6th Month Mark for Top Braces!

Saturday, September 20, 2014 - As of September 18th it has now been 6 months since I've had my top braces on!!  Those 6 months have gone by pretty fast!!

On Tuesday 9-16-14, I had to stop by the dental office to get my wire trimmed.  It was poking my cheek so bad I would have to wear wax on it at all times even while I ate.  Which I would end up eating the wax off in the process... yuck.  When I went back to get the wire cut one of the assistants came up to me asking me what the name of my blog was.  I was surprised she remembered I was the one with the blog.  I told her and she looked it up and found it.  She said the other day she was trying to find it to show someone.  That made me feel great that someone was using my blog to help someone else.  Makes it even more worth doing this blog! :)  Once they clipped my wire I felt like a new person!  Crazy how something so small like clipping a wire makes you feel sooooo much better.  No more eating wax for awhile ;).

The updated changes I have made in my 6 months of having braces:

Eating
I still cut everything up with a fork and knife that I eat.  Because of so much movement and the on and off soreness of my front teeth, I don't ever try to bite through food using my front teeth.  Since I got the bottom braces on it seems to be a little more difficult to chew.  I tend to bite the inside of my cheeks as I am trying to eat my food.  Not sure if its just my mouth trying to get used to all the braces on the top and bottom now or the teeth moving and placing my bite in weird ways.  I still stay away from hard and sticky foods.  Now that I have bottom braces, food gets trapped all in my braces.  Still thankful for my water pik!!  I use that immediately after eating to get all the food out.  If I'm at work then I make sure to swish water around as much as possible to get all the food particles out.  Brushing alone does not do the trick.


Brushing & Flossing

Since my bottom braces were put on last month it takes even longer now to floss.  I have to use the floss threader for all my bottom teeth because they are so crooked and tight.   On my top teeth I have new gaps in places that used to be tight and I still have really tight places on the bottom teeth that make it difficult to floss.  But, I still manage to get the floss through!  I still do my same routine of brushing with my electric toothbrush, then using the small spiral brush to brush under the wires, then flossing using my threaders to help get under the wires and then using the water pik.  I also, still rinse my mouth in the mornings with ACT for braces and then Listerine at night.


Sleeping
I still tend to clench my teeth at night while sleeping.  When I wake up my teeth will feel a little sore.  Also, since I got the bottom braces, I end of clenching my teeth on the inside of my cheeks and wake up with those sore as well. 

Movement of teeth

My top teeth are moving along.  I have a long ways to go, but so far there has been drastic changes!  For one, my front tooth that was turned almost sideways has completely turned in the right direction.  My "snaggle tooth" is already working it's way down which that tooth has only been in a wire for a week and a half.  I have gaps going on right now because of all the movement going on, but I am so happy to be seeing progress.  I haven't noticed much change in my bottom teeth.  But they are very tight and crooked and it's only been a little over a week.  I'm sure on my next appointment they will do adjustments to help separate my teeth, so more movement can take place.

Peoples reactions of me having braces

I still get positive reactions from people.  I haven't had any negative comments or looks from anyone.  I have great support from friends and family.  Since I started this blog I've had people tell me how much its helped them.  I love seeing how many people have viewed the blog, because it shows me that I may be helping others through their journey or the decision on getting adult braces.

Below are photos showing the changes in the last 6 months:

left photo (6 weeks) right photo (6 months) Upper arch comparison

4th Braces Adjustment and bottom braces put on!!!

Tuesday, September 9, 2014 - What a day!!  Work at 6am and then left early for my 11:00am cleaning appointment.  This was my first cleaning since I got braces put on.  I purposely scheduled my cleaning appointment on a Tuesday because I knew that my Ortho would be there that day. Just in case they needed to remove the wire for the cleaning.  She also had made my 4th adjustment appointment for 1:00pm today as well.

An assistant came in and took off my wire and coil.  As she was taking it off she said that it looked like I may have enough room to start on lowering that tooth (my snaggle tooth).  I said I sure hope so ;).   Then the dental asst started to polish my teeth.  She used a smaller brush for my top teeth since the brackets were on those.  Then a bigger rubber brush for the bottoms.  The Hygenist then continued with the rest of the cleaning which overall wasnt too painful.  I have a few teeth that are sensitive, but they were careful around the ones I pointed out.  I let the hygienist know not to do the fluoride because they were bonding my lower teeth today.  So she said she will give it to my Ortho so they can put it on after that appointment.  Once I was done which was about an hour later, I went back to the waiting room to wait for my Ortho appointment.

Surprisingly I was called back 30 minutes early which was great!  The assistant asked me what color bands I wanted which I chose a pale pink.  The Ortho came in to take a look.  She said that it looked like I have enough room to put the wire on my tooth and start bringing it down.  I was soooo ecstatic inside.  I cannot wait until this tooth is aligned with the rest and is no longer sticking out!  I asked about the tooth she had mentioned about getting extracted.  She said they are going to go ahead and hold off on that and see how well my teeth do and hopefully we wont have to extract it.  But there is still a chance later I might.  She said that they would be using a thinner flexible wire so my teeth will be moving around a lot while my tooth is coming down.  She said during this period some teeth may move forward and look off but it is normal.  She also said that my tooth will be pretty sore.  Which its now been 3 hours since I left my appointment and my front teeth are starting to feel the tenderness.  She also said that we can still put the bottom braces on which I was very happy about as well.  The assistant put a mouth expander in my mouth to help keep my lips away from my teeth.  She then blew air on my teeth to dry them.  She then put a conditioner on my lower teeth and started the gluing and placing of the brackets.  My Ortho then came in to take a look and make any adjustments needed for the bracket placements.  Once she was done the assistant put a light on each tooth to set the glue and brackets.  Once she was done she put the wire on my lower teeth.  They didn't put it on my back molar because they are going to wait until my teeth start straightening out.  She also left the wire off one of my front lower teeth because it was too far back.  My Ortho said that later they would put a coil on it to widen the space and bring that tooth forward.  After she put the bottom wire on she started with the top.  They did figure eights on both sides of my back teeth.  I felt the usual slight discomfort pressure while the wire and elastics were put on but not too bad.  My Ortho came back in to see how everything looked.  She decided to put a wire tie on to make sure the wire stayed on my tooth that has turned in.  She also had me make sure none of the wires were poking and fixed one that was.  The assistant then put the fluoride on my teeth and my appointment was done, leaving at 2:00pm.  Wooo what a day!  But it's going to be worth it! :)

I scheduled my next appointment which is in 6 weeks.  Once I got home I realized that one of my wires on my bottom braces is now poking me.  I put wax on it, which helped.  If it doesn't get better then I will go next Tues,. when they are at my dental office and have them clip it.  Below are the progress photos.

Bottom Braces Day 1