Metal Mouth Message Board

Apologies in advance for this being so long-winded. Keeping a story short and brief has never been one of my strong points. Enjoy!

The History bit: I have always had a terrible phobia about going to the dentist which dates back to my time in primary school in the 1970s when we were sent to the health board dentist from school without any parental knowledge or permission.

My teeth have been crooked since my early teens (once the incisors grew). I have always hated them, but due to partly financial reasons but mainly fear I hadn't done anything about them other than gripe My bottom teeth are OK, it's the top front 6 (social six?) which were all over the place due to overcrowding.



In early 2006 my colleague in work who sat opposite me at the time was approaching 40 and decided that he was going to get his own crooked teeth sorted once and for all. All year long I was following his journey through the various appointments, records, adjustments etc with envy. Last Christmas I decided that seeing as I was going to be 40 myself this year that at last I would take that step and follow in my friends footsteps. Now we have the same dentist and orthodontist and compare notes all the time. There are only 2 orthodontists in our town and the one I am going to deals with a lot of adults. I knew of several people who had been to him over the years so was quite happy to go to him also... besides he has a lovely Scottish accent

The Journey Begins: All Christmas long I told anyone what would listen that I was going to get braces (so that I would have to go through with it!) and I rang to make an appointment asap. Earliest appt I could get was Feb 14. At that appt ortho took a few quick photos and put them up on his Mac and discussed what could be done. It was not nice looking at my teeth in glorious techicolour where each tooth was about 3 inches high!!! I had always thought my teeth were about the worst there is, but surprisingly he told me that my problem is one of the easiest to fix with the most visually gratifying results.

He did give me the option of surgery if I was really aiming for perfection, but I had already told him initially that I just wanted to improve the look of the teeth. I did not want to go the surgery route unless it was necessary and he agreed that in my position he probably wouldn't either.

Records Visit: 2nd appt was on 28 Feb for records visit. Lots and lots of photos and x-rays taken. The moulds were fine, I had been dreading those a bit but it was easy as pie and was less than a minute each for top and bottom. They told me it would be like yogurt and I thought then it was going to be messy, but to me it seemed more like very soft Play-Doh.

I had a 3rd visit on March 30. More looking at my teeth from every angle on his Mac. Funnily while I had always known my teeth were crooked I had never really looked at them from a side profile. I was shocked to discover how much my front 2 teeth were angled out, it looked like they were at a 45degree angle when it should be nearly 90! He also had the mould of my teeth (that would make a nice souvenir when this journey is done!).

I needed to have my 2 upper first bicuspids extracted to create a bit of space. I have a 9mm overjet which also is to be corrected, the extrated teeth should give enough room to reduce this to 3mm. He is going to fit upper braces first, lowers later on and then elastics. Appt made to fit braces on May 25 (only reason for delay was first my holidays and then his). He said it didn't matter if the extractions were before or after the fitting of braces, luckily I got an appt with the dentist for 9 May.

Extractions: 9 May 2007: This was the only part of the journey that I was really dreading, but for the first time in my life I went up that dentists stairs without wanting to cry My long held phobia has gone!! I want to do this so much that I appear to have overcome that fear I always had. I still wasn't looking forward to it of course, but at least I wasn't a trembling shaking wreck.

Things have obviously come on a lot since I last had an extraction in the 1980s. I was in and out of that place in exactly 22 minutes with both teeth extracted. I was delighted that she could do the 2 together, I wasn't sure if they would do that. The part I used to always hate was the injections not the actual procedure, but I literally didn't feel a thing. The hardest part was walking from the dental practice back to my car as I was aware of the packing material in my mouth. I just kept thinking " please don't let me meet anyone I know" as I wouldn't have been able to speak.

I kept up my salt rinses from extractions until about 3 weeks after getting braced (just in case!).

Replying to my own post (sorry). The above is a "work in progress" and over the coming nights I will add to it to get the story up to date.

I also intend posting some photos but unfortunately I live in dial-up land (oh for broadband, is there an emoticon for envy there! He'll do, he's the right colour anyway). I have managed to download 1 solitary photo to imageshack, but it keeps crashing when I tried the 2nd. I'll get back to it tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am getting my lower braces, this time my appt is for 2pm I'm gonna have a nice lunch first this time. I'll be back folks.......

Good luck with your lower braces tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing your pics!

Brace Day: Friday 25 May 2007: If anybody reading this has yet to make an appt to have your braces fitted.....Reminder...... make the appt for after lunch, You may as well have one last good meal to get you through the next few days I had a sandwich at morning break just in case and off I headed for my 12 noon appt. I was amazed at how quick it was, the etchant does taste icky alright, but it wasn't for long and I knew in advance and tried to keep my tounge out of the way. I was boring and wouldn't go for coloured ligs (ortho suggested purple) so I got grey.

I had my top teeth braced from first molar to first molar and spacers put between the remaining molars top and bottom. Ortho told me I would be cursing him my tea time for his "little blue instruments of torture". I had armed myself with Nurofen expecting pain but it never came thankfully.



My top lip kept catching (and getting hung up!) on the posts on the canine brackets so I had to use dental wax there, I forgot to take the wax off when taking the photos

I returned 3 days later for the spacers to be taken out and have molar bands fitted top and bottom. On the bottom left I had 2 molars removed years ago so there was no choice but to put the band on my wisdom tooth. The buccal tube on that band really dug into my cheek as it is so close. I had to put wax on that for a few weeks & the salt rinses really helped. Now there is a nice little cosy recess in my cheek that the tube fits into Really made itself at home

I was a bit nervous eating and kept to soft foods for the first few days. It was hard to chew because my molars weren't meeting properly but I became used to it over the next few weeks and after 2 or 3 weeks I was eating reasonably normally (mostly my usual foods, but cutting up some foods that I may have bitten into before braces).

Having had the braces put on I became a bit obsessed with this website (mostly reading and not posting). I particularly like the post showing all the different coloured ligs people choose. I got really fed up looking at the grey and was dying to try out a few colours, so this time I went for orthos suggestion of purple. They looked like a dark purple on the strip but when on my teeth look more like lavender? I really liked the purple and will get it again sometime (after I've tried out a few more colours).

I was in and out in just over 10 minutes. I was surprised at how quickly they can change the wire and ligatures. It didn't hurt at all but I didn't like the amount of pressure that is applied to the teeth, I kept thinking that my teeth might break (I know they won't it's only my paranoia )


In my mind I had set Christmas (7 month point) as the stage when I would begin to see movement, so I was amazed when 1 day just before my first adjustment I looked in the mirror and my teeth had noticably straightened. It's weird how you look at them every day and they don't seem to have moved at all, and then the next day they appear to have moved overnight The photo above was actually taken on 10 Aug when I was about 11 weeks in braces.

I kept a flexible wire but this time it was joined up to the upper molar bands. I kept forgetting that when flossing for a few days! I've got supplies everywhere, home, work, car, handbag, all have some form of dental goods. Next adjustment set for Sept 6th

2nd adjustment 6 Sept 2007
Had the 2nd adjustment on Sept 6th. I could not believe how much my teeth had straightened by this point. I went for blue ligatures today.

I was off on holidays the next day so was hoping that my luck with no discomfort would continue (and thankfully it did). My only problems so far seem to be a tendency for my teeth to stain easily (they always have, and this isn't helped by my fondness for hot strong tea ).

I had a stronger less flexible wire put on today. Ortho said he will not be trying to close the gap where my extractions were for another while, he wants the alignment to settle a bit first so the elastics will be another few visits away. Next visit Oct 22 he intends to fit bottom brace.

I keep forgetting to take photos, I only took this one on 21 Oct the day before 3rd adjustment.


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3rd Adjustment Upper & fitting of Lowers 22 Oct 2007

Knowing that I was having the bottom brace fitted on Oct 22, I visited the hygienist the week before for a cleaning. She was happy with the way I have been cleaning my teeth thankfully. I have been using the disclosing tablets every 2 weeks or so. Up to this point I have been mostly using regular floss and just threading it between the braces. There were only 2 places (between upper molar band and next braced teeth) where I couldn't manage the regular floss and had to use the super floss instead. My favourite little do-dads so far have been the TePe interdental brushes. I have 4 different colours/sizes. I use the biggest one around the wires and then the others in various gaps and around the molar bands.

So 5 months in now and I had the bottom brace fitted today.


It was OK getting them on although my mouth was getting pretty tired keeping it open for so long (not as bad as with the hygienist the week before though!). The etchant was really disgusting today, thought I was going to retch. I suppose it makes sense that it's worse with the bottom teeth, gravity and all that. Went for teal this time.

When I went back to my car and had a good look in the mirror I noticed that there was a white line all along my bottom gumline. I brushed my teeth when I got back to the office to see if I could get rid of it. I had noticed when the assistant was putting the etchant on that she spent more time putting it on (and seemingly more of the stuff) than when top brace went on. That night I kept thinking there was something stuck between my teeth. When I went into bathroom to check in mirror I could see that the skin around my gumline was partly peeling off The skin looked dead (it was actually but I was afraid to poke at it too much as I didn't know what if anything was under).

Next morning I was half afraid to look but the skin was hanging off. I pulled at it (disgusting, sorry ) and it came off in a strip, scalloped shape and all where teeth are! It was OK though, normal skin was underneath, but it did freak me a bit. I had read a lot of things here and was prepared for lots of things that never happened (and a few that did) but this was new to me.

Up to date now & current thoughts:
I have been really lucky on my journey so far. I have had no pain and only mild discomfort at the beginning. I had to use wax for the first few weeks with the top brace but only 1 night with the bottom brace. My next adjustment is Dec 3rd and I will be getting elastics probably the visit after that (late Jan I suppose). I am so, so delighted that I am doing this and of course (like so many) sorry that I didn't do it sooner, but better late than never. I have always hated my teeth so much and been so self conscious of them. My teeth look so much better already that I haven't been self conscious of the braces at all, I think the coloured ligs help. Now the only thing to decide is.....what colour next

Now here's where you can REALLY see the difference so far!!!

Before:


and 5 months in:

Lovely progress!

They look great KK. I guess the assistant must have got a little etchant on your gums and caused a slight acid burn.

I hope you continue to see such great progress.

all i can say is amazing. your progress is so encouraging. i'm going to get braced, gulp!, tomorrow afternoon - new york city time.

Yes, I second, third, fourth what everyone said. That arch of yours is lookin' pretty good!

3 Dec 2007, 4th adjust Upper & 1st adjust lowers

Not much to report from this adjustment. When Ortho had a look at my teeth he said he was going to put springs in to start closing my extraction gaps but when he heard I was off to Florida next day he decided to postpone until next visit just in case I did have any problems. So I am in a bit of a holding pattern until then.

I did opt for nice pink ligs this time though. Chickened out of going for the seasonal red & green This has been my favourite colour to date, it's a rose pink (looks like a very dark pink when on the strip before use).



Of course I had better things on my mind at the time than taking photos of my teeth (hols, yeah ) so this was only taken mid Jan before next adjustment.

KKcat,

You have made amazing progress-teeth look great. The pink ligs look hot! - Wish I got do colored ligs-oh well.

Hopoe you enjoy sunny Florida

23 Jan 2007, 5th adjust upper, 2nd lower adj

My teeth had been looking a bit scruffy again (tea ) and I needed a dental check up anyway, so I had a dentist appt on 18 Jan. Clean bill of health thankfully, apart from the tea staining but they are temporarily nice and clean again.

Time for springs today. Actually when the word springs were mentioned I expected little coils, but what I got was actually just loops in the archwire. Somebody on here mentioned "snoopy loops" and this is what I have I think, looks just like Snoopy's head Will try get a picture up at the weekend. So the road to close my extraction gaps has commenced, lets see how long it takes, takers anyone???? Lets go for Christmas 08, hopefully should be mostly there by then. We shall see.....

Glad to report that it's now 6 days later and I haven't had any problems at all. It was actually the easiest adjustent I've had (no feeling of a lot of pressure on teeth). Very minor soreness when eating or brushing for a day or 2. My last molar band (bottom) has now also been invited to join the party.

I loved the rose pink ligs so much last time I asked for the same again, but actually these are much brighter. I prefer the previous pink, will go back to sometime. One colleague asked me today when I got braces , umm, 8 months ago! It was the new pink that caught her attention I think, so it's true, people really don't notice half the time!!!!