Metal Mouth Message Board

I figured I should go ahead and start a thread to chrolonicle my journey with braces.

First let me explain the title of my thread. Simply put, I've had more dental work in 28 years than most people have in their whole life, including braces in high school, 20-25 fillings (I've lost count), extractions, two broken teeth, and a root canal.

Which brings me to now! I'm back in braces to correct a 60% deep bite, lower crowding, and, in layman's terms, slanted arches (my unscientific terminology). I got braced on Oct. 31 and, for the next 18 months, will be in Damons with clear brackets on my upper social 6. I am SO glad I finally made the decision to begin orthodontic treatment, and I don't regret my decision to get braces one bit.

Here's a picture taken right after I walked out of the orthodontist's office on Day 1. I learned from someone else's thread how to get good pictures using my cell phone and bathroom mirror, so I'll try to post some additional pictures later. I'm already seeing some movement of my upper left lateral.

I had posted the previous picture in the general forum, but here are two pictures I took today showing my bling in all it's shiny, orthodontic glory.

Good luck on your journey. I have Damon's as well and noticed your strippers are the same as mine. I was mad when I saw them and wish they would just put them on my back of my mouth! Oh well...I'm over five months in and have seen amazing progress. Hope you see quick progress as well!
~Ash

Haha....I mean stoppers**** oops

104 hours in, and I'm still getting used to feeling all this hardware in my mouth. I've adjusted all right to my bottom braces, but moving my mouth and lips around these ginormous clear brackets is still challenging.

I've had to spend a lot of time practicing my speech, especially with S, V, F, Ch, and J sounds. I'm not lisping, but some words and sounds just come out sounding fizzy. I guess that's the best way to describe.

My favorite dental tool is an orange Dentek Easy Brush. I never leave my house with a pack of them, as well as wax and Ibuprophen.

Until today, I've only really had pain on days 0 (braces day) and 1. I honestly felt like I had been punched square across my bottom front teeth. After a few pain free days, my bottom back teeth have become sore, like a dull ache. I guess the pain is a sign that the braces are doing their thing, though, right?

A few of my teeth have loosened up, and I'm now hearing that clicking that some of y'all have written about.

On the plus side, this junk in my mouth has kept me from going nuts with all the leftover Halloween candy we have. And I'm being forced to eat more slowly, which is letting me feel fuller quicker. So no complaints there!

Today was the first day that I've kept my office door open post-braces, so I've interacted with my co-workers much more. They've pretty much all commented on my new bling, but they've all been very supportive and understanding. I've been much less self-conscious than I thought I would be.

We had a friend from college visit for the weekend, and he was the first friend to see me braced up. He said it was adorable, although there was some good-natured ribbing about what it's like for my husband to make out with a teenager.

Braces have not affected kissing or other romantic acivities in any way, but I've tried to be really careful and have gone slowly.

I had a poking wire all weekend, so I had to get it clipped today. The assistant showed me how to use my fingernails and the stoppers to shift the wire if the moving teeth cause it to become long on one side, which I think is awesome.

The *only* thing I would do differently (and I hope I never have to do this again!) Is that I would go full metal. Everyone knows I have braces anyways and these clear brackets, while esthetically pleasing, are HUGE

Bulky brackets aside... everything has been smooth sailing, and I LOVE MY BRACES. I haven't admitted that to anyone, but I know y'all will understand and appreciate the sentiment. My only regret is that I didn't do this sooner!

I'm so glad to read all if your hood news! )

Thanks, Stef! I'm looking forward to reading YOUR good news, also!

Last night I popped a bracket off on some pretzels. I figured out how to use the sharp point of a dart to open the door and remove the broken bracket. I realize as I type how sketchy that sounds! So I'm comfortable until I can go in on Monday to have it replaced. I'm still surprised that the bond could fail aftet only 7 days all because of a couple pretzels. I ate really anything I wanted the first time I had braces and never had a single problem.

I can definitely see some movement, which makes me thrilled!

Here's a day 9 update picture. Day 9 on top and day 0 on botton. I am very pleased with my progress so far. I can see that my bottom arch is rounding out.

[I'm sorry the day 0 picture is so big! If someone could let me know how to resize attachments (I'm posting from my smart phone), I would really appreciate it!]

Hope all goes well:)