Whelp, that didn't last long. Only twelve hours into treatment and I already broke a bracket. I was just sitting there in bed, discussing the day with my husband, when out of nowhere *ping*. The bracket on my top left central incisor just shot right off. I had heard that could happen if I was to partake in some of the no-no foods like caramel or popcorn, but I hadn't eaten anything but fried rice and soup all day. If those foods were too hard, this is going to be a long two years!
That happened last night and when I called my ortho's office this morning, they were able to get my right in to replace the bracket. Unlike yesterday, though, my mouth is in some definate pain today. The bracket was still attached to the wire so it had to be removed, and the neighboring bracket also had to be freed to make some room to work. All of this involved a great deal of tugging and pulling on my already screaming front teeth. My orthodontist was so sweet, though, and kept repeating, "I know this must really hurt. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." The technician was also very quick to point out that this wasn't my fault and there had just been a lot of pressure on that specific bracket. To help relieve some of the pressure, she reused the same ligature since it was now a little stretched out and she also placed it around only three of the tie wings instead of all four. I have to say, I was quite impressed with how quickly they were able to see me as well as how sympathetic the doctor was to my pain and that the technician took the time to explain to me the changes they would be taking to help keep the same problem from recurring. Kudos!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Brace day!
Yep, as I suspected, today was the day! As of approximately 10am this morning I now answer to Brace Face, Metal Mouth, Zipper Lips, or Train Tracks. Nah, it's not really that bad. I actually think they're kind of cute on me and the appointment was a breeze.
I got there at 9:30 and had X-rays and pictures (all posted below) taken and molds made before the doctor came in to mount my brackets. I was a bit on edge at first since I was at least 15 years senior to any of the other patients in the waiting room, but when I was brought back to have my brackets placed there was a guy about my age in the next chair. He was there getting his clear braces off and was able to share a few gems of wisdom with me. We had a sort of passing of the torch moment.
I had popped a couple Advils prior to the appointment in preparation for the worse and was starting to second guess myself right up until my doctor looked at my upper right lateral tooth. That's when he let out a chuckle, mumbled to himself that he didn't remember that one being that bad, grabbed my shoulder, and suggested that I might want to take a couple painkillers when I get home...awesome!
The technicial finished up with the bonding and placing my archwire and ligatures. I was all prepared to get both my upper and lower braces done today, but the lower braces will be done at some point in the future and then both my upper and lower braces will come off at the same time. For now, though, I have the clear Sierra Classic brackets by American Orthdotics on top and a .014 titanium heat activated wire with pearl ligatures. I specifically asked for pearl instead of clear as I had heard the clear ligatures stain too easily.
So far, I'm doing great with minimal soreness. My mouth isn't really even that sore; it's more of just a constant pressure and a relative numbness. When I run my tongue over my teeth, there are certain teeth that don't quite register that something is touching them. I'm assuming this will change as I adjust and I'm hoping to keep the pain at bay. Wish me luck!
Now onto the pics and X-rays
I got there at 9:30 and had X-rays and pictures (all posted below) taken and molds made before the doctor came in to mount my brackets. I was a bit on edge at first since I was at least 15 years senior to any of the other patients in the waiting room, but when I was brought back to have my brackets placed there was a guy about my age in the next chair. He was there getting his clear braces off and was able to share a few gems of wisdom with me. We had a sort of passing of the torch moment.
I had popped a couple Advils prior to the appointment in preparation for the worse and was starting to second guess myself right up until my doctor looked at my upper right lateral tooth. That's when he let out a chuckle, mumbled to himself that he didn't remember that one being that bad, grabbed my shoulder, and suggested that I might want to take a couple painkillers when I get home...awesome!
The technicial finished up with the bonding and placing my archwire and ligatures. I was all prepared to get both my upper and lower braces done today, but the lower braces will be done at some point in the future and then both my upper and lower braces will come off at the same time. For now, though, I have the clear Sierra Classic brackets by American Orthdotics on top and a .014 titanium heat activated wire with pearl ligatures. I specifically asked for pearl instead of clear as I had heard the clear ligatures stain too easily.
So far, I'm doing great with minimal soreness. My mouth isn't really even that sore; it's more of just a constant pressure and a relative numbness. When I run my tongue over my teeth, there are certain teeth that don't quite register that something is touching them. I'm assuming this will change as I adjust and I'm hoping to keep the pain at bay. Wish me luck!
Now onto the pics and X-rays
And here's the real fun one. Check out those bottom wisdom teeth. I don't even know how they did that, but I'm sure not looking forward to having those taken out in a few months!
And, of course, now one all braced up
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
A long time in the making
Like many others, I so vividly remember my first orthodontist visit. I remember my mom coming to get me out of school, sitting in the waiting room and flipping through the binders of before and after photos, then having X-rays taken and molds made. Next I remember being ushered into the doctor's office and hearing that I, indeed, would benefit from orthodontic treatment. The problem is, for some reason or another, my parents just never took the next step. Almost 18 years have passed since that day and I have hated my smile ever since. It's not a particularly bad smile, but I have a few teeth here and there that just aren't where they're supposed to be. It's enough to make me self concious in social settings and especially when friends and family start bringing out their cameras.
Now that I'm about to turn 30 *gasp*, I've decided to just put on my big girl undies and actually do something about my teeth. So at the ripe age of 29, I took the plunge and started down the path towards bracedom.
Back in December I did my homework and found a highly respected orthodontist just down the road from our house. I had my initial consultation and felt very welcomed by his staff and had a lot of faith in the treatment plan he described to me. He was ready to start then, but wanted me to have a cleaning and checkup from my dentist first. My dentist got me in the following day (Wednesday) and I called my orthodontist back and scheduled the braces to go on Thursday. It all seemed like it was happening so fast, but I was excited. That was until my dental appointment the following day when I was told I had a small cavity, a rather large cavity that would most likely need a root canal, and some gum issues that would set me back another 6 months. To say I was floored would be an understatement. I always thought I took pretty good care of my teeth and gums and I had JUST had another appointment a few months before and just could not believe so much could change in such little time.
After I was done sulking, I called my orthodontist's office to put the whole plan on hiatus for the time being. I explained the problems and was quite impressed when they decided to call up my dentist's office directly and put together a treatment plan with them. I now felt like I had a whole team of experts working together to get me a good smile.
I was put on a perio mouthwash for my gum issues and had another appointment to fill the smaller cavity and explore the larger one. I really lucked out and am very fortunate that the cavity, though large, had not made it to the root yet so I got away with just a filling. I then had another appointment in January to check on the progress with my gums and was very pleased to be given the all clear to start orthodontic treatment. I was excited to finally be getting my teeth straightened, but the really great news in all of this was that we weren't going to lose the money my husband had set aside for my braces in his 2009 flex spending account at work. I had been racking my brain trying to think of all the eligible items we could purchase to use up the rest of our balance, but I really just couldn't justify spending $1000 on first aid kits. How exciting to find out the money would actually be going toward my teeth as we had intended!
Fast forward a couple weeks to now. I have an appointment with my orthodontist in the morning and I don't know exactly what to expect. I'm a planner by nature so I always lik to know what I'm getting into. I think I'll be getting my braces on tomorrow, but there has been no mention of spacers yet so I'm not exactly sure. Just in case, though, since I plan on having clear brackets on top, I spent the weekend bidding ado to some of my favorite foods in which I will no longer be able to partake in. So far, I've said my goodbyes to BBQ, pizza, turtle sundaes, and red wine and I have a final soiree scheduled tonight with chicken tikka masal. I've heard the curry has quite the powerful staining ability on those clear ligatures so this will be our last dance for quite some time.
Now that I'm about to turn 30 *gasp*, I've decided to just put on my big girl undies and actually do something about my teeth. So at the ripe age of 29, I took the plunge and started down the path towards bracedom.
Back in December I did my homework and found a highly respected orthodontist just down the road from our house. I had my initial consultation and felt very welcomed by his staff and had a lot of faith in the treatment plan he described to me. He was ready to start then, but wanted me to have a cleaning and checkup from my dentist first. My dentist got me in the following day (Wednesday) and I called my orthodontist back and scheduled the braces to go on Thursday. It all seemed like it was happening so fast, but I was excited. That was until my dental appointment the following day when I was told I had a small cavity, a rather large cavity that would most likely need a root canal, and some gum issues that would set me back another 6 months. To say I was floored would be an understatement. I always thought I took pretty good care of my teeth and gums and I had JUST had another appointment a few months before and just could not believe so much could change in such little time.
After I was done sulking, I called my orthodontist's office to put the whole plan on hiatus for the time being. I explained the problems and was quite impressed when they decided to call up my dentist's office directly and put together a treatment plan with them. I now felt like I had a whole team of experts working together to get me a good smile.
I was put on a perio mouthwash for my gum issues and had another appointment to fill the smaller cavity and explore the larger one. I really lucked out and am very fortunate that the cavity, though large, had not made it to the root yet so I got away with just a filling. I then had another appointment in January to check on the progress with my gums and was very pleased to be given the all clear to start orthodontic treatment. I was excited to finally be getting my teeth straightened, but the really great news in all of this was that we weren't going to lose the money my husband had set aside for my braces in his 2009 flex spending account at work. I had been racking my brain trying to think of all the eligible items we could purchase to use up the rest of our balance, but I really just couldn't justify spending $1000 on first aid kits. How exciting to find out the money would actually be going toward my teeth as we had intended!
Fast forward a couple weeks to now. I have an appointment with my orthodontist in the morning and I don't know exactly what to expect. I'm a planner by nature so I always lik to know what I'm getting into. I think I'll be getting my braces on tomorrow, but there has been no mention of spacers yet so I'm not exactly sure. Just in case, though, since I plan on having clear brackets on top, I spent the weekend bidding ado to some of my favorite foods in which I will no longer be able to partake in. So far, I've said my goodbyes to BBQ, pizza, turtle sundaes, and red wine and I have a final soiree scheduled tonight with chicken tikka masal. I've heard the curry has quite the powerful staining ability on those clear ligatures so this will be our last dance for quite some time.
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