Starfish's braces

[starfish88]

This should be a comparison of pre-braces and now. I've been useless at taking pictures and wished I had more since my teeth moved so fast. i wasn't expecting this much movement. Also my teeth look really patchy here and it looked like I have loads of white spots on them. I don't (!) its just my camera trying to take a picture of my own teeth wasn't easy! My top lip doesn't normally look that hairy either (I hope!).

[NICURN85]

Great movement!!!! Its amazing how fast these braces work!!!

[starfish88]

Thanks! Its really exciting isn't it. Although how have I never noticed until today how much my mid-line is off? Starting to feel a bit of an ache in my front teeth now but its so exciting to expect more movement.

[smorse]

Wow! That is quite a bit of movement in only 8 weeks!! My midline is also off and I find myself trying to correct it which can't be very good.

I hope progress keeps moving quickly for you, you have such pretty, white teeth!

[Dee17]

Hi Starfish,
Just picked up on your story. It's interesting to me that you said that getting braces caused more pain than getting your wisdom teeth out. I had my wisdom teeth extracted about 30 years ago and all I can remember about it was how much it hurt. I was a smoker at the time and I stopped smoking because just the thought of putting ANYthing in my mouth was terrible. Soooo, I'm hoping that I don't have a similar experience. I am getting my braces on in about 10 days and I'm very nervous about it. I'll look forward to reading your updates! Take care.

[starfish88]

Don't worry Dee, i only say that because my wisdom teeth hardly hurt at all when i got them removed. I had a really good surgeon and i was out of it during the actual procedure so it was fine. Braces hurt a bit to start but again not so badly. Today i had an adjustment and then got my eyebrows threaded after. The eyebrows hurt WAY more!

But thats a bit of another story. My adjustment today was a bit dissapointing. I got my last teeth (7s) all bracketed but this means I couldnt go up a wire they just replaced the wire with the same kind but a bit longer to include the last teeth. I think the spring moving the crooked tooth is longer but the ortho said there is still a long way to go. on the plus side they said once the space is made it wont be long to move the tooth to where it needs to be. It has made my treatment estimate extend a bit perhaps which is annoying but they still think around 18 months or so and by putting brackets on the 7's the ortho thinks we'll be able to expand my arches a bit more than initially hoped.

I also couldn't get bear elastics like i hoped - I really wanted the colours! But the ortho said until i get thicker wires I need to stick with the foxes - but colours next time maybe. On the positive side my overjet is now 5mm - down from 12 at the start and 10 at my last adjustment so the foxes are obviously doing something!

So because I have the same wires and elastics I'm not in pain really at all. I can feel the back brackets annoying my cheeks but its such a minor niggle its barely worth mentioning. And while its great when I go on holiday this weekend I'll be able to eat and wont be miserable, I sort of feel 'no pain, no gain' and i want the pain to get my teeth to move. It all feels a bit of an anticlimax because for some reason I got really worked up before this appointment (anxiety dreams etc) and now it feels like nothings changed.

My teeth also look a bit stained so I'm too nervous to take a pic after this adjustment but I'm not expecting too much change until my next appointment in 6 weeks anyway. (Its a bit sooner so hopefully I won't be too far behind in treatment) and I'll get them cleaned at the hygenist the day before.

[Dee17]

Hi,
Thanks for your message.
Okay, so I'm really glad to know that you didn't have a lot of pain after you had your wisdom teeth extracted. I remember when I woke up after mine, I started to cry and the nurse made me stop because she said if I didn't stop right away, I'd never be able to stop. I also remember thinking, "Man, oh man, I'd rather have another baby ANY day than this again!"
So, I feel pretty well prepared for when I get my braces on. I've made a list of soft foods and am going to the grocery store on Tuesday (I get them on Thursday). I have a supply of Tylenol and I've bought some wax and some other comfort doo-dads.I also had an appointment with my diabetes nurse practitioner to find out what to do with my insulin if it turns out that I can't eat. I'm very concerned about that because my orthodontist told me that he's going to put some bite turbos in which will make it impossible for me to close my mouth completely. He said, "We recommend a soft food diet" but I forgot to ask him how long I would have to have those bite turbo things in my mouth so I have no idea how long it will be before I can chew properly again. So, that has me fretting a bit.
Anyway, I'll look forward to seeing some pictures! Take care!
Dee

[starfish88]

So its been a loooong time since I was last here. Finally braces no longer feel like the most important aspect of my everyday life. Just after my last adjustment I got engaged and all thoughts of braces flew out of the window as I threw myself into wedding planning! Yup, that holiday I was worrying my adjustment would have me in too much pain to enjoy! - Very glad I wasn't in pain because thats when I got engaged!

Braces have started to make a re-appearance though. Had a cleaning at the hygenist today. It went fine but I got myself into a massive tizz beforehand and needed as much anti-anxieties as I had when I started my dental oddessy (and got there on the train, and then back home after under the influence to 2 alepam - now theres a challenge!). But the hygenist told me how great my teeth are looking now. She also taught me some tricks for cleaning round my spring without looking in the mirror (I still have issues seeing my teeth) like she would teach to someone who was blind! It was really sweet of her to do that. She was also totally impressed how I can just ping my elastics into place since I never use mirrors! I also love how much whiter they look after a clean -I drink waaay too much coffee!

I have an adjustment with my ortho tomorrow and I'm going to get on his case about getting the braces off before the wedding. We're planning July/August 2014 which given I started braces June 28th this year with a 14-18 month estimate should be totally do-able even if we go over, but I will start bugging him about it loads. Especially as I'll want my teeth whitened once the braces are off so need to factor in time for that too. So excited to have the perfect smile for my wedding day. My last adjustment we bracketed my last molar teeth so I got slightly LESS thick wires and the same elastics...Hardly any change from my last adjustment - overjet may be down another 1mm unlike 5mm between the preveious adjustmemts. So will be begging for the thickest wires possible and very strong elastics too! (maybe I'll finally get colours!) Will update tomorrow after my adjustment - hopefully with a pic now my teeth are nice and clean and white again!

I've missed you guys and i'm catching up with how all your brace journeys have been going too!

[Dee17]

Hey Starfish,
Congratulations on your engagement! What wonderful, happy news. I am happy to know that braces are not longer at the forefront of your mind all the time. That's been pretty much the same for me. I got mine put at the end of October and so it's been about a month now. I'm still pretty unhappy about the whole process but am more or less resigned to it now. Had only minor amounts of pain after they were put on that only lasted for about 5 days.
Take care! Did you get a ring? What does it look like?

[starfish88]

Hi Dee. Glad you are feeling slightly better with your braces - it will get better. They are annoying but when the reuslts just keep getting better and better they feel worth it! My ring is quite unusual 5 alternating stones - 3 sapphires and 2 diamonds. So pretty and maybe the extra bling distracts attention away from my teeth bling! Although I didn't want to show my braces in my engagement pictures so even though I was thrilled I look so sulky - trying to do a model pout and failing! Take care too!

[Raleigh]

Been reading a couple of stories here to get some courage. Just got my braces a few hours ago and I am beyond nervous. Seeing your photos after 8 weeks is encouraging. That is a lot of progress! And congratulations on your engagement.

[starfish88]

Thanks! I noticed a lot of change really quickly and it made the process feel really worthwhile. Good luck with your braces adventure too!

[starfish88]

I coppied this from my other post bcause I want to be able to look back at my braces journey through my story. But I also want to get as many opinions as possible on my current dilemma so I hope no one minds me double posting, I just figured I may get more responses if i post in the main forum too. Obviously you don't have to double reply!

So I'm really stressed and upset about my latest ortho appointment

I go in today and everything seems to be going fine, the assistant puts on thicker wires on my teeth (my upper is finally rectangular - yay for movement) and I even get a bracket for my crazy crooked tooth on the bottom athough its only tied to the wire with string at the moment. The ortho comes in and says if I want my overjet fixed much more and less chance of relapse I should get two premolars out on the top. hes been hinting this for some time.

However when I was signing up to braces I specifically asked if i needed teeth out because I was having IV sedation to get my wizzies out and would have been able to do the lot in one go. My wisdom tooth appointment stressed me out so much I spent 6 weeks of my life in the run up a complete shell. I needed antianxiety medication for the whole week before, I didn't laugh or smile, I barely ate or slept. I was miserable. The stress impacted my body so bad that I actually started to get symptoms of diabetes and had to get tested for that. My blood sugar was all over the place then slowly got better again. The doctor could only put it down to stress. I still need anti-anxiety medication to go to a hygenist appointment - thats how bad I am.

So why they hell is my ortho suggesting extractions now. I'm so cross. I had a 12mm overjet surely he knew that extractions would be needed? Did he think that if he said I needed them I wouldn't get braces and he wouldn't get my money? I paid upfront so now he has my money he can suggest what he likes and if I run away he still gets paid. I'm so angry! Its also going to cost a fortune to book IV sedation. My wisdom teeth cost over $1500! I found the money because I had to but i doubt I could again...but I also don't thin i could do extractions unsedated. When I raised this with him he said 'well you could always have the surgery instead' and then dissapeared off. He is a very good ortho so I went with him even though I had inital missgivings about his personality - I figured I was paying him to sort out my teeth not be my friend.

So after I had a panic attack the assistant says I dont NEED teeth out it all depends if I'm happy with a compromise. My overjet is now 4mm, it may come in a couple more mm but may also relapse in future. Either way though my teeth won't go back to 12mm at the start and they wont suffer extra damage because of my bite. Its all cosmetic at this point. So i guess I'm asking you guys what you would do in my shoes. it may be hard for you to sympathise with the extreme fear I have but is it worth the stress? The assistant also said I would risk making my face thinner (I don't really want that since my face is thin now and if I even lose a couple of lbs I look gaunt) and I would maybe gt more wrinkles and sagging as I get older. is that worth it for a few more mms? The assistant also showed me her teeth which look perfect but were also a compromise. I wish I could only have her as my ortho and not the actual one.

So this is what my teeth looked like at the start, a couple of months ago and now. What would you do? Should I say anything to the ortho to stop him making my stress worse? Thanks for all your help!



Don't know why my brackets look pink-ish or why my teeth look so funny - they arn't that colour really! But at least i got my neon elastics finally!

PS This won't be the final result - I have another year or so at least of braces and my upper palate will widen a bit/teeth tipped to they are not tippd in anymore ect but my overjet may not improve much more

[Dee17]

Well, first of all I want to say that your ring sounds very beautiful. When I got engaged (about 34 years ago!) we could not afford a diamond so we bought a gorgeous oval sapphire. Can't tell the number of compliments I got on this ring over the years. Enjoy your ring bling and your teeth bling!
As to the dilemma with your orthodontist and your anxiety, I think I know exactly what you mean. If you look back at my earlier postings on my main thread you'll see endless whining by me about all the anxiety I was having prior to getting my braces put on. I have had a fairly serious nervousness about any kind of dental procedure so I certainly empathize with you. It if turns out that you need further extractions, though, if it were me, I'd just bite a bullet and go ahead with it. But that's me. I'm not really trying to tell you what to do. I don't blame you for being angry at your orthodontist because he initially said one thing and then changed his stance. I doubt that he did that just to get your money, though. If you're really that concerned about it maybe you should think about getting a second opinion. You'd probably have to pay for it but it might reassure you. Let us know what the outcome of all this is. I hope you'll end up satisfied with whatever you decide. Making the decision to go ahead with orthodontic treatment is very costly. I know, my braces are costing me $6,500 (Canadian) and I have no dental insurance. So, I don't blame you for being upset about all of these developments.

[starfish88]

Thanks for your sympathy, I agree its very expensive to do all this dental stuff! And a stress I don't need so close to Christmas. I don't want to spend my favourite time of the year stressing like I was in May.The thing is ths extractions aren't strictly NEEDED they would be for cosmetic. I'm just not sure if I'm vain enough! How does my overjet look to you? You have a really good bite but would you notice a bite like mine? Thanks!