NervousNewbie's story

[Clare]

Ha, Cathy, you are so right about burgers being messy! I got a craving for a Big Mac about two weeks ago. I got it home, opened the box and realised it was going to be hell to eat it. I had to get a knife and fork out to it, and even then it went EVERYWHERE. I threw half of it out, it was very disappointing.

No more Big Macs for me for the next year and a half

[MdHuskerFan]

Sounds like you and I are definitely sharing experiences. The first time I used the waterpik, I kept forgetting to turn it off before taking it out of my mouth. My method is very unsightly. I leave my mouth open and let the water spill out of my mouth while it's running. I"m always amazed at the food that comes out (kinda gross, I know). I'm looking forward to my first adjustment.

[NervousNewbie]

Thanks everyone!

Catgyrl -

Flossing:
I am trying the Superfloss but I'll definitely try the Glide! Anything's gotta be better than this... *sigh*

WaterPik:
I haven't cleaned my eyeballs yet, but I'm sure that'll happen eventually... it's not so bad if I do what MdHuskerFan mentioned and just lean over the sink with my mouth open. I actually haven't had anything come out with the water though yet, haha.

Sonicare:
I'm trying it this weekend!

Molar Bands:
I think I'm going to permanently have to use wax on the part that's sticking inside my mouth, for the whole two years. I haven't swallowed as much wax as I have in the short time I've had my molar bands on. There's the hook which faces the inside, and then one more part of the band on another tooth which scratches my cheek, so these two places have wax on them almost all the time. Today when I was trying to replace my wax I drooled on my shirt. So embarassing!

Brackets:
I feel stupid because I didn't know my brackets were self litigating until now. They said they started using "brackets with doors" (is all they called them, not self litigating) because they didn't like that the ligs stained. Are these supposed to work faster/better?

Brackets/Cheek creases:
I did okay this morning! I think it helps to take a drink of water through a straw first thing in the morning before even opening my mouth, and swishing it around, just to moisten everything up!

Eating out:
We had "food day" at our work and it took me a while but I did down a bagel! It hurts, but, I'm letting myself chew almost everything I ate before I was braced. The more I chew the less it hurts!

Today was fine except when I ate. I took some meds and felt better! I've read that you shouldn't have a lot of Ibuprofen because it can slow down movement but I am still eating it, and Tylenol, like candy.

[NervousNewbie]

Just a super quick update... nothing new, really.

I didn't know what brand of brackets I had but I know realize I have In-Ovation C brackets. So that is neat to know specifically what brand. I don't know if it really matters much though.

One of my front teeth began to click but has since stopped. It actually started doing this just days after being braced initially which I found very strange because I didn't think this happened until later in treatment. None of my other teeth have clicked yet.

This morning I used my Waterpik on setting 4 and I felt it hit something that caused pain, but I didn't think much of it until I tasted blood. I shut it off and bit down on a paper towel to try to find where I was bleeding, but there was blood on the top and the bottom of the paper towel. It wasn't a lot, it was very little, but enough to make me want to know from where I had been bleeding. It stopped after a minute or so.

For lunch I had a Bacon Turkey Bravo with French Onion Soup from Panera Bread. I kept getting things stuck in my braces and that was quite frustrating. I hadn't yet experienced the feeling of actually having to pull something out, and having it tear off and having part of it still stuck in the bracket. I tried to swish around some water in my mouth but it was still stuck in there. I had to excuse myself to get it out.

I practiced flossing today and have realized that it's not so bad on my teeth that have gaps (which is almost all of them). The purpose of the braces is to close my gaps but now I realize it will be much more inconvenient to floss without my gaps! Ugh. My two front bottom teeth are VERY tight and I cannot get the floss to go down to the gum line no matter how much I try to guide it down there. I still have not purchased the Glide floss (still struggling with Superfloss) but I plan to get to the pharmacy before the weekend is over since I need more wax anyhow. The thing that is most frustrating when I floss is the amount of saliva I produce and it is just like a waterfall when I try to floss. It does cause an issue and I don't really think there's anything I can do to prevent is so I just have to work around it. I am so surprised that some entrepreneur hasn't come up with some amazing, exciting invention that would eliminate the hassle of flossing...

[catgyrl]

When you get the Glide floss, instead of trying to force it down to the gum from the top of the tooth, try inserting the stiff end of the floss at the gumline between your lower front teeth, instead from the top. It should poke right through there. That way, you can still floss the gumline, and whenever those two teeth start to move, then you can floss from top to bottom. Those two teeth are super tight for me, too.

Good luck... Don't give up!
Cathy

[NervousNewbie]

Two weeks and nothing has changed so far! My teeth are loose though so hopefully I will see some changes soon.

First day:


Two week pics:





My four front bottom teeth are a lot more sensitive than they have been. It hurts to brush them. I think it's normal for some teeth to become more sensitive than others when braced so I'm not too worried. I am using Sensodyne toothpaste and have been since about a week before brace day so hopefully the pain will cease. I don't have to use Tylenol or Ibuprofen anymore (so far anyway) and I only use wax on the one hook which faces the inside of my mouth. Everyone at work has been quite nice and people frequently ask how I am doing which is surprising. People are curious but in a nice way and it is such a relief. Anyhow, things are boring as far as updates go, which is great because that means nothing is going wrong!

[NervousNewbie]

I'm updating tonight, one week before my first adjustment, with some not great news. I some how knocked a door off of one of my bottom two teeth and have seen some very negative movement. You can tell that now my bottom two teeth have gone quite crooked and I'm really bummed out about it. Of course my ortho has been out of the office since Thursday so I won't have a chance to call about it until Monday, and I'm a little worried they will make me just wait since I have my next adjustment in a week anyhow.

On a very slightly positive note, the gap in my two front teeth has nearly closed. My gaps change a little when I floss... they open up wider in different areas, but then in probably less than an hour everything is back to normal.

Pics from about 5 minutes ago, which shows where the gap at the top has closed (use my last post as a reference of what it used to look like), and how my bottom fronts have shifted so terribly -

[NervousNewbie]

I called today to ask about coming in and they said that I should just wait for my follow up appointment, which is what I was afraid of! I just hope the bottom ones don't get any more crooked than they already are. I can only imagine how much it's going to hurt trying to reconnect the wire to the bracket, seeing as the tooth is so far pushed back from the wire at this point. Feeling it come back forward and pushing the other one back out of the way surely isn't going to feel pleasant. Oh well, wishing for not too much more movement on the bottom in the next seven days!

[MdHuskerFan]

Hang in there. I hope it goes okay next week.

[NervousNewbie]

They should make t-shirts - "I survived my first adjustment!"

Hang in there. I hope it goes okay next week.

Thank you! It went by fairly well. I had my bracket door replaced on the bottom front tooth I mentioned before and so the bottom wire wasn't changed, but I had the top wire changed. When she was opening the bracket doors, she used the tool and instead of just pushing downward, she also pushed down on my teeth, and that hurt quite a lot. I don't have near as much discomfort as I did when I had them originally put on, but I do have some minor discomfort two hours after the adjustment. It isn't as bad as I expected it would be though. If she would have been more accurate with the door opening tool rather than stabbing me in the gums and lips multiple times, things would have probably gone a lot nicer.

My second adjustment is 12/20.

[SilverGirl]

Congrats on your first adjustment! That gap really has closed in nicely, and the wire looks straighter on the left top. I just had my 2nd adjustment today and am having to hit the Advil again, but it's just sort of a dull ache. And I guess I've become masochistic because I like the pain knowing it's there because stuff is happening!

Looking good!

[NervousNewbie]

Thanks! Yeah, mine is sometimes a dull ache but I also have a couple of very sensitive teeth which throb any time I accidentally hit them at all. I am having a harder time chewing than normal, but I'm trying to just eat through the pain because I know that the blood flow will help the pain.

I know what you mean about pain = movement... I was happy this morning to be sore and feel the tightness because it reminded me that I should be seeing more movement before my next adjustment (at least I hope!). The ortho's assistant made it sound like she expected to see my canine come down some, which would be great! Though I still have a baby tooth behind it and they haven't advised me to have it pulled yet, so I'm kind of curious how that will all pan out. I think it will have to come out before the canine has room to come down too much further, so I'm hoping they'll tell me to have it pulled the next time I go in.

[NervousNewbie]

Long time no see! Just a quick update from me.

Tonight my baby canine fell out on its own! I am very excited because this means I won't have to have it pulled. It kept feeling looser and looser, so tonight I just wiggled it around, and there it went. It does feel very weird having just bare gum there, but hopefully my adult canine will pull down in to it more quickly now. The adult canine doesn't look any lower, but I think it might be pulling down a little bit since I think it helped wiggle the baby tooth loose. I don't see any other movement yet.

Also, my flossing might be getting just a little easier! I've switched to Glide from the Superfloss, and my life is a lot easier, haha.

My next adjustment is 12/20 so I hope to post another quick update and new pics then!

[MarciLouWho]

NervousNewbie -

I'm thread-jumping to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed your story in the posts here. I'm getting ready to join the ranks of the Metal Mouths myself and you've helped me a bunch already. So - thanks.

[NervousNewbie]

NervousNewbie -

I'm thread-jumping to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed your story in the posts here. I'm getting ready to join the ranks of the Metal Mouths myself and you've helped me a bunch already. So - thanks.

Wow, thanks so much! What a kind thing to say. I'm thrilled to have been helpful to someone. I know I really needed it when I started... I spent sooo many hours on this site trying to absorb as much as I could!

Congratulations on starting your journey soon! It is a bit intimidating but once you are braced you will be so happy.