At first when they put the spacers in, they really didn't seem too bad. Just.. different. But as the day went on, it really started to hurt. That week was definately not a fun week. For a good 5 days, I couldn't eat much and I was taking OTC pain meds non stop. The weird thing was, every morning I'd wake up clenching my teeth and I never do that! Made it hurt ten times worse. But that parts over
I was very excited to get my braces put on. A little nervous because at 19 and in college, it would be weird to wear braces. Luckily, my boyfriend thought I'd look even cuter with them on (which he did
). They were a little weird at first and took some getting used to but talking is getting much easier now. They were pretty uncomfortable the first few days because of all the pressure on my teeth but I'm finding I don't have to take pain meds much anymore. I have already had to go in for an emergency appointment though! I lost a lig on Saturday (while I was drinking.. go figure!) and noticed Sunday morning that my arch wire wasn't sitting in the bracket on my front tooth. So I saw my ortho on Monday and got that fixed.. but now I'm having pain problems
I guess it's been for a few days now but I was ignoring it. If I was thinking, I would have had my ortho look at it while I was in yesterday! 
The molar band on the bottom is digging in my gums like crazy right behind my front teeth. It's more so on one side than the other. I was thinking my gums would adjust to it and be reshaped but now I'm wondering. It doesn't seem too healthy to practically be cutting off the circulation in that one area. It's really raw and sore too My other problem is where the molar band sits on my molar in the back. There's this little box like thing that protrudes from it on the outside. That has made that area pretty sore and I think it's infected 
It tastes weird like when I got an infection with my wisdom teeth being removed. And it has that sharp kind of pain with it.. I should probably go see him.. for now, I'm trying salt water rinses and I think I'll try a hyroden peroxide rinse tonight. See if that works.. and wax!! Lots of soft silicone wax I will be getting pictures soon, I wish I had before I got them on but I didn't even think of it. Since I've had them for a week now, they did move a little. Funny enough, I have a gap between my front two teeth that was never there before! But my ortho said that's good.. he said it will get bigger until my next adjustment (I think it's because he's moving my teeth forward to make room for the lowers since I have an overbite).. and then at my first adjustment, he'll work on closing that since everything else should have moved enough by then.
I must say though, I really like the staff at my ortho's place! The receptionist is super nice and always tells me to call if I need anything. Plus the dental assistants are very sweet too. Even my ortho seems pretty nice, although he's kind of on the quieter side. I'm definately glad I took the plunge! It will be annoying at times but.. so worth it in the end! I've always envied people that have beautiful perfect teeth. I can't wait!!
I just got my pre-brace photos from my ortho. I haven't had my first adjustment yet so there hasn't been a whole lot of movement but I can definately see some! I'll get more pics when it's a little more noticeable.
You can kind of see in this picture how my molars have caved in a little to compensate for those extractions.
So what do you think, will they be pretty after braces?? hehe..
I'm starting to think my regular dentist really doesn't know what the heck he's doing. Instead of putting me in braces when I was little (and it was covered by healthcare!!) he said pulling 4 adult teeth would solve my crowding problems. Not so. Now I have a really screwed up bite. When I saw my ortho about it, he really didn't seem to impressed about my dentist pulling my teeth.
