Attack fo the Dental Floss!

So, I had my first issue with dental floss last night! I was going through my usual nightly routine brushing and flossing my teeth when somehow the floss tore and got all stringy in my mouth. I could see that if I just pulled the floss it would get tangled all over the place so I tried to gently slide it out to make sure I didn't get it caught, but sadly I was unsuccessful and ended up with floss twisted and tied around one of my brackets. The one with the hook thingy on it, of course! I was such a funny pathetic sight with string and slobber hanging out of my mouth as i tried to work it out. I ended up cutting some of it off, then brushing the hell out of my teeth with my electric toothbrush, using the small brush to get into the nooks. Finally it came out. So, moral of the story? Be wary of your dental floss or it will attack ya!

Here's a visual for you of which bracket it was stuck on (floss already removed in this photo)

A few updates

Hi! Sorry I've been M.i.A for a few weeks - I guess I was busier than I realized!

Anyway

I had an ortho appointment last week so of course I've got to share it with you! I went in all smiles b/c I had gotten used to my braces since the last tightening session. In fact, I think I can even say that my braces were "loose" or at least the wire was. I had become very content with the way my braces were feeling, but I definitely knew it was time to tighten them back up!
I sat in the chair as directed and my Orthodontist (I think we were calling him Dr. X in past posts? well let's call him that again!) and he came over to take a look. He commented on how pleased he was with the movement of my upper teeth. They are not 100% straight yet but they are very close! Then he looked at the bottom train wreck of teeth and started touching them and rambling numbers and other ortho things. He told me that once he can get a thicker/stronger wire in there that I'm going to be amazed at how fast they move and reassured me that they'll be perfect. Then he called for an assistant to come over and he basically just gave her instructions on what to do with me and moved on to the next patient.
The assistant began removing my wires, as usual, then she popped a new top wire in and put clear rubber bands to hold them in place. Next she moved on to my lower teeth, removing the old wire. When she went to put the new wire in O M G! IDK what she did, but it felt like she was trying to rotate one of my bottom front teeth upside down! Holy Shit, it hurt like Hell! I literally thought she was going to pull my tooth right out. I made a noise and she could see the pain on my face so she stopped and asked if I was ok, to which I replied "no, that hurts really bad". She gave me a break, then started again and AGAIN it hurt like hell! She commented that my mouth must be sore and asked how long that tooth has been sore. But my mouth WASN'T sore and that tooth had not been sore at all prior to my appointment! Dr. X even called out to her to just wait and he'd put my new wire in b/c he could see that she was hurting me, but she popped it in before he could get to me and thankfully the pain was gone as soon as she got her hands out of my mouth! Oh yeah, she also knocked a band off one of my back teeth! Ugh! It was glued to the side of my tooth, not the kinda that go all the way around like a ring. But now Dr. X says we'll put a traditional band (like a ring) on that tooth since the other one came off so I left with spacers in the back tooth too. And I do have to say that while spacers made my mouth VERY sore the first time around. i barely even notice the 2 in there now.

So that was my appointment! I go back next week to get the band put on, spacers removed etc.


And for your viewing pleasure, here ar some pics :)

I have to confess that I'm not happy and a little discouraged with my lower teeth right now. While they seem to be moving and you can SEE the spaces between my teeth now (they were totally overlapping before), they're still really crooked and with the new spaces in between they just look like a mess! More of mess than even before! I sure hope they start lining up soon!

PS: Sorry if this post has a negative undertone, it's not meant to be negative. swear! :)

and...just b/c I personally really like to see any progress made, here's a quick collage to document it!

Modern Family & Adult Braces Laurie

I was watching Modern Family tonight and there was a scene between Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) & Cam (Eric Stonestreet) where Mitchell referred to "Laurie". . .

Cam: Boobs Laurie or Adult braces Laurie?
Mitchell: Great Shoes Laurie. 

Cam: Ohh...I love her!

It kind of makes me wonder... am I adult braces "Sally"?
 (*Disclaimer: Nope, my name's not really Sally)

When someone is trying to distinguish me from another "Sally" do they automatically use my adult braces as a reference?
What ?happens when I eventually get my braces off? Will I still be adult braces "Sally"? Forever bound to my brace face persona


I think it's pretty funny!


I bet people DO use my braces as a reference! Ha ha! I never even thought about it until now. 

More Teeth Pics

I realized that most of my brace face pics don't really show my bottom teeth, so I've decided to muster up some courage and show you all the mess that makes up my lower teeth. I've also highlighted a few things just to show progress made so far;

• "Ew!"- Just indicates the most crooked area of my teeth. My upper teeth have bothered me way more than my lower teeth for some reason, I guess b/c my upper teeth are much more visible in pictures when I smile & that upper right (screen left) tooth provided plenty of ammo for others to make fun of me in the past (snaggle tooth). But now look! The upper teeth are progressing nicely, the snaggle tooth barely even sticks out anymore! Now I realize that it's always been that lower mess that I should be more concerned with.
• O : Do you see that thin black line inside the yellow circle? I never had it there before. In fact, those two teeth were overlapping so I've never even seen them side by side the way they are now. I hear the black line can also appear as a triangle and it's not uncommon for people with braces to get them. Anyone know what it's called? I think there is an actual term for it. Mine doesn't seem bad right now so it doesn't bother me. 
• > < : See that gap? I definitely never had that gap there before. My teeth were so damn crowded that dentists used to have a hard time even flossing mg my grill! Yay for progress!

Now I just can't wait for that whole "EW" section to start straightening out! Hopefully soon!

Famous Brace Face of the Month (x 2 b/c I forgot to do it last month)

I forgot to add a famous brace face for the month of March so we'll do two for the month of April, beginning with the absolutely stunning

Cindy Crawford

That's right, the gorgeous supermodel once had braces! She even posed for a pepsi ad with her beautiful brace face!

and here she is with her perfect smile (below)

Our next brace face of the month is . . . 

 Tom Cruise

I have to say that Tom holds a special place in this little brace face's heart b/c he is the only celebrity that I was able to find who PROUDLY sported his metal mouth smile with complete confidence. He got his braces at age 39 for a cross bite/midline issue.

And here he is with that mega whatt smile...