Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm 31 years old, have hated going to the dentist after a root canal and extraction gone bad. So when I met my dentist last year I told her about the failed procedure, and she encouraged me to go to her clinic so she could have a look, and when I went she was so professional about the whole thing, so I finally had the extraction done properly, and it took about 15 minutes, unlike before when That Idiot had me in a headlock for a whole hour while he tugged on my tooth and then told me that he wasn't sure if he was pulling at my tooth or my bone and I should come back another day, this was in 2002 and I never went back.

Anyhow, I had the extraction done, and I asked her what could be done about the spacing on my upper teeth and overcrowding on my lower, and she suggested braces, but I wasn't so sure about it because of my age, and also because you don't see many people in braces in my part of the world, even kids and I didn't want to look like a freak. But in Dec 16 last year when I turned 31 we were taking photos, and I realized I would have to do something about my teeth; I didn't want to be the only one who didn't smile or say 'cheese'. So I got my finances together, called my dentist, and on March 27 got my braces, April 3 got my molar bands and two weeks later 17 April got my first powerchain on my upper teeth.

We'll see how it goes. I'll post pics later after I figure out how to post them. And how to take them...how is everyone taking photos of their teeth like that, I've tried it and now my jaw's sore.

While I'm excited about my journey, there are a few things bugging me

1. How huge my lips look
2. Haven't yet figured out how to sneeze without my teeth kind of banging together which is really painful.
3. Talking-I have a slight lisp, and my brother's always calling me and asking me to say things like 'seven samosas on a saucer' just for his amusement.
4. Sometimes I'm quite sure I'm drooling from the corners of my lips, but when I check, there's nothing there.

Other than that, so far so good!

Mimi,

Good for you for going ahead with your treatment.

I think its interesting that, weeks after you got your braces, your teeth are still sore enough to throb after you sneeze. Hopefully, that means your teeth are moving!

Good luck to you. I'm sure you'll enjoy your perfect smile when you're finished.

Ive had braces for over two weeks now and the first days were rough. Like you I had trouble sneezing because my top teeth hit the lower brackers and it hurt soooo bad. This will go away quickly as your alignment will change. I had to put up with the painful thing for almost a week or more. If anything put wax on the bracket that is getting hit, it should cushion it somewhat. As for drooling, I did this once in my sleep. Your mouth will get used to it, and you wont drool much anymore. Trust me. Your lips being big, nooone else really sees that, its usually just us. anddd as for the lisp thing, I had one the first 3 days but now I dont really have one, although I noticed that I will always catch different words funny like "s" and "f" but nothing too major.

:]]]

I had my adjustment yesterday-the dentist removed my wire, flossed and cleaned my teeth, then put another band on an upper molar, and hooked an elastic to that band, connected to a band on a molar on my lower teeth, in order to pull the lower molar outwards and create space on my bottom teeth where I have crowding. Some of my teeth are to close together, she had to put a spacer in for about half an hour, and then put the band in. Then she changed my power chain, which was good because I had curry last week and stained the last one, and I couldn't take proper pictures because it looked gross. At least I see her every two weeks.

I can already see so much progress seeing as I've been in braces for only one month. The crowding in my lower teeth is so much less-the tooth that's sticking in was so much more in than shown, and I can't stick my tongue in the gap between my upper teeth like I used to.

She gave me a bunch of elastics to change on my own, I've already swallowed one; forgot to remove it while having breakfast today. I'm not in any pain; I normally take Diclomol before my appointment, just one pill leaves me pain free for days afterwards. Wish I'd known about them that week when I had spacers...

This is me as at today. I didn't take any before pictures-wish I had, I would encourage everyone who's thinking of getting braces to get some before pictures, but trust me, there's definitely some progress here.



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I'm finding that as time goes by, I'm becoming less and less self concious about my braces, and I don't really care who knows that I have them, or how they are going to react to it. I smile more, even to strangers. I'm going to have them for a year and probably longer, that's a long time to go without smiling.

Anyhow, I'm feeling really good about my decision to invest in myself.

That's the spirit, Mimi! I'm finding that in all actuality, people DO NOT give a hoot whether or not you have braces. I've made comments here and there to people who don't know I have them, and when I point them out, the reaction I get is mainly, "Oh..." and that's it! No questions, no comments.

The only time I'm even remotely self-conscious is when I'm eating something that is obviously getting stuck in every single bracket; no matter how hard I try to eat with my molars, the bread, ham, cheese all end up in my front brackets. I try to discreetly get it out, or hold my hand up in front, but inevitably I have to excuse myself to go rinse out. As for talking, laughing, etc., no problem.

I think the majority of us who aren't afraid to smile and be social are of the attitude like you: You're doing this to better yourself, and that in and of itself makes you happy. Shoot - I've only seen one tooth slightly move and I'm tickled pink! haha

Keep it up, and good luck on your journey!

-Cathy

I went for my adjustment a week ago, nothing new's been happening though, or maybe I'm the one who doesn't notice it as much nowadays. Most of my movement has been in my lower teeth, can't wait to see lots of movement in my upper.

I had a cavity in one of my wisdom teeth. Previously I've been so scared to have my teeth filled because of the needle and pain involved. So even if the tooth was painful, I was reluctant to tell my dentist, but I was so surprised, the whole drilling and filling process took like 15 minutes, and there was no pain, she put some numbing cream on the area before she did the injection. Mmmmh. Wish I'd known all that earlier. There was only one injection, and I was fine afterwards, previously I had many injections, and my lips felt numb for hours afterwards. Anyway, she then let me brush, and then flossed my teeth for me. Then the usual replacing of my power chain and ligs. She didn't have any dark coloured ligs, so I chose a light blue colour, which isn't as bad as I had imagined, I think I'll be going for more interesting colours. Here's a pic, doesn't look as bad as I'd feared.



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By the way, recently my teeth have been so sensitive, can't imagine what's causing it. Maybe it's all the brushing, I don't know. And I can taste all the metal in my mouth, esp the molar bands.

I hadn't seen my dentist in 4 weeks; apparently she's been very busy; frequently goes out of town. But it's ok, my teeth are coming along nicely. It's been 2 months, and I can see a huge difference. My teeth have stopped feeling so sensitive, now I hardly even notice I have braces. I'm still wearing elastics, apart from that nothing has changed in my treatment.

Today I had my usual cleaning and changing of powerchain and ligs. That's all. Took about 20 minutes and we were done. She's very pleased with my progress. Although there was a point she tried to put some thicker powerchains on my upper teeth, and the process was very painful, so we decided we'd do that next time. Can't wait
So here's what my teeth look like today. I like the coloured ligs, so I've decided not to go back to the dark ones. My dentist doesn't have a wide variety of colours, so it was either this or a bright orange or green.



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So far my treatment has been uneventful, and I've had loads of support from my family and friends. Hope it continues that way.

@mimi..how is the treatment getting along? Am also in nbi and got braced a week back as a sort of 30th b-day self gift. I have yet to see any adult let alone kids with braces around ( maybe am 2 self concious of my bad teeth). Nobody has noticed/ commented abt the braces maybe they are just being polite; they are ceramic but not invisible.