Good luck tomorrow!!!!

Thank you!!

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My Story

Well, I am braced. And guess what? I already have to wear elastics!

I feel no pain yet, but a lot of pressure so I'm sure the pain will come. The braces feel very bulky. I really wasn't expecting them to feel this big. I feel like I can't close my lips around them. Yes, I think I'm ready to have them taken off now!!

Anyway, my appointment went well, it all took about an hour, I would say. I got there and paid the extra $150 to switch to clear on top, and then they called me back. She read my chart and said "Okay, so you're here to have your appliance taken out and braces put on." Appliance taken out?! I was so excited! But alas, she was wrong...appliance will come out next appointment.

I then saw the brackets laying on the tray and noticed that they all looked metal. I asked if she knew I was supposed to get clear on top, and she didn't! So she went and got the clear ones, but I am so glad I noticed! Then we got started.

She gave me sunglasses to wear (they do this each appointment), chapstick to put on, and put the cheek retractor in. Then she put in this awful plastic thing that fit around and under my tongue, that suctioned constantly at the back of my mouth. After a while my mouth and throat were so dry I felt like I would gag.

She painted something on my bottom teeth, then rinsed it off. She then painted again and placed brackets on my molars on each side. The ortho came over to make sure they were positioned correctly, wiped the excess glue off, and hardened the glue with the UV light. He then placed the remaining bottom brackets himself and hardened the glue.

Then the top brackets went on, the blue plastic placement...things...were taken off of the brackets, she put the wires in, snipped the ends, and closed the bracket doors. She showed me where to put the elastics on one side and made me put the other side on.

She gave a long demonstration on brushing correctly, flossing, etc. and gave me my "goody bag." Here's what I got.


Aaaannnnd here are the braces! I think the clear looks nice. I hate the elastics though, I feel like they really stand out.

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My Story

Wow...now that is a bag of loot! Is that an electric toothbrush in there?!

The braces blend in very very well with your teeth. Good call to go with the clear. What brand are they, do you know?

It sucks that you have to start with elastics. I think orthos should allow patients to get used to braces (physically and emotionally) before adding anything to them. I guess it's all old hat to them. Maybe if they are going to be noticeable anyway you could get some coloured elastics?

Anyway, congrats on getting rebraced. You are lucky you don't have any protrusion so they seem as if they'd look quite good on you. Is it easy enough to shut your mouth? How do you find the size of the clear?

I'm 31 just got the damon clear braces on top a couple of weeks ago. This is the 2nd time in braces for me too. The first 3-4 days were painful (but not overly much) and it was difficult to chew and eat anything but very soft foods. It gets better though and now I can chew normally again. Best of luck to you!!!

Haha yep, that's an electric toothbrush. I'm sure all the loot they gave me accounts for a large chunk of my total cost.

My braces are Damon. The clear brackets do seem a little larger than the metal but not much. They do feel much smoother than the metal. At first I found it very difficult to close my lips over the braces, but here it is only 12 hours later and I'm already very used to it.

I agree about the elastics, I thought I'd at least get some time to adjust to the braces first! But oh well, I suppose I will survive.




Thank you!! I'm glad to hear that it should get better quickly! I am feeling very sore and cranky right now, haha. I am so glad I chose to go with Damon Clear, they are really clear! I'm liking them so far.

Best of luck to you as well!!

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My Story

I have made it through 2 days with upper and lower braces, elastics, expander, bite splint, and loaded TADs.

The pain is worse than yesterday but definitely not unbearable. I try not to talk much because opening my mouth with the elastics just makes it more painful. My fiance seems oblivious to the fact that I am preferring to live in silence at the moment and continues to try to carry on conversations with me. I am finding myself being very short with him, luckily he tolerates it .

I flossed today for the first time and it took at least 20 minutes. I have mostly stuck with eating soup and yogurt, anything else is either painful or just too frustrating to chew.

I turned on the Sonicare toothbrush I got from the ortho, and boy is that thing powerful! I don't think I'll use it on my sore teeth quite yet, but they did recommend that I make it my primary toothbrush.

I realized I will be out of town the week for which I made my next appointment, so I called today and had it moved up a week. That means I will be getting the appliance out a week earlier....YES!!!

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My Story

HOLY FRICKIN MOLY....now that....that's a goody bag. Hell....I need to go to your ortho, all mine gave me was the willies!!!!

Congratulations by the way....good for you on your braces and the start of wonderful exciting time for you...and your teeth!!!!! Your smile thanks you.

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If God wanted me to have straight teeth, he would have made my parents rich..or so I was told....


Click to view my SAGA

Thanks so much!

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My Story

wow your teeth are beautiful! they are going to look so good once those babies are off! and wow they gave you a lot of goodies thats awesome. congrats on getting the braces, the clear ones really blend in well with your teeth nicely. mine are ceramics and theyre wayyy too big for my teeth, in my opinion but i dont regret getting them one bit. I hope your soreness goes away soon! I look forward to reading your story

Tasha

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My progress blog: http://bigmamatasha.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for your kind comments!! I am very glad that I ended up getting ceramic also! They do feel larger than my metal lowers do though...still getting used to the bulkiness of it all! Thanks again

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My Story

Today made 1 week with braces. My teeth are still very, very sore. I think that they are still so sore due to the combination of getting braces and elastics on the same day. I don't know. So, I'm still on soft foods...bit into a piece of crusty bread tonight and nearly cried out in pain. I'm sure it will get better soon though, just counting down the days until this expander comes out!! Only 3 more weeks!

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My Story

I traveled home for a family gathering this weekend and it was the first time any of my family had seen my braces. I was a little nervous! My parents and grandparents already knew that I had them so it was no surprise for them, but I spent several hours talking with extended family members and not one person mentioned my braces! My mom actually walked up during a conversation I was having with my aunt and asked her what she thought of my new braces. My aunt said that she couldn't believe it--she hadn't even noticed them!!

Maybe everyone was just being kind and acted like they didn't see them but it sure made me feel better that no one made a big deal out of it!

The soreness is almost completely gone and I'm rather used to them by now. My orthodontist called me this evening to check in on how everything's going. He did that once I got my appliance in too, I'm not sure if this is a common thing but I really appreciate him doing that! He is very attentive, the very opposite of my first orthodontist from years ago!!

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My Story

I went in for my first adjustment today and had the expander/appliance taken out! My mouth feels so empty now!

I had been wondering how the appliance would be taken out, because it was cemented in and completely encased my upper molars. When I got there, I realized that he was just going to use a pair of pliars and crack it off! I was terrified! I felt like my teeth were going to come out with it.

It did hurt quite a bit because my teeth were sore already and he had to put an insane amount of pressure on them to break the appliance off. However, it didn’t take long to remove. My orthodontist warned me that when it came out it was going to smell and taste awful—and it did. They let me go immediately to the sink and brush and use mouthwash.

My gums bled profusely afterwards because the areas that were pressed beneath the appliance are raw. They gave me some medicated mouthwash to speed up the healing process. It’s pretty tender feeling right now.

They then put brackets on my upper molars and changed out the wires. I didn’t get the TADs taken out, they are now connected to the archwire.



The inside of my mouth feels huge without the expander in the way, and my molars feel TINY without that huge hunk of acrylic covering them!

My molars, having been covered for 8 months, look weird, blotchy, and not healthy. But they still have a lot of glue left on them so maybe that's part of it. They didn't want to scrape it off around the swollen areas.

Here are comparison pictures of my upper arch.



Looking at the archwire I can tell it's a little straighter.

My bite is virtually non-existent right now because my canines touch before my molars do! I do not like this at all. Hopefully things will shift soon and I'll be able to bite again. However, I have NEVER been able to bite down with my front teeth -- and now I can!

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My Story

Here are my smile pictures. The open bite is definitely closed now! I can hardly believe it.

First photo was the day I got my braces on and the second photo is today, 1 month later.

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My Story