Damon Braces Journey/Open Bite

[MissRed]

Right, I'm just about to go and get my 3 spacers put back in and then Thrusday is the big day when the whole whack is done!

[MissRed]

Well, have just ordered myself a Waterpik, next day delivery too so after a good charge hopefully I'll be able to use it tomorrow night.

Brace day tomorrow, very nervous but very excited, just want to get everything on so I can start to adjust, luckily no uni or work for 4 days, wish me luck

[kids041]

Well, have just ordered myself a Waterpik, next day delivery too so after a good charge hopefully I'll be able to use it tomorrow night.

Brace day tomorrow, very nervous but very excited, just want to get everything on so I can start to adjust, luckily no uni or work for 4 days, wish me luck

GOOD LUCK!!!
you will do great

[MissRed]

Well, have just ordered myself a Waterpik, next day delivery too so after a good charge hopefully I'll be able to use it tomorrow night.

Brace day tomorrow, very nervous but very excited, just want to get everything on so I can start to adjust, luckily no uni or work for 4 days, wish me luck

GOOD LUCK!!!
you will do great

Thank you I hope so! Lol

[MissRed]

Right, last pics of my naked teeth lol

This is me properly smiling with clenched teeth at the back but I usually would smile covering my bottom teeth so my lip touches the top teeth if that makes sense? Pretty self conscious about my smile but have figured out a way to deal with it as I've grown older.



This is a photo of my upper teeth. I feel I have a small palate but there was zero mention from the ortho about expanders or surgery, thank god! I have a pre molar and a molar missing from my upper set of teeth. I also had a root canal on a molar done that is now crowned (top left in front of the spacer). Ortho has got to reshape this crown too apparently because my dentist made it slightly larger to try to compensate for the missing pre-molar.



This is a photo of my lower teeth. The lower teeth in my opinion aren't too bad, they've never really bothered me, there's some crowding at the front though and I also have three missing molars on the bottom. The ortho has said he thinks he can close my gaps where I have single missing teeth but he's not sure he will be able to close the gap where I have two molars missing (bottom right). I wasn't expecting him to be able to do that before I went for my consultation and so I don't mind if he can't close that gap, I have a very good dentist who has said he would be able to do a bone graft and implant if I decided I wanted to go down that route after braces (more money! )



And finally here's one side view, this is me smiling as I normally would, as you can see the front teeth sort of rise in an upwards/diagonal pattern hence causing the open bite. For those who missed my first post I'm in this situation as most seem to be from thumb sucking as a child!



I will try to post an update tomorrow and eventually get some comparison photos up . Looking forward to being a more active braced member of the boards haha!

[Anna5]

Hello Missred,

I love to hear about you and your progress. I am so happy for you that your ortho is confident that he can fix your teeth without surgery!
Your palate is indeed quite narrow, but I think braces can widen your arch quite a bit. Otherwise your ortho would have advised you surgery, I am sure.
I also have a narrow palate. Do you also have trouble breathing through your nose? I breathe a lot through my mouth, which seems to be common among (former) thumbsuckers! And I also have trouble to close my lips all the way, my lips are always open a bit. Do you have this problem also?
Well, I wish you very good luck with your treatment. I am looking forward to hearing about your progress!

Anna

[oldguy]

Good luck.........I see your having Damon, that's what I have, and in the last 16 Months
I was surprised how much my arches were expanded with just the braces. The worst
part is the waiting for them to go on............You will do fine.

Oldguy

[Matilda]

Good luck today!

[MissRed]

Hello Missred,

I love to hear about you and your progress. I am so happy for you that your ortho is confident that he can fix your teeth without surgery!
Your palate is indeed quite narrow, but I think braces can widen your arch quite a bit. Otherwise your ortho would have advised you surgery, I am sure.
I also have a narrow palate. Do you also have trouble breathing through your nose? I breathe a lot through my mouth, which seems to be common among (former) thumbsuckers! And I also have trouble to close my lips all the way, my lips are always open a bit. Do you have this problem also?
Well, I wish you very good luck with your treatment. I am looking forward to hearing about your progress!

Anna

Hi Anna,

I'm not too bad actually with mouth breathing although it seems to happen when I'm walking/in a hurry. I breath through my nose at night and when I'm resting etc but when I'm active I seem to breath through my mouth quite a lot.

As for my lips they just about touch however that has changed today with braces being on! Lol (will update soon)

[MissRed]

Good luck.........I see your having Damon, that's what I have, and in the last 16 Months
I was surprised how much my arches were expanded with just the braces. The worst
part is the waiting for them to go on............You will do fine.

Oldguy

Hi oldguy,

Thankyou, it's good to hear about the damons ability with the arches because I do feel mine is quite narrow.

[MissRed]

Good luck today!

Thank you Matilda

[MissRed]

So, I'm alive! Which is always a plus.

Got to ortho late because my bus that is supposed to be every 7 minutes was delayed by like half an hour. Nightmare.

I sat in the chair he told me that my mini screws aren't in fact going in yet, they will go in at a later date when I have a thicker wire. That was quite a relief to be honest because I thought at least now I could get used to braces/TPA before mini screws are in. Anyway!

I was in there for about an hour and a half. First he polished my teeth then he fitted my TPA, he slotted the molar bands over my two molars (the spacers had made enough room so no trouble getting them in) then he soldered? the bar on. That bit was absolutely fine, no pain, no pressure, didn't even realise he'd finished and that the TPA was in.

Next he had to reshape my crown this was the worst part of the whole procedure but again no pain really just a lot of pressure and some weirdness on the gum line, plus I got sprayed with water! Lol but all in all not too bad.

After this he started with the top teeth preparing each tooth and then placing the bracket on then went to the bottom teeth. No problems again what so ever, I couldn't feel a thing it was just really REALLY boring and because I still get anxious at the ortho/dentist my legs were shaking a lot of the time, the nurses must have thought I was petrified but in general I was fine.

After the brackets he put in the wires and tightened them, this was quite strong pressure but only for a few seconds and again it was fine, then he bent the wire in certain areas and shut each door on my damon brackets, small amounts of pressure again and no real problems apart from on one molar where the door just didn't seem to want to shut so he had to apply some force for that one.

After all that was done he spoke to me about brushing techniques and I've been given some special mouthwash, some wax and some plaque tablets? Though I'm not sure I'm going to use those to be honest.

I then paid my depost of £1800 the minimum was £1000 but I need to decrease my monthly installments as much as possible. My next appointment was also booked for 8 weeks time.

My initial feeling after getting the braces was just general weirdness, my top lip felt MASSIVE and I kept getting my lip stuck when trying to talk. The TPA bar that I was very worried about is actually not bothering me at all I'm aware it's there but it's the braces themselves that are currently taking my focus.

I've had them on for 3 hours now and whilst there is no pain I can definitely feel a tightness, I've managed to eat some Ready Brek and some jelly and have also had some drinks, the TPA has not cut or rubbed my tongue one bit so I am hopeful that this will be no bother to me.

I'm slowly adjusting to placing my lip in the correct position but have to force them shut now too. I'm feeling a bit reluctant to smile currently and very paranoid/self conscious but I hope that will pass. The main thing is that I can at least eat something and my speech remarkably appears to be unaffected, I have to focus more on talking at the moment but as for sounding out words etc there is no problem.

Sorry about massive update I just wanted to try and go into detail as I know I found these forums massively helpful in my decision to get braces and so if I can help people with a similar problem to me that would be great.

I'll get some pitctures uploaded soon too

[MissRed]

So here are a few snaps, annoys me how the brackets look lovely and unobtrusive in photographs whereas atm I still feel they are twice the size of my own head! Lol. Just to point out my back teeth aren't quite fully clenched together in the first photograph as they are a tad sore so that makes the open bite look a tiny bit worse than it actually is.

[Mrs v]

Thanks for the update. Am following your story closely and really appreciate your updates.

Still none the wiser with mine but had impressions etc done although now got another hospital referral. Hope you feel ok and make sure you painkillers to hand.

How long is your sentence estimated?

[MissRed]

Thanks for the update. Am following your story closely and really appreciate your updates.

Still none the wiser with mine but had impressions etc done although now got another hospital referral. Hope you feel ok and make sure you painkillers to hand.

How long is your sentence estimated?

Hi Mrs V, I hope you get good news at the referral, he's estimated me at 18-24 months but I'm telling myself it'll be two years, that way anything else is a bonus.