Famous Brace Face of the Month

Ok, I know I kinda suck with being consistent about posting my famous brace faces but nonetheless I like seeing them so here ya go! Inspiration!!!

This month's famous brace face is English R&B singer/songwriter Estelle

Estelle got braces in November 2008 when she was 28 years old. She has been quoted saying "'I've been wanting braces since I was 20. I've just now got the courage to get them. I don't like pain... I'm such a wuss." Heaven knows I can relate! Like most brace faces Estelle admitted that she couldn't wait to get her braces removed as she was tired of getting food stuck in them! I am right there with her at this point! I've had my braces for 6 months now and I'm thrilled at the progress but cannot wait to get them off! Estelle had her braces removed after about of year and is now able to show off her beautiful pearly white straight teeth!

and here she is now with her beautiful new grill . . .

Looking good, honey!!!

New Bands & Progress

A few weeks ago I went to brush my teeth and as I began, I automatically realized that yet ANOTHER one of my back bands were loose! As I took a closer look I realized that it wasn't just loose, it was completely knocked off my tooth! The only thing keeping it somewhat in place was a power chain. Since it was the THIRD time that this had happened (separate teeth) I knew that I should cut the power chain to release the broken band and thats just what I did. I admit that I was pretty frustrated since this was the 3rd of 4 bands to break off. I emailed my orthodontist right away b/c I had this long ass piece of wire poking the back of my mouth and I didn't want to wait weeks again as I had to do the previous time that my band broke off my tooth. I was very polite in my email, but I couldn't hide the tone of my frustration. My ortho has two locations and told me he wouldn't be in the office that I go to until the next week, but he made a special trip just to cut my wires 2 days after the band broke off. I really appreciated that, but at the same time I have to note that this is totally different than what I had been told upon selecting him as my orthodontist. I had narrowed my choices down between 2 orthodontists and I went with my current guy b/c he told me he offered Saturday, lunchtime and late evening appointments - not to mention he was significantly less expensive. But in the 5 months that I have been going to him I have only been able to get one Saturday appointment and usually get appointments just before or after lunchtime. Either way I was still happy he made a special trip for me. I was the only patient in the whole office and his staff who usually wears matching polos were dressed in their normal clothes so I could tell he made them come in too. Eek! I felt kind of bad about that.
He ended up replacing the band that had broken off (no spacers required this time) and removed and replaced the final band (the only one that hadn't broken off yet) to prevent it from doing the same thing all the rest did (break). Then he tightened my braces etc. And so far so good!

My progress is really becoming apparent now! I know I've got a long way to go b/c I still have huge gaps and I have a slight overbite that needs to be corrected, but my upper teeth are pretty straight and my lower ones are really getting there!

(IDK why my cell phone cam always makes my rubber bands look dingy, swear they don't look stained in person!)

 (lower teeth, see that straggler really coming up and blending with the rest? :) )

Progress...so far

The straggler is finally on board!

I had my appointment today and my teeth finally separated enough to allow my ortho to archwire that straggling back tooth that I hate so much! Finally! That tooth has bothered me for years! When I first got braces I was a little bummed that that tooth couldn't be wired yet, although I completely understood why. My teeth were so crowded that it was impossible to wire that tooth with the rest. But alas it is finally on board and if my lower teeth move anything like my upper teeth did then I think I'll be seeing results pretty soon! I'm excited! I couldn't imagine going my whole life never knowing what I'd look like with straight teeth and a proud smile. My crooked teeth have caused me so much grief- getting teased, shy smiles, hiding laughs! Now my crooked smile is slowly fading away.

Back to my appointment . . .

Highs

• Now ALL of my front teeth have brackets and are archwired, even the straggler.
• Orthodontist said the spaces where I had teeth extracted from are closing and healing nicely and better than a lot of other patients he's seen.
• Said my bite looks good

Lows

• The assistant kinda sucked and had to stop a few times in the middle of changing my wire to ask the orthodontist questions. She even asked me a question & I had to answer "I dont know" b/c hello she's supposed to be the one who knows what to do! I'm so close to requesting that I work only with the actual orthodontist.
• The bracket they glued to my back tooth to replace the one that broke off earlier this month, broke immediately after they set it. It woudln't stay put so they put spacers in and I have to go back next week to get a band.
• My teeth are soooooooorrrrrrreeeeee!!! I figure the more I feel, the more it's working - no pain no gain, but MAN! Sore!

M I A but back in Action

Hello! I've been M.I.A for a while now, haven't I? I guess sometimes life happens, right? I hope everyone has been doing well! I've been good. I'm sure I've got tons of updates for you but I'll try to condense them to the more important ones. :)

Updates

• I don't think I mentioned that I got power chains. Doesn't that sound like some kind of monster truck lingo? POW-ER CHAINSSS!!! LOL They're basically just honeycomb shaped rubber bands that connect your teeth. I started getting gaps/spaces in my teeth as my braces moved them and the power chains prevent gaps while my teeth continue to move. Power chains are strong so they're also being used to close the gaps where I had my teeth extracted. Supposedly they provide great/fast results, but I guess we shall see. They don't hurt at all or make my teeth ache. The one bad thing is that they stain though. I've had mine for about 3 weeks and I need to brush them GOOD to get the sparkly and clean. the only photo I have of them was taken right after I drank coffee (yes I should have drank through a straw - lesson learned) and they look dingy and gross. But my electric tooth brush gets them pretty clean! I have an appointment next week and I can't wait to get them changed. Now I know to avoid staining foods or to brush my teeth immediately after i eat/drink.

 Picture Above: Blue Power chains (mine are clear)

Picture above: Photo of my teeth as they are now. See how stained my power chains are? Embarrassing, but i still wanted to show you. 

• You may have already noticed my update #2 in the photo above! My ortho put a spring on the lower right side (screen left) of my teeth, see it in the picture above? The spring is pushing two teeth apart to make room to finally bring that back one that I hate up front! I actually had a spring put on in May, but my teeth didn't move far enough apart to attach the archwire to that straggling back tooth so he put another spring in earlier this month. I admit that I was pretty bummed that my teeth didn't move as fast my ortho expected. I hope he can put the archwire on at my next appointment next week!
• This is more of a bitching type update . . . one of my brackets broke off...AGAIN. It's not the same one as last time, it's the upper left one. It's not the typical ring shaped bracket that goes around your tooth. My ortho was "trying" new ones out on me that he glued to the side of my teeth. this is the 2nd one that has broken off so I don't think they're working all that well. I was unimpressed with my ortho's office when I called to tell them too. I had a good 1 1/2 cm of wire sticking out in the back of my mouth when the bracket broke and it was poking and scarping me. I called to see if i could go in and the lady told me to clip the wire myself with NAIL CLIPPERS! Is that normal? Has anyone else ever been advised to do that? Luckily I found wire cutters and used that instead, but i have to wonder WTF am I paying for if I am treating myself? not cool & I plan to talk to my ortho about it when I go in next week. 
• I also experienced a yucky little issue when I was at my appointment. The ortho opened one of the brackets on my tooth to change my archwire. The bracket on that tooth opens like a door on hinges. When he snapped it closed on the archwire he also snapped  it on my lip and CAUGHT a part of my lip IN the bracket. It hurt and I couldn't talk. First he tried to pull it, but i could that that would cut me so I put my hand up and uttered "whatever you just did, undo it!" and he did and released my tooth noting "that's never happened before'. Needless to say, he isn't my favorite person right now. . . 

The part circled in yellow is where he caught my lip;

So those are my updates. I am hoping to have a much better appointment next week and hopefully get that back tooth on board with the rest of  my teeth!

XOXO

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!