Brace Newbie - Six month smiles!

[Shortie93]

Hey :)

After months of worrying over my teeth and all the potential point-and-laugh moments that I thought would accompany having braces fitted, I finally decided to brave it out and had my six month smiles fitted two days ago. At the moment I'm experiencing fairly intense pain and have been popping the ibuprofen like nobodies business, mostly because I can't bite my teeth together due to the tenderness and my brackets are cutting the inside of my mouth - ouch!

I'm interested to see if anybody here has had some real short term success stories, particularly those of you who have used six month smiles. The pain at the moment and the obvious shyness at having a mouth full of (albeit, slightly less visible) metal is quite disheartening and it would really cheer me up if anybody could tell me their own (preferably positive :P) experiences :)

Nice to meet you all and thankyou for reading! :)

[misswonky]

HI shortie,
I also am undergoing the '6 month' smile treatment! So far so good, just over 2 months in and I am pretty much done would you believe! The dentist is just making some minor adjustments on a weekly basis now.
To begin with it was very painful and uncomfortable, i nearly went back to ask him to take the whole thing off and ask for another type of brace. 2 weeks or so after you will not notice its even there honestly! It takes a few weeks for the lips to toughen up on the inside and for the initial soreness to go. My teeth no longer hurt, maybe a little after each adjustment but nowhere near how they were in the early stages.
Hope this helps :)

[Shortie93]

Hi! :)

That's really good to hear. You're the first actual person I've heard from that's had them and to hear they're working for you has gave me a massive boost as I'd started to doubt whether I'd chosen the right method. How severe was your case if you don't mind me asking? I have a quite severe overjet (I think they're called) where I have a 'fang' like tooth which protrudes on the right hand side of my mouth; I also have an underbite on that side and moderate to severe crowding but the other side is perfectly straight (just my luck to have one wonky side).

I was worrying a lot as well because my ortho advised me that I would need 'polishing' inbetween the teeth where they'd file off some of the enamel, but on my visit to get them fitted she told me it wasn't being done till next month which made me think 'what if they move this month? where will they go, there's no room!' haha :P when abouts did you start noticing all your movement? I'm checking the mirror already and it's only been three days!

Sorry for the length of this by the way! It's just really nice to hear from someone whose experiencing it; and such a short treatment time! I will cry with happiness if I'm nearly done in two months, although I doubt it :P

x

[misswonky]

Hi there, my case wasn't classed as severe by the ortho however i had a 'crossbite' along with overcrowding! Basically needed polishing in between teeth (found this the most uncomfortable part!). He did estimate approx 4 - 5 months for the full treatment however last visit, which was just over 2 months since the braces went on, he was saying that I was pretty much done apart from a few minor adjustments - levelling out to make sure they're all the same length at the bottom. Personally i am happy to keep it on longer if it means really straight teeth :)

After about a week i started to notice changes & like u I was looking in the mirror everyday looking for any small improvements! Other people started to notice the difference after a couple of weeks and now the changes are huge - can see this when comparing the original moulds of the teeth. Did your ortho give an estimated timeframe? I've heard for severe cases it can take 6-7 months but it really depends on how fast your teeth move. Luckily my teeth have moved quickly, hopefully yours will too :)

[Shortie93]

Hey again,

My ortho actually described it as needing to make 'relatively minor adjustments' but to me the crowding/overjet looks terrible/fairly severe - then again I suppose it's worse because they're my teeth and not hers haha :P

When abouts did your ortho polish? Did he use a strip? Mine's being done on the 22nd of September and heard it's quite uncomfortable - eeek. I just can't believe they can sort out all the crowding etc by polishing a little bit off your teeth, how do they manage that?!

I asked my ortho for a time frame and she said she'll have a better idea after the first month when she's seen the movement of the teeth so far, but has been dropping subtle hints that it may be four - five months rather than the full six which I am incredibly hopeful will be the case! I am getting a bit more used to them now (I say a bit however they still feel very strange in my mouth :P) but they are bulkier than I imagined. I found a facebook page for them where one woman was saying how unhappy she was that they stuck out a lot and although I don't necessarily mind TOO much (it was the short treatment time that attracted me most) I was a bit taken aback at first by how 'big' they feel!

I'm quite excited to hear yours moved so quickly - I thought I noticed a little bit of movement but thought I was maybe imagining things, so this has made me think they possibly are moving :D

x

[Harriet]

Hello, I've got the six month smiles braces too, have a look at my thread to see my pictures. My lowers are pretty much done already and it's not even 3 months yet. i'm so glad I went through with this, I think it will be the best thing I've ever done for myself.

[Shortie93]

Hi!

Just checked out your blog and your teeth look fantastic already! excited now :) It's been one week since I've been braced and I feel totally at ease with them now - they very suddenly, literally overnight stopped hurting and rubbing and I now need no wax or painkillers at all and am back on solid food :) I've also noticed how few stares I get - meaning they actually do look much more discreet than I imagined they did in my head! I'm already smiling with confidence and also feel this may be one of the best investments I have ever made.

Nice to hear from you - keep us updated on the results! :) how bad did you find the tightening? that's the main bit I'm worrying about :) oh and the polishing haha :P

x

[misswonky]

Hi shortie, glad to hear the discomfort has gone -knew it would. Its definitely worth it, are u seeing results already?? x

[Shortie93]

Hi shortie, glad to hear the discomfort has gone -knew it would. Its definitely worth it, are u seeing results already?? x

Heyy

Well, I would say there's been a definite shift in that my front tooth now looks quite a bit straighter and my wayward canine has been pulled in a bit. However I've been told to expect all the movement in month 2 when she polishes as at the moment the crowding is preventing them from moving much further than they already have ))

x

[Leftie]

Hi
It's great to read your stories, I'm due to get my 6 month smile braces fitted on Monday (3/10/11)

Quite scared about it, but also excited to get started.

[Shortie93]

Here's a quick update for those who are interested:

Above = 1 month
Below = Day one

[Harriet]

Looking good

[Shortie93]

Looking good

thankyou! encouraging she said she'd seen much more movement than she originally expected so I'm really pleased at the moment

[Leftie]

Looks really great, I hope mine move that quickly!

[Shortie93]

Looks really great, I hope mine move that quickly!

I promise you personally that you won't regret it! I kept thinking mine wouldn't move at all and now when I smile in the mirror I look like a completley different person - it's unbelievable (aware I sound like a 6 month smiles sales person but I swear I'm not ). When I'm done with treatment I'll post some proper photos, it looked terrible from the front but now when I smile they look almost straight and it's only month 1!

Don't be disheartened if they don't move that quickly though, they will get there eventually and once they're on every day is easier particularly when you see results!

If you want to ask any questions or anything please don't hesitate I know I struggled to find information about my more obscure 6 month smile questions before I was fitted

P.S. Keep me updated on how your treatment goes!