food and drink very quickly, though. The Pearl ligs do, too.

-Cathy

[jensceana73]

Hey girl,

Just checking in to see how you've been? How are those pearl ligs holding up. Still as cool as ever? I'm getting ready to get Christmas colored ones. God I must be insane!!!!!!!!!!!!

See ya!

[catgyrl]

Hey girl!

Goin' on 3 weeks now, and the Pearl ligs are still Pearly!! I'm a bit shocked, as the last time I got them, they were pretty yellow around this time. The powerchains seem to be taking a li'l break from yanking my tooth back, so that's also good. Baby steps...

[HeyBuckey!]

Hey Catgyrl!

Your progress is looking stunning! That midline looks like it will be running in the proper direction pretty soon. I was shocked when I looked at your ticker and noticed you were in your 7th month. I thought "ALREADY?!" but then I realized 7 months was not as long ago as I imagined it to be. Keep up the good work and hopefully those ligs stay pearly!

[catgyrl]

Hey Catgyrl!

Your progress is looking stunning! That midline looks like it will be running in the proper direction pretty soon. I was shocked when I looked at your ticker and noticed you were in your 7th month. I thought "ALREADY?!" but then I realized 7 months was not as long ago as I imagined it to be. Keep up the good work and hopefully those ligs stay pearly!

Hey Girl!!

Welcome back! So nice to see you posting again. I just posted in your story thread. I tell you - 7 months ago if my teeth looked like yours do now, I never would've gotten braces. Your progress is astonishing. I'm at the awkward, in-between, gappy, lopsided smile, misaligned stage right now (LOL!), so nowhere to go but up, right?

These 7 months have just flown by. As far as the midline goes, I have a feeling that process will not be fun. I'm just picturing an elastic running from my upper central incisor all the way to my back molar. That's gonna look SO CUTE!

[HeyBuckey!]

LOL! I wish things were perfect in this mouth, but I still have these friggin extraction gaps that need to close! Close darnit!!! Close!!!

Thanks! I remember when I whistled when I talked because of the space between my front teeth. And, I talked on the phone as a living, that was pretty embarrassing. Now I drool at random soometimes.

Don't worry you're doing awesome! The fun part is not knowing what's gonna happen next! Well...kind of. It'll all be worth it when it starts looking up. You do have some wonderful progress already however! At 7 months I still had a vicious overjet. I mean vicious!

That's going to be a Kodak moment when you get that elastic. They hurt like the dickens by the way.

[BraceFace2o1o]

Chrystal-

Did you try Crest Glide Threader Floss? They're what I use, too, because the Superfloss gets caught in my teeth, too. Do they sell that in the UK? I know they sell it on Dentakit.com, but the shipping might be a bit much. Have you tried just threading the regular floss under your brackets? I have, and it's near impossible for me to do so.

Hi Cathy,

I haven't tried Crest Glide Threader Floss, because unfortunately it isn't sold in the UK. I even tried international sellers on eBay and couldn't find anything. Dentakit.com looks a great website with all it's Ortho products, but shipping is too high for me. For some floss it would work out at $28.00 for one pack.

I have tried threading regular floss under the archwire, but I do find it difficult. I find I can get it under better by threading underneath so it goes up towards my gum, but then it sticks to my gum and gets wet so trying to grab it with my fingers is difficult . You really should see me when trying to floss, I'm like a bear with a sore head .

I'll have to figure something out. I guess the threading part is the least of my worries, as my real problem is flossing my premolars and molars, I just can't get in the right position and cannot see what I am doing. Teaches me for flossing all this time with the floss on a stick! Obviously the floss on a stick wont work anymore because of the wire, so I feel like someone who is totally learning to floss from scratch. I'm sure I'll get there, even if it takes a visit to my Orthos office to ask them.

[catgyrl]

11/30/10: 8th Adjustment...

And by far the WORST pain I have experienced in my 7.5 months of being braced. And the thing is... All I got was a lig change!

It happened while the assistant was trying to attach the new power chains. She attached the first one okay, but when she went to do the second one, I guess the chain slipped and she gouged my gum with her pointy, metal instrument (the gum belongs to the tooth they're pulling back!). Yeah...the one that feels like it's barely hanging on by a thread.

I said rather loudly, "OWW!" and she just said "Oops" and acted like it was nothing. She then proceeded to attach the second chain and sop up the blood from my gouged out, bleeding gum. Then the doc came around to check and told her she hadn't attached it right, and proceeded to do it himself. Lovely... I had to go another round!

Well... He's much stronger than she is, and it felt like he was literally yanking my tooth out. After he was done and walked away I told her, "O..M..F..G! That was worse than the pain I felt after getting my teeth pulled." That also didn't seem to concern her much. (I did just say the letters, and not what OMFG really stood for... there was a child in the room with me. I did emphasize the "F", though. hehe)

Here's a pic of my now TWO huge gaps and my poor, injured gumline. It sure looks like that tooth is being pulled back at an odd angle, too:



Are orthodontists and their assistants unfazed by the pain their patients may experience? If I accidentally did that to someone, I'd probably be apologizing profusely. I know that discomfort is par for the course, but at least ACT like you're sorry...

At any rate, I managed to eat lunch on the other side of my mouth, but I can't drink anything because right now, any liquid of any temperature causes that tooth to throb like you would not believe.

Oh, and I ended up with the "Obscure" ligs. They look like a cross between Clear and Pearl. I rather like them. They blend in well with my not-so-white teeth. We shall see how well they resist stains. I go back for more torture on 12/28.

-Cathy

[msbee]

Hey Cathy!

How did the adjustment go? Hope they were gentler this time =)

I'm didn't mention this before, but tour teeth have such a nice regular shape, they'll be so beautiful once the gaps close up! Happy new year, hang in there!