Love the purple ligs Cowlypso, and I hope those brackets aren't proving to be too much of a bother. You'll be surprised how quickly those wonky brackets start to straighten out once the wire goes on.
Keep the pics coming, and I think you're going to have a glorious smile at the end of all this. Your teeth are nice anyway and once that overjet is gone they are going to look fab.
lisa x
Cowlypso's Quest - Springs!
Moderator: bbsadmin
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Tin Indian
- Posts: 1027
- Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:14 am
- Location: Michigan
Congratulations Cowlypso on becoming another " official" member.Hope those brackets don't give you to much problem until your archwires get put in place. Luv the look of the invisable wire you have- I wish I could have one of those 
.I like your purple ligs , they look great.Braces on 9/01/2006- Braces off 4/14/08
Haha... invisible archwire... yup. Brand new technology. 
Thanks for all the kind words. Just an update after three days with brackets and spacers:
Well, so much for my decision that I wasn't going to have any pain from the spacers because of my extraction gaps! But hey, it only hurts when I chew, and who needs to chew? Thursday I didn't have much pain chewing, but everything felt so strange that I just stuck to soup and ice cream anyway. Friday morning I woke up and fixed a packet of "honey nut" oatmeal with blueberries. I had to suck the oatmeal off the nuts and spit them out.
Lunch was scrambled eggs, and dinner was homemade bean soup and banana-chocolate chip muffins (thanks, mom!). Today I had leftover muffins and some yogurt for breakfast. Went to a memorial service for lunch, which was interesting... The menu was hotdogs, coleslaw, potato salad, raw veggies, chips, and baked beans with bacon. Being a vegetarian without the ability to chew, I had some potato salad (carefully avoiding the celery), and a hotdog bun with pickle relish and mustard. The bun was a little too hard for my poor teeth. On the way home we stopped and got some ice cream. Dinner was leftover soup and muffins, but I was feeling better and actually chewed the beans. And this evening, I was actually able to sort of chew an orange. At this rate, I'll be chewing again just in time to get my archwires!
Wax has been a good friend of mine. Mostly the lower central incisors. And one pesky upper premolar on the left. I was waxing constantly since Thursday, but I left it off after my early dinner tonight and have been doing okay. I'll probably put it on for sleeping and try tomorrow without it. Maybe those lips are getting into shape.
I've been wrestling with the elastic hooks/posts on the upper canine brackets. They stick straight up and keep catching my lips. I literally can't stop smiling...
I had my first public brushing experience. Not great, but no catastrophe, either. My advice is to avoid the ladie's bathroom at the gun club... The memorial service was held there, and the bathroom smelled like a latrine. Ick!
Lots of people say that nobody seems to notice their braces, but I think everybody has noticed mine. Between my overbite and my overjet, I really can't get my upper lip over my upper brackets to close my mouth unless I really stretch it around, and that just looks really strange. So I just walk around with my front teeth and their accompanying brackets hanging out there for all to see.
I walked in to Bible study tonight and was talking to somebody and he didn't say anything, but he kept licking his lips and teeth. I could tell that he saw them and was thinking about them, just not saying it. Then later, as we're sitting around two tables pushed together, his wife looks at me from the far end of the other table and says "Oh, you got your braces!" So yeah, they're noticable. But that's okay. I like my purple braces. One of the other guys in Bible study was telling me how awful everything about braces is, but I just told him he thought they were awful because he wasn't paying for them and didn't really want them.
Anyway, my biggest pain right now is my lips. They are all chapped and so sore. I've been drinking water like crazy. Also, putting on the chap stick about 20 times a day. I think I'm going to go to the store tomorrow and see if I can find something a little stronger or something.
I definitely feel like an official member now, since I have gotten my floss caught in my brackets the last two nights out of three!
But overall, not bad for the first three days. I can deal with it. I like my new jewelry!
Thanks for all the kind words. Just an update after three days with brackets and spacers:Well, so much for my decision that I wasn't going to have any pain from the spacers because of my extraction gaps! But hey, it only hurts when I chew, and who needs to chew? Thursday I didn't have much pain chewing, but everything felt so strange that I just stuck to soup and ice cream anyway. Friday morning I woke up and fixed a packet of "honey nut" oatmeal with blueberries. I had to suck the oatmeal off the nuts and spit them out.
Lunch was scrambled eggs, and dinner was homemade bean soup and banana-chocolate chip muffins (thanks, mom!). Today I had leftover muffins and some yogurt for breakfast. Went to a memorial service for lunch, which was interesting... The menu was hotdogs, coleslaw, potato salad, raw veggies, chips, and baked beans with bacon. Being a vegetarian without the ability to chew, I had some potato salad (carefully avoiding the celery), and a hotdog bun with pickle relish and mustard. The bun was a little too hard for my poor teeth. On the way home we stopped and got some ice cream. Dinner was leftover soup and muffins, but I was feeling better and actually chewed the beans. And this evening, I was actually able to sort of chew an orange. At this rate, I'll be chewing again just in time to get my archwires! Wax has been a good friend of mine. Mostly the lower central incisors. And one pesky upper premolar on the left. I was waxing constantly since Thursday, but I left it off after my early dinner tonight and have been doing okay. I'll probably put it on for sleeping and try tomorrow without it. Maybe those lips are getting into shape.
I've been wrestling with the elastic hooks/posts on the upper canine brackets. They stick straight up and keep catching my lips. I literally can't stop smiling...
I had my first public brushing experience. Not great, but no catastrophe, either. My advice is to avoid the ladie's bathroom at the gun club... The memorial service was held there, and the bathroom smelled like a latrine. Ick!
Lots of people say that nobody seems to notice their braces, but I think everybody has noticed mine. Between my overbite and my overjet, I really can't get my upper lip over my upper brackets to close my mouth unless I really stretch it around, and that just looks really strange. So I just walk around with my front teeth and their accompanying brackets hanging out there for all to see.
I walked in to Bible study tonight and was talking to somebody and he didn't say anything, but he kept licking his lips and teeth. I could tell that he saw them and was thinking about them, just not saying it. Then later, as we're sitting around two tables pushed together, his wife looks at me from the far end of the other table and says "Oh, you got your braces!" So yeah, they're noticable. But that's okay. I like my purple braces. One of the other guys in Bible study was telling me how awful everything about braces is, but I just told him he thought they were awful because he wasn't paying for them and didn't really want them.
Anyway, my biggest pain right now is my lips. They are all chapped and so sore. I've been drinking water like crazy. Also, putting on the chap stick about 20 times a day. I think I'm going to go to the store tomorrow and see if I can find something a little stronger or something.
I definitely feel like an official member now, since I have gotten my floss caught in my brackets the last two nights out of three!
But overall, not bad for the first three days. I can deal with it. I like my new jewelry!
I didn't see any carmex at the store. I got some chapstick "conditioning" and some blistex "medicated healing" so hopefully those will help. And I finally got a stupid extension cord so I could hook up my electronics correctly down here and get things set up. Yay!
I volunteered to help out with the church band today. The band leader asked what I can play... I said I could possibly sing (although I'll let him be the judge about whether my voice is mic-worthy), I can play drums, and I can read music and play really easy keyboard stuff. He asked me about the oboe I mentioned before Christmas... Hmm. Haven't played the thing in about 4 years. Just got braces. Probably not the best time to try to pick up the wind instrument again, huh? Ouch!
I volunteered to help out with the church band today. The band leader asked what I can play... I said I could possibly sing (although I'll let him be the judge about whether my voice is mic-worthy), I can play drums, and I can read music and play really easy keyboard stuff. He asked me about the oboe I mentioned before Christmas... Hmm. Haven't played the thing in about 4 years. Just got braces. Probably not the best time to try to pick up the wind instrument again, huh? Ouch!
Round two... A Wire!
Back to the ortho today to get my spacers removed. Ahh... Relief. I can tell my teeth feel better already. At least for a little while. The most amazing crud came out with those spacers. Eeeew. Yuck. Apparently it's expected. But still. Gross.
Got fit for my four molar bands. No problems on the bottoms. A few issues on the top with my "special" teeth. So today I got my bottom molar bands glued on and I have a bottom archwire! That's going to hurt tomorrow.
I'm getting the nance, which is permanently bonded to the upper molar bands and has to get made in the lab. So today he fitted the upper molar bands and did an upper impression with the molar bands and where my teeth are now after spacers. Next week I go back and get the upper molar bands with nance, as well as my upper archwire. Then I will be 100% fully braced.
I decided to go with the green this time. I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not, so I thought this would be a good time to try it out because I get to change colors again next week. (Wouldn't it be fun if we could change colors every week???)
It doesn't show up too well in the picture, but here is the pic I took of all the colors my ortho has and you can see it better there:
The span of wire across my extraction gaps is a little weird. I got a tie-back (I think that's what it's called?) on the left side because it's going back to the molar band and not a real bracket so she wanted to give it some added strength. Anyway, it's a lot of twisty wire going from the first premolar, across the gap with the archwire, and back to the molar. I think next time I'm going to have them put a lig on that bracket over the wire, because the one naked bracket looks funny. Also, my wandering tongue has already impaled itself once on wire ends. That probably won't happen frequently, though, since those wire ends are on the lip side, tucked neatly under and behind a bracket... Bad tongue!
Anyway, I'm hungry, so I'm going to go eat while I can still chew! One more week of spacers up top and I'll be done seeing him weekly. Oh, and my lips are doing much better now. I've been using blistex conditioning balm (not a stick, but a squeeze-bottle lotion) at night, and conditioning chapstick and carmex (finally found it) during the day.
Back to the ortho today to get my spacers removed. Ahh... Relief. I can tell my teeth feel better already. At least for a little while.
The most amazing crud came out with those spacers. Eeeew. Yuck. Apparently it's expected. But still. Gross. Got fit for my four molar bands. No problems on the bottoms. A few issues on the top with my "special" teeth. So today I got my bottom molar bands glued on and I have a bottom archwire! That's going to hurt tomorrow.
I'm getting the nance, which is permanently bonded to the upper molar bands and has to get made in the lab. So today he fitted the upper molar bands and did an upper impression with the molar bands and where my teeth are now after spacers. Next week I go back and get the upper molar bands with nance, as well as my upper archwire. Then I will be 100% fully braced.
I decided to go with the green this time. I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not, so I thought this would be a good time to try it out because I get to change colors again next week. (Wouldn't it be fun if we could change colors every week???)
It doesn't show up too well in the picture, but here is the pic I took of all the colors my ortho has and you can see it better there:
The span of wire across my extraction gaps is a little weird. I got a tie-back (I think that's what it's called?) on the left side because it's going back to the molar band and not a real bracket so she wanted to give it some added strength. Anyway, it's a lot of twisty wire going from the first premolar, across the gap with the archwire, and back to the molar. I think next time I'm going to have them put a lig on that bracket over the wire, because the one naked bracket looks funny. Also, my wandering tongue has already impaled itself once on wire ends. That probably won't happen frequently, though, since those wire ends are on the lip side, tucked neatly under and behind a bracket... Bad tongue!
Anyway, I'm hungry, so I'm going to go eat while I can still chew! One more week of spacers up top and I'll be done seeing him weekly. Oh, and my lips are doing much better now. I've been using blistex conditioning balm (not a stick, but a squeeze-bottle lotion) at night, and conditioning chapstick and carmex (finally found it) during the day.
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PrincessMelody
- Posts: 346
- Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:57 pm
- Location: Orange County, California
- Contact:
Looking good cowlypso. Looks like you have some good colors to choose from. Aren't those brackets much smoother with an archwire? It's almost a relief to have the archwire. Not only that, but getting those spacers out feels pretty dang good too.
I second Meryaten on those red ligs... only I triple dog dare you
That teal color looks like fun too.
I second Meryaten on those red ligs... only I triple dog dare you
That teal color looks like fun too.
Check out my braces story by clicking the WWW
28 months and 22 days in braces
Now in an upper and lower Hawley retainer.
28 months and 22 days in braces
Now in an upper and lower Hawley retainer.
Hey!
Cowlypso,
I love all of your pictures of different stages in treatment and also to read your story. I am new to this site and also to "braceland" so it really helps me to read what you've been trhough.
Best of luck!
I love all of your pictures of different stages in treatment and also to read your story. I am new to this site and also to "braceland" so it really helps me to read what you've been trhough.
Best of luck!
Okay, so I am officially totally braced! 
I think I've got just about everything except the kitchen sink in my mouth at the moment.
Went in today and got the nance, which is welded to my upper molar bands. The good news is that this means no more spacers. The bad news is that this means I now have the nance.
There it is... Beautiful, huh? It feels pretty tight on my palate, but I guess that's how it's supposed to feel. It fits very well, actually. Just like it was made for me. Of course, it was made for me... Those little squiggles in the wire are fun to play with when I get bored. Although I think my tongue is going to take a little while to adjust to them and might decide it doesn't like them so much for a few days.
Along with the nance, I got my upper archwire! So now both of my arches are fully wired in. I'm getting twice as many radio stations as before!
I also got some fun new wire ties on my lower arch, because a few of my teeth are rotated and he wants to get their attention a little more than the ligs can. So I've got wire ties on both the canines and one lateral incisor. At least I got ligs over them for color.
So as not to be in violation of the rules, I did indeed get the red ligs, as I was not once, but twice, triple dog dared to do...
But only on the bottom. The red is actually a bit more of an orange-red (and not at all sparkly, contrary to appearances in the photo), which isn't as much my shade. So, just for you guys, and in honor of St. Valentine, I got red on the bottom and light pink on top. I considered alternating, but I'm going to the annual meetings of my professional association, and I decided to hold off on that thought.
The ortho also pulled out his finishing burr and smoothed out my molar bands some more. After he removed the seating lugs, which were poking my tongue, I was left with rough spots, which were also not pleasant. But everything is much nicer in my mouth now.
And, one last surprise... Last week he had said that he usually waits until the first adjustment to pull out the headgear, just so patients don't get overwhelmed, and can adjust to stuff. So today I was just expecting the nance and upper archwire. But he decided that we had enough time to do the headgear today, too. I guess I look old enough to handle it.
After a bit of fiddling to get the right fit, I got my crash course in putting on and taking off the headgear. Of course, this was easier to do in the office, without a cat trying to play with one end while I'm trying to thread the other end through the hook....
So, like I said, I think I have everything in my mouth except for the kitchen sink. Maybe next time, I'll ask if I can have one of those installed. It would certainly make brushing more convenient.
I think I've got just about everything except the kitchen sink in my mouth at the moment.Went in today and got the nance, which is welded to my upper molar bands. The good news is that this means no more spacers. The bad news is that this means I now have the nance.
There it is... Beautiful, huh? It feels pretty tight on my palate, but I guess that's how it's supposed to feel. It fits very well, actually. Just like it was made for me. Of course, it was made for me... Those little squiggles in the wire are fun to play with when I get bored. Although I think my tongue is going to take a little while to adjust to them and might decide it doesn't like them so much for a few days.
Along with the nance, I got my upper archwire! So now both of my arches are fully wired in. I'm getting twice as many radio stations as before!
I also got some fun new wire ties on my lower arch, because a few of my teeth are rotated and he wants to get their attention a little more than the ligs can. So I've got wire ties on both the canines and one lateral incisor. At least I got ligs over them for color.
So as not to be in violation of the rules, I did indeed get the red ligs, as I was not once, but twice, triple dog dared to do...
But only on the bottom. The red is actually a bit more of an orange-red (and not at all sparkly, contrary to appearances in the photo), which isn't as much my shade. So, just for you guys, and in honor of St. Valentine, I got red on the bottom and light pink on top. I considered alternating, but I'm going to the annual meetings of my professional association, and I decided to hold off on that thought.The ortho also pulled out his finishing burr and smoothed out my molar bands some more. After he removed the seating lugs, which were poking my tongue, I was left with rough spots, which were also not pleasant. But everything is much nicer in my mouth now.
And, one last surprise... Last week he had said that he usually waits until the first adjustment to pull out the headgear, just so patients don't get overwhelmed, and can adjust to stuff. So today I was just expecting the nance and upper archwire. But he decided that we had enough time to do the headgear today, too. I guess I look old enough to handle it.
After a bit of fiddling to get the right fit, I got my crash course in putting on and taking off the headgear. Of course, this was easier to do in the office, without a cat trying to play with one end while I'm trying to thread the other end through the hook....
So, like I said, I think I have everything in my mouth except for the kitchen sink. Maybe next time, I'll ask if I can have one of those installed. It would certainly make brushing more convenient.
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PrincessMelody
- Posts: 346
- Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:57 pm
- Location: Orange County, California
- Contact:
Holy cow... talk about an eventful adjustment. I would probably walk out like a dear in headlights 
if I had that much thrown at me in one appointment. You are a trooper though I like the ligs... nothing like peer pressure to coerce others Congrats on being fully braced. You mentioning the cat batting at your headgear... makes me think of my cat. He just loves to attack the dangling end of floss while I am flossing my teeth. Can't tell you how many times I have struggled with getting the dang floss threaded through one of my back teeth only to have it complete yanked out my hands and see the cat trotting off with it. Needless to say, I often floss with the bathroom door closed and my cat outside (that's him in my avatar pic btw... he's a little stinker!)
Hope you adjust to your extra hardware quickly and it's not too much of a bother.
if I had that much thrown at me in one appointment. You are a trooper though I like the ligs... nothing like peer pressure to coerce others Congrats on being fully braced. You mentioning the cat batting at your headgear... makes me think of my cat. He just loves to attack the dangling end of floss while I am flossing my teeth. Can't tell you how many times I have struggled with getting the dang floss threaded through one of my back teeth only to have it complete yanked out my hands and see the cat trotting off with it. Needless to say, I often floss with the bathroom door closed and my cat outside (that's him in my avatar pic btw... he's a little stinker!)Hope you adjust to your extra hardware quickly and it's not too much of a bother.
Check out my braces story by clicking the WWW
28 months and 22 days in braces
Now in an upper and lower Hawley retainer.
28 months and 22 days in braces
Now in an upper and lower Hawley retainer.
PrincessMelody- I actually have to floss in my bedroom. I have mirrored closet doors, so I stand in front of those to floss. That way, the cats are too short to reach the end of the floss. When I brush, Pat is always sitting next to the sink playing in the water or otherwise helping me. He is well aware of the fact that it only takes one hand to brush your teeth, and the other hand could very well be petting him. At least he's learned to move out of the sink when I tap his head, so I don't spit on him. He's a little stinker, though, and always into everything.
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Patricia S.
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:01 pm
- Location: New Mexico
- Contact:
I'm supposed to wear the headgear 12 hours a day. Right now I'm working my way up to that. I got in 4 hours yesterday. I've only gotten an hour in today, and I'm going to take it off soon to go out for the evening.
It's actually not too bad at all, to wear it just sitting around. I haven't tried to sleep in it yet, so my opinion may change.
My least favorite part about it at the moment is the tubes that the facebow slides into. They are pretty big, and my left cheek is taking offense. In the straight-on photo, you can see the tube on the right (your left, when looking at the picture).
So you just slip the ends of the facebow into those little tubes. Then you put the little holes on either end of the part that goes over your head around the little hooks. Not too hard to do, really. I definitely need a mirror at this point. The assistant told me about people who take it off in their sleep without even realizing. I couldn't get it off when I was trying to without looking in the mirror!
It really doesn't hurt to wear. I guess it makes my molars a little tender, but not as much (or at least not any more) than spacers did.
It does mess up my speech, but so does the nance.... And besides, my roommate doesn't seem to mind too much if I sound like a garbled alien. And the cats certainly don't care.
I already made it clear to the ortho that I won't be getting my 12 hours a day in when I'm out of town at those meetings. I'll wear it when we get back to the hotel, but there's no way that I'm going to either a) go back to the hotel at 8:00 in the evening to do so, or b) pull it out while we're sitting at the bar and put it on. Just not going to happen. He laughed and said that was okay.
It's actually not too bad at all, to wear it just sitting around. I haven't tried to sleep in it yet, so my opinion may change.
My least favorite part about it at the moment is the tubes that the facebow slides into. They are pretty big, and my left cheek is taking offense. In the straight-on photo, you can see the tube on the right (your left, when looking at the picture).
So you just slip the ends of the facebow into those little tubes. Then you put the little holes on either end of the part that goes over your head around the little hooks. Not too hard to do, really. I definitely need a mirror at this point. The assistant told me about people who take it off in their sleep without even realizing. I couldn't get it off when I was trying to without looking in the mirror!
It really doesn't hurt to wear. I guess it makes my molars a little tender, but not as much (or at least not any more) than spacers did.
It does mess up my speech, but so does the nance.... And besides, my roommate doesn't seem to mind too much if I sound like a garbled alien. And the cats certainly don't care.
I already made it clear to the ortho that I won't be getting my 12 hours a day in when I'm out of town at those meetings. I'll wear it when we get back to the hotel, but there's no way that I'm going to either a) go back to the hotel at 8:00 in the evening to do so, or b) pull it out while we're sitting at the bar and put it on. Just not going to happen. He laughed and said that was okay.
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Tin Indian
- Posts: 1027
- Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:14 am
- Location: Michigan
Cowlypso, Sounds like you are ajusting well the Nance and your Headgear. Thats a lot of hardware in you mouth and with your good attitude you should do just fine. Your ligs looked great and you had good pics too.Keep up the good work.Hope your meetings go well.Braces on 9/01/2006- Braces off 4/14/08
Omg..finally i found som1 who has the same kinda teeth as mine...i just got spacers and brackets with wires this week. Am going to be completely braces 29th. I cant wait.. these spacers are painful....
How long is ur treatment.? So far my ortho said.. i dint need head gear but u never know they mite say it later...
Nice to som1 who is in the starting stage just like me..
btw how do we start our own WWW. i dont seem to find it.. would love to put up my blogs and stuff
-Jan
How long is ur treatment.? So far my ortho said.. i dint need head gear but u never know they mite say it later...
Nice to som1 who is in the starting stage just like me..
btw how do we start our own WWW. i dont seem to find it.. would love to put up my blogs and stuff
-Jan