Dunc's Dental Dialogue

[Duncan5]

Two weeks into treatment, so thought I'd post a few thoughts.

I'm in for "a moderate Class II division 2 incisor relationship on a mild Class II skeletal base, with moderate crowding in lower arch and mild crowding in the upper arch." Sentence, two years in upper and lower fixed appliances and rest of natural life in retainers (of the permanent flossing-hell variety, plus removable with bite plain to maintain overbite correction). Still thinking that yanking the lot and having dentures would be much less hassle.

This is the second time, as I had all 4 first premolars extracted at 16 and an upper plate which did very little then and even less after 25 years of drifting. However, given the wear on my front teeth where my uppers completely cover the lowers, something had to be done.

Chose Damons for promise of wider smile (lack of 4s mean it's concave at the mo after the canines) and no ligature elastic colours to have to choose.

Fitting went OK, in and out in 30 mins:
* Had a hygenist visit 2 days previously, so reasonably clean start point.
* First step was a drill to score the molars.
* Then a sandblast (warned that plastic lenses would be scratched by this).
* Some unpleasant pear flavoured stuff (not sure if this was the glue or the acid wash).
* Brackets. Clear on upper 1-5, metal on both arches' 6 & 7. (The 7s are tubes rather than slots.) Nothing on 8s or lower 1-5.
* Wire. 0.14 NiTi on upper arch from 1-6.
* Goodie bag: wax, brush, travel kit of wax, tiny toothpaste and mini mouthwash bottle. And two pages of A4 traffic light food guide.

Food that night was a bowl of soup, with a teaspoon as I couldn't get my lips around braces and a normal size spoon. Breakfast next morning was porridge (must recommend this for easy swallowing), lunch was flaked fish and mushy peas (in tiny portions).

First week:
* Several sleepless nights as left side felt as though the teeth had turned to sandstone and would crumble away in seconds.
* Not particularly painful except finding that I crossbite when talking and tap front uppers and lowers together. Turns out I do this a lot.
* Chipped a cusp of UR7 on the bracket of LR7. To me this is an ortho 101 error, not a happy person! Visit another practice in the group as my ortho is away sunning himself (or at a DIY store) who grinds a bit off the bracket (mmm, metal for lunch) and assures me the sandstone feeling is demineralisation from the acid wash when prepping the teeth for the brackets and it will soon remineralise. (Which it did about 3 days later.)
* Wisdom teeth rock as I can still use them for chewing!

Second week:
* No movement I can discern. The kink in the wire looks like it should pull down the U5s, but since my bite closes, the L5s are doing a great job pushing the U5s back up again. Zero sum game.
* Eating pretty much back to normal, but smaller amounts at a time and cut into very small pieces. Toast is possible with crusts removed and lashings of butter to soften it, but cut up into soldiers. Scrambled egg is easy in the microwave, but does get into the tubes on 7s (have constructed a short piece of wire to clean these out). Did I mention porridge?

Two weeks to go to the next appointment. No idea what to expect, it's a magical mystery tour.

[Duncan5]

Chips (or fries for those in the US). Just say no. Didn't think it would be too bad, knowing the local chippie's chips are quite soft, but although easy to chew they sucked my cheeks onto the hooks and I ended up tearing the cheeks away by hand. Felt the skin rip.

So they're (blood) red listed for the duration.

[JMSmith]

Good luck Dunc!!

Your post was funny, I enjoyed it.

And I'm currently listening to The Magical Mystery Tour vinyl, which made me think, "No Way!". Had to leave a post and say welcome!


~Jana

[JennyLaughs]

I'm really starting to think dentures may have been the way to go too... bad teeth (not due to hygene) seem to run in my family

[Duncan5]

A megashop soup run tonight!

Had a reminder phone call for tomorrow's appointment, so asked what was planned. Bottom arch, so fully embraced I shall be plus wedges to stop bite.

D.

PS if anyone has tips for pictures and tickers (the colourful ribbons in everyone's signature), please let me know as I've no idea how to do them. The site's own method gives limit reached warnings. Thanks.

[Duncan5]

Lower arch wired with metal brackets and .13 wire (well wiggly). And front turbos, or should that be "turboth". Livid with myself for wimping out and not insisting on molar build-ups.

D.

[BetsyBug]

Poor Dunc!!! I had turbos too. In fact I have only had them off for a few weeks now. You are going to be amazed by what it does to your deep bite though. Mine was pretty deep and now I have some spaces where my bite is open and its going to have to be pulled closed with elastics. Never thought that an open bite would be a problem LOL. It took me a week or two to start talking normal again but the lisp does get better, and you will learn to "chew" without chewing...LOL. Trust me I didn't miss any meals (even if I could have used it...LOL)

Hopefully you don't have to keep them for too long. Mine were on for a little over 5 months, by the time I had them off they didn't bother me too much (but I wouldn't want them back)

[Duncan5]

Hi Betsy, thanks for the sympathy. Had them on for a couple of weeks now and still lisping ('th' then 's' is a real struggle, e.g. months) but nothing like as bad as it was the first few days. Still hoping they come off sooner rather than later, 5 months feels a long way away!

Bottom wire has straightened up a lot on L1, though that's the only obvious movement. Still big wiggles between the 3&5, so guess I'll be keeping the weeny wires on for a while yet. Next ortho appointment is the 18th, wonder what delights he has in store...

kids at school have been OK with it, mostly questions about what they're like. I avoid the grusome extraction saga; fortunately I'm coping OK so far with the pressure (which is defo worse if I've had sugary foods) so not scaring the little ones ( seem to start them at 11 round here) and focus on keeping the teeth clean.

Went to the hygenist today and got thumbs up for keeping it all clean in there - little bit of build up around the back of the lower incisors, but that's normal for me. Even OK between the turbos despite the two front incisors overlapping so the floss is canyon flying esses in there.

D.

[Mitch11]

Hi Duncan,
Welcome to the wonderful journey that is braces !!!


Guidelines to getting your own ticker set up:
Go to Tickerfactory.com, select "events", make your choices on tapes and sliders, etc. Finally, you get to preview all your selections on the last page, you also get the codes. Copy the bbcode and paste it into your profile signature.

Goodluck!

[Duncan5]

Here's an attempt at posting a photo from fitting day:

[Duncan5]

And a more recent pic - the lower left incisor moved up very quickly (within a fortnight), but not a lot elsewhere.


P.S. and that's about as closed a bite as I can manage - can't even crush a grape in my molars before the turbo touches.

[Dee17]

You figured out how to post your ticker. Good for you! Welcome to the board by the way. I'm getting my braces in about 10 days. I'm getting Damon metal on upper and lower to close a large (3.5 mm) diastema and correct a deep bite. Just another adventure in the story of my life, I think. Not sure that I'm looking forwrd to it, though. Well, actually, I should say that I'm pretty much dreading it. But (sigh) that's the way it is has to be. Good luck with your treatment. I'll look forward to reading your updates. Take care.

[smilehope]

Hi Duncan, your teeth are really like mine - I thought I was looking in a mirror (apart from the lip hair of course). Hope it's going ok - can you eat chips again yet?

[Duncan5]

Just got home from a porridge and soup resupply before heavens opened. Absolutely hammering it down, boiler exhaust cover is sounding like a Jamaican metal drum band having an epic party.
Yep it's an adjustment day tomorrow, and no clues as to what my ortho has in his box of treasures this time. Trying to kid myself it'll be a quick progress check.

Dee, good luck with your all metal Damons. In hindsight, the way my smile is, I could have opted for those, and my lowers sure do look smaller so might have been more comfortable the first few days, but I'm used to the ceramics now.

smilehope - scarily similar. I had a plate at 16 but no expander (not sure they did it all those years back, especially on NHS) but I remember its discomfort well. Have a horrid feeling my upper retainer will be similar as the report mentioned it having an integrated bite plate - future treasures! Did try chips again and it was more successful; but then I am cutting them up into cm cubes beforehand and am not able to chew at all compared with the upper archwire only that proved so painful.

D.

[Dee17]

Hi there,
I sure hope your appointment goes well tomorrow!
My orthodontist also does Damon ceramic but I decided not to get them because I understand that they can feel quite "bulky" in the mouth. I decided that having all that hardware in my mouth would be plenty for me, thank you very much. I am NOT looking forward to having a mouth full of stainless steel, though, that's for sure.
I just hope that my treatment will proceed as he is expecting it to and that I will be out of my braces after 2 years. Here's hoping! Take care!
Dee