Wired skull braced

Wired Skull · **Posted:** Sat May 19, 2007 9:11 am

Hi.
I haven't been here for some time but was thinking of sorting things out and let you guys know how my bracing experince is going.

This board really helped me in my descion in getting braces. I lurked around for a year before having the braces installed. During that year i visited a few orthos and made my mind up. After the braces was installed I thought that it was no big deal and sort of forget about archwired.com.

Now it's my time to pay back for the help from you users and tell my story.

2007-01-20: Brace day
Many of you guys has experinced some nervosity before going for the brace day. For me there was no worry at all. I slept very good the night before and had a descent breakfast before brushing my teeth. While brushing I was thinking about that it would be a long time before I brush my teeth without braces.

Arriving at the ortho and I was the only client so I was in the chair in no time. The familiar lip spreader was placed a long with some nice protecting glasses. I didn't find the lip spreader that uncomfortable as many of you have described it. My ortho used a primer instead of etching to prepare for the brackets and glue. Something that later would proof to be a bit bad for esthetics.

After the primer each bracket was placed, positioned and then fixed with the nice blue light. During the bracket process a few thoughts ran trough my mind:
- What the heck was I'm doing? Should I really do this?

The whole process took around a hour and in no time I was braced and left to adjust to this new experince. I left the ortho office and while walking to my car I let the tounge move around in the mouth to explore the newly installed appliances. When arriving home I had a long look in the mirror and thought about this look that I would sport for 12-18 months. Next task was to let all friends and family know that I was a bit different looking. I hadn't let anyone know what i was planning.

Not wanting to let this post go on forever I will soon post another with my first experinces from life as an adult with braces.

Here are some pics to follow my progress:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredskull/

//Wired Skull

kirjax · **Posted:** Sat May 19, 2007 10:35 am

great to hear your progress. Your teeth look great!

I too wasn't scared at all to get my braces on. But after sitting there for over an hour I was ready to be done. And I only had uppers but it took forever because they had trouble fitting my molar caps which wasn't pleasant for me.

I go in two weeks for bottoms. Somehow I am not as enthusiastic about getting them lol.

Miss Smiley · **Posted:** Sun May 20, 2007 3:56 am

Awesome progress!!!!!!

KiwiKaren · **Joined:** Thu Jun 16, 2005 8:07 am **Posts:** 20970

So good to hear from you again WS ... and see your pics ... amazing progress! :jump:

Great you're back and telling your story. I look forward to following it! :banana:

jt2lang · **Posted:** Sun May 20, 2007 8:13 am

Great progress!
Too bad the photos can't be arranged in a chronological way... Everything looks great!

Wired Skull · **Posted:** Sun May 20, 2007 11:19 am

Hi again.

Thanks for your input kirjax, Miss Smiley, KiwiKaren and jt2lang.

jt2lang: I checked your story. I hope the treatment works well for you too. I saw on some of your pics that you have white ligatures. I'm thinking of that too as the clear ones easily stains. I have two whit on now to test drive them.

I'll put some more pics up later. I have a few from my 1:st and 2:nd adjustments that can be nice to for comparison.

The brace story continues:
After a quick tour on town to find out what my friends was doing. I didn't find them and therefore went home. I started to get a bit hungry so I decided to try to eat a banana. When biting down I felt how the banana got all messed up around my brackets and wire and I thought how the heck is this going to end. I chopped the banana in smaller pieces and chowed them with my molars.
Time to point out that because of the brackets positions I wasen't able to chew as usual. The molars bite didn't meet.

A bit later I was making some pasta and then a new experince was made. Pasta is very easy to get stucked in the wire and around the brackets. After this meal that took forever I was ready to give up.
- How the heck would I survive if I wasen't able to eat? As all of you brace wearers know you learn to deal with it and find new ways of eating.
I went to a party later that evening and I had told just one friend I got them. No one beside him noticed my braces but on the other hand I wasn't that talkable I use to be.

Fast forward a couple of days and more and more of my friend was aware of the braces and I adjusted to the eating problems. I was a bit surprised that no one asked any questions about why I got braces. They just pointed out that they noticed them and then went as usual. Some friends told me they had thought about getting braces them self so who knows? Maybe some will get them now.
I do a lot of talking in front of people that why I opted for the clear braces. However they are not invisible and of course people notice them. I can see how their eyes are looking at my braces but they never say anything. I'm not ashamed of the braces but there are times when I feel a bit odd and try to show them as little as possible. Of course a impossible task so I just smile and show them and everybode knows.

Thanks for listening, friends. I know you all can relate and have similar experinces.

//Wired Skull

linda21 · **Joined:** Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:17 pm **Posts:** 3543

Congrats on getting braced earlier this year Wired Skull :thumbsup:

Your progress over that time has been inspiring

Yeah, pasta kinda sucks in the aftermath but like risotto and egg noodles, just canâ€™t get enough of it â€“ luv my carbs. Find swishing with water a few times helps in dislodging and clearing the debris, although am extra diligent in taking a knife to the egg noodles so I donâ€™t end up choking!

Continuing progress to you!

Wired Skull · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2007 11:29 am

linda21 there has been a lot of movement. Some friends haven't noticed anything but that might be the case when you see someone almost everyday. Last week I meet a friend that I had just said hello to on the town once since getting braces. This time she noticed my braces and said that she could see a lot of changes. That felt real nice and inspirationell.

You also right about the pasta and noodles. I love noodles and they sure have the bad habit in getting twisted around the wire or hide them self around the hooks of the brackets.

rage31 · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2007 3:19 pm

You've made a lot of progress already. :thumbsup:

Wired Skull · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2007 11:38 pm

rage31: Thanks for your input. You too have made some progress over the year. Before starting my treatment I followed your thread and liked the way you described everything about your treatment and life in general. :-**

In hind sight I must admit as many others have done. I wish I had done this long ago. My first contact with an orthodontist was back in 1999. Nothing happend until 2005 when I had my first consultation. Fast forward one year and with another ortho I kickstarted the whole process. This site was the real catalyst for me getting braces. The many stories and pics made me realize that having braces as an adult is no big deal.

Now I just have to descide if my overbite should be corrected too. Wasen't part of my original plans. Not sure if I like the idea of extractions and rubberbands but obviuos some of you haven't had any problems with that :lol:

linda21 · **Joined:** Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:17 pm **Posts:** 3543

Itâ€™s encouraging when you receive compliments on your progress from someone you havenâ€™t bumped into for a while - makes it all the more worthwhile having gotten braced :thumbsup:

I would advise you to give some serious thought about correcting your overbite Wired Skull; you only want to be in braces once in your adult life :wink:

. Youâ€™re in braces now so you may as well make the most of it. While itâ€™s fantastic to end up with an aesthetically pleasing look to your teeth and smile, itâ€™s also important that you feel comfortable and happy with a functional healthy bite. Good luck!

Continuing progress to you!

Meryaten · **Joined:** Mon May 02, 2005 11:51 pm **Posts:** 19179

That is really nice that your friend spotted the progress! Totally a validation of what you're doing for yourself :thumbsup:

Btw - did you ever see my pasta tale? Short version: black linguini dangling from very front of upper archwire at a business dinner! :lol:

Ah, the joys of braces! But so worth it for the results!

I'm also going to ditto what Linda says above. I had braces as a kiddo, and we did not follow through. That's really why I'm here now. It didn't take me too many months in braces before I realised I wanted to get it right this time round! No compromise, and no half-measures. A functional and healthy bite trumps a pretty smile! And ending up with both is just GOLD!

Wired Skull · **Posted:** Fri May 25, 2007 1:43 am

linda21 and Meryaten: Sure feels good when other comments on your progress. I have a few friend doing that from time to time. They are of course mostly former or current brace wearers. Others seems not to notice anyway.

I'm giving the correction of my overbite a seroius thought. As I said before it wasen't part of the original plan but when you see progress and how good it's gonna be why not make it even better. I have never had any problems with the overbite and the thought of extracting healthy teeth don't appeel to me but I might do an exception for the good cause.

I have my 3:rd appointment 2007-06-01 and I will discuss it with my ortho. I have already mailed him a lot of questions about it and recived answers but as you know. More questions arises. I have the same feelings about extractions as I had before getting braces and in the end it was no problems getting braces. I'm sure it's the same with correcting the overbite. Just a few months longer in braces and adding $1000 more to the bill.

Meryaten: Speaking of it. I do remember your pasta experince from reading your posts earlier. Never experinced that. Yet.

Laurie · **Posted:** Fri May 25, 2007 5:11 am

Things are coming along nicely!

I understand not wanting to remove healthy teeth. It really can make you wonder what in the world you are doing. But I know in th eend it will really be worth it.

Meryaten · **Joined:** Mon May 02, 2005 11:51 pm **Posts:** 19179

Just ask your ortho lots of questions, and understand the pros and cons of what he proposes, so that you can make a well-informed decision

Wired skull braced

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