Journey Of A Brace Newbie!

[jensceana73]

Hi there ,

Hey Congrats on getting braces!!! It'll be one of the best things you ever do for yourself...just remember..take lots of pictures..LOTS!!!!!!

I too had a bracket that fell off my crown. And it basically fell off without much effort at that. So, good luck to you, I hope it ends up staying on for you. I'm getting a molar band on it, but get to experience the dreaded spacers first, at my next visit...so I'm enjoying eating on that side as much as possible for now!!!! Good Luck to you and school.

[TrolleyDolly]

Hope your bracket has stayed put!!??

Good luck with your move today - enjoy uni and especially freshers week! At least braces don't stop you from drinking!!!

[nightowl]

jensceana73 Hello

Thank you very much i'm taking pictures everytime i feel like something is different so i can compare it to my starting ones to see if anything has changed

Good luck with the dreaded spacers! haha They reallyy aren't too bad, i found it hurt for a couple of days and then everything was fine

TrolleyDolly Thankfully so far the bracket is firmly in its right place, but i'm still trying to be very careful just in case! When i'm home for christmas i might see about getting both of my lower molars banded so there is no possibility of it happening again! haha

Thank youu the move went well and now everything is in place and i'm beginning to settle in! Freshers week has been great but i'm ridiculously tired now and just excited for real lectures to begin

Update!
Its been two weeks, woohooo and i have to say i am still loving my braces! For some reason i really love how my teeth look in them, i guess it'll be because i know soon i will have pretty teeth for the first time in my life

Also the pesky back bracket, which was replaced a week ago today, seems to have stayed in place thus far, (touch wood like a million times! haha) and everything is in working order

I've got some aching in my front bottom teeth and my high canines are also causing a tinyyy bit of pain, but i really do not mind as i know it means that things are getting moving! Also, i think the canine on my left side has moved everrr so slightly downwards as it feels different now when i put my tounge against it My teeth are quite 'clicky' too and it freaks me out sometimes haha

My worries about what people would thing of me in braces have completely disappeared now too (: i've been at uni a week and have met so many people and not one person has asked about them or mentioned them at all! Since university means i'm further away from my ortho i'm still trying to be ridiculously careful haha and my timetable here has also meant that i've had to rescedule my first adjustment for the week after, but these things can't be helped i guess.

I'm gonna hold off posting a picture until i've had my braces on for a month because right now it's only been a couple of weeks and although i think i can feel some changes, to me there hasn't been anything visible just yet! I shall keep everyone/anyone who's reading updated as my journey continues

[nightowl]

Hello!

Just wanted to come on and have a little whinge because i'm in pain! On my bottom left side both my remaining premolar and its neighbouring tooth are hurting!! Even swallowing makes them hurt! The premolar is causing the most trouble i think, nasty thing that it is! haha

As a result of the painful teeth situation i am lying in my bed feeling sorry for myself when really i should be getting some painkillers and water haha! Think i'll end up sleeping soon though because i'm veryyy tired! This university business has got me beat, but still, i love it all the same

Sorry to be complaining but just wanted a little whinge as i'm feeling sorry for myself haha!

In happier brace news however, on wednesday it'll be one month since i got my braces woooo Think im going to post some pictures to celebrate haha

[nightowl]

Update!

Happy one month birthday to my braces!

It's been an interesting month! I'm completely used to my braces now and i absolutely love them! I think that is purely from reading this site, it's inspiring reading about everyones progress and positive attitude toward their orthodontic journey so glad that my own is finally underway.

Here are some pictures of my progress so far, although personally i do not feel that much has changed. If anything my bottom arch has made a small improvement but hey, still a long way to go yet



I go to see my ortho for my first post-braces check up in five weeks and i'm rather excited, still need to decide on lig colours though (:
Also the pain in my molars that i was complaining of a couple of days ago seems to have subsided for now thankfully.
See you soon when i next update

[Loztredders]

Just a quick post to say that those braces look great on you!!

And I'm sure your teeth will be super straight in no time. I hope my attitude is as positive as yours when I get my braces on.

[Dilema]

its hard to tell since the pictures are so small







I think there is some small movement in the lower arch

[catgyrl]

Awesome, nightowl! Great progress. You have very nice, white teeth. Sorry, I'm a bit obsessed with other people's teeth nowadays, and always notice stuff like that.

I notice you have two gaps on the bottom. Did your ortho say when and how he/she is going to start trying to close them? I would guess after your other teeth are more aligned. Just asking because I'm in the gap closure process, and it sure does take a looooong time (at least, with my teeth).

Keep up the great work!
-Cathy

[nightowl]

Hello all, thank you for stopping by and reading my story

Loztredders - Thank you very much I do hope that they will be and good luck for your braces too! It's easy to be positive when you know they're heading toward something amazing, even if some days they're a bit of a pain haha

Dilema - I'll keep that in mind when i post my next pictures!

catgyrl - Aw, thank you veryyy much! I think the lighting when taking the pictures might have helped a little with that haha although i do feel that since getting my braces that my teeth and gums in general are a lot healthier, probably due to the obsessive cleanliness haha I find that i'm a bit obsessed with teeth these days too and the dental aisle in stores makes me excited haha

As for the gaps, i have two on the bottom and two on the top from my extractions i had in august. My ortho hasn't said yet when or how he is going to close them up, nothing has been mentioned about it yet! I think he's waiting for my pesky high canines to be reigned into place first haha Aahh i can imagine good luck with your gap closing, i'm sure the time will fly by

Tiny update
There is nothing much to report in the way of updates, apart from the fact that i'm pretty sure i have a cavity in one of my molars :'( i'm really quite upset about this because i feel that i am SUPER careful with what i eat nearly all of the time and brush after every meal! I have no idea what to do to be any more careful, do any of you guys have any tips? Also, i found out i'm getting a waterpik bought for me as a gift, i can't wait ! aand i've decided that im getting metallic blue ligs on the bottom at my next adjustment, looking forward to it haha

[nightowl]

Update!

Happy two month birthday to my braces
I'm late by a week, buuut i was waiting until i had been to the ortho until i wrote a little bit here so i could report on that also
Here are my pictures of my progress so far, and i'm sporting shiny new midnightish blue ligs. I did want reeally blue ligs but the ortho only had this colour blue, but i still love them. Makes a nice change from silver



Although there hasn't been drastic changes i feel like i can see how much my high canines have moved down. I found this picture a couple of weeks ago which reeally shows how bad they used to be (sorry for the terrible picture, it was cropped from a picture from a party where i was pulling a horrible face which showed my teeth haha!) :



So there has been some improvement which im so excited about

I had my first post brace check up yesterday in which i had my wire changed to a steel wire of the same thickness, which the ortho said was to keep aligning all my brackets. A week before my appointment i lost another bracket on my back molar, but this time on the other side! So frustrating! So as you can see in the photo the ortho has put in the dreaded spacers so i can be banded on that tooth instead. However, i can't go back to the ortho for another three weeks so they're gonna be stuck in there until then D: As i said before i chose these navy/dark blue ligs which i love

However! One thing concerned me at my appointment. The ortho said that in a couple of appointments time (so pehaps four months time) he thought that he would be able to fit the final archwire on both the top and bottom of my braces. The word final really worried me! I got super paranoid that this meant that my treatment would be over soon(ish) and i am positive that there are many many more months of work to be done, and that perhaps my ortho is simply working on straightening my teeth out rather than my overjet/ bite issues as well as this! Or is this simply the last type of wire i will have that will last me for the rest of my time in braces?

Can anyone help me with this query? What exactly is the final archwire and how long are they normally on for? Thank you!

[BaliGirl]

nightowl, great progress, those canines are really MOVING!

[nightowl]

Thank you BaliGirl!

Hello!
Well i've not written in a while, lots to update on since in that time i've had two appointments with the ortho and have gained some powerchains, lost some powerchains, gotten a new molar band and so on haha

Firstly however, here are my latest photos. I'm veryveryy excited about my top arch



As you can see things have really been moving since i uploaded my last progress photos which were taken nearly two months ago

On December 13th i had my second post-brace appointment at the the ortho, during this appointment i had my spacers switched out to a band for my right bottom molar and i was given powerchains on both top and bottom to begin closing the gaps left when my premolars were extracted in August! When i first got my power chains on it hurt SO bad! For the first couple of days i thought my ortho was just torturing me on purpose haha. But just like everything with braces i got used to them eventually

During that appointment i also got heavier/thicker (i don't know the types sorry -.-!) wires and red ligs. At the time hated the new wires because i thought they looked so dark and ugly haha

My next appointment was then scheduled for January 7th where my ortho intended on simply changing my powerchains over, he estimated that i would probably have to go through two or three changes until my gaps were closed.

By the time i went to the ortho however, my top chains had really worked and my gaps were nearly closed, which was so exciting! The ortho was pleased with my progress too, and instead of getting a new set of chains i got them taken off and he changed to a lighter wire and finally put my top lateral incisors onto the archwire!!! This means that they have now been sloowly moving to join the rest of my teeth for the first time ! I have to say however that when the ortho was putting them onto the archwire it felt like he was going to break my teeth! Even so i was ridiculously happy after this appointment because all my teeth were finally connected, i got a less noticable archwire, and pretty red ligs on all teeth I practically ran home to see what they looked like haha

Unfortunately my bottom teeth have not been moving as quickly as the top so i still have on my first powerchain on the bottom to keep closing these stubborn bottom gaps! Because of this my bottom lateral incisors are still unattached and i stiiill have the ugly darker wire on the bottom, but oh well they'll get there eventually and i think my progress is pretty awesome so far since i've only been braced for nearly five months when you consider what my teeth used to look like!

My next appointment is not until the end of march and i'm excited to see how my teeth will have moved by the time it gets here as well as which lig colour i will have decided on, something quite bright i think Also, right now i've got a little gap forming between my front teeth and it gives me a high pitched whistle when i say 'f's or words with 'th' sounds haha all my friends keep laughing when it happens! Also, i included the last picture to show my overjet something i've not done yet. I find it quite funny that even when my molars are completely touching (like in the picture haha) i am able to fit my tongue nearly completely through my teeth about a centimetres or so haha

Sorry for such a long post, but i felt like i had a lot to say and thank you to anyone to reads it !

[khublei]

Wow!!! The change is amazing. Where is your overjet though? I don't see it. All that change in two months is great. Good job teeth!

[nightowl]

Heeey khublei! Thank you very much! I'm surprised at the amount that has happened to my teeth in the past few months, it really is amazing indeed!

I think my overjet can't really be seen in the picture from below because my bottom front teeth have been pulled at a sort of slanting angle forwards and so it makes my top front teeth look like they have moved to meet them when they haven't really haha. You can really see my overjet in pictures from the side, i guess i'll include one here next time i find the openness of my bite nowadays quite comical since i can pretty much stick my tongue out with a closed mouth haha.

[catgyrl]

I can't see your overjet, either! I guess this is why others always tell us "Why do you need braces?" Because they can't see what we can see. (Of course, we can only see those things when we take pics at such odd angles!) I reiterate that your teeth look fantastic now.

I love my powerchain, too! My coworker was checking out my elastic, and she said, "Hey, what happened to your gap?! It's gone!" I told her it's shrunken to less than half its size (though I also have another smaller one). She's just amazed, especially when I told her I had another year or so left. She said, "They're almost straight already."

Wasn't this the best decision we could've ever made??

-Cathy