Leftie's Brace's Blog - Six Month Smiles

[Leftie]

I have found that it does vary from day to day.
1 day certain teeth will be really sore, no matter what you do & the next you don't feel anything and you almost forget you have them!
My lips have been fine and I haven't had to use the wax on the rear brackets since my adjustment when the ortho cut the wire down.
I have got into a bad habit of curling my top lip in and resting it on the top of the brackets, which is fine when I'm home on my own but a little embarrassing when I find myself doing it in public or find I suddenly have to speak & then my mouth gets caught on the dry brackets & I can't talk properly!!

I have to say overall so far so good.

Good luck fellow bracees!

[Leftie]

Tomorrow morning is adjustment #2 and I should get my bottom braces fitted as well!

I am quite excited as I have seen huge movement in my top teeth but I am preparing myself (for the 2nd time) for not being able to eat & being unsure of how the bite guards are going to be!

I'm sure I'm worrying over nothing and hopefully what ever I end up with I will get used to (I certainly have with the top ones!)

Fingers crossed and I will post some more pictures after I've been!

[Leftie]

Oh my life, how difficult is this going to be!!!

At my appointment today I had my top wire changed and that really hurt, some of my teeth are really sensitive and I actually shouted as she was removing & replacing some of the ligs!

I also had my bottom set fitted along with the build ups on 2 of my bottom molars and now my jaw doesn't sit comfortably anywhere and the area where my teeth meet the build ups is pitiful and tying to eat anything that needs any amount of chewing is impossible!

The bottom brackets are rubbing on the inside of my mouth more than the top ones did and it feels like i'm sucking on a cheese grater!

Not a very happy bunny at the moment will post pics when i have cheered up a bit!

[denSMSgt]

Leftie, I actually do feel your pain! Had my follow-up yesterday and they unexpectedly put the new, thicker, no-joke rectangular wire in. Right away I felt the pressure and knew a ride on the pain-train was coming!

Guess my training wheels are gone now, so as expected last night and today have been kind of rough.

Just remember the pay-off down the road!

Cheers and SMILE!

dennis

[Hawke]

Hi Leftie,
Thanks for sharing your info. I am 10 days in doing the 6 month smiles, and are just really getting
getting used to the situation. Using wax is a must for me. Probably wouldn't have done this for two years( As I am a 57 year old male).
Hopefully I'l be done in about six months or so.

Good Luck.....Mike

[Leftie]

Thanks for the comments guys, it does help to hear fro others going through the same things.

I feel a little happier with my bottom brackets & also the bite guards, although I can still eat just about anything it does take me twice as long as everyone else!

I'm struggling to get some good photos. However the gap between my top front teeth is rapidly closing, I suddenly noticed a difference again this morning.

I'm still not sure how many people actually notice my braces as no-one has yet commented!

[candy924]

I am so happy I found this board! I don't know anyone else who actually has 6 month smiles- my sister is getting them on the bottom in a couple weeks. I just got them on Thursday. Definitely having issues eating/chewing. I have been experiencing a lot of dry mouth and lips- does that happen to you too? They are still very sensitive and I have to be careful how I sleep so the hooks don't hit the side of my mouth.

Are you pleased with everything so far? Does it get easier??

[Harriet]

I can relate - the bottom braces caused me way more pain than the top ones, and the bite guards took a good month to get used to. They do come to feel normal after a while though.

[furrycoat]

I'm going for my second adjustment tomorrow, you really scared me with the fact that I gonna have a new wire fitted! Well I noticed a lot of movement on my upper teeth in the past month, I just keep hoping that I will be told that I will be able to take off the braces in less than 6 months...

[Leftie]

well I'm not quite sure where this last month has gone but today I went for an adjustment.

It was the first for my bottom teeth and the 3rd for my top teeth. After the initial discomfort of the first couple of days I hadn't felt or really noticed any movement at all and was a little concerned that they had stopped working and my were not going to improve any further. However the ortho today commented how much they had moved in the month and is really please with the progress.

She put a thicker wire on the bottom (16?) and I now have power chains (or gap closers as she called them) on both top and bottom.
They are almost crystal clear and I had to look really closely to spot them. They did however hurt to be put on and are currently really uncomfortable and giving me a headache!

This time I promise to give pictures another try as had a new camera for christmas so need to see if it is easier to take pics with that than it was with my phone!

[Leftie]

Well, I'm not quite sure where the time has gone and I'm quite ashamed that I didn't manage to keep upto date with this blog!
I'm now (according to my ticker) 6 months and 2 weeks into my treatment and I'm off for another adjustment this morning. I'm hoping to find out when they are coming off, the last visit I was told we were on track!
I decided it best to take some more pictures for comparison and lookin back over my blog, OMG!!!!! What a change!!
Please excuse the slight yellowing of the bands (I now have power chains top and bottom) but last night was curry night!

I have found out that life with braces isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Over my time I have only lost 1 bracket (that was last month and as it was right at the back on the bottom she didn't replace it), I have manage to get a new job, and I've even met someone really great and have a new boyfriend who just accepts that right now they are part of me & who I am!!

Fingers crossed the photos upload ok, and I will post again with any news from this morning's visit!

[Leftie]

The Photos

[BellaBraces]

I'm interested to read this blog. I just had my Six Month Smiles braces fitted on Thursday. One of the brackets has popped off already so I'm back on Monday to have it checked.

[BellaBraces]

Have finally posted enough to be able to view your pics. WOW! That's great progress.

What are Power Chains?

[Danielle20]

I am dying to see pictures!! I am one month in so far and don't notice much of a difference yet. I too had curry last night and it yellowed my bands... But I can't help it. So far 4 brackets have broke off and I find it to be very annoying so you are lucky to have only broke one.