Jay's Braces Journey...

[VioletJay]

Okay. Hi everyone! I'm Jay - a girl - and based in Minnesota here in the states. I'm actually a Brit who came to the US about eight years ago. I've always have overcrowding in both the upper and lower jaw and like many people (I suppose) was simply a stubborn teen who didn't want braces and subsequently moved out at sixteen and went her own way. Then, I didn't have much of a problem with my wonky teeth - I could chew, attract the opposite sex and didn't think I looked too hideous. However...even then I was self conscious about my smile and would smile a certain way to ensure the least amount of wonkiness was revealed...

Fast forward ten years and my wisdom teeth, all three (I'm missing one) fully impacted started causing even more crowding in my upper and lower jaw. My bottom teeth which were never completely straight to begin with started overlapping and my top just went slightly nuts.

Apparently I have quite an unusual overbite. It's very bad actually - I'll post pictures in the post after this one - my top front teeth come down completely over my bottom front teeth and are tipped backward. My canines and second front teeth on top are apparently much more where they ought to be. My premolars are squashed in. Other than the crowding, my dental health has been excellent and even now at the age of 29, I have only had two fillings, only one of them more than a teeny tiny little one.

So of course I am nervous - I am having two upper bicuspids (the ones toward the front rather than behind) extracted to make room. Hopefully that's the right choice: looking at my case, I think the alternative would be too expensive for me to afford and would be very invasive indeed. I have a strong profile and big lips, so apparently I should be alright from a "sinking in" standpoint. The ortho I have chosen comes highly recommended, too. Nevertheless with my dental track record, having teeth pulled is nerve wracking to say the least!

The ortho says I will probably need 2-2.5 years. But you never know. Naturally I am hoping to be out sooner than that. We're doing clear ceramic on top and metal on the bottom (probably). Top will go on first because of my insane overbite; bottoms will follow several weeks/months later down the line.

Anyhow I am going to figure out how to take pictures of my teeth now so that you can all go "holy cow - what a bite - can't wait to see what they do with that!"

I plan to update frequently once the things are on, which will be in the next few weeks.

Good to meet you all!

[VioletJay]

Right - pictures as promised! Hope there are enough angles here to let you all know what I'm dealing with... A few issues. My bite is so bad it's like I don't have a bit at all. None of my teeth fit together properly at all, from front to back! It'll be weird to have teeth that actually go together after treatment, that much I know.






There we are!

[monaco28]

God luck with your journey!!!

[VioletJay]

Thank you! I am awaiting a call from my dentist to schedule the extractions, which will be done next week with Novocaine. I am super nervous... Will post again when I know the days of my appointments (first one for extractions at the dentist; second about a week later at the orthodontist for...*drumroll*...the braces!!).

[VioletJay]

Okay - tooth extractions are scheduled for 9.50am next Wednesday the 29th of February! Braces are going on on the 8th of March at 1pm! This is really happening! Wow - I'm kind of excited now! Maybe not so much about the week in between the extractions and the braces, but overall I am feeling good about this!

[klobird]

Your teeth are going to look fabulous when you are done!! I wonder if when orthos look at your teeth, if they can envision the exact final result. Because from what I am envisioning, your teeth are going to look so cool when you are done!!! And wow--the time FLIES---just like everyone says!!

[HeyBuckey!]

Ah! I found you!

Your teeth are going to look beyond amazing! They're sooooooo nice and white and you took great pictures of them! Even after having my camera almost 2 years I'm still struggling to get a clear close up.

Welcome to the board! It's all uphill from now!!!

[VioletJay]

Thank you! Today is my last day ever with my two first top premolars...argh! I am determined to send them off well, so I am indulging in a number of different "bad for teeth" foods today in the knowledge that I'll probably be sucking Ensure tomorrow...boo!

Still, it's exciting to get started. Thursday next week is brace day and I am quite eager to get them on really. I've already waited years longer than I wanted to for these - I want to fast forward six months to see what my teeth will look like! I hope they move quickly!!!!

[VioletJay]

I am nervous. In three hours I won't have my bicuspids any more. Oh my goodness. I've never had an adult tooth pulled. Argh! Freaking out!

Oh well, it's all for a good cause...I hope!

[VioletJay]

Right - they're out. Owwww. I will describe the process a little more once the Vicodin kicks in. I had very long roots and it wasn't simple - but it wasn't awful either. I do have some significant pain now though, most likely from all the wrangling he had to do to extract the teeth!

But there we go. First step done and I have the teeth in a little bag to prove it!

[maeby]

Congratulations on making it through this step of the journey! Here's hoping your recovery goes flawlessly.

[VioletJay]

Right. SO here is my extraction story.

I arrived at 9.30am - way in advance of my appointment but I was in that part of town so figured I should probably just sit and read "Good Housekeeping" instead of trying to get anything done. Joked around with the staff in the dentist's office because they are absolutely lovely and they reassured me that it would go okay.

So I got in there and they put me in the appropriate position with the appropriate protective stuff on. I was pretty nervous but he numbed me up nicely with gel pre-needle so it was fine when the initial Novocaine went in. They numbed one side, then the other. Then he got a needle gun and did the insides of my mouth, which was quite uncomfortable. However everything was then numb - top jaw, lips, everything.

At that stage he used a few devices - like little shovels almost, in varying sizes - to loosen the tooth on the left side. He wiggled and wiggled it around for a good few minutes I started hearing a crack here, a crack there and felt a lot of pressure but no pain. Eventually, after some serious coaxing, and exclamations by the dentist that he didn't really have anywhere to go with it because of the crowding, the tooth came out.

I bled quite a bit and he decided to stitch me up, which was painless.

On to the other side. This time, things weren't quite as simple. The root on the one tooth had been fused, but long and bent at the end so it was a PITA to begin with - but this one was different. In this case, after the loosening and the wiggling there were no cracks and even when he tried to pull it out, it wasn't going anywhere. So after a few minutes of manipulation, he went into the other room and got "the big guns" - a much more hardcore extraction device and really started going for it. It took quite a while but eventually we heard the crack and the tooth came out. This time, it had a double root with a hook on the end.

Thankfully booth roots came out completely intact. I got to take my teeth home, so I will post a picture too:



Afterwards, I left the office with some gauze and my dentist, who said I'd done really well, called a prescription for some Vicodin down to the grocery store pharmacy. I headed down there, by which time the Novocaine was seriously wearing off and I was feeling some pain. Thankfully the pharmacy were quick. I downed a Vicodin and a Naproxen and after a little while the discomfort had subsided enough for me to concentrate on other things. I think the reason I had so much pain was because of the amount of wrangling needed to get the teeth out and the way the teeth were hooked into my jawbone.

So overall the extraction process wasn't bad - I tensed my hands up a bit at one point, but it was okay. Lengthy - and at one point I thought "boy, are they ever going to get these things out of my head?" - but not painful.

Both extraction sites have a stitch in them, which I go to get removed next Tuesday. They took a good couple of hours to stop bleeding; I felt like Dracula when I got home, spitting blood into the bathroom sink - Dracula after a bar fight! Ha ha! But now I finally have the gauze out and am drinking Ensure. I've even managed a few cheese cubes. It's 2.30pm and the teeth were both out by 10.30am, so it's been about four hours between teeth out and food, I suppose.

Anyway I guess now it's a countdown to brace day - next Thursday! Now I feel relief and an excited for the day to come along!

[VioletJay]

Congratulations on making it through this step of the journey! Here's hoping your recovery goes flawlessly.

Thanks Maeby! We're in this together!

[lau]

those are some nice looking roots you got there! your smile will look great- i can just picture it! good luck

[VioletJay]

Thanks Lau! I will post picture of my post-teeth-out smile later on as well, because it's really not as noticeable as I thought it would be. At first my boyfriend couldn't even notice, particularly from the front!