Braces? Me? REALLY? Awwww MAN!!!

[verticaltrailmix]

Hello hello everyone! First off I'll just say that I'm totally new to Braces, ArchWired, and Forums in general... buuuut here I sit in pain from the metal trap installed in my mouth recently, so what else is there to do right?

So my story... well my name's Amber and I'm 21. I just recently got braces (as in, just got the last of the brackets put on today). I never in a million years would have thought that I would have braces! People used to ask me all the time if I ever did have braces because my teeth were so straight... I had no idea they were even used for bite correction (obviously completely out of touch with my Ortho-side =)

Medically speaking... I had FIVE wisdom teeth removed, and after that my bite went to hell... all of a sudden I couldn't take knots apart with my front teeth anymore, and over the course of almost a year only TWO teeth in my entire mouth were touching when I would bite. Come to find out, because of my wisdom teeth and a "Deviant Swallow Pattern" (I guess I have a tongue-thrust caused from abnormally large adnoids and tonsills we had no idea about)... the damage? Surgery (to have my adnoids and tonsills removed... followed by a little bit of therapy to learn to swallow correctly again... aye aye aye), Braces on ALL teeth (with an added tooth extraction and "slenderizing"), and then POSSIBLY Jaw Surgery and then a retainer. ALL of which COULD have been avoided if my OLD dentist did his job and #1: TOLD us about my FIVE impacted wisdom teeth and #2 told us about my tongue thrust.

Amazing what power and control dentists, and doctors really have on OUR lives... be careful of money-hungry dentists and docs! There's some WONDERFUL ones out there... but in the presence of good... is always ROTTEN AWFUL! lol =D

Anyhooo... if anyone ACTUALLY read all of that, I give you 5 SUPER SHINY GOLD STARS for the day! haha and a smile =} <--- my version of a "smile" with braces hehe

Have a SPLENDIFIRIFIC day! =D

[SDFD TSchott]

Hey Amber



Welcome to the forums, glad to see that things are on there way and I hope that you have a speedy treatment. I look forward to watching your progress and great things are to come to you as things go on!

~TIm~

[cwatt1]

Welcome to this amazing forum, Amber! As I'm sure you've already discovered, the people who post here are terrific, and are willing to help in any way they can!

Presumably you're working with an ortho you can trust and communicate with. Sounds like you've got a bit of a road ahead of you, but you've taken the first step, and I'm sure you'll do wonderfully well. Hopefully you'll post some pictures so we can follow your progress.

Best of luck, and I look forward to hearing about how things are going

[QKate]

Hey- so you had 5 wisdom teeth removed and this sent you in to a spiral of trouble? Could you have not have had them reomoved? Or what exactly could have been done if your dentist was better?

I also have a bunch of problems related to incompetent dentistry. I will post my story soon. I am sorry to hear of your saga. So which of these corrective steps have you now taken?

[verticaltrailmix]

Wow, thanks to everyone who's welcomed me so far (private messages included)!! I didn't think anybody would even read it! haha =P

KK, thanks so much for the tips! I'm glad you mentioned chewing, I didn't even THINK about it being something I should do (as stupid as that sounds...)... and to be honest I have been avoiding it at all costs. It's just such a drama to get all the food out of the braces that I have just been sort of "mashing" my food with my tongue and the roof of my mouth. lol So, I'm really glad you brought that to my attention! =)

And I definitely agree that you have to have a super attitude to go along with it! I thank God for giving me an easygoing personality and sense of humor to get through this (and anything else in life)! =D Matter of fact, the worst injury I've had so far with my braces was when I cut my upper lip while doing an impression of "Chris Brander" in the movie "Just Friends", when he was a "dork" in highschool and sang "I Swear" with his retainer... definitely am finding ways to make the braces F-U-N!! Got the PACKER team colors on now! =D =D lol

As far as the tongue thrust goes, he's hoping the removal of my humungo tonsills and adnoids will fix it. He said when I swallow my tongue has no where else to go except out, because of the huge tonsills and adnoids... they just kind of push it. Sooo... hopefully we won't have to worry anymore about it after that surgery. =D It IS amazing how powerful it is, I couldn't believe I deformed my pallet just by swallowing! Craziness...


cwatt1, thanks for the welcome! =) And I hope I can figure out how to put photos on here soon... then I'll definitely post some up! I'm a picture addict... so there's plenty to share!! haha =D


q: Unfortunately the wisdom teeth HAD to be removed =( They were impacted enough to where they were pushing all of my teeth together and I even had one in the back break almost in half from the pressure. The problem was that my dentist didn't tell us about it, that way he could cash in when the problems came from the wisdom teeth. He didn't even tell my oral surgeon (who wasn't very happy about that lol) about the 5 wisdom teeth. He also failed to say anything about the tongue thrust, which is sad because then this could all have been corrected without braces when I was a kid... but if he did that, then who would have paid for his vacations to Hawaii? lol Needless to say, I switched dentists RIGHT away and L-O-V-E the new place I go to now. They're amazing!

I've just started the "braces" step of the whole deal, and need to make an apointment for the surgery to take my tonsills and adnoids out... I've just been putting it off because I'm scared. =s I'm also JUST getting over Mono and in the process of diagnosing Lupus soooo... it's been a busy time as far as doctor visits go. I can't wait to hear your story! And definitely wish you the BEST of luck! =) Thanks for your response! =)

[METALMOUTHPOOH]

Hey girl... welcome.
I got braces on Monday and man it has been 3 long days. I also was told I have a "mild" form of tongue thurst.

I am living in wax and its not easy to find at the stores... glad there is internet

Take care cant wait to hear from ya

[verticaltrailmix]

Hey Metalmouthpooh!

Yeah, tongue thrusts are pretty interesting that's for sure! I liked how he described it as a "Deviant Swallow"... I can't resist saying that in a korny "sexy" tone when I tell people about it! haha

How's that wax working for ya? I've heard of it a little, but haven't tried it yet. I'm really learning just how ANIMATED I am with my mouth when I talk or tell a story! It looks like somebody took a rake to my mouth! lol How long do you have to have your braces for?

Thanks for writtin! You take care too! Talk to ya soon!

*amber*
www.myspace.com/amboni

[METALMOUTHPOOH]

I got my braces on Monday so today makes day number 3... ahhhh
I am a full metal mouth ....
What kind are you getting?

The wax is working out very VERY well. I feel like I have an entire candle in my mouth but boy does it feel good

Glad ur on the board girl u seem like alot of fun and I am glad ur on here to share your story

[verticaltrailmix]

Aww thanks chickie! You seem cool yourself! I'm so glad there's a board like this! I never would have thought! But it's really helpful!
I've got a full metal mouth too... I wanted ceramic on the top, but he said they wouldn't be strong enough for what they have to do to me. lol kind of a scary way to say it =s haha

I just might have to try that wax then... is it hard to get it out when you want it out?

Well, I'm off to brush 'n' floss for the next hour woohoo! lol talk to ya latta gatta!

[METALMOUTHPOOH]

No it is real easy to take out. I like you wanted ceramic over metal but my ortho said the same as yours.... so I ended up with metal. I remember looking in the mirror for the fist time after I got them on I thought I was going to faint.
Went to work that day and everyone had to talk and ask about them; some even said if I was you I would have gotten ceramics.... who are these people.


Well good luck with flossing (took my 30 minutes) today I bought some threaders at the store today its floss with a threader on the end and girl..... it makes it alot easier to floss... I will tell u the name of them if you want it. Just let me know and I will go get the box from the bathroom

So how long have u had the braces on? Any pain? Sores in the mouth anything?? Or are you lucky....

[verticaltrailmix]

Are you serious?? Threaders with floss on the end??? oh yes please tell me! That would be SOOOO much easier!!

Oh my gosh! ME TOO!!!! I totally had this other mental picture in my head of what I was going to look like with braces... I looked in the mirror at the dentist and almost started crying! lol I felt so dumb. And the same thing happened to me! I went back to work right after and everyone of course was asking about them etc... and I had 3 people who were like "wow, why didn't you get ceramic? I would have..." I wanted to die... LOL It didn't help that I was just getting over a "Lupus Flare-up" and lost a bunch of hair too... haha talk about a great self-esteem week! haha

I've had mine since last week (got the tops and then the bottom ones put on this last tuesday). And no, I haven't been lucky AT ALL! It's been awful to be honest. They have to leave a good amount of wire sticking out of the back teeth... so my mouth is pretty chewed up. And actually one of my teeth isn't taking it so well, and they think they're going to end up doing an emergency root canal on it. woo hoo lol I think I'm addicted to ORAJEL! haha

So what about you? Pretty sore? I never realized how much they'd impact my life... even job... kinda crazy...

[METALMOUTHPOOH]

Ok I went all the way upstars after the Real World went to commerical....


Ok its Oral-B Super floss it says ideal for braces (thats us girlie) it says it has a stiffened end to help floss and spongy floss to clean around appliances and regular floss to floss as normal .... 3 things in one its has to be good


Wow girl a root canal what about the braces u think flared up the tooth??

I have a tooth that is bothering me (hope its not anything like that) ahhhh but when I try chewing on the left side on my mouth I feel alittle bit of pain on one of the molars. Not sure if its my teeth getting use to eatting with the bands or what?? Doesnt happen on the right so I am going to give it more time but might have to check in with the doc....

Lupus sorry to hear you had a flare up on top of all this going on.... girl sounds like u need a day at the spa....

We will have to exchange photos of b4s and durings.... ya know

ok and to comment on the "great self-esteem week" when I was at the ortho he was putting on the wire and said "o" I am giving u a little one for now since I all ready stepped on your self esteem for the week.....

Man people are crazy.... So I am glad I have found you girl.... We need a nick-name ... so work on it .... copper choppers..... tin grin.... or something more girlie... hee heee

But I do know that this year when I go to the Clubs for Halloween I am dressing as a school girl.... braces.... pig tails..... u name it I got it

[verticaltrailmix]

Aww thanks for going all the way upstairs for me! lol I'll definitely have to get some of those!

As for the tooth, I hope yours isn't the same as mine for your sake! The one that's bothering me is one of the TWO that touch when I bite, and so it had been broken pretty bad... they thought they MIGHT need to do a root canal on it before, but it was okay.... until now. Soooo... we'll see... oh the joys!

LOL what a thing for a dentist to say! haha that's awful... but understandable lol I didn't want to go outside for days! the Lupus thing has been crazy... I'm actually pretty new to it... the docs haven't even totally made up their mind yet. haha So it's been challenging... that was my first "flare"... and then the week after I got Mono LOL I sound like a WRECK!! oh well... such is life. Good idea on the Spa thing... I just might do that this weekend... hmmmm


A nickname? haaahaaa!!! I love it! Good idea... hmm... I'll have to think about that one...

That halloween idea is AWESOME! Too bad we don't live closer, we could go together... it'd be the most beautiful-awful thing ever! haha Last halloween I looked HIDEOUS!! It won me some prizes though! haha I'll try and post a picture on here... it'll be my first time trying so hopefully it works...


BEFORE: me without the fat-suit and all the costume wonderfulness haha




AFTER: with fat-suit and LOADS of make-up and extras lol it took me 45 minutes to get everything taped up and ready to hit the town!







My costume's name was "Helga" and she got a little too famous for me LOL it was a BLAST though!




You better post some pics of this halloween! haha That'll be hilarious!

[dbtrini]

Hey Amber
Welcome to the braces club. I am a fellow tongue thruster myself or should I say Deviant Swallower. I have almost totally corrected the tongue thrusting by doing lots of tongue exercises but my ortho says that if it continues he will have to use a device called a tongue ball to help correct the tongue thrusting so it does not wreak havoc on my teeth movement. Never heard of a tongue ball.

I am 1 month in braces and have adjusted pretty well. the first week was the hardest with the sore mouth and then the second week it was the self consciousness and then you just get over yourself and live your life.

Good luck with your braces and hope you are feeling better.

-Denise

[dbtrini]