Lu Lu's Story

[lu lu]

Thanks juppiejux

All done & dusted & I can now offically say I am braced (well half braced) like the rest of you & can relate to what you guys are talking about now

Only had my lowers done so far. The whole process wasn't that bad.

I think going to the hygienist is worse. I get into a right state there with my mouth filling up & getting covered

I'm shocked that I don't have any brackets on my front 4 teeth just on my twisted canine teeth & back teeth. Instead i've got a plastic tube covering the 4 without brackets (which feels awful like I have a fat lip, not sure if it'll feel like this when the brackets are on).

The plan is to pull my twisted canine teeth up & back into the extraction gaps & then they are attached to this platstic tube which it just keeping it all together. He says the teeth would move forwards otherwise but we want them to move back. Won't get them bracketed until about another 4 visits

Will post piccies later. But at the moment not feeling too bad just looks awful & feels so bulky. In no pain what so ever (apart from 1 of my back brackets digging into the side) but was told I will be & to take painkillers & NOT paracetomol as it won't do much

Oh by the way couldn't believe it when my ortho gave me an spam spam spam spam spam spam moved slowly thing as a thank you present

Watch this space x

[BraceFace2o1o]

Hi lu lu congrats! and I am glad it all went well

Oh by the way couldn't believe it when my ortho gave me an spam spam spam spam spam spam moved slowly thing as a thank you present

Now you've got me wondering what the Ortho gave you! haha this board replaced whatever you typed as spam

spam spam screen, see! Someone typed the word beginning with P (like an LCD) screen the other day and it replaced it with spam

[lu lu]

Thanks Chrystal.

OOOOO so it did.

I got given an I P O D moved slowly by my ortho. Hope that works


x

[ShySmile]

So how do you feel now??? I feel pretty crappy!

You got an ipod?! I got wax!!

[lu lu]

So how do you feel now??? I feel pretty crappy!

You got an ipod?! I got wax!!

yeah i got an ipod s h u f f l e, wax, pack of colgate total Interdental Brushes, manual toothbrush & mouthwash.

I'm feeling really sorry for myself & fed up

I just want to rip the thing out & I haven't even got my lingual brace on yet & I haven't even got the brackets on my 4 front teeth so god knows how i'm going to get on then.

My lip is starting to get sore from the metal / plastic tubing, as are my cheeks. I haven't eaten any breakfast as I discovered when I tried to eat my toast this morning it was too painful. There feels like there's so much pressure on my back teeth & my smoothie maker broke last week so I literally have nothing to eat. Going to go & buy another smoothie maker in a bit & live off them & soup for a while I think.

Really starting to wish I hadn't bothered. I was just concerned about my braces being visble that was all ..... I didn't realise that it was such hard work & so uncomfortable .... It really is no walk in the park

[juppiejux]

It'll get better as time goes by.On the first day that I had my braces on, all I did was curl up in bed watching reruns of How I Met Your Mother and Grey's Anatomy. It makes the time go faster. Stocked up a lot of chocolate milk before hand so that was all I had for the day.

I wish my ortho gave me an ipod moved slowly!! All I got was a toothbrush, toothpaste, wax and interdental brushes!

[lu lu]

Here's a pic of what my teeth are looking like at the mo



I can't bare to look

[Emmauk]

I bet unless you show people they cant see it though, i know you know its there but hopefully time will pass quickly.

I think the brace you have is more or less the same as mine its just that mine is easier to see in the photo. The brackets on the molars are similar to yours as they have the hooks on so are clearly more metal and therefore more visable.

Presumably what you have is basically a metal power chain?. I think i will get them for my bottoms as i have extractions to cover over.

Your brave trying toast for brekkie i didnt even think about brekkie until i had dropped the kids at school and walked the dog and even then i only had mushed up weetabix!

Dont forget salt water rinses i have done at least 3 or 4 today even though i dont have any ulcers yet it will help then before they cause too much pain.

Hang in there, you knew it wasnt going to be a breeze and remember it'll only be sore for a few days and your on your way to a fantastic smile.

[poppy123]

yeh looks like you have a couple of wires wrapped like powerchains - they twist the wire round tightly, i had one (on just one tooth) i dont know why though as it didnt seem to do anything. you've also got metal wire whereas i have white (teflon coated) but think as the arch wire gets thicker and stronger it'll change to a metal one. must admit, yours doesnt look like a conventional brace and there does seem to be wires here and here...but as your teeth get straighter it'll end up looking loads better.

Makes me laugh how when the dentist (or websites) show you the types of braces, they are always displayed on straight teeth so look nowhere near as bad as when you get them put on crooked teeth. When my brace was first fitted the arch wire was like a zig zag coz the brackets were all at different heights....it looked awful, but as my teeth have got straighter it looks better. i'll get my pics on soon....keep sayin i'll do it.

[poppy123]

yeh looks like you have a couple of wires wrapped like powerchains - they twist the wire round tightly, i had one (on just one tooth) i dont know why though as it didnt seem to do anything. you've also got metal wire whereas i have white (teflon coated) but think as the arch wire gets thicker and stronger it'll change to a metal one. must admit, yours doesnt look like a conventional brace and there does seem to be wires here and here...but as your teeth get straighter it'll end up looking loads better.

Makes me laugh how when the dentist (or websites) show you the types of braces, they are always displayed on straight teeth so look nowhere near as bad as when you get them put on crooked teeth. When my brace was first fitted the arch wire was like a zig zag coz the brackets were all at different heights....it looked awful, but as my teeth have got straighter it looks better. i'll get my pics on soon....keep sayin i'll do it.

[ShySmile]

LuLu- I feel ya! Im pretty sore too. Dont give up. I startign crying yesterday because it started raining and i got wet!!! Thats how agitated and cranky i am.
Like everyone on here says, it will so be worth it in the end. Plus im guessing this pain will only stick around for the first week or two...

Take Neurofen or some other pain killer. And say NO to toast, I can barely let me molars touch let alone chew! Ive been living off porridge, mshed avocado and soup. Let me know how you are going x

poppy123- totally agree with you, would like to see my orthos assistant show me how to floss on a display of MT TEETH!

[lu lu]

Hang in there, you knew it wasnt going to be a breeze

Bad as it sounds I really didn't think it'd be this hard work even after everything I read on here. I knew i'd be hard flossing etc. but never dreamt it'd be painful & cut my lip up (got sores now btw & can't take the wax off the front it's ripping my lip up even without the brackets)

I'm not on painkillers now. Took my last 1 yesterday lunch time. Not sure if this is a good thing or not. Feel like my teeth aren't moving now
Still can't eat or put pressure on the back teeth tho.

I don't think it's a powerchain I thought that was a different device could be wrong but his def using it like 1 by wrapping several wires around. My wax keeps getting stuck in my extraction gaps so worried my teeth won't move over like his trying

Poppy - I hope you're right because it's not what I expected & I am dissapointed with it

Shysmile - I saw your teeth pics & you have made me feel worse about my teeth. You made out your teeth were awful. They look so pretty. You will have a beautiful smile unlike me who has awful teeth to begin with.
Veneers here I come lol

[Ruby Tuesday]

Hi Lu Lu, sorry you're feeling so poorly, I'm stopping by for some moral support..

I can totally understand how you feel. It must have been a shock to come home with that setup when you were not expecting it. I think it is really poor form for your ortho to do that without warning you first. I would be really upset too. For what it is worth, I have actually seen several people 'in real life' with that setup and have noticed that they have had incredibly fast movement with wonderful outcomes.

I second what Emmauk says about people not being able to notice it all, unless they are really on the lookout or you show them.

Now, onto the positive things, I think you should get some really good rest this weekend. Have a few drinks even. Do take painkillers (not with the alcohol). Don't have to be anything fancy, just paracetemol, ibprufen or whatever you have at home. Next week, if you're still really uncomfortable you should call your ortho and discuss the issue. I find that talking things through can solve so many problems.

Take care and have a good, restful weekend!

[mlholl19]

LuLu,

I'm sorry that you're having a difficult time, but give it a chance. From looking at your pics, that is definitely not a powerchain that you have. They usually don't start you on those until they get your teeth positioned properly, which could take months. I've had powerchains for like the past year, and you'll definitely know when you have one. I have one in my profile pic. Honestly most of us have felt like you're feeling right now, including myself, but when your teeth start to move you will be so happy that you got braces. I'm approximately 2 months away from finishing, and it's the best decision I've ever made. Give it some time. Things are rough at first, but you will get used to it, and then you'll get to a point where you'll forget that the braces are there, and brushing and flossing will become second nature to you. The inside of your mouth and lips will eventually toughen up too so that the bracket don't cut up your mouth so much. Braces often get worse before they get better, but once you start seeing the changes you'll be thrilled, so just hang in there and keep your head up. Time will pass by much quicker than you think.

[lu lu]

Thanks guys for stopping by & showing some love

Much appreciated. I know it'll be worth it in the end just so hard. Not what I expected at all. Guess we're all going through it though which really helps. I don't know anybody who's in braces so really helps.

I hope I start to see some results in the next few weeks.

After my lingual brace is fitted I have my first adjustment 23rd Dec but think it's only on my uppers & I won't have had them on as long as my lowers so god knows when I'm going to get something different done with them

x