Today was brace-day! I'm 5 hours in and feel the pressure and some cheek poking so far. I arranged to work from home tomorrow to get used to new eating and brushing routines - got my first waterpik to try out tonight. I also am finding the bite turbos annoying because at the moment when I bite only one of them touches the lower teeth! I guess I'll be chewing on one side of my mouth until it wears down a bit.
The background of my braces story started on this thread as a plea for help on what course to take: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=53881 To summarize, my teeth still looked straight enough from my braces at age 12-14, so I never worried about them. When my dental insurance switched in June, my new dentist pointed out that I now have 3 teeth in a crossbite and a class III bite (my incisors are currently end to end), which was causing some gum recession, and recommended braces.
One ortho this past July told me I needed jaw surgery to bring the lower jaw back (my mother had it in the 80s and calls it the biggest regret of her life) and in August, two others said 12 or 16 months in braces would do it, so I went with the 16 month braces sentence in a nearby, high rated office. I have a coworker who goes to the same one, so I have a good personal reference for her too
Before actually starting braces, I had to do two gum graft surgeries on lower premolars where my bad bite had led to loss of attached gums, and the periodontist recommended having the gums thickened and attached before moving the teeth! Those surgeries were in August and then December. I also have one lower incisor with some recession, but because there is enough attached gum we will just watch it for now - I'll have 3 month appointments with him during treatment.
My dentist is having me come every 4 months for cleanings and recommends adding in-office flouride treatments for $41 - anyone else doing this or is it overkill? People keep saying that my teeth are very clean, but my gums are thin and weak from the bad bite, so I'm willing to go the extra mile to keep them healthy.
Can't close teeth together because of bite turbos.
The left side you can see the crossbite of the canine and premolar - these guys have a lot of moving to do to fix my bite!
Six weeks until my first adjustment!
Different from my ortho as a kid, she just tells the techs what to do rather than changing wires or bands herself and moves on to the next patient.
She said that with class 3 bites, they're trying to widen out the upper arch more to fit over the lower (right now I have a bit of an underbite too, gah!), so with her fingers, she actually massaged the new upper wire to be a bit wider before putting it in.
