Week 13

There hasn't been a lot of change these last few weeks.  I did go away and had an amazing time.  My diet was limited to bread, rice, potato's and beef, but that was because of where we stayed.  My friends didn't even notice I had braces until I pointed them out.

I have had no pain or discomfort.  I do notice a large overbite of my upper teeth, which I do not find flattering, but I hope that it can be corrected slightly.  I was also able to hold a take out coffee mug with my front teeth before when my hands were all full.  I would bite down on the lip of the cup to carry it.  I can no longer hold a take out cup between my teeth, which just results in more trips from my car to my house.

It seems to me that I only have one tooth in the front that needs to rotate slightly.  My wire feels loose and I wonder if this is why I haven't had much progress with it rotating.  However, I have an orthodontist appointment next week, so I will hopefully have more info then.

Have a great week everyone.

Week 10

Well, what a week of progress.  For me anyways.  Although I did not feel any pain these last few weeks and I have not had anything significant happen, I did notice a huge difference with my teeth movement when I took my weekly photo.  As you will see below.  I decided to start using whitening toothpaste again.  I always have used it and my orthodontist asked me to stop using it.  However, my boyfriend told me that my teeth are beginning to look a little yellow.  I am not going to allow that to happen, so bring on the whitening toothpaste.  I do intend on whitening my teeth when my braces come off, if it is needed.

It is amazing to me how many adults want to consider oral cosmetics.  I have had numerous people that I know ask me about my braces and how I feel about having only 6 brackets on my front teeth as opposed to a whole mouthful of brackets.  Now, I don't really know what a mouthful would do for me, but I am happy with the results I am seeing.

I will be going away to a southern country again in a few weeks.  I hope to be on here before I leave.  Until we meet again fellow brace facers.

Do you see the difference?  I certainly do. Look how much my front tooth has rotated.  I am so excited.

week 8

So here I am in week 8.  It is quite hard for me to take pictures of my own teeth, but I do try.

After having my wire changed last week, my teeth were a bit sore.  I didn't have any issues with eating and continued to eat as I did before the adjustment.  I was hoping I would have more pain because more pain means my teeth are moving.  My week has been virtually pain free as a matter of fact.

I do notice a few changes.  Although you cannot see it in the picture, I have a very large gap at my gum line on my left front tooth and eye tooth.  It has been pulled forward quite a bit and is almost in line with the eye tooth.  You can see it better in the top pictures than in the front view pictures.  My Right front tooth has been pulled back a bit and is beginning to straighten out.  My boyfriend told me that when I was sleeping, it would stick out of my mouth a little bit and he wanted to poke it.  But now it doesn't stick out anymore.  Before braces, if I moved my jaw a little, my top and bottom teeth could touch.  Now they cannot touch at all.

I still am doubtful that my teeth are going to be straight one day.  Even though I see minor changes, I have a very hard time seeing the whole outcome.  I only have 10 more months left.  I just am a skeptic I guess.  Until next time my friends.

Week 7

Today I had my 2nd ortho appointment.  I was excited to go and see what would happen next.  Would I get colours?  A power chain?  My 2 girls came with me because they wanted to watch and see what the dentist was going to do, but he asked them to stay in the waiting room.  Too bad.

So he slenderized my bottom teeth today.  This was slightly uncomfortable.  Slenderizing means he takes a fine grade of sandpaper and shifts it back and forth in between your teeth.  Although I don't have braces on my lower teeth, he is doing this to see if they will shift naturally and to help with flossing.  My lower teeth were extremely tight and hard to floss.  I didn't realize this as I have been flossing forever and just thought it was normal.

He then took off the metal ties around my brackets and removed my wire.  It was only a gentle wire to shift my teeth slowly because of the crowding.  My teeth felt slimy and gross with the wire off.  This time he added a new, stronger wire and said I will have more progress.  I haven't seen much progress up to this point, but I do have a lot of gaps at the gum line in between my teeth.  He used metal ties again to attach the wire to the bracket.  He said these ties help move the teeth easier and gentler.  I like them because I don't have a bunch of crazy colours in my mouth.

My mouth, gums and teeth do not hurt right now, but as of tomorrow, I know I will be in pain.  I kinda look forward to the pain because I know something is working inside my mouth.  I made an appointment for 7 weeks from now.  It seems like forever between adjustments, but I just have to be patient.

I know I haven't written in here for a few weeks, but I didn't experience much change over the last few weeks.  I enjoyed my vacation and had no problem with food or drinks.  I really didn't have to be too careful.  The worst thing that happened was my daughter accidentally elbowed me in the mouth.  My brackets hit my lip and cut it open.

So until next week (week 8 with photo's), good bye.

Week 4

Well, here it is a whole month later.  Comparing my two photos, I don't really see much of a difference from the before braces to the one month.  Can you?  I guess I had hoped that there would be much more shifting by now.  So many people have told me that your teeth shift so fast and will be in almost proper position within the first 8 weeks.  So I guess I will have to wait 4 more weeks before I see a big improvement.  My dentist told me that my teeth will move approximately 1mm per month.  It seems so minimal, but he said that 1 mm makes a huge difference.  If I sound disappointed, it's because I am.  But I must be patient because according to my dentist's initial prediction,  I still have 11 months to go.  I don't see him for another 20 days though, so I have to be patient and wait for that appointment as well.

I leave for my vacation tomorrow.  I have become accustomed to my new teeth jewelry and find I am not as self conscious.  Everyone who sees me with braces know it is because I wanted to improve my teeth and my appearance.  Besides, so many people have braces now.  I feel like I am part of the hip crowd.  Lol, not really. 

I am now eating a completely normal diet, but kind of wish I had the pain of before.  It prevented me from eating what I shouldn't.  I may have snuck in a few chips here and there.  My teeth still feel wiggley, but they are not at all sore anymore.

See you in a week everyone.

Week 3

Not alot has happened this week.  My teeth will hurt anytime on any day.  Sometimes I can eat almost anything and other times my teeth are so sore, I don't want anything in my mouth.  My children say they can see my teeth are moving forward, but I don't see anything at all.  Maybe it is because I see them every day? 

I can finally bite into things.  Tonight we had Subway and I didn't have to use a knife and fork.  I did however have trouble eating a grilled cheese yesterday and embarrassed myself using a knife and fork at the pickle barrel with a friend of mine.  I ordered alcohol and was hoping I would be asked for identification, but no such luck.  Wishful thinking, I guess.

Next week, I will post pictures.  I have been taking photo's every week, but because I don't see a change, I don't want to post anything.

Week 2

I must say this week has been much smoother.  I finally am eating solid foods again, although they have to be slightly softer.  I still cannot bite into food, and have to cut it up into smaller portions so I can get it passed my front teeth.  This must have looked funny when my kids and I were eating at Subway and I was using a knife and fork to eat my sub.  Hard cereals, or hard foods still hurt when I chew.  But the initial excruciating pain from before has gone away. I now just feel pressure around my teeth.  They are also slightly loose and I can wiggle them.  I don't do this much as I am afraid my teeth will fall out if I wiggle them too much. 

There are small gaps in the top corners of my teeth, right near my gum line.  They are noticeable.  I thought I had a food particle in between two teeth and over flossed only to discover this was a gap.  I don't notice any shifting yet.  But if there are gaps, there is movement.  The wires surrounding the brackets are also rubbing against a different part of my inner lip causing irritation, which also suggest some slight movement.

I have to smile wider now. My lips need to sit above my brackets when I smile because if my lip sits on my brackets, this also causes irritation.  The wider my smile is, the more my cheeks hurt.  I wonder if I can get through the rest of the year without smiling at all.  My upper lip sits on top of my arch wire.  I guess the wire is slightly protruding causing the resting spot for my lip. I still haven't become accustomed to wearing these darn things and hope that soon it wont bother me so much to keep them in my mouth.

So if I calculate my removal to 1 year, that is equal to 52 weeks.  If  I have been wearing the braces for 2 weeks, that means I only have 50 weeks left.  Seems like a lifetime away.