Braces, finally!

[Fixmygrill]

Hi all,
After years and years of putting it off, I'm getting all braced up in a few weeks, complete with four extractions. I've got an underbite and cross bite along with severe crowding, and up until my current orthodontist, had been told I needed jaw surgery in order to fix anything. (hence the procrastination, since none of the insurance companies I've been with would cover it...) I'm very excited that I found someone who says it can be done without surgery! I took some "before" pictures today and was slightly horrified, but maybe I'll get around to posting those...
In the meantime, I'd love to get some advice about extraction recovery! I'm having 4 premolars removed by an oral surgeon (ironically, the same one that told me he wouldn't do my jaw surgery) with local anesthetic. From what I've read, this will be much less traumatic than wisdom teeth, but I'm still pretty freaked out by the whole thing!
Thanks!

[JMSmith]

I can definetly relate to the anxiety. On January 16, I had 4 impacted wisdom teeth and 4 premolars removed to make room so they can fix the crowding I have in my mouth. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. It sucked, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't as awful as I had worked myself up to. The worst part was getting used to not being able to chew things with those premolars gone, but really, once the braces go on chewing gets harder each and every day so looking back it seemed more like preparation for the next 2 (or so) years. Just make sure you have lots of soft food ready for the first few days. The Sunday before I had my extractions, I made a big batch of potato soup to last me a few days. The premolars shouldn't be too bad, you'd be surprised at how quickly those gums heal.

I also know the anxiety about the pictures... I just posted mine the other day, and I cannot look at them. Believe me, if I can post my ridiculous mess of a mouth, ANYBODY can... I just hold tight to the fact that it's going to change and that I will soon have the smile I've dreamt about since I was little kid. Just remember that no one can see your face and we're ALL going through the same emotions about our mouths... that's why we're here afterall.

I also wanted to say that I absolutely love "Fixmygrill"!! That's awesome. My ortho gave me a travel bag for keeping tooth stuff on hand that has the name of his practice, followed by "Professional Grill Repair Company". To say the least, I get a good chuckle everytime I look at it.

Good luck to you!! I'm sure you'll do great! It all sucks to begin with, but we adjust and it becomes normal, if you can believe that.

[LEtranger]

I'm "just" having one or perhaps two incisors removed and I'm also freaking out a bit. Seems like it's more common to remove premolars but I just have to put faith in my dentist.

I just posted one picture in my thread, it took me one week to do it even though I took pictures before even getting the first brackets in place. Still feels weird to "show off" something that I guess most of us are or at least have been ashamed of. I try to think of how it will be reading the thread in one year and how the pictures will look then. Like someone else said on the board, it's not going to be your smile in a couple of months.

[Fixmygrill]

Thanks for the encouragement! I guess I have to make a few more posts before I can put my pictures up anyway...
Right now I just can't wait to get started!

[kellyb]

hi there
wishing you all the best with your journey and looking forward to reading about your progress

[Fixmygrill]

Well, now I've really started the countdown! My freezer's full of soup and I'm getting the extractions done on Tuesday morning (and then the braces a week from Tuesday.) I have to do some travelling for work on Friday and Saturday next week so I hope I'm ok with eating solid food by then.
Also, I had a good excuse to buy a cute new cosmetics bag to stash all my braces paraphernalia! Does anyone have recommendations for that? I got threader floss and the little proxy toothbrushes, and I'm assuming my orthodontist will give me some sort of goody bag too.
Pictures coming soon! (once I make a few more posts...)

-fixmygrill

[klobird]

Hey Grill--It's an exciting time when you are about to get braces!

I have a little thing like a cosmetics bag too. I have a travel toothbrush and toothpaste in it,
toothpicks, wax, my lipstick, and a little bottle with a cap on it. I use it to fill up when I'm in the bathroom so I can rinse before I brush. Let's see...you might also put a travel mouthwash in it, floss...can't think of anything else...I carry it whenever I know I will be eating--lunch at work, eating in a restaurant, eating at friends---it is always in my backpack. Oh wait! I also have Ibuprofen in my little bag...

Good luck in the next couple of weeks. Keep us updated!

[Fixmygrill]

Ok, here are the pictures. Yikes...




I'm not sure why the picture of my top teeth ended up smaller than the others, but you get the idea!
Extractions tomorrow...I'll spare you gory pictures of those. I'm getting the 2nd bicuspids on the top and 1st on the bottom removed.

[Fixmygrill]

Goodbye, premolars!

I had the extractions done yesterday morning. I think the worst part was the needle in the roof of my mouth to numb it...whoa. The root broke off the first tooth on its way out, which then involved a lot of examining and rummaging around to get it out. Luckily the one after that took about 2 seconds...I was afraid they were all going to be that bad. I actually had quite a bit of bleeding afterwards (had to send my very understanding husband to the store for more gauze as I was certainly not going out in public with all that bloody gauze hanging out of my mouth!) but it was fine by evening. I took the prescription painkillers yesterday just in case, but just took naproxen today and have felt ok. It's definitely been easier than when I got my wisdom teeth out.

Now I'm trying to figure out eating! Apparently the teeth that were removed were the ones I used to chew. Oops. So I have two molars that touch in the back of my mouth (since I've got an underbite, I have lonely molars on the top that have never touched anything anyway...) and that's it. I figure once the extraction sites heal up, it'll be easier, but right now I'm afraid of getting food in there and disturbing the clot. Yuck. It's a good thing I went on a yogurt buying binge. Anybody else have this much trouble chewing after extractions?

Anyway, 6 days to braces! I'll post pictures of those when I get them...now I'd better start thinking about ligature colors!

-fixmygrill

[Fixmygrill]

And they're on! My mouth stopped hurting just in time from the extractions to get something new to hurt. Actually, getting them on was totally easy...but I'm starting to get a little sore now.
Also, none of my teeth touch! The orthodontist said my bite will be different every day for a while, so I guess I'll be back on the smoothie diet.

Here they are! (I chickened out of the hot pink ligatures for the bottom and got light blue instead...next time...)





-fixmygrill

[Fixmygrill]

I had my first adjustment today...which wasn't really an adjustment at all! My orthodontist said things had to get more "leveled out" before he could put on a thicker wire and start closing gaps. Does that mean vertically level? I did get the ligatures changed and went with "screaming pink" on the bottom brackets. I like them. I haven't had as much staining as I expected with the clear ligatures on top (they don't have smoke colored ones), I think because I have been drinking coffee with a straw and neurotically brushing as soon as I'm done. He also removed the wire lacing between the two teeth around one of the extraction gaps, and didn't put a ligature on the molar on the other side where there is still wire lacing. (anyone know what that does? Maybe it should still be there?)

I took some pictures, but for some reason I can't get the imageshack site to work this morning. Has anyone else been having trouble with it? I really can't see much of a difference yet anyway (it's only been 3 1/2 weeks), but I can definitely tell when I'm flossing that things are moving a little! This whole process will definitely be an exercise in patience for me...

-fixmygrill

[Fixmygrill]

Hi!
I just had my second ortho visit since getting the braces on....and got a bunch of wires tied around some of the brackets on my front teeth. No new wire yet...I guess I've got a way to go on this one. The orthodontist said they still have to get more level before he starts retracting them to make room for the super-crowded ones.
I do have a few teeth that I can floss between without feeling like I'm going to rip out my archwire when I have to yank the floss out from between my teeth...I guess that's what it's supposed to feel like to floss!
I went with the teal ligs on bottom this time...I think I like the pink better.
And of course I can't get the imageshack website to work again, so I'll just try putting the pictures in as attachements...fingers crossed! (ok, now I see that they're enormous...I'll have to come back and fix them later. sheesh.)
-fixmygrill

[Fixmygrill]

Here are my almost-3-months pictures!





I got upgraded to a thicker wire today...ouch. Next time I'm apparently getting a whole lot more in my mouth to start pulling the canines back and start closing the extraction gaps. Woohoo! I'm glad they're finally ready for that, since that one top incisor has been getting pushed even farther out of place while the canine next to it gets pulled down...not cute. I went with metallic purple ligs on the bottom this time. They're a lot more subtle, but I kind of like getting the crazy colors on the bottom! And for anyone wondering about staining on clear ligs, I gave up on the straw for red wine and coffee last night and this morning since I knew I was getting them changed soon and it didn't seem to stain them. (I did brush right afterwards, though.)
-fixmygrill

[Fixmygrill]

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Today I got some new accessories: new wires, powerchains, and a spring. Ow ow ow.
The orthodontist warned me that my teeth were going to hurt because they were "really going to start moving now". (and I thought that's what they'd been doing before!) I'm really excited for the spring to start working some magic, though. My teeth have been such a mess for so long that I have a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that they're straightening out!

I also had a bracket pop off. Sigh. It started coming loose 2 days ago and then was completely unglued by last night. Since it was the last one on the wire, I slid it off so I wouldn't swallow it and brought it in to get reglued this morning...it wasn't as big a deal as I thought.

-fixmygrill

[Angel269]

Love the teal ligs. Hope things aren't as painful as you thought they would be.

Good luck on your journey and look forward to hearing more as things progress and seeing more photos