Finally on!

[HeyBuckey!]

Hey Beauty Is Pain! I was having technical difficulties in the beginning of your journey. And come to think! I tell everyone I'm really good on computers!

Anywho, in all of my 19 months in braces I have yet to get a Water Pik, but I say go for it! I've heard nothing but good things about it and hope to invest in one of my own in the NEAR future!

Adjustments are kind of like getting braces all over again only without bracket placement, glue, lip separators, and that blue light zapping contraption (unless necessary). You may be tender for a while afterward so if your pain tolerance is low, take some pain killers 1/2 an hour before your appointment, and go back to soft foods for a few days or until your comfortable eating tougher foods.

And if you get rubber bands...oh boy...Can you say, OUCH!?

[Beauty is Pain]

Thanks everyone! Looks like most are enjoying the benefits of waterpiK, I am going to ask my ortho about it at my first adjustment, uh oh.

klobird, haha our braces journey are just so hilarious, from flossing to getting food stuck in our teeth and now waterPik, I foresee me doing that when I eventually get mine ok then, I am going to have to hope and hope that it is just a checkup....I am not too convinced about this at this stage, hehe will keep you posted

Ems12, Kiwis rule! Thanks! ah that was about the length of time for me to get used to braces at first. How time flies, I can not believe that it has been over like 1.5 weeks since I got my braces! Adjustments, ah, tell me all about it, have fun whilst you are in the torture chamber!

HeyBuckey, you are good at computers, well better than me, at the least. Oh no, what do they do to you? Change the wire or what because my ortho said that I would be in light wire for 2 months.....and it would only be 4 weeks since I got my braces on at my next ortho appointment. mhm, that is strange. When I read 'blue light zapping contraption', I keep on thinking it said..something else heheh read my mind. WOW 19 months, I have only managed to survive 1.5 weeks, now if only I can get this thing off quicker. (HURRY UP AND MOVE TEETH!)
Oh and I am getting rubber bands, it is a def. Joy, because I have a Class III malocclusion.

[Beauty is Pain]

It is Saturday again, how time flies, it has been over 1.5 weeks since I got my braces on! Last night, whilst flossing, I noticed 2 relatively small gaps in my crowded bottom row of teeth, I was ecstatic! It was such a nice feeling of finally knowing that all this pain has started to pay off! I have regained optimism Oh and my gap in the front teeth has reduced, I think (it might just be psychological)!

Neverthelss, brushing my teeth an average of 4 days is NOT fun, but I am always paranoid after eating that something will get stuck in my teeth and I just can't be bothered using a toothpick to pick the food out, instead I just brush and brush and brush.
Flossing as become a tiny bit easier as I have kind of got the hang of it, though I have my bad days and good days. On a good day, I can usually finish flossing in 7 or 8 minutes, but on a bad day, it would take over 15 minutes :/

The sides of my tongue has been scraped by the metal bands, ouch, they feel like ulcers, yet they are not. Ah, anyone else has this problem??

[Beauty is Pain]

I am starting to get quite used to my braces but tearing food up into small pieces have been, for the past week, a eating ritual.

No more feeling like I am teething, from the weirdly itchy teeth movements. Possible indication of bone movements? (just a wild guess) No more feeling like I have to basically swallow a huge chunk of food without munching/chewing first, hence the indigestion for the first few days.
No longer feeling scared of opening my mouth to speak fearing I have food in my mouth.

I am grateful that I have put myself into the braces' torture chamber and I hope that I would eventually come out alive.

[klobird]

Hey BiP,

That is soooo weird--I just posted in my blog about the weird itchy feeling!!! It is, isn't it!!! I find clenching helps, but it's probably the worst thing to do. Do your teeth get warm like too?---mine do...

I also am able to eat now without too much pain, but I after I eat, I always feel like there's food hanging out of my braces like moss.... So, I try to only eat 3 times a day--at which times I go nuts and stuff myself!! Last night I went wild with a Big Mac meal..I never eat those!! Then I go clean the teethies--the price us braced have to pay. No more snacking---it's just way too much of a hassle.

Did you get a waterpik? I don't remember if you said you did...I loooovvvveeee mine!!! (Sometimes,though, my walls,mirror,clothes,hair, etc all get a bath too!!! ..When I cant find the off button...)

I watched a youtube video of this dentist putting elastics on a patient...ok, so I only have one on each side. She put them every which way on this person...a total of 6 all together! Wow! And then those elastics that go all triangle like all over the front teeth...yuck!!! I could not go to work like that!! I would just have to suck it up and take the extra time in braces..

So, well are your teeth straight yet? Mine are...getting them off on Tuesday....hahahahaha I wish---8 days down...pretty much still 2yrs to go...!

[Ems12]

Hey Bip!

I had my first adjustment this morning and I didn't think much would happen either as I have only had the braces for four weeks, but...... they changed my top wire to a stronger one! And the bonus is that the wire is so much thinner than the last one, and because my teeth have moved so much the top wire is almost completely straight!! Hooray! on the flip side, I can feel the tension already and feel a slight headache coming on

Good luck with the waterpik - I will be interested to see what your Ortho comes back with. I hope it's cheaper than the $255 I was quoted!

I too have only been eating three meals a day, and I love dinner time because I don't have to worry about making a mess and having food stuck everywhere! I still rip things into little pieces but I just go nuts at home and stuff myself!

[Beauty is Pain]

Hey klobird, omg yes! I found myself clenching soo much and also just wanting to bite on this. But it is getting progressively less itchy, which is kinda good. Snacking mhm, yeh, I kinda just give up on that, which is good because I have a ball in 1 month's time!! SO excited!! HAHA not yet, I am going to ask at my next ortho appointment, baths, my bathroom mirror deserves a good clean since there is kinda toothpaste everywhere from my excessive brushing OMG elastics, I am getting them in 4/5 months' time :/ oh wow, I hope that I don't get like a hundred elastics forming spider webs in my mouth. AH hahahha how r u doing with braces, I can't believe it is already 12 days!!!!!

Hey Ems12! Oh wow, 1 month and already wire change! How does it feel??? hahah 255, I have a feeling it might actually around there, afterall waterPik is quite expensive! HAHA I know, I usually chew with my mouth closed, but since getting braces, I have been like chomping with my mouth open at dinner time and attempting to not be disgusting during lunch and stuff hahahaah getting chocolate over my fingers is the best part and I'll just start to lick my fingers like a little kid

[klobird]

Hey BiP,

It really is hilarious sometimes---the eating,cleaning thing..Did they give you any instructional help at all?? I mean you should have seen me trying to work the floss the first time--totally way off base! If it didn't take so long to explain what I was doing you would die laughing and if it wasn't for the internet I wouldn't have any idea what works, or is the correct way or anything!

I wear sweats when I come home from work--sweat pants and a hoodie--I have tons of both. All of my hoodies are getting food stains on them!!! The food just falls out of my mouth. And I never know which direction my bite will be. I went to lunch with a friend today. I put a spoonful of food in my mouth and just banged right into the molar bands. So, I tried again like trying to line up a plane on a runway and trying to find the center line! It was weird...and it's like something weird is ALWAYS going on...

Hey well my waterpik was $35 and it works great---is that what you're saying is $255????

10 days in braces....

[Ems12]

Hi Bip,

Well what a drama! I had to go back to the Ortho this morning as the new wire had come out of the back brackets on the left hand side and the wire had twisted around and was imbedding itself in my right cheek! This morning they had to open all the doors/gates on my brackets and then remove the wire from my cheek last night when I tried to eat it was like having an injection in my cheek as the wire poked inot the skin! When I saw the Ortho he asked me "what have you done?...." I was not happy coz it happened after I had eaten udon noodles for lunch! Now I have these two stoppers on either side of my front teeth to try and prevent it happening again, here's hoping they work!

Hey Klobird - yes the ortho quoted $255 to get a waterpik for me in NZ, I ended up buying a chinese made from from TradeMe (like ebay) for $60 and it seems to do the trick just fine.

I know what you both mean about this being such a hilarious experience, sometimes I think if I couldn't laugh at myself I would just spend my days crying!

[Beauty is Pain]

OK, embarrassment time....for the second time in 12 days, I am going to pay another visit to my ortho's office..............as one of my brackets detached from my teeth, and this time.it was due to 'vigorous' brushing..uh oh

I haven't phoned the office yet, but I am dreading to....they would probably think I am very very very extremely x100000 clumsy, but seriously, I just wanted the better for my teeth, hence the excessive brushing. AH I shall do that tomorrow..

klobird, haven't been quoted a price yet. HAHHAA such hilarious stories, they make getting braces a fun-ish experience Surely one that I would never ever regret! Nah, my ortho didn't bother giving me any instructional help, he kind of just told me to brush and brush and floss till my teeth are immaculately clean. But that didn't work, bracket falling off again, the bristle of my toothbrush got stuck and I didn't realise it was stuck behind the bracket and so I pulled and I heard this cracking noise and guess what! My bracket fell off! AHH.

Ems12, oh no! That must have been horrible, but I am paying yet another visit to my ortho's office, bringing up the total number of visit to 7 in the past 3 weeks......lovely, am I living in his office?! I wonder...

Now I am paranoid that I am going to detach another bracket, just eating a mango and heard popping noise and almost immediately my brain started to tell me that I need to check that no other brackets have fallen off. SO, here is me hoping that the extra 2 days would not extend my treatment time as I am busy tomorrow....and it is nighttime now!

[Beauty is Pain]

OK, I just had my ortho appointment and had my bracket reglued/bonded on. I am really happy that he complimented me on the cleanness of my teeth! That has never happened!!! hehe 2 more weeks till adjustments :/

[klobird]

Wow BiP--your ortho office sounds pretty tolerant...they were all mad at me when I had the same wire thing as Ems and were going to charge me $50 for finally snipping the end off so it wouldnt imbed itself in my cheek anymore. I escaped that charge, but anytime you break a bracket or whatever, the charge is $50!!! I mean c'mon, maybe they should make better glue or tougher brackets or something!! I can understand the $50 is a deterrent, but if I have a wire sticking me all weekend and call on Monday to get in, and can't get in until Tuesday--well I finally felt like I actually needed to protect myself!!! (Still ticked...)

I try not to go to my ortho about anything---I always feel like a bother and it really bugs me--like they are just to busy for yet another problem...

So, how is getting used to the braces going? I really dont see any changes yet. How about you?

[Beauty is Pain]

Hey klobird! How have you been? Yeh, my ortho's office is really good my ortho is really nice, doesn't talk too much but is not like those people completely shut off from the world and only gets on with his work. Wow, this is the second time my bracket became detached, I havn't got charged for anything! I can understand, the night which my bracket became detached, I was seriously considering to not to phone till the next time but I ended up going anyways I can see 2 gaps, small but still a change!! What about u?

[klobird]

Hey Bip--Ya, I got nothin' yet....nothing....still all looks the same...well, it's only been 2 weeks, but I would really get excited if I could see something...

My ortho is shut off....and the assistants seem to be the "hot" kind of partier types which is kind of uncomfortable for me.
I'm like the opposite of that.

I offered to pay a friend to get my ticker thing going...maybe next weekend. How do you get a smiley face? All mine does is say the word...And when you post a question, how do you get it in dark wording..Mine is really light...

I did one post and used some bad words, and the site automatically changed them to acceptable--hahahaha---like
b&*tch came up "complain" and a@$%hole came up sweetheart!!! Guess I was pretty ticked about the wire-$50 thing--good thing they didn't charge me so early SPAM SPAM SPAMMING--that would have made me furious. Dr. Tam said they charge for the ortho's extra time and expertise...First, I doubt he would have had anything to do with fixing it--I'm sure the asst would have done it.. 2nd--the wires are not that expensive-and 3rd--what the hell am I paying over 5 grand for if not for stuff like that too.....!!! I probably just don't get it....
arrgghhhh.....

[Beauty is Pain]

Oh the smiley face thing, mhm I don't know..I just click the 'smilies' on the side of the tab. It might be that the box beneath, check that you have not ticked 'disable smilies', that might be why.

! Just go to www.tickerfactory.com and then follow the steps HAH I know! I was soo happy when I saw the gap, I have a mild kind of pain at the moment for no reason what so ever!

Yeh, they should just offer their expertise for free..since we are paying them so so much!! ah, omg the assisstant is so blunt, I just found...ah she seems to not know the pain that you have to go through and just proceeds to pull and shove :/