Bye Bye Vampire Fangs... Hello Spaghetti Face!!!

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#91 Post by **ripchord** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 1:50 pm

Your teeth look so good and I hope they take out your holding arch soon! You must be so happy (:

#92 Post by **Takako** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 6:01 pm

Wooo! Your upper arch is really looking sharp!

#93 Post by **sarahlynn** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 6:45 am

Loved reading your story and wow your teeth are looking so gorgeous!! Your positive attitude has been so refreshing to read about - everyone here has been a huge help with sharing their stories, but yours has helped me to realize that you're totally right - it's not worth it spend my time worried about being self conscious or what others might think. I'm 5 days into wearing my braces and I'm going to start smiling big today. I've been a little shy about showing them off so far, but I just need to be proud - cause I'm gonna be super hot when this is all finished!

#94 Post by **LizinBraces** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:49 pm

Great story and awesome progress! I also have a tooth that is very high in my gums and it is slowly starting to move down. Hope my teeth start looking as good as yours soon!

#95 Post by **shinyRiver** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 6:09 pm

thanks everybody for all of your kind comments and encouragement. I'd post new pictures, but the only thing that's really changed in the last two adjustments is the addition of several silver powerchains. BORING. things are moving back and forth, being pulled apart only to be squished together again next month... making space and closing it! YAWN! I can't wait for my next adjustment. maybe i'll finally get this stupid arch out. it's sort of killing my front lowers.

#96 Post by **mlholl19** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:40 pm

Hi River, I read your brace story and I love your positive and upbeat attitude towards your braces! I am 26, and I just got my braces 2 weeks ago, and so far I'm loving my braces too, with the exception of the occassional pain and soreness. I've gotten so many compliments since I got my braces, and I smile all the time now because I feel so much more confident becasue I know my teeth are in the process of getting fixed. I spent 26 years not smiling and now I can't stop.

#97 Post by **Kristiana** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:37 pm

Your smile is gorgeous!!!

#98 Post by **amandajane** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:26 am

I can associate about the being born into a family built live an avalanche, and not having funds until later in life. I'm sure I'm not alone in that sort of situations.

My story: viewtopic.php?t=31380

#99 Post by **shinyRiver** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 9:42 pm

looking at my oooooooooooold pictures on here just made me realize NOTHING has changed in months. my ortho has been moving two teeth here and one tooth there for what appears to be no reason. but i know they're just trying to close up the spaces around my canines. they keep thinking really hard about what my midline is going to do. they are really worried about the bottom landing to the left of where it should be so they WERE dragging all of my teeth to the right but FINALLY they stopped using the tooth by tooth "beads-on-a-string" method and just powerchained me on bottom and top from molar to molar. and i'm in terrible pain- but i'm so excited! things are finally MOVING again!

#100 Post by **shinyRiver** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 7:55 pm

#101 Post by **shinyRiver** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 9:35 pm

I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT-

MY HOLDING ARCHES ARE GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was SO weird! He cut them out with a drill of some kind, and they had to spray water on them while they were doing it so the friction wouldn't set my mouth on fire! It was CRAAAAAZY! But I can eat salad again! I'm so excited!

I can't believe it's taken me SO long to post but I got engaged, got into a real live 4-year college and have been super busy with homework AND wedding planning! pshew!

#102 Post by **shinyRiver** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:57 am

This is me, displaying my naked, crooked smile in July 2008:

Four extractions and about four months later in October-November 2008:

Much less crooked!

And finally, one year later- November 2009, I am fully powerchained:

I can't stop staring at my before picture. I run my tongue over my teeth and can't even remember which canine had to be pulled down. I can't even find Mr. Wonky! And I am in shock and disbelief at how fast my teeth are moving. There are only a few spaces around one of my premolars now, but the powerchains are quickly closing them up. I am so excited!

At first, after being proposed to, I was really not concerned about getting my braces off in time for my wedding. But when I told my ortho that I got engaged, he seemed determined to have my braces off by then, and seemed to think that it was really possible. So now I'm all excited. I love my braces, but of course I'm anxious to see the end results...

I still cannot believe how crooked my teeth were. I remember my amazement when my lower arch straightened out, and I could actually run my tongue smoothly along the backs of my front teeth. Multiply that times ten and that's how amazed I am right now. Since my adult canines and premolars began to erupt (around age 13), I was seriously ashamed of my smile. Then when my second canine began to erupt high in my gumline when I was almost 16, it actually became difficult to smile, with my lip getting caught on my fang all of the time. I hated it, I hated the shocked look on people's faces whenever I laughed or yawned. So I stopped smiling altogether.

But everything is different now. I can't stop smiling. And I love my braces, because the stick-straight archwires just accentuate how straight my teeth are. If my braces came off today I'd be- no, scratch that- my premolars don't fit together at the moment! If they came off two months from now, I'd be ecstatic.

#103 Post by **Desert Rose** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:36 am

Hey River, I just read your whole story, your teeth look absolutely amazing!!!.. I am getting braced next Monday myself, I am excited, but nervous. Your upbeat attitude on the whole thing has really motivated me though

So do you have an estimate of how long you have left?

#104 Post by **shinyRiver** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 5:55 am

The general attitude in my ortho's office is to avoid talk of timelines. But I'm fairly certain that at my initial consultation he said two and a half to three years was my estimated time in treatment.

Of course, when I went in for my adjustment in July and I told him I got engaged, he said we would try to have them off in time for my wedding, October of 2010. Obviously MUCH sooner than initially expected.

Yet during this last appointment, I was SO EXCITED about getting powerchained everywhere. The ortho and his professor and his assistant were like wow we just told you you were going to be cross-tied and powerchained and in pain for several days! You should be nervous or annoyed, not happy! And I said no, no I LOVE powerchains! this will really get things moving! and my ortho said something like "don't get too excited! i mean you're not going to come in next month and set a date to have them taken off!" so i was like

why'd you have to go and say that? (of course i knew that was not the case!) but i'm sure he thought that's what i was hoping forbecause of how much i was smiling like crazy after seeing my powerchains on. I LOVE them! They're GREAT!

So right now I don't know what to think! I'll GUESS I'll have them off in about nine months or so. But if I get married wearing them I'll still be happy knowing that my smile will be better in the long run. Also, I could get my ligs in red and gold- my wedding colors!

#105 Post by **Grover** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:28 pm

My God, how bloody awesome do your teeth look?

You'd pay $100,000 for such an awesome smile.

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