Ellebraced is getting braced- PICS !!!!!

[Ellebraced]

Hi everyone

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hope you survived the holiday chaos. I had a nice quiet week with my hubby and my metal mouth.

So there was no Christmas miracles in my mouth. Though I have been able to eat and drink everything I could possible want, so much for the best diet ever, that lasted about 3 whole days. I have seen some SLIGHT movement in my teeth, some little spaces and black holes starting. I went a whole week without wax and was all braggy and proud of my tough mouth and then BAM!!!!, sores everywhere. So back to wax and rinsing with salt water.

Review of the last 2.5 weeks....
1) The best invention ever is the Waterpik. I have only gone 3 meals without it and it will be traveling in my purse for the next meal out
2) People will point and laugh at you and they are called YOUR FAMILY. My sister could not stop laughing at me on Skype. Such a nice sister and they wonder why I did not travel 7 hours to see them this Christmas.
3) It is getting easier to close my mouth. Kind of. I see pics of myself with my mouth closed and I think OH DEAR GOD......, I look mean and like I got a mouth full of something
4) I do not think it is possible to feel sexy no matter how good you look when you have braces
5) It is NOT FUNNY when you husband informs you that your Drivers license happens to expire in 3 whole months and you will be stuck with Braceface for 5 whole years.............. SERIOUSLY
6) It is also NOT FUNNY when you husband says you look like Ugly Betty and says OH NO thats not a bad thing he finds ugly betty sexy. Ummmmmmmm I don't know if I should be mad he called me ugly betty or concerned that he finds frizzy hair, braces, geek glasses and chub attractive
7) It is possible to forget about your braces for more than 5 minutes but not possible to not stare in the mirror for 5 minutes every time you see a mirror
8 It is possible to floss your teeth but not without cursing, getting drool all over the floss and wondering WTF have I done.
9) Being 32 and having your teeth move IS FREAKIN WEIRD and SUPER GROSS. I hate when kids play with their loose teeth, but it's addictive, as soon as I feel movement I can't stop touching it and wiggling and biting down on it. GROSSSSSSSS
10) That I am not as funny when things are going okay, I find the humor comes out better when I am having a panic attack

Thanks for all your support and sharing your stories. I am very jealous of all you people that have miracle teeth that like to move so fast. I keep telling my teeth..... move teeth move. I am a little concerned that I am talking to my teeth but that it is not as much after 18 days.

Elle

Enclosed a pic, you can kind of see the wonky upper tooth looks a bit better I THINK and the lower teeth look lower I THINK. It's like trying to find waldo or look for the different things in 2 pictures.

oh GO CANADA GO!!!!!!! Semi final hockey game on..... 3-0

[MarciLouWho]

I can definitely see progress! Your teeth are just dancing to the beat of their own drummer. Darn them!

Your teeth are so gorgeous - your new smile is going to be STUNNING!

P.S. I keep hearing how I look 14. Um, I'm going to be 46 in around 6 weeks. Not really sure if I should laugh about that or not. Heh.

[goin4it]

Elle I think your teeth are looking great and your humour is awesome.
Keep smiling

Go Canada...Wooohoo 4-1

[Laney'sBraces]

You have nice teeth, I think you'll have a very nice result!
I too felt like my mouth and lips especially were so exaggerated when i was braced, but eventually you totally adjust ...makes me wonder if my mouth will feel small and my lips deflated when im debraced??

[luchababe]

Your photo layout reminds me of a resume for some reason, which made me laugh. Like your teeth are looking for a job and have posted their past experience.

Your front tooth is definitely coming down like mine did. Another few weeks and you'll be amazed at the changes!

[Ellebraced]

LOL LUCHABABE that's hilarious. I wish they could get a job and pay for their own treatment. LOL
I was trying to make it pretty and organized like your layout but the best I could find was a (mac) Pages layout and went with it

Marci, Goinforit and Laney. Thanks for the comments. Now that I see the pics I can kind of see some movement, I get the 2nd molar bands on the lowers in a couple weeks that they could not put on when I got braced (they were too tight) so that will probably help the lowers have some better movement.

I have only ever been concerned with moving upper wonky tooth back in line but now that I have seen my bad overbite and how really crooked the lowers are getting I am VERY excited to see them all straighten out. It's funny cause they have been like this for so long it is hard to imagine them any different.

Oh I am adding some pics of my overbite so you can see how much that needs to improve.

[Kirsten2011]

Hello Elle
Wow - what a story, thanks for sharing and in such detail. Really puts one in the picture so to speak. Regarding the comments re your hubbie being older than you and him looking like he could be your dad, the best advise i can give is to just ignore people who stare or make comments. For so many reasons - they dont know you, its not for them to judge or comment, it has NOTHING to do with them whatsoever and moreover, as long at you are happy and confident in your love and marriage it should never be an issue. I'll reassure you, i dated a guy for 11 years who was 20 years older than me - and no one ever said a word And the age thing never mattered.
But back to the braces - this viewer wont let me see the pics you uploaded, i wanted to compare your overbite to mine. i think mine is pretty bad, moreso the one front tooth protrudes much more than the other (!)
I agree that this website will be a good tool to use to discuss our ortho treatments and let each other support over the years of treatment. This is such an investment and as this is second time around for you and me, we better make the most of it! My Dentist tells me that these days they actually bond the retainer to the teeth, from the back so its not visible at all
But lets see - keep you posted!!!

[lilone]

Congrats on the great progress so far, Ellebraced. Unfortunately, we can't gloat about the game last night against Russia...HOW did we manage to lose?
Anyway, reading your story, many of the worries/concerns are so similar to my own that I felt quite reassured when reading it. It feels good to know others feel the same way. I'm going to be 34 in a couple of weeks and I honestly look about 16. I'm a teacher and it is not uncommon for people to report that there is no teacher on duty when I am out in the school yard the whole time, lol!

Anyway, congrats again on the progress!

lil

[Ellebraced]

Congrats on the great progress so far, Ellebraced. Unfortunately, we can't gloat about the game last night against Russia...HOW did we manage to lose?
Anyway, reading your story, many of the worries/concerns are so similar to my own that I felt quite reassured when reading it. It feels good to know others feel the same way. I'm going to be 34 in a couple of weeks and I honestly look about 16. I'm a teacher and it is not uncommon for people to report that there is no teacher on duty when I am out in the school yard the whole time, lol!

Anyway, congrats again on the progress!

lil

LOL That's funny about the school yard. I looked about 12 when I was 20, think I am getting a bit older looking now, I have not tried to buy an alcohol yet, can't wait to get ID again, it's been awhile since those days.

Ummmmm..... I have no idea what happened SPAM SPAM SPAMMING.....I like to pretend games like that never happened ( I get a lot of practice at pretending cause I am a Rider Fan), maybe its payback from kicking hockey butt at the Olympics. I also take blame because I was too lazy to put my jersey on.

Today is 2 weeks and I am feeling 99% at peace with my braces, especially seeing that top wire straighten out, that has been worth it. I will be thrilled when it's completely straight. Then I will become obsessed with seeing the bottom transform and then finally the overbite.

I don't even remember what it was like not having braces ( I have a really bad memory)

Elle

[HeyBuckey!]

Tee hee! I love the posts you've committed to doing! Your teeth are moving fast, like, really fast. Like fast and the furious, don't blink or you'll miss me fast.

I have all the equipment necessary and I STILL haven't put together a professional development resume for my teeth. I'm so out of the loop. Thanks for stopping by my thread, your teeth look sparkling white if you ask me.

[GRILLZ]

elle:

i definitely see progress in yer pix.....i loved your comment about ugly betty, i had a good chuckle over that!

[Ellebraced]

Week 4 in review

WOW, that went really, really fast. Ohhhhh 28 days done, 900 more to go !!!!!

Okay so my mind goes from.........

WOW this is crazy, why would anyone do this, I look like an idiot, how the heck am I going to do this for 2.5 years. NUTS This is totally nutty. OMG I am going to have these for the family reunion, OMG I am going to have these for the wedding we have to go to and the family reunion .....OMG .... I have to answer the door, I look like an idiot, OMG, my husband wants to renew our wedding vows for our 10th anniversary, OMG I am going to be a "bride" in braces OMG I say OMG way too much, Does he really want to renew our vows. OMG I am going to be in a lot of pictures with braceface

.......or my mind is....

WOW this is sooooo cool, wow I think they are moving, OMG they are moving!, are they moving?, I think they moved, huh that's crazy fast, wow maybe I won't need them for 2.5 years wow what if I am a totally unique person and they say I only need them for 6 months, wow that would be cool, not going to happen but cool, wow I am negative, What if I think more positive, got to think more positive, but don't want to think positive and get upset when it does take longer, Wow they have moved. You can't really see them in pictures so maybe no one will notice. Why do I even care what people think, who cares what people think, I am very blessed to be having braces, I should be more appreciative. I can be a bride in braces, we have been wanting to renew our vows for our 10th for years. I can do this, I can do this.......

Yes I am crazy, but that is really how my mind is always thinking, it drives me crazy. I am very happy to have braces, I have wanted my teeth to be straighter for a long time so to be in this a month already is amazing. To see movement in 1 month is wonderful. To think in a few months or couple years my teeth will be straighter and will no longer bother me will be really really cool. I know this will be worth it and I am having fun blogging and reading peoples stories. I even like, I know I said like the feeling of biting down on my loose teeth. GROSS!!

Progress

-I can see that my upper wonky tooth has moved and could very easily be inline in a couple months. WOW that in itself makes me very happy.

-I have now become obsessed with seeing my lower teeth straighten out.
I went into this thinking my lower teeth and my overbite did not bother me but after seeing pictures and seeing how bad it was getting I realized I needed to do this and I needed to do this now.

-I can close my mouth so much better than DAY 1, day 1 OMGWHID (oh my god what have I done) aka... (oh dear god what have I done)
I can close it probably as well now with braces as I could close it before braces maybe even a little bit better

- My confidence with them has gotten 99% better, I don't care as much (most of the time) who sees me or if people notice them.


Even though I can over think everything and get a little dramatic over nothing, this is going to make me very happy and I am so glad I started my new smile process. I am very grateful for ARCHWIRED and the people I am meeting on here

Thanks for your support and reading my rambling!!

Elle


See my Teeth "resume" Progress below .........

[drgnchsr36]

Great progress so far!!

Do you ever wonder if the time will be shortened?

[Ellebraced]

Great progress so far!!

Do you ever wonder if the time will be shortened?

Thanks drgnchsr36, I would LOVE if they told me even 2 years but I know my bite is really bad so I think that could be the worst part.

I am going to ask on the forum if people see lots of improvement and then nothing or if they straighten say within 6 months but then the bite takes 2 years to fix??

I was quoted originally with a few choices ....22-26 months full braces, 32 months if I had surgery, uppers only 12 months, invisialign 6-10 months and then on my final contract of full braces it says 22-28 months.

Who knows I am trying to tell my teeth to move fast but am expecting the worst of 2.5 years so that at 1.5 years I am not getting too excited to see them go. I think of it like weight loss it is a process and it takes time and I really need to learn how to be patient. Which I am not good at.

[luchababe]

I was SOO like you! I wanted my front buck tooth fixed and said the bottoms didn't bother me as much. Now that everything is moving, I'm very excited to get the bottom arch looking sexy like the top one will! I was told he could have my teeth straight in 6 months so I'm half way there. Fixing the jaw with elastics will take longer. But I'm looking forward to elastics despite the horror stories I've read on here because it means my teeth are straight and it's time to move onto the next stage. My contract says 24 months but I think that's just a standard quote. EVERYONE is so different I bet they have to be pretty broad with predictions so people don't get over excited or depressed. I've seen people on here with braces for 4 years and some I've seen have them off at 7 months, so who knows!

What are the odds of all of us being miracle patients with teeth our orthos have never seen move so fast?