Betsy's getting braces

[Teacher03]

I teach mostly 10th graders, World History and Accelerated World History. I also have Seniors in Economics/Governement and Seniors in Law, the second semester I will have both Juniors and Seniors in Psychology. Economics, Govt, Law and Psychology are all 1 semester courses.

I'm going to PM you the rest of what I'd written....didn't want to go off on an education tangent that others might find boring....haha.

[BetsyBug]

I have a minor in psych/sociology so I very well may take the OSAT for those subject areas. From what I can gather you should test in as many subject areas as you can to get certified. I am hoping that being a math/science major that I won't have much problems being employable but who knows. I'm not taking my chances. I couldn't imagine teaching law in highschool. I took some environmental law classes with my first degree as I minored in environmental policy and I'm not sure if I would want to try to break down complicated law to students.

now to our teeth....

How's it going with your braces? Have you figured out how to chew with the turbos. I am so counting down the days until mine are gone. Mine are a little different than yours. Mine are composite material and they are on the entire surface of my front incisors and are flat from the bottom of my front teeth. I'm a little worried about having them off. It may not be all the comfortable. Those buggers are stuck on there good LOL. My stupid bottom central incisor is still refusing to turn and get straight with the others so I'm sure they will have a plan on what to do about that wonky tooth. But I would definitely say having the turbos have probably been a blessing overall. I generally couldn't tell if my teeth were sore unless I tried to bite down on something hard and then I would feel it. So a lot of movement happened that was unhindered by the other teeth. I am curious as to what will come next however.

[Teacher03]

Sorry I've been MIA, it's been a crazy week! Lectures are going ok despite the list and I only have to repeat myself a few times. The major problem with the lectures is that by 6th and 7th period my whole mouth is pretty tired...haha. The reaction was pretty funny...... "Mrs. Raines, you got braces?!?!?!?! "

Eating has gotten a little bit better but I'm still sticking to softer easy to chew stuff, my biggest issue is it takes sooooo long that I usually give up after a while, can't complain though I'm losing about 1/2 pound a day.... First day back we had burgers, chips, apples and a cookie.... I tore my beef patty in small bites and ate about 1/2 of it, I tried some chips but it was more trouble than they worth so I gave up after 2, but the chocolate chip cookie was soft and great! The second day we had chicken SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM and yeast rolls, when the bell rang I had eaten 2 chicken SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM and 1/2 the roll...... And is it just me or is the fact that my mouth feels nasty after eating anything I have to chew just not make it worth the effort sometimes??? So even without the turbos I dont see myself sinking my teeth into a subway sandwhich....... Though watching those kids with braces eating at school makes me wonder...... they can eat anything and don't care what's stuck in their braces

I wish my turbo bites were more like yours, mine are thin and sharp and are still making my the tip of my tongue hurt. How long have you worn yours? I go for my first check up the end of September and since I'm not seeing hardly any movement I don't see them coming off then. But I don't notice them near as much so I can deal.

Talk to ya soon!

[BetsyBug]

Hey Rena!!
Dont worry the chewing bit gets easier. I remember days that I stopped eating before I was full because it took so dang long. Your molars will slowly start moving together and it will get easier and easier. As far as your turbos, my tongue was super sore for prob the first month. If yours are hurting you I would suggest saying something to your ortho next time maybe they can put some composite on them to smooth the edges. But beware they will feel huge. Mine cover the entire back of both front incisors and go all the way up to my gum line. I don't know which would be worse, small and sharp or big and rounded.... That being said after six months mine are coming off today!!!! Yay!!! (hopefully my appt isn't til 1:40 so they may still change their minds lol) I would say for the past two months they have been a non issue as my molars are mostly touching now.

In other news my classes start today and I'm taking cellular/molecular biology, advanced environmental policy II, and human genetics plus Ed psych, it should be awesome. I have three boys playing fall football and one boy in fall baseball and the little girl in softball... So I guess I'll sleep sometime in December lol. Hubby and I were going to try to bowl on a league this fall but we realized we already have something going on every night of the week.... Oh Well


So I will update you all after my appt this evening tata for now

[GillyWeed]

Turbos come off today! WOOT COngrats for sticking it out this long, I know they've been a huge pain in the butt. I hope the process of taking them off isn't painful and I can't wait to see your rad new colours...pictures please

Also, you're a girl after my own heart. After realizing I couldn't hack it in Molecular biology I switched to life sciences (human bio) and I'm loving it. Best of luck with all your classes and I hope you are able to squeeze some shut eye in before December

[BetsyBug]

Okay, so the turbos are gone!!!!! YIPPEE!!! the removal was pretty uneventful they cut them with some plier cutter type tool and then used the grinder to get the rest of it off of there. It wasn't completely comfortable but it wasn't painful either. My bite is all wacko My teeth on the right side touch but the ones on the left don't. My deep bite is gone and now I have some areas that are open and will have to be pulled together somehow. The wonky tooth on the bottom is still wonky but they had enough room to re steel tie it and then a they put a section of power chain from the bottom right incisor to the still stuck babytooth.

They did put a new wire on the top this would be the third one to date. My uppers are a little achy tonight but not terrible. My lowers are so hurting but I'm sure they will get better.

Oh and my new lig color is bright blue with the gray power chain like I had last time. Apparently my ortho doesn't do colored chain. I'll take some pictures tomorrow and get them posted

[BetsyBug]

Oh and I forgot.. even though I got rid of the turbos I am getting a brand spankin new bite plane to sleep in to help with the me grinding my teeth at night. So tomorrow I get to go pick up my bright purple bite plane. I assume it looks a bit like a retainer. I only have to wear it at night so at least i don't have to worry about not being able to chew properly.

[Noni]

Congrats for having your turbos off , i hope that you feel better now

Can you believe it has been 5 months already ! I can't believe how those days past.

[BetsyBug]

Day after update.... the wonky tooth is not wonky anymore. It straightened out pretty much in line over night. It still has a little straightening to do but it moved more overnight than it has in 5 months. Also my mouth is hurting like crazy!!!! Obviously big movement = big pain. So I guess I'm having a milkshake for dinner I don't go back to the ortho today until 3:40 so I will update later to let you know how the bite plane fitting goes.

tata!!

[BetsyBug]

Well the powerchain to turn the rogue lower incisor is working. The little tooth that refused to turn is finally lining up with the others. The pain has subsided and I'm back to being mostly comfortable with my hardware. I have also gotten my lovely bite plane for sleeping. Its not too bad it props my teeth open a little bit more than the bite turbos did, but of course I only have to sleep in it so its much easier to deal with. I can't talk with it in my mouth, its really think up behind my teeth and tapers to thinner the further back in my mouth but I guess I just don't have it in my mouth enough to really get used to it to talk clearly. It seems to be keeping me from grinding my teeth so I guess that is a good thing.

Other news, I had to make an unexpected trip to the ortho this morning. That goofy baby tooth that doesn't have a bracket is getting further and further from the arch wire, because of this my arch wire keeps getting caught when I eat and pulling out of the buccal tube only to attack my cheek. I have tucked it back into the tube several times but this morning it just was the last straw. I called the ortho and went in. The decided that really the solution is to put a bigger wire on and put it all the way to my back molars that haven't been attached to the wire up til this point. However, my lower incisors aren't turned enough to do that yet so they just snipped it off at the last bracket. So now I have an awesome tiny pokey wire on that tooth...lol. Oh well.

I have also managed to stain my bright blue ligs... they are now a not so nice dark teal and the grey power chain has taken on a not so awesome yellow tint. So now I'm stuck with my off color ligs for about another month. My next appointment is on sept 25th.

The ortho did say that on next visit I will get a larger arch wire on my bottoms a steel wire. And I will be getting an elastic from number 6 upper canine to number 27 lower canine on the right side to extrude the lowers that are currently lop sided and low when compared to the other side. Not sure how I'm gonna like that but I will worry about that when the elastics are in my mouth....

[kitsune]

Hi BetsyBug,

It looks like we have very similar lower tooth positioning! Isn't it such a pain that the lower teeth seem to move sooooo slowly in comparison to the uppers? I think it is really cool that you started out with colored ligs...it seems like most people (myself included) had to work up the courage to make that transition. I've switched back to clear ligs on top for the time being, but I plan on going back to colored again at some point in the near future...

Have a nice Labor Day weekend!

[BetsyBug]

Kitsune- I really like the colors. In fact I think I may try mint green next time. Green really is my favorite color but I haven't had the nerve to try it yet for the fear of looking like I have lettuce in my teeth. Oh well going to try it anyhow. I think finally my bottom teeth have decided to get straight. Now I have a canine open bite on both sides. Yes I have gone from a deep bite to an open bite. Yay. Hopefully the ortho will get me all straightened out pretty soon. I still can't chew on my left side none of my molars are touching on that side, it seems to be putting alot of pressure on my right side. It will be better once we get it a little more equal.

I hope that everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend. Its the end of the summer make the most of it.

[BetsyBug]

so I was sitting there minding my own business at my desk when all of a sudden my braces attacked...they bit my lip and ripped a hole... awesome now I'm sitting there minding my own business bleeding. So I went to the ortho today to get rid of the offending pokey wire. So the new decision was a different wire, the steel wire was put on and it now my lower wire reaches back to my last molars (they weren't attached before)
Oh my gosh I'm on the pain train now.... my molars are killing me and my lower central incisors are throbbing. I'm hoping this passes pretty quickly. I still supposed to go in on the 25th for another adjustment, I guess my lowers are just going to get double duty this month.

one think I'm not sure if anyone knows.... The ortho said my number 24 central lower incisor needs labial torquing to the root, it sits a little further back then the rest of my lowers do. He told the assistant that that tooth needs activating next appointment does anyone know how that's done???

[NICURN85]

Hey Betsy,

I am so happy you were able to get that wire fixed!! Did you go for the green ligs this time or will you wait until your next adjustment!! I hope your lip feels better soon from that pokey wire!!!

[Noni]

Sorry to hear about your accident with the bracket , but at least your steel wire went on faster