Jay's Braces Journey...

[elseegee64]

Congrats Jay!

[VioletJay]

Well, it all went very smoothly - nothing odd to report, really. The entire process of putting braces on my top jaw took about an hour, tops. Here's what happened:

1) The dental assistant opened my mouth up and blasted my teeth with water. She started on my right rear side; there were two teeth at the back of either side which got metal brackets, so they did those first. She polished all the teeth, then applied blue gel to the rear teeth, left it for about a minute and then blasted it off with some more water. The whole time, I held a suction hose between my teeth so that everything remained dry. Periodically she then dried my teeth with a little air hose thingy.

2) She applied glue to the two molars on the right side and then called to my orthodontist that we were "ready to bond." So along her came, applied the brackets and then used a UV light to harden the bonding agent. After that, they did the left side. Both sides, they held open with a little appliance.

3) Then, the lip expander went in and the rest of the teeth were well on the way. With the clear brackets, the bonding agent was slightly different and had to be slightly cured with the UV light before application of the brackets. Once the glue had been applied, my ortho came back again and positioned the brackets. At first they were colored with a food coloring to enable positioning but the color came off as soon as water/saliva touched them.

4) After that, the dental assistant put wire ties across my molars and premolars to help close the extraction gap.

5) Then, it was time for the archwire. She put it across the molar brackets first, then pushed it into the other brackets one by one, trimming the part of the wire that went through the rear molar down as she went, so that it wouldn't poke me in the cheek too much.

6) Then, we were done! They went through some cleaning instructions and what to eat/what not to eat etc and I was free to go - after paying, of course! My ortho called me a few hours later to see how I was doing.

Currently I am doing fine - I have a bit of achiness in my teeth which is gradually increasing, but I've managed to eat a sandwich successfully, so that's good. Apparently I will feel the burn by morning, so we'll see! I will keep you updated! In the meantime, here are some pictures!

Brackets before they went on my teeth:


From the front:


Another from the front:


One side:


Other side:


From underneath:

[VioletJay]

Okay, I can feel them this morning! My teeth are a little wobbly and my bite doesn't go together properly any more! They're a little uncomfortable but nothing hell raising, by any means. So there we are! I wonder what I'll be able to eat today...?

[Ellebraced]

Wow Jay they are Soooooo Clear.

Congrats on starting your journey, you will be amazed how fast they move!!!

Elle

[kellyb]

braces looking nice.
don't worry, the tenderness will subside in a couple of days. have lots of soup

keep us posted on the progress

[smilehope]

Congratulations! I'm hooked up today so we'll be going through this together. Yours are looking great!

[VioletJay]

Wow Jay they are Soooooo Clear.

Congrats on starting your journey, you will be amazed how fast they move!!!

Elle

They are the "Inspire Ice" ones - I asked at my appointment because I figured people would want to know! So I guess they're meant to be the clearest ones or something? My ortho doesn't seem to use anything else so I didn't have a choice - I think they're pretty though! I just wish my teeth weren't so out of place underneath...lol! But that's the whole point, isn't it - they'll move now!

[SiNsation]

Good luck on your Journey! Can't wait to see pics.

[VioletJay]

Thanks! They seem to have settled down a bit now - I've taken some Naproxen today for the aching feeling but it's definitely better now than it was this morning. Incidentally, I wouldn't recommend eating pizza crust on your first day - anything tough is...tough to chew and painful! Not "kill me now" painful but "darn, I'm hungry but this is really uncomfortable" painful.

Anyhow! Also brushing is very soothing, as is the waterpik, particularly filled with warm water. There, some tips from a brace newb!

[VioletJay]

This might sound like crazy talk, but I am absolutely sure that my front two teeth have moved forward just in the last two days! The reason I say this is because of the way they're catching the light: since they tipped back before, they always looked darker than the other teeth in the mirror or in pictures. Today I looked in the mirror and even in this short space of time, they're looking pretty much the same shade as my other teeth. They also feel quite a bit straighter in my mouth. Hmmm!

[BetsyBug]

I wouldn't doubt them moving, I know mine have moved, and had moved in just the first day or so. I don't have a bite right now with these turbos in since my jaw doesn't shut but I can tell they have moved as well..

your brackets look awesome, so clear!!! wish it wouldn't have cost so much more for me to get the clear, but It just wasn't worth the money to me.

you look great!! I'm sure those teeth will be in line before you know it!!!

[VioletJay]

It's day three and I kid you not, my front teeth have pulled so far forward (with tiny little cracks every now and again - nothing worrying, but I do remember others talking about that sound/feeling) that I have an actual gap between them!! A GAP! Seriously, it's about half a millimeter in diameter. Until last week it was tough to get floss through any of my six front teeth because of the crowding; now it just slips through! Wowee! I know, it's not much but because they tipped so far back, the movement is really, really noticeable!

[BetsyBug]

yay for movement
I have had some cracking as well... not so much noticable movement but definitely there is something going on. Think its going to take a little longer before I see some real changes...I'm impatient though, i keep looking at my teeth like they might have changed in the last 20 mins or something....LOL

[VioletJay]

Well, I'm going in today for a quick check as I thiiiiink the wire (it's super thin) has come loose on the top right side. It felt a bit less tense yesterday and then I investigated, it doesn't seem to be attached to the right rear molar bracket any more. It's going through the bracket but it's "squeaking" - it's totally loose and I can push it right in between my teeth! So, I'm off to the ortho in about 3/4 of an hour to get it fixed! Wouldn't want to sit around for another three weeks with an untied wire and essentially no tension in my mouth, because that would be a great big fat waste of time now, wouldn't it?

[VioletJay]

Alright - apparently it's all good now!