Grover's Braces Journey

[Grover]

...continued from here: viewtopic.php?t=32564

So, I had my spacers put in over a week ago, and didn't have any problems, apart from the annoyance of having a metal spring in place of a band in one spot which kept rotating and generally being a pain. Turns out I didn't even need the spring, as my ortho forgot that I was only have braces on the top to start with, so everything he did on the bottom was not needed...

So last Friday (13/11/09) I was braced with ceramic self ligating uppers, with metal bottoms to follow once my bite opens up a bit. So far I haven't had any pain killers or used in wax, although I do have some funny looking swelling on my cheeks at the back where the brackets are rubbing. I still can't eat anything hard and my teeth are very sensitive. The worst part is that my bite has already changed and when I talk I have to be very careful not to gnash my top and bottom teeth together because it really hurts.

I'm having a bit of troubling talking as I seem to be lisping a bit which I am hating. I made an 'announcement' about it on Facebook in the hope that it would let most people know in advance, and avoid me having to tell everyone individually or wait for them to notice.

Here are my before pics, which I despise. Sorry for the quality, they are scanned from the printout I was given by the ortho.


Top arch


Bottom arch



Braced photos to follow when I can be bothered digging the camera out.

[Grover]

Maybe someone could also tell me what I've done wrong with uploading the photos. I thought I'd followed the instructions correctly.

[yj207]

I think it's because it's a link to the page of your photo's and not the actual link to the photo's itself. Because the link should ideally be ended with a JPG, GIF, something like that.

Good luck on your braces journey!

[Grover]

OK, I'll try these photos again with photobucket, including a braces shot as well.









God I hate these photos.

[Snowglobe32]

Hi there,

Don't spend too much time hating your photos. After your first adjustment, you will be amazed at the progress, and it will only continue to get better from there.

I have had mine ceramic upper and bottom metals for almost 7 weeks. My lisp went away after week one, and I was able to eat better by week 2.

Keep us updated.

[Grover]

Oh God, the lisp - I can't believe something on my teeth can make me lisp and I'm hating it. Can't wait for my first adjustment either - hopefully things will start to move then.

Thanks for your helpful words

[Grover]

It's probably wishful thinking, but I think my two front teeth may have a tiny bit less of a gap, and I'm also wondering if my left canine (on right of photo) has dropped a bit too....

[Snowglobe32]

I wouldn't be surprised if there is movement already. When you think about it, before braces, you didn't have a wire trying to move your teeth. I saw minor changes in the first week, esoecially after waking up. My co-workers noticed also.
Encouraging isn't it? Makes you wonder why you didn't do it earlier huh?
Now, I wished I had taken photos before so I can post here. I susppose I can see if the ortho can send them to me....but definitely keep taking photos and compare.

[crazybeautiful]

My uppers were much like yours, Grover. I don't think my canines started moving significantly until my ortho put on some coil springs (which rubbed my lips to death, might I add!). But one the springs were on they moved so quickly!

I went from:


To:


with a 10mm expansion and 2 extractions to start with, though!


Keep looking out for changes, but don't worry too much if you don't see progress- it comes eventually!

[petitcanard]

Grover, great to see your story is up!!

Your brackets look fabulous too, great job! I think the clear brackets are a bit bigger than metal (or so I read somewhere), so that might be contributing to the lisp. That being the case, I imagine your lisp will disappear once your lips figure out how to deal with all the new hardware.. and we're braces-buddies and lisp-buddies, @##$%^&&*!!! I hate my lisp too, although I know I'll have mine for 3 - 4 months until these !#$#%$^& turbos come off.

And wow - go superman! No wax? I'm impressed! I tried for the first day and my bravery wore off rapidly and I waxed incessantly for the next couple of days until I toughened up a bit. Hopefully the soreness\puffiness dies down a bit for you. Has the sensitivity settled down? I still have really sensitive spots on 3 teeth, so I do the "yipe yipe" dance when I brush still, blah.

As for food, after another couple of days you should be able to work some harder foods in. None of my teeth touch (consequently they don't get used to chewing and are still a bit sore), and tonight after a miserable flight I sucked back a huge, hard chocolate chip cookie like it was made of air. (the beer helped) So, you know, one can do almost anything in a pinch.

You probably have some movement already, I know my bottoms moved almost overnight after I was braced - not to see, but all of a sudden getting floss between was almost impossible - so things start to shift pretty quickly.

Keep us posted & welcome to the club!!

[cheyeaitsxchelsea]

Good luck :]]]

[dundeechick]

Good idea about the "facebook anouncement". Think i'll do the same if i go ahead and get the braces as dreading those initial reactions!
How are you getting on?

[Grover]

Hi Dundee. No movement as yet, which is frustrating, and no discomfort, no nothing. They feel as if they aren't doing anything. Can't wait for my first adjustment.

The coils over my wires (adjacent to my premolars) disgust me. They seem to attract bacteria or something and have this horrible odour, which I can only smell if I run my finger along them, but I can't figure out any other way of cleaning them, other than to brush like hell!

So yeah, no news really, I just want some bloody progress. Impatient much?

[shinyRiver]

Hey Grover!

I just read your last thread, and how you could choose not to live by the standard of dental perfection that seems Americans seem to hold. There IS a tremendous pressure to have straight teeth in America. Excluding a handful of character actors, there is not a single face in hollywood (or even in local news broadcasts) that doesn't have an incredibly flawless smile. My whole life, even the poorest people I know have had perfectly straight smiles! And nothing has been more humiliating than meeting new people or being interviewed for a job and having people stare at your teeth...

In America, the obsession with perfect teeth is ubiquitous; and having a straight, white smile as natural and expected as having two eyes! It can be extremely frustrating to be one of the odd ones!

But there is a good side to the American standard. Having crooked teeth, in my case, was a serious health issue. I couldn't brush properly, my teeth hurt all of the time, and at 19, I had developed 11 cavities. I would not have spent the money to straighten my teeth if people would not have reacted the way that they did to my smile. Having much straighter teeth now, I can see how silly that is, that I would care more about what people think than about my own health, but it is true. My society's attitude shamed me into pursuing a healthy smile- but I will be much happier in the end as a result. You know, when I'm 30 and have all of my own teeth!

I'm glad I decided to get braces, and I'm glad you did, too! Your teeth are looking awesome! (And I normally don't like ceramic brackets at all- but yours are amazing! Self-lig brackets really make a difference with ceramics!)

Anyway, Americans are very unrealistic and irrational about a LOT of things, particularly due to the very unrealistic projections of the media- for example, most Americans assume that Australia is infested with koalas, kangaroos, and buff, drop dead handsome actors such as Viggo Mortensen and Hugh Jackman. Craziness.