Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi gang,
I had my 4th adjustment (32 weeks!) on Tuesday. The only thing that happened was that my ortho repositioned the bracket on my lower left from incisor. It was actually pretty funny, she told me to use that tooth to bite down really hard on a roll of cotton. I did my best, but she wasn't impressed by my wimpy bite and kept telling me to bite harder. I'm not sure which was worse, biting down on the cotton or having the bracket yanked off! She joked that she has people bite down so that they won't scream! It wasn't that bad, but now my tooth is a bit tender. I still have the 0.018 round wires on both arches, but I was promised a rectangular wire on top in 8 weeks (an early Christmas present), and maybe also on the lowers. I'm getting pretty bored with these braces, but I'm almost a third of the way done now...

I visited my family last weekend for my Mom's birthday. I hadn't told anyone about the braces. My mom didn't say anything for the first 4 hours that I was at her house, I started to think that she might be losing her eye sight! She finally brought it up and couldn't stop saying how happy she is that I'm straightening out my teeth (and that braces make me look 10 years younger, thanks Mom!) My older sister who has the same issues as me said 'Wow, maybe I should do that!' I hope she does!

My lower teeth are less flared out now and are slowly evening out. I haven't noticed much change in my upper teeth in a while (probably because I've been in the same wire for 6 months!)

Here are some progress pics:




Happy Halloween to all my fellow brace-faces! Watch out for those Snickers bars

Your bottoms look great! Did it hurt when the bracket was actually removed? I'm really hoping I dont have to get brackets re-positioned, I'm totally scared its going to hurt to have them removed just based on reading the experience of others. When they come off, I want them off for good! Lol. But my overgrown gums are completely covering 3 sides of a bracket and I dont think my ortho is going to let me go the rest of my treatment like that so it'll probably have to be removed whenever I finally go see a periodontist to address the gum issue. Between having the bracket removed and gums cut/lasered/whatever it is they do, that tooth is not going to be happy afterwards lol

Hi Nicolie,
Thanks! I'm really happy with my progress so far! It hurt a little bit to get the bracket removed, but I think it was due to that tooth being the least stable (it didn't get connected to the archwire for a long time and it is the one that has moved the most). It was over quickly, though. I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you. I think getting gum tissue removed will hurt for a few days--when I had a root canal on my molar that was broken for a long time the dentist also cut away some gum tissue that had overgrown in the area around that tooth. I was so freaked out during that root canal that I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I do remember a burning flesh smell from when he was working on that area, so I guess the gum tissue was cut out and then sealed off with heat. It was sensitive for about a week afterwards, but no more annoying than the early days of braces. I hope it works out ok for you and the periodontist isn't too scary!

Progress looks great!

Ok i think i can handle the bracket removal, thanks for your reassurance. What scares me about the periodontist the most is cost and if theyre going to find any other issues while looking around lol. I have an ortho appt on Tuesday so ill ask how she wants to go about the whole thing. I also have a dentist appt on Monday and have been wondering if its something my dentist can just do so ill ask her about it too. Thanks Professor! Look forward to seeing some progress with your molars soon!

Wow! Your progress is very encouraging!

I also have a tooth on the bottom that is hanging out behind the rest of my teeth. I hope when I get my bottom arch on mine will move as quickly as yours did! Well, maybe not in 7 hours, but hopefully it will be visible progress to get me more excited about the movement in my teeth. I just got my top braces on 6 weeks ago and the movement is very small so far...like yours, my top teeth aren't as bad as the bottom, but still need some work.

I'm also shocked you have your wisdom teeth!

adribraceface wrote:Wow! Your progress is very encouraging!

I also have a tooth on the bottom that is hanging out behind the rest of my teeth. I hope when I get my bottom arch on mine will move as quickly as yours did! Well, maybe not in 7 hours, but hopefully it will be visible progress to get me more excited about the movement in my teeth. I just got my top braces on 6 weeks ago and the movement is very small so far...like yours, my top teeth aren't as bad as the bottom, but still need some work.

I'm also shocked you have your wisdom teeth!

Dentists are always excited when they see my wisdom teeth. They came in ok and my old fashioned dentist when I was young didn't see any reason to take them out, but I do wonder if they played a role in my lower arch getting so wonky. Both orthos I consulted said the wisdom teeth are fine for now and that they won't need brackets or wires. I might need to have them taken out if they interfere with tooth movement later on, though...

Good luck with your braces! You will start to see some changes soon!

A couple of days ago I noticed a gap developing between my top front teeth, yesterday my lower right second molar started to be too tender to chew on, and now today two brackets have made a sore spot on my lip on the upper right side (I've been lucky so far and have only had to use wax a couple of times on my lowers). The dry winter air is drying out my lips and now my top lip wants to get stuck on a hook when I smile. This week it is a challenge to to keep a positive attitude about these braces....

Hey Professor, your teeth look very straight! Now that is something to smile about!

Hi, it looks like you are making great progress. I've already had a bracket re-positioned early on and have another one to be moved early next year as I asked for a pre-molar to be rotated slightly to match the other one. I have found gaps opening and closing too recently, and guess this is just everything settling into the right place as the elastics fight to close all the spaces.

NeilH wrote:Hi, it looks like you are making great progress. I've already had a bracket re-positioned early on and have another one to be moved early next year as I asked for a pre-molar to be rotated slightly to match the other one. I have found gaps opening and closing too recently, and guess this is just everything settling into the right place as the elastics fight to close all the spaces.

Thanks Neil! This week is much better, I went back and looked at my before and early days with braces pictures to remind myself why I'm doing this for 16 more months! I don't know how I walked around with that mess in my mouth for so long, now I realize that my teeth really affected my confidence over the last several years! I can deal with some transient weird gaps as long as I'm seeing positive progress!

It looks like you are making good progress too!!!

Yes, comparing photos makes all the difference! It's so satisfying to see all the changes, especially after you've gotten used to the new teeth and forgotten what the old looked like! I have a set of plaster molds from when I got my nightguard (before braces), and I'm going to keep that hideous thing forever as a reminder of what I lived with for 20+ years! A happy reminder, since my teeth will never look like that again

I'm also bringing it to my dentist appt on Tuesday! They dont even know I got braces, but they're really the ones who put the bug in my ear starting 3 years ago. I liked reading about your first time back at the dentist after getting braces, I hope mine goes as well!

Hi newbite,
I'm sure you dentist appointment will be fine and the folks there will be really excited about your braces. Imagine looking at teeth all day, every day and having to see messed up teeth that are hard to clean and that could easily be fixed by a year or two of braces--must be frustrating for those in the dental profession...

I have to admit that my stellar oral hygiene routine has loosened up a little, I still floss EVERY night, but I don't always brush my teeth after lunch. I'm teaching a really time-consuming class this semester and some days I barely have time to eat. I think I've also gotten used to the braces now and am less obsessed with them. I hope I get a good report at my next cleaning in February...

--prof

I hear you about getting lax with cleaning... Today I didn't brush my teeth and put my rubber bands back in for FIVE hours :/ it's such a pain to have to brush so thoroughly after eating and then I feel guilty about "wasting" rubber bands if I know I'm going to eat again in a little while. I can't make this a habit! No need for more metal in this mouth...

I had my 5th adjustment today and tomorrow will be my 9 month braces anniversary. I now have rectangular wires on both arches (.14x.25, I think he said). I'm definitely feeling some tightness and my bite is different, the teeth on my left side aren't touching and my lower right molars are starting to ache a little. Everything felt pretty tender when I brushed my teeth 6 hours after my adjustment. In the last couple of weeks, my left jaw has become a bit clicky and painful sometimes when I chew. My ortho said that it happens with adults and not to worry too much unless it starts to hurt all the time. The assistant told me to be more careful about eating chewy things like bagels and pizza crust. I haven't eaten any bagels since getting braced, but I confess that I've eaten a lot of chewy pizza crust lately.

I'm still on an 8 week schedule, on Feb. 12 I'll swing by the ortho to get my wires removed, then I'll go to my dentist for a cleaning, and then I'll go back to the ortho for my adjustment. Luckily they are only a 5 min drive from each other, but it will still take most of a morning.

My ortho said that things are looking good--I'm happy with my progress so far

Here are some current pics:
These front teeth really need to be shaped up--I'll have to remember to ask about it at my next adjustment. I'm a little annoyed that the stops are on my front upper incisor this time.

Right side: I couldn't get good angle, I don't think my upper front teeth are as angled out as they look on this picture.

Left side: I guess this is an open bite now, hopefully it will settle back down quickly.


Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope Santa brings you some straight teeth and good bites!