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

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

Here we go . . .

So after several visits to various orthodontists, I finally settled on one. I'm pretty comfortable with him. He has a Doctorate in dentistry from Harvard University and also studied at UCLA. His yelp reviews are stellar and my friend's kids are patients of his and she loves him! He also has great hours for someone who works full time 9-5 hours like me and his prices are incredible compared to the only other orthodontist I considered seeing. I do admit that I think his staff is not as good as the staff of the other orthodontist that I met with, so I guess I am going to have to see how that all plays out. So far I am on the fence and I'll tell you why;

Yesterday, I completed what I guess you can call step 1 of getting braces. I had spacers put in between my back teeth to make room for the brackets they'll glue on when they put my braces on next week. The orthodontist was great at explaining everything, then he turned me over to the assistant. I'm sure there is a more technical name for her; dental assistant? ortho assistant? Anyway, she shoved some rubber spacers between my upper teeth with a smidge of difficulty. Then she started on my lower teeth and was using some serious elbow grease but couldn't get them in.

"Do you have trouble flossing?"

"No"

"Your teeth are very tight"

Ok? Then she decided to switch to metal spacers instead. With the same amount of oomph that she used to get the first set in, she began to try to shove the metal bars between my teeth. At one point her hand slipped a little and she poked me. I think she got more scared than I did and that in itself made me think twice. After a few more minutes, she finally said we were done. I felt one of the metal ones popping up already and asked her about it. She said if it pops up to just push it back down. Ok? The entire appointment from waiting in the waiting room, asking a million questions, taking pictures and getting spacers only took 30 minutes. My teeth didn't hurt, it only felt annoying b/c things were stuck in my teeth but the ortho warned me that I'd hate him by tomorrow when they got sore. By the time I got home from my appointment, one of my metal spacers had already popped off. Yes, the same one I inquired about before I left the office. I'm not sure if this is normal or if my teeth really are tight or what! It's not  huge deal, just enough to put me on alert. I called the office today and the orthodontist (let's call him Dr. S) told me to come in when I can (tomorrow) and he'll personally replace the spacer that popped off, as well as replace the metal ones with more comfortable rubber ones. So, I have been pacified for now and hope that this is a one time glitch in the soon to be year(s) long plan!

And for the record, I don't hate him today as he warned me that I would . . . but boy do i understand why other patients might! For such tiny little pieces of metal/rubber, they sure do produce a lot of discomfort and soreness! I better get used to it! Next week is braces & within 2 months I'll be getting EIGHT teeth extracted! Eight, man! Four wisdom teeth, two of which are impacted & the teeth next to my canine teeth on both top and bottom (4). So, not looking forward to that...but it will all be worth it when I get that megawatt smile!