Skyclad's dental and braces journal

[skyclad]

Ok this will be a chronological journal from the first ortho consult to the present day.

August 2006, visit with ortho, says i have a class 1 malocclusion and he took pictures and panoramic xrays and such. I found out it would be 700 down and 238 a month for 18 months. My insurance would cover $1000. He told me I have to get 2 extractions, a root canal and a cleaning and we are good to go.

Then I had to get a different job and my insurance would no longer pay for braces.

I went for another consult in January, he mentioned the same dental work then said 900 down and 218 a month for 18 months.

I found a dentist that took my insurance and got xrays and such but decided i didnt like them. So I looked and looked and found Western Dental. On Tuesday, March 20 I went for a consult. I scheduled an ortho consult with them for thursday and a root canal for the following monday.

I went to the ortho consult and he told me the same thing the others told me but this one was only 175 down and 100 a month for 39 months.

On my way out of the ortho consult I scheduled a cleaning for the next day. I came back later to get xrays and what not for the ortho.

So my cleaning went without incident.
My root canal did too except that my nose hurt for a couple of days afterwards.
I had some fillings scheduled for that next monday but it was end of month and I had to r/s for the next day. I got my fillings on my lower right side and set an appt for that friday for some more fillings on the upper right side.
I got to my dentist at 445 as my appt was at 5. I sat there until 545 when they called me up to r/s. I chose 9am the next day and drove to Gilbert to see my boyfriend. I got up and got ready and got starbucks and then got stuck in traffic and had to r/s for 2pm that afternoon. (This is the saturday before easter). I had tried all morning to contact my ex husband so I could take my kids over to my moms until after my appt. I didn't hear from him until I was in the chair getting my top wisdom teeth extracted.
After that I got a wicked sinus infection. I did show up for my appt on tues but was in lots of pain so decided to r/s myself for that saturday knowing I had an appt for friday already.
Friday and saturday came and went and when I walked out of the chair saturday it was surreal knowing that the next time I was going to be there I was going to get braces. I had my appt scheduled for the 19th at 4pm.

[skyclad]

I have several coworkers who have either had braces recently or have them now. They have all been very supportive of my getting braced. My mom was not so excited.
I got up and went to work, growing more nervous and more excited by the hour. Finally the time comes to leave work.

My appt was at 4pm. At 5 I hadn't been called back yet so I went back to see what the holdup was. One parent said it's like this all the time. This made me rethink my decision a little.

The girl tells me I am the next to be called back. When they do, they call 3 of us back. I am directed to a chair and I sat down. I looked at my chart and it indicated we were only doing records today. I flipped as I thought I had already done those. I was supposed to be getting banded today. So I asked and they said we were doing records and I freaked out a bit and the ortho assured me that I was getting banded today.

the ortho asst began by taking some pictures and such. Then he mixed up some putty looking stuff and came over to me hoping to put this tray full of this putty stuff in my mouth. I breathed through my nose and did well. Then he pulls out the bottom tray and mixes the stuff for the top tray and came over and crammed it in my mouth. I threw up on him and me. He was like "Just a little longer" and when I try to pull the tray forward he would push it back causing me to vomit again. Fortunately I hadn't eaten anything all day and it was all water.

When we were done with the impressions, I rinsed and he moved me to a different chair where he set up my brackets and wires. I chose silver ligs for the top and baby blue ligs for the bottom, and he put in the 2nd pair of cheek spreaders. These were NOT as comfortable as the first set for the pictures. He attached this little box I was supposed to keep my tongue in but most of the time it was on top of the cage. Then it started irritating the inside of my mouth, so I stuck my tongue in the box and lifted up in hopes of making it stop. The asst brushes on the etchant which I was fortunate not to taste (especially after what I have heard). Then he put on the glue and took the blue light to it for 20 seconds. He then sat down and put the brackets in place. Then the ortho came over and scraped away the excess cement and made sure the brackets were in the right places. Then the assistant came back over and took two of the heat light things and put them on my teeth for 5 min.

The asst finally took off the cheek spreaders and tongue cage. Whew it's over. He hands me a mirror and I get a look at them. I still dont think I am used to seeing my teeth in braces.

I made my next appt, paid my down payment and went to walmart to get wax.
When I got home I saw that my dentakit had arrived. Just in time.

I hid in my room and watched Ugly Betty and Greys Anatomy until it was time to go out with my friends.

[skyclad]

I had made arragements with a co-worker to hang out at this club they like. I knew the karaoke host so it was fun for me too.

I ordered a gyro and ate it with a fork and toothpick. I was proud of myself.

My braces didn't really start hurting until later friday afternoon.
Everyone at work was supportive and said nice things.

I later went to my boyfriends house and he too is very supportive.
We went to dinner at Z Tejas where we shared a most delicious mac and cheese dish with 5 cheeses and chicken all of which I gave to him.

We went home and I started flossing and watching tv. Then I got my floss stuck in one of my brackets and my boyfriend had to cut it out. I have been trying since then to get that piece of string out but just got it out today, a week later. Too funny.

Saturday came and we went to IHOP for breakfast where I discovered that orange juice irritated the sore and bacon was a little ambitious. I have been using salt water rinses, canker remedies and listerine to make that sore go away to no avail. It's better but not gone. Hopefully next time we use the clear comfy cheek spreaders that have nothing to do with my tongue.

Saturday nite i came home and my mom had made stew. She knew I was getting braces...didn't she? So i made mac and cheese for my kids and my mom comes out and said "I made stew". I said "hmmm, it smells good."
She replies "Aren't you hungry?" I sort of grunted in reply. This whole time I am not looking at her.

Then on sunday I was pulling a blanket over my lap to use my laptop and she's like "are you cold?" I said I wasn't. Then out of the blue "When are you going to show me your teeth?" So I flashed her a grin and tod her and my bro the story of how the ortho asst made me puke. He deserved it.

I should mention that I discovered that the last two teeth on top and bottom are not bracketed or banded at this time. It is possible that they will be later on.

I have pix of before and after but I don't have them posted b/c they are trapped in my boyfriends camera.

Also I should mention that I dont think they got all the excess cement because no matter how often I brush, it seems the part of my lower teeth by my gums is really yellow. Maybe this is the lighting or something but it is driving me crazy.

Also having a heck of a time finding enough wax. I have developed a fondness for the mint wax although I am going through it like it's free and in ample supply when it is neither. The other day I made an associate at walmart look through the entire store to find more wax but no dice.

My next appt is the 17th of may and I hope I will know what's going on with those 4 teeth.

I have days when I feel nothing and days when eating anything more than yogurt or applesauce are all I can manage like yesterday. Today I ate a semi soft cookie and it was hard but i did it.

my bottom canines feel wicked loose and it's freaky. It feels like the braces are the only thing holding these teeth in my mouth.

[skyclad]

It wasn't about the substance (wintergreen flavored) it was that he shoved the tray in the back of my throat and hit my gag reflex and wouldn't let me move it to relieve the problem.

[LaaLaa]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that you had such a hard time with the impressions. Mine went without trouble, although there was a second where my gag reflex kicked in when the assistant was taking the mold of the top.

I'm surprised that you were able to get banded on the same day as your records! That's great since a lot of us are excited and want to get started with treatment as soon as possible. I had to wait two weeks just to get the molds back and due to some scheduling conflict, the time between getting the records done and getting my top banded was a little over three weeks. I too am just getting used to these things in my mouth. Good luck with everything!!

[MissSMILEY]

Too bad you didn't have your camera to take a pic of the Ortho after you had your way with him! It would have been a great pic for your journal, maybe at the de-banding for retainers? I found that Target also carries wax and it wasn't a bad price at all, I just looked where the dental floss and doo-dads were.

[skyclad]

Well the asst wasn't all that messy I think I wore more of it than he did.

I will have to try target b/c Walgreens had it but it was expensive (1 pak for 2.50 vs twin pak for 1.67 or something like that at walmart.)

I tried a different walmart today and they had none. Must be a run of wax or something. Maybe there is a black market or a wax cartel?


I had a horrible week. I got fired and I still cant understand why. She said poor job performance but I thought I was doing good. I have some feelers out there but nothing so far.

[smallbutmighty]

Hey skyclad,
There is a deal out there on the wax-- right here on Archwired at the Dentakit link. You can order a box of 50, it comes in about 2 days, and the cost (even with shipping) comes out to about 73 cents each. I have brackets on the bands that are really annoyingly sharp-- they are like cleats, and so I almost always use wax on them. I was going through a packet in less than a week, so it made sense to get the bulk order. However, they are not flavored mint.

Hope you are able to find a better job. Good luck!

[skyclad]

Well I spent a whole week with this but I did manage to find myself a job. I dont start til june so I have to be very careful with my last paycheck or find some temp work until then.

I have picked myself up a respirtatory infection of sorts and am having all kinds of fun with that. I am sorta glad I can sleep this week. I have been taking sudafed to dry me out for the day but it makes me loopy. My boyfriend had quite a laugh at me yesterday when my f-p transition didnt go so well. He made some comment about the ghetto, and I said "they have a sherriff parked there." but it came out more like "they have a sherriff farked there." Too funny. I am thankful I am able to laugh at myself.
So must work on the speech b/c my new job is on the phone.

I broke 2 brackets on Wed. One I went and got removed from the wire and got my wires clipped, then when I got home I was eating cheese and lost another one. I already had scheduled an emergency appt to fix the first bracket so I wasn't too worried. I went rollerskating with my son that day and just used lots of wax. The 2nd bracket I lost was the last one on the bottom left so I had a length of wire. It wasn't poking really but I put wax on it to ensure that.

When I got home from rollerskating I felt like crap. I went to bed immediately.

When I went to my ortho the next day, he shook his head at me but fixed my brackets. I actually got along with my ortho asst this time. We talked about how mean catholic school kids were compared to public school kids. The ortho made some crack about how I would hate him more than catholic school and I said "But my teeth will be straight when I'm done here. so no."
They added cement buildup to the top molars second from the back to keep me from biting off brackets. That is interesting to get used to.

The ortho said I needed an hour appt next time but didn't say why.

I went home and got dressed for my interview. I went to that, then went to Sonora Quest to take the drug test. The HR girl said I may not be able to start on monday due to my background check not being completed on time. She said she would call me Friday and let me know.
I went home and watched tv. Around 9 ish I headed for my boyfriends b/c we were going to see Spiderman 3 at midnight. When he asked me what I wanted from the snack bar, I realized I cant eat anything from the movies. Dang it. I told him I wanted a diet soda.

Ok I am going to try to post before pix because he hasnt sent me any afters. He has a 3D lens for his camera so I tried to get him to take a 3D pic of my braces but it didn't come out right. , , ,
,


Hopefully these help. All befores.

still working on resizing sorry.

[skyclad]

the respiratory infection seems to have calmed down into allergies. Yay.

I am currently having issues with lip stuff. I cant seem to find stuff that will work.

I liked spiderman 3 but to be fair i should see it again as i concentrated harder on staying awake since i saw it at midnight and didn't get a nap.

[skyclad]

My teeth hurt really bad today and up until today I wasnt feeling or seeing a whole lot of movement. There was however, my molars on top moved back to where my wisdoms were.

Also I know this is a journal about my braces but i have to tell you all i have good news and bad news on the job front.
I ended up not getting that first job due to my credit. That should be illegal. But it isnt. So I went to a job fair and the rest of my week is packed with interviews. After my ortho appt I have one at 2 at Aflac. Then Friday I have one in the morning at Drivetime and one in the afternoon at Toyota Financial Services. YES. I have been trying to work for TFS/LFS since they moved to Phoenix.

There are some next week but I have to check my schedule for when those are.
I have to change one because of my sons school function. I will come back when I get home from my ortho appt.

[skyclad]

KK,
Thank you so much. I will write about my appt before my interview this afternoon.