Radioqueen is Braced

[radioqueen]

Today was the day.

I started my day like every other day... walk the dog, drink a pot of coffee, hop in and out of the shower and then head out... not to work, but for an hour and a half drive, even though my ortho's local office is only three blocks from my house. I went to his other location because he was sheduled up through the second week in July here and I could get an earlier appointment there. It was a beautiful day for the drive and I arrived at the ortho's a half hour early, but that worked out good, since there was some paperwork to be completed and as soon as the paperwork was finished, I was taken right back.

I hopped up in the chair and the ortho's assistant laid me back and said she would be fitting my bands and the ortho would be placing the brackets.

So she started putting bands on and taking them off and putting different ones on. She was having a hard time finding bands to fit my teeth but eventually she had six bands in place, three on each side.

Then the ortho came over and they dried off my teeth, put the cotton roll under my lower lip (but they really didn't need to, I was scared spitless ) and put the etchant on my front teeth, the bonding agent came next, and then he fanned me with a file folder... that was funny. I told him I was glad to see he used such high tech equipment.

At this point, I have to say how great the whole gang at my ortho's office is. We were joking and the atmosphere was very relaxed. Ok, back to my narrative.

My ortho placed the five brackets and then the assistant told me she was taking the bands off so she could glue them in place. So, off came the bands, and while they were off, one of the other assistants ground the inside pokey parts off, I really thanked her for that.

Then came the worst part of the whole visit, that glue! UGH! Nasty, but the assistant worked speedily and as soon as she was done she let me go brush that icky taste out of my mouth.

All that was left to do was place the wire and ligs (I got hot pink). My ortho said he wanted to pick my color, actually colors, red, white and blue. I told him he could choose the next time.

I got to brush again after everything was in place and I took some Aleve at that time. They gave me a sackful of goodies, wax, floss, a dental mirror, and a whole lot more. All-in-all it took an hour to get braced. And it wasn't a bad experience. I just want the hole caused by the extraction of my lower left lateral incisor to hurry up and close.

I left there and went to work, where everyone wanted to see the bosses braces... no rude comments were made under threat of unemployment.

When I got in from work, I ate some pudding and now here it is, ten hours after getting braced and so far, so good. There is a rough patch on the inside of my cheek where something is rubbing, but that's all.

Hope this keeps up, and I don't hurt more tomorrow. But... I'm finally in braces.. and I have a ticker!!

[jennielee81]

CONGRATULATIONS!

Your "spitless" comment was too funny

[radioqueen]

Thanks Jennilee.

I am pleasantly suprised at how well I am doing today, the "hit in the mouth" pain so many people have described here has not happened to me... yet. I did have to use wax on a couple of places, one place is where they ground the inside off one of the bands, they didn't quite get it smoothed and the other is by the bracket on the back right tooth, I think the wire is poking me, but a little wax and all is well.

I have a question... I am brushing after I eat, but I drink a lot, and I mean a lot, of diet coke daily. Does anyone know if artificial sweeters can cause cavities like sugar does? I have never given any thought to this, but the care instructions my ortho gave me says to brush immediately after eating or drinking anything with sugar in it, and I don't know if this applies to the artificial sweeteners in diet coke, if it does, I won't get anything done all day but drinking and brushing, drinking and brushing...

[caryca]

i think it applies to anything

but look at the positive site - maybe you will reduce the amount of coke

In the past 2 weeks I am down with my coffee from 5 cups to only 2!!!! that's a good progress for me:-) ...the laziness is the best freind of progress

[fyrelight]

Um, the doctors noted somewhere before that the ACID in soda -- any soda-- can cause tooth enamel to become soft and make it more susceptible to cavities. Sorry!

[radioqueen]

So, it's day five with my braces. Yesterday morning I made a quick trip to the ortho's office to have a wire clipped... and the relief was instantaneous.

When I walked in, my ortho asked me if I was still his friend. And I said of course as long as they got that thing to quit poking me in the cheek. I thought I was going to be able to wear some new face jewelry.

The wire was poking me on the right side, and on the left, one of the bands is shredding the underside of my tongue. My cheek felt better right away, and I am not waxing where the band is rubbing my tongue raw, I am following the advice of many on this board and letting that area toughen up. Besides that, up til last night, I wasn't in any pain from my teeth...

And then last night .... it felt like someone was playing my teeth like piano keys and instead of music, PAIN. First one tooth would ache, then another and then one on the other side would hurt for a while, it was quite unnerving.

And today I could tell some movement occurred - my bite has changed and I'm biting my upper lip a lot and I can feel the back side of my lower canine tooth that had been pooched way out... it really feels funny - it's moving into the space created by the extraction I had last week, and that site is healing up nicely.


Maybe someone can answer a question for me. When I went for my consult the ortho told me that we would know about seven months into my treatment whether I would have an overbite and need upper braces and elastics to bring it into line, and I noticed that two of the brackets he placed have hooks on them. Do you think he already knows I'll need the elastics, or why wouldn't he just put regular brackets on and wait to place the other brackets on at that time? I did not notice the hooks until after I left his office or I would have asked him. Just wondering...

And it's so funny... no one has noticed my braces -- and I have hot pink ligs -- on metal --

And a postscript to my earlier post, I'm drinking less diet coke and more water.

[fyrelight]

Radioqueen, some braces come with hooks already "built in" on your canine brackets.... It doesnt mean you will need them.. My canines have hooks, but I'm getting my braces off in a week and didnt use them at all..

[radioqueen]

Thanks Pamela, that eases my concern.

[radioqueen]

Food, glorious food. When oh when will I be able to eat real food again. I tried today and what a catastrophe.

I just couldn't face more cream of wheat, pudding or even ice cream. I wanted real food. So I stopped and got some fried chicken, and commenced trying to eat some... well, let's just say I found out how much my teeth have moved. They weren't meeting well enough to chew, and it's really difficult to eat fried chicken if you can't chew, but I gave it the old college try.

And then I noticed that the lig had come off my right rear molar. I kind of freaked, I thought at first I had broken a bracket.

Anyway, I was able to retrieve the lig, and then I had to do some serious cleaning of junk off my braces, brush, floss, brush again and then try to put that little sucker back in place.

I tried using the dental mirror they gave me in the little ortho kit, but that made the image of my tooth reversed and I couldn't get it worked out which way was right.

But, I finally got it hooked back in place and I have decided that good food will be out of question for a while.

I believe I'll buy a blender, maybe I can puree some fried chicken... it doesn't sound too appetizing right now, but as time goes on, I may consider it a treat.

[Vonster]

Hehehehehehe....I know what you mean. I just got my occlusal stops built back up this afternoon, and at dinnertime I came really close to making a Greek smoothie! I was trying to eat the leftovers from my lunch (which was prior to the improved stops) and it was NOT working.

Vonster

[radioqueen]

Vonster, I can't imagine having more stuff on my molars, with just the bands, my ability to chew is now non-existant.

The silver lining to this cloud is that my clothes are fitting much better. I do worry about not getting all the vitamins and nutrients my body needs. I don't imagine that my diet of chicken noodle soup, oatmeal and cream of wheat has one hundred percent of my daily nutritional needs.

I am happy to say that there is still no big pain. Only twinges as one tooth then another moves. Keeping my teeth and braces clean takes a long time, I hope as time goes on that I can get more proficient at it.

[radioqueen]

Well, I had my first adjustment Wednesday.

When I was first braced the only discomfort I endured was a wire poking me in the cheek, it was snipped and the rest of the time was smooth sailing.

Then came Wednesday. When I went in, my ortho looked at my teeth and told the assistant to put in a 14 wire. So she pulled the ligs off, owww.

Then she pulled the old wire off and started putting all these long wires on my brackets, and that created some pressure on my teeth, and by the time she put the new wire in place and put on my new (bright purple) ligs, I was thinking... pain, hurts, whimper.

And the (tie wires?) I think that's what they are, have stabby, jabby ends that are doing a number on the inside of my lip.

But here it is two days later and the pain is mostly gone, unless I bite into something. And since I haven't been able to eat anything but soft food since I got my braces, the pain is minimal.

I go in for another adjustment in 3 weeks and I have a feeling that it will be some time before I can stand to put pressure on my teeth to chew.

I went to my regular dentist last Friday so he could check and see how I was doing keeping my braces clean... and my cleaning effort was proclaimed excellent. It's as I told him, I'm not paying all this money to straigthen my teeth just to let them rot. AS IF!

[MyTimeToShine]

lol you're hilarious.

I guess its going to be me and my Slim-Fast, oatmeal, ice cream, applesauce, and soup for a while....woe is me

[radioqueen]

Owww, shucky darn, heck... hurts, hurts, hurts, she howls. I can't eat, talk, swallow-- and it's all due to a hideous canker sore on the back left underside of my tongue where there's not even a band or brace to cause this kind of injury.

How did this happen, why meeeee???? She asks in a piteous sort of Nancy Kerrigan way.

I have used zilactin, and the peroxidyl and have just got some sealant sort of stuff and I AM STILL IN PAIN..

I have an adjustment tomorrow, maybe the ortho has some voodoo or other that he can use to make this UNBEARABLE PAIN go away.

[radioqueen]

Okey dokey then. I had my second adjustment Wednesday, new wire, new wire ties-- was told all looks good...

I have my adjustments every three weeks, well so far anyway, from what I've read on other peoples posts, usual time is 4 to 6 weeks, I just wonder why my ortho sees me after such short intervels?

Anyway, I asked for lime green ligs and immediately regretted that decision because I had an appointment for a photo shoot an hour later. But when I got to my car and checked the assistants handiwork, I found that she had put silver ligs on. So it all worked out. Can't wait to see the photos... me and my fella -- I hope to use one as an engagement photo.

Here is my two cents worth to anyone on here who has questions about how braces affects your personal life -- as far as dating and such... in my case it seemed to enhance it... and I am now in a relationship with a great guy who totally supports my dental efforts... I just love him.

By the by... the canker sore is much better, no thanks to my ortho-- who told me that no matter what I do, it will be seven to 10 days before it gets better. And thanks to Meryaten for the tip about the antacid.