Progress...so far

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!

6 Week Pics!

I can't believe it's already been 6 weeks since I got my braces! Other than the teeth extraction/dry socket fiasco time seriously flew right by! I can see changes already! I got my wires extended and tightened 3 days ago and my Ortho said that if i thought I saw fast progress before, just wait until I see what happens now that I've made space (4 pre molars removed) & got my wires extended. I'm excited!

Can you see the difference just 6 little weeks have made already?

 February 15, 2011

March 28, 2011

Post Extraction Pics & Follow Up Appointment Deets

7 of the 8 teeth teeth pulled. They had to crack two teeth (one lower impacted & not sure what the other one is) a bunch of little pieces (not all are pictured). I tried to fit them together to show the complete 8 teeth but they are literally like cracked in all sorts of weird places and I wouldn't even know where to begin. I think some of the tiny cracked pieces of tooth (not pictured) might be the roots of one of the wisdom teeth too.

Lower left side pre molar extraction site. Healing well. 

I couldn't get pics of my wisdom teeth extraction sites b/c they're so far back and my mouth is still sore and has stitches. 

I had a follow up appointment with my OS today.  He said he can see that the extraction sites are healing now, but there is still some nerve exposure so we packed the sockets just to make sure that horrendous pain didn't return! He removed the old gauze and replaced it with a paste packing that will absorb into my mouth so that I don't have to come back and get the dressing changed again. He also said that I don't have any signs of an infection, but since I didn't finish my antibiotics (because I was puking!) he prescribed an antibiotic mouth wash for me to use twice a day. He also gave me a little syringe like water pik thingy. Nice description, right? LOL He tol s me to squirt it in the sockets after I eat to get the food out. I used it twice already and now I know why some of you love your water pis so much! I seen one at target for only $35.00 so I think I am going to go and pick it up this weekend.

Can't wait to get back to 100%! I'm super relieved that I am finally making some progress! Yay! 

Famous Brace Face of the Month

Regular Jane's like us aren't the only ones who were born with crooked teeth! Some of our favorite celebrities have been known to rock the brace face look themselves! I've only had my braces for one week and there have been a few occasions when I have had to muster up my confidence to flash my pearly whites metal mouth at others. Maybe you can relate? And maybe seeing a famous brace face each month will help to boost confidence? If nothing else, it's fun to see celebs with braces. Enjoy our first Famous Brace Face of the month:

GWEN STEFANI

 Gwen Stefani, lead singer of No Doubt and solo artist, got her braces when she was 30 also! 

*And she still nabbed 'garbage' front man, Gavin Rossdale - braces and all!

Want more inspiration? Check out her gorgeous grill now!

WORTH IT! 

Pictures & Extraction talk (yikes!)

I thought it might be helpful to post some of my 'BEFORE' pictures for you. I kind of love that I can say "BEFORE" pictures now. :) In 24-30 months my smile won't look anything like the train wreck you see below!Yay!

Front of my Crooked Smile 

January 2011

(Front)

 Left Side 

(Jan. 2011)

 Right Side

(Jan. 2011)

 Upper

(Jan. 2011)

 Lower

(Jan. 2011)

What a mess, right? My left side is actually OK, pretty straight. my right side is a whole other story though! Just a mess! I'll be thrilled when that one snaggle tooth on the upper right side blends in with the rest of my teeth and doesn't stick out anymore! Same goes for that rogue tooth in the photo just above this paragraph. Clearly, it has no place else to go so it sits in the back row behind the rest of my teeth. Yuck! It actually bothers me the most, physically too. While that upper set of teeth make my crooked smile super obvious and just NOT cute, that rogue lower one affects the way I eat, pronounce certain words, KISS! I have even inquired about just yanking it out, but then I get the symmetry speech so instead I'll be getting 8 other teeth removed. Yes, you read that correctly, E I G H T! Ugh!

I knew I'd have to get my 4 wisdom teeth removed. They started erupting when I was about 23. By the time I was 26 they definitely started bothering me. I'd have random days of soreness from inflamed wisdom teeth. They haven't really bothered me in about a year now, but they still provided constant pressure to the rest of my teeth. And while my smile was by no means straight prior to my wisdom teeth erupting, I KNOW they got a lot worse afterward. Every dentist that I've seen since they popped out has strongly encouraged their removal. My two lower ones are impacted. One is "textbook" impacted and should be only slightly more challenging to remove than the non impacted ones. The other is very impacted (there's a medical term, but I'll have to edit this later with that info.) and may be attached slightly to my jaw (xrays don't show 100%) and different dental professionals have given me various opinions of it. One dentist told me he'd just chisel my jaw bone a little to get it out, one told me he didn't think he could get it out so he may just leave it alone and one told me it's no different than the others(?). None of those dentists will be performing my oral surgery though so I'll have to wait and see what my oral surgeon says. Now i wish I had gotten them out years ago when my dentist(s) started telling me to. Then I'd only have to deal with the 4 other teeth my ortho wants removed. here's a diagram to show you all the teeth they plan to pull...

 Upper Extractions (circled)

 Lower Extractions (circled) See the back impacted wisdom teeth?

 I guess it makes sense. What's the point of getting braces if my teeth don't have anyplace to move to? Extracting the ones mentioned above will create the space needed to straighten out my smile. No pain no gain! I guess.

Now I just need to decide on which oral surgeon to see. My dentist and orthodontist referred me to two different surgeons who both practice at the same exact facility. Surgeon A has tons of great yelp reviews, a website etc. I can't find ANY info. on Surgeon B! No yelp reviews, no complaints, no website, nothing! i can't even find him when I google his name. I just find this very odd. NO info.? He does however have both his DMD (dental degree) AND MD (medical degree), while Surgeon A only has his DMD. Of course surgeon B is the one my ortho is highly encouraging me to see. I need to make my decision like NOW. i'll let ya know who I decide to go with.

Braces are ON!

I really meant to blog last night, my last night of a metal free mouth, but it was Valentine's day and my attention belonged to my lover! So, instead I am blogging to you today as newly loaded metal mouth!

I was told to block off a good 2 hours to take care of everything at my appointment, but I was pleasantly surprised when we wrapped everything up and I was on my way out in just a little over an hour! The procedure itself was painless and damn close to discomfort-less (I know, not a real word) too! The first thing they did was remove those pesky spacers that I've had in my mouth since last week. Even though I was getting used to them, they were still very annoying and kept my teeth consistently sore. It felt so good to have them removed! Next they placed a band on one of my back teeth.

 

Dr. S then decided that I didn't need traditional bands and instead used a new model of smaller bands that are glued to the sides of my back teeth. So after days of being sore from the spacers, turns out i didn't need them anyway since traditional bands were not used. Ha! Fine by me though, I was tired of having things stuck between my teeth. Next the assistant applied "conditioner" to my teeth and let it dry. Finally it was time for Dr. S to apply my brackets!

 I ended up with all metal brackets, except for my 4 upper front teeth. Dr. S being the great ortho that he is, provides clear (I guess ceramic?) braces on the front teeth for his adult patients (shh: free of charge). After all my brackets were in place, the assistant took over, inserting the archwire in my brackets. The appointment came to an end with a brief lesson on how to care for my braces (i.e - brushing techniques, how to floss with wire in the way etc.).

Now I'm a real life brace face! and I couldn't be happier about it! 

So without further ado, I present to you my new tin grin!

Day #1

of life with braces