1st Month Experience with Braces

Friday, April 18, 2014
The changes I have made this 1st month from having braces:

Eating

Well I definitely eat totally different now.  Pretty much everything I eat I use a fork and knife to cut up my food into small pieces before eating. This also includes sandwiches & hamburgers.   I stay away from all the "do not eat" foods.  Anything that is too hard or too sticky I don't even attempt.  On the plus side.........I lost weight!!! :)  Because of cutting everything I eat up and eating/chewing slower, I get full faster.  Plus a lot of my favorite "junk foods" are now too hard or too sticky to eat and are on the forbidden food list.  Also, having my extractions done and mouth too sore to eat a lot, played a big part.  But hey no complaints, because I went down a size and now wear size 5 which I havent worn since my 20's ;-).  My husband calls it the braces diet! lol

Brushing & Flossing

Brushing my teeth is completely different.  I went from spending maybe 2-3 minutes brushing my teeth to now spending 10-15 minutes.  I have a routine down.  First I brush the bottoms for 2 minutes,  then the tops for 2-3 minutes focusing on all sides of the brackets, teeth and gums. I use an Oral B electric toothbrush.   I also make sure I brush the roof of my mouth and tongue.  I then use the small spiral brush to go under each wire and brush parts of my teeth there, as well as around each bracket.  Then I floss between every tooth which is tricky for the ones with the brackets and wire.  I have threaders that help get the floss under the wires and make it easier to floss.  Then I use plackers to scrap between my teeth to make sure I got all the plaque off and food particles.  Then I use a water pik and lastly I rinse with mouth wash.  I do this in the morning and at night.  After snacks or meals during the day, I just brush or rinse my mouth out really good to make sure I don't have any food on my brackets or wires.

My teeth/braces cleaning essentials ;)

Sleeping

Sleeping with braces on so far only is disturbed when my teeth are feeling sore due to movements.  I have noticed I wake up during the night feeling like I am clenching my teeth.  Sometimes it suddenly wakes me up with a jolt of pain but goes away very fast.  Like I was pressing my bottom teeth hard against the back of my top teeth.   Weird...

Movement of teeth

Not too big of a difference so far.  Although I can now see that my top front tooth, that was turned almost sideways, has straightened out some.  It still has a ways to go. I can feel soreness when there is movement and I even see a small space between the top of my two front teeth.  It's weird, one day when I floss my teeth will be really tight and then another day the floss glides right through.  Then back to being tight again in some places.  But at least it shows me they are actually moving even if I dont see much of a difference right away. 

Peoples reactions of me having braces

Ive had a lot of support from family and friends when they found out I got braces.  I don't feel like I get strange looks from anyone that I don't know, so I am not embarrassed at all.  When people at work first noticed I got braces, they were all positive reactions.  If anything, having them on has helped build my confidence more to smile without hiding my teeth.  Even though they aren't straight yet and have a lot more work to go, I feel better about myself with them on.

Front view - 1 Month

Left side view - 1 Month

Right side view - 1 Month

Progress photos Day 1 to 1 Month

Extractions update

Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - 1 week after extractions -  Since my extractions, I ate nothing but ice cream, pudding and mashed potatoes.  I don't think I want to see any of those foods for awhile.  I finally felt ok enough to eat something a little more solid but still soft yesterday.  I was craving Red Lobsters chicken alfredo and cheesy biscuits, yummm!  Of course I had to get it to go, because I had to cut everything into tiny pieces and eat very slowly.  But OMG it was so great to taste something different for a change.  It felt weird, a little tender but didn't hurt, in my extraction areas when I was chewing and food would slip into those areas.  After eating I made sure to rinse my mouth with warm salt water, brush my teeth and floss (which takes even longer now, go figure).  I still rinse my mouth out with warm salt water at least 4 times a day.  My right side where I got my stitches is still a bit tender but my left extraction area doesn't really bother me anymore. The stitches are still there, not too sure how long they take to dissolve.   My top front teeth have been feeling a little sore lately, so I am guessing they are going through movements when this happens.  Very small movements, because I cant really tell much of a difference.  Although, my husband says it does look like my one front tooth has turned a bit.  But of course it's only been 3 weeks since I got the braces put on, ;).  Now only 3 weeks and 6 days until my next Ortho appointment...cant wait so I can get the rest of the brackets and wires on all my top teeth and hopefully start seeing more changes. ;)  On April 18th I will post updated pics since it will be exactly 1 month since I got the front braces put on.  Maybe then we can see if there actually was some kind of movement so far.

1st picture of me (since I was a child) actually smiling showing my teeth!!  This was taken Saturday, April 5, 2014 at the Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey Game with my husband <3.

Day of Extractions

Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - Day of extractions.  I was completely nervous all day, I'm not good with dental procedures.  My husband took me to my appointment and when they called me back I got even more anxious.  The dental assistant saw the nervousness in my eyes and asked if I would like to take a Valium to ease my nerves.  She also let my husband come back to help me feel more comfortable.  After taking the Valium they gave me gas and put the shots to numb the areas.  The dentist was extremely nice.  The first tooth came out but part of the root broke off because of how tight my teeth were around it.  He went to the next tooth and that one came out in one piece.  He had to use other tools to get the remaining root out and then had to stitch the area.  He used dissolving stitches so I wont have to go back to get them removed.  He said because of that happening that I would be in more pain than usual.  So he prescribed me a pain medication.  They packed my areas with gauze and gave me instructions on how to care for the area.  After getting home the areas of the extractions were throbbing bad.  There was a 30 min wait on my prescription fill.  I put ice packs on both sides of my mouth which helped some.  Once I took the pain medication about 20-30 mins later the pain went away.  I had to keep packing the areas with gauze every 30 mins.  I am now leaving the area free of gauze so hopefully the bleeding has officially stopped.  Its been 5 hours since my appointment.  Getting the teeth pulled didn't hurt, just felt a lot of pressure.  It didn't take long at all other than the mishap with my one tooth.  I hope for a quick recovery and keeping my fingers crossed I don't get dry socket.  I posted pictures below.  Sorry if you get grossed out by the teeth but I wanted to show you what happened.  I don't see much difference in my teeth yet now that its been 2 weeks since I got the braces on.  Only thing I notice is that my front teeth are easier to floss because they have moved a little from each other so they aren't so tight.  My next appointment for the rest of my brackets and wire on my top teeth is May 6th.  Hopefully after they do that I will start seeing more changes.

Thursday, April 3, 2014 - Yesterday I took off work because of my mouth throbbing so much, mainly the right side from where they had the issue of the root breaking off and I have stitches.  I took pain medicine with Ibuprofen as the dentist suggested which helped a lot.  I stayed in bed most of the day and kept ice packs on it.  Today I went to work.  My face was a little swollen where the teeth were extracted.  I put ice packs on it when I could.  I made it through the day without medicine but by the time I got home it throbbed so bad I took some medicine which helped a lot.  I also started rinsing my mouth out with warm salt water which helps.  I hope tomorrow is a better day with the pain.

Getting ready for the extractions

Extracted teeth.  You can see how the root broke off on the right tooth :(

Front view with extractions

left side view with extractions

right side view with extractions