So excited to get braces!

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parsleysage
Posts: 351
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:42 am
Location: Virginia

Re: So excited to get braces!

#151 Post by parsleysage »

jaime wrote:Congrats on getting engaged! We've both gotten engaged since getting braces and will both be braced brides.

I know how you feel about getting bored, I'm pretty much there, too. It doesn't look like I'll be getting elastics before surgery though, but I finally got my first power chain. It's not so bad but I only had one small gap.

I've lapsed on flossing as well, but got a WaterPik for Christmas. I see why people here are obsessed with them.

How's your weight loss going?
Ahh! That's awesome!!! Congrats to you too! :rose:

Somehow my decision to NOT try to fix my occlusion with elastics didn't make it into the treatment plan, even though I called the treatment coordinator to tell her AND she prepared a surgery consult referral for me... :roll: so we are doing elastics and then if it doesn't work we'll get me prepped for surgery.

And yes, you don't know what you're missing with Waterpik until you use one. The other day I had some cashews (yes, nuts, I know, I'm soooo bad, but I don't care haha) and I swished and swished with water, then used a proxy brush. Later on I used my Waterpik and still had like half a dozen little pieces fly out from Lord knows where!

Weight loss is going pretty well-ish. I did make my goal of losing 50 pounds, woohoo! That was as of 12/15. However in the last two weeks I've put on at least 2-3 pounds from completely going off the rails, haha. I'm back on the wagon the last few days and not planning to quit any time soon!

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parsleysage
Posts: 351
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Location: Virginia

Re: So excited to get braces!

#152 Post by parsleysage »

newbite wrote:Am I remembering right that someone on here got her braces taken off for her wedding day and then put back on?? Or am i imagining that? I can imagine that would be a pain (and maybe expensive?), but maybe it's an option? I WISH I had had straight teeth for my wedding (almost 5 years ago now). They seem so obvious to me in my photos (especially my front teeth). Having braces and nearly straight teeth would probably have been better!

Do you happen to know the series of elastic strength? I'm in rabbit right now and was in fox before and have no idea where I am on the scale of elastic strength. Ram sounds pretty brutal !

Congratulations and have fun planning your wedding!!
Thank you so much! I'm having fun so far though I tend to dive super deep right away (uh, the first few months of this journal, anyone?!) and I'm already feeling a little overwhelmed. The upside is I'll probably get 95% of things planned in the next three months and then will just need to sit tight, save money, and do crafts for the following year haha.

And no! You're NOT imagining it! I think it was kathydell! I've been thinking about that, too. I imagine there would definitely be some cost associated with it, as you have to go through both the bonding and debanding processes twice, plus I think kathydell had Essix retainers made for the time period she wouldn't have her brackets on, which would then need to remade after her treatment was over. So... time consuming and expensive, for sure. (I'll try to track the post down for more info!) With our tiny budget I'm not sure I can make room for several hundred $$ worth of extra orthodontic work. BUT, on the other hand, I reeeeeaaalllyyyyyy am hesitant about having them on during my wedding. Having braces is such a temporary part of my life and I don't really want it immortalized in wedding photos. And I don't want to worry about lipstick, cake, food, etc. getting stuck in them, or having to do the long-ass hygiene routine 3x per day on my wedding day and honeymoon. So... what I'd LIKE to do is somehow be totally done with treatment by then. HAHA! I'll talk to my ortho office about it. We'll see!

I googled and found some info about the Ormco elastics from their catalog. Here's a pic:

Image

Looks like there's not a strict series - I started off in Bear rather than a lighter one. If I were to go up from Ram at any point I'd probably go to the same strength but a larger size, so maybe Zebra or Moose.

Thankfully, the Ram elastics are WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I see such a huge difference in my overjet (yes!!! I have an overjet now!!!) after only 2 days! I keep getting the mirror out to check and make sure I'm not imagining it. :-** Definitely MAJOR motivation to be 100% compliant and hopefully with more movement happening, at my adjustment in four weeks they will chain some more teeth or something else interesting and I will get to see even more progress!

Happy new year everyone!!! :-)o

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parsleysage
Posts: 351
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:42 am
Location: Virginia

Re: So excited to get braces!

#153 Post by parsleysage »

Got some progress pics - occlusion this time! I started with 0 overjet, maybe a tiny bit negative. I've now got some space there! You can also see that my bite is QUITE open in comparison; that's me biting all the way down. Also my left central incisor is clearly still quite janky and not aligned!

Where I started:
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Today:
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Featheryy1221
Posts: 474
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 8:12 am

Re: So excited to get braces!

#154 Post by Featheryy1221 »

Congrats on your engagement! :-88 :jump: :D
That's so exciting!
I totally get why you'd want to have your braces off for photos and everything else. As you said, it really is such a temporary part of your life, and it would be lovely to not have photos with them on as a reminder. I know I personally will probably end up deleting a lot of my braceface photos when I'm done with this all. lol. (I already have deleted all my 'expander days' photos haha). And that's one reason I'm glad I'm not going to be in my best friends wedding this month. lol. And being able to just enjoy food without worrying about braces or brushing teeth would be so nice!

Maybe you'll be done with all this by the time the date comes. :) You seem to have had a TON of progress in only 6 months. :) I can't believe it's already been that long for you now. Time is sure flying by! Though I'm sure you feel as I do, where it feels like I've have braces on for years, and years. :roll: :lol:
Image

Estimated treatment time: 18 months. (6 months- expander, 1 year- braces)
Bonded Rapid Palatal Expander: 10/1/13 - 3/31/14
Upper and Lower Metal Braces: 4/22/14 - 7/14/15
Total treatment time: 21 months

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parsleysage
Posts: 351
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:42 am
Location: Virginia

Re: So excited to get braces!

#155 Post by parsleysage »

Just thought I'd post a quick update... I can't remember if I've had one or two adjustments since my last update. I think just one. At any rate, I continue to see improvement in my occlusion and I'm hoping one of these days I'll hear something different other than "Keep everything the same," at an adjustment! I would love to start closing up some more spaces or wearing heavier elastics or SOMETHING!

I had a dentist's appointment today, got my teeth cleaned and she said I was doing awesome and had hardly any buildup. Yay! I'm on a four-month cleaning schedule just to make sure with the braces that everything stays clean.

My adjustment was supposed to be today but I had to reschedule because I forgot about the cleaning appt, and with all the snow we've had recently there weren't any openings. So I'll go back in two weeks. Which would be an 8 week gap I believe.

My weight loss stalled a bit during December and January but I'm back on track now, almost 60 pounds down! Woohoo.

I think that's it!!! Boring, boring, boring. 8)

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parsleysage
Posts: 351
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:42 am
Location: Virginia

Re: So excited to get braces!

#156 Post by parsleysage »

Had an adjustment today. FINALLY SOME CHANGE!!!!!!! :dance: :dance: Of course that means my teeth are killing me... :soremouth: but, small price to pay for some change!

Still wearing Ram elastics, class III from upper first molar to lower canine. But, I went from being chained 3-3 on the bottom to 6-6, and from 2-2 on the top to 3-3 on the top. FINALLY MY VAMPIRE CANINES WILL BE GOING AWAY SOON!!!! I'm sooooo happy.

I took a pic but there's no change since my last pic... so I will wait and see over the next few weeks as the powerchains work their magic! Hopefully a progress pic soon. :)

Amanda88
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2015 3:43 pm

Re: So excited to get braces!

#157 Post by Amanda88 »

Just read your journey so far!! Congrats on so many things!! - weight loss, getting engaged, not to mention your teeth are looking amazing already!! I feel like my progress is at a standstill right now, but like you, I have spaces and I feel the progress is harder to see with spaces vs. crowding. Your photos show great progress though! I hope I can say the same the next time I snap a picture! Looking forward to hearing more :)

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parsleysage
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Location: Virginia

Re: So excited to get braces!

#158 Post by parsleysage »

Amanda88 wrote:Just read your journey so far!! Congrats on so many things!! - weight loss, getting engaged, not to mention your teeth are looking amazing already!! I feel like my progress is at a standstill right now, but like you, I have spaces and I feel the progress is harder to see with spaces vs. crowding. Your photos show great progress though! I hope I can say the same the next time I snap a picture! Looking forward to hearing more :)
Hi! So sorry I didn't see this before. Thanks so much and I hope you are seeing some progress at this point SPAM SPAM SPAMMING!! :mrgreen:

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parsleysage
Posts: 351
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:42 am
Location: Virginia

Re: So excited to get braces!

#159 Post by parsleysage »

I had my adjustment yesterday. No change, but the ortho said he was happy with how things were looking. Which is good, because I was NOT so compliant with my elastics last month :/ I know, I am soooo bad. At least I was still making progress!

However, the good news is that my ortho's office ordered colored elastics!!! So now I am super motivated to wear them and am just trying to get through those first 1-2 days where the pain is so bad. (Just took some ibuprofen actually lol.) I got bright blue powerchains and the elastics are neon orange, green, and pink, and a non-neon purple. I love having a colorful mouth!

Next adjustment June 29th and I think I will post a progress pic on my 1-year brace-iversary, which is June 3rd! :dance:

Overall, I am not "excited" by my braces anymore - they are a pain in the rear on a day-to-day basis, BUT, I am very happy I got them and feel positively about getting a good result. (And hopefully without jaw surgery, since my ortho is happy with the progress!)

jaime
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Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 8:00 am
Location: Southeastern Michigan
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Re: So excited to get braces!

#160 Post by jaime »

Where's the 1 year anniversary pic!??! :D
SARPE: December 19, 2013
Expander out/TPA in: May 13th, 2014
Upper and lower braces: May 21, 2014
Lefort I + BSSO + sliding genioplasty: June 11, 2015
TPA out: December 17, 2015 (due to issues)
Braces off: November 28th, 2016!!!
My blog
My ArchWired thread (last updated November 29th, 2016)

Featheryy1221
Posts: 474
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 8:12 am

Re: So excited to get braces!

#161 Post by Featheryy1221 »

Hey parsleysage!
It's been awhile since you've updated. Hope all is well with you and that your braces journey is going good. Update us all when you can. :)
Image

Estimated treatment time: 18 months. (6 months- expander, 1 year- braces)
Bonded Rapid Palatal Expander: 10/1/13 - 3/31/14
Upper and Lower Metal Braces: 4/22/14 - 7/14/15
Total treatment time: 21 months

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parsleysage
Posts: 351
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:42 am
Location: Virginia

Re: So excited to get braces!

#162 Post by parsleysage »

Hi! I missed my brace-iversary!!!! I can't post a pic right now but I will tonight for sure. There has been a lot of progress lately especially with my upper canines and lower first premolars. The ortho continues to be very happy with my progress and there is a sizeable overjet at this point - it's actually a wee bit annoying and I'll be excited when we start closing it up!

So my wedding is now just over 10 months away and I finally got over my anxiety and "broke the news" to my ortho's office. I talked to the treatment coordinator and she will talk to the dr and have him address it at my next appointment. She did say that they have worked with brides before and that it is possible to remove them, wear a retainer, and put them back on! She said there is a fee and that it will extend treatment a little bit. Unless the fee is exorbitant, I think it will be worth it! We will see what the ortho says but I'm feeling relieved that I maybe won't have to have pics with food stuck in my brackets all day! :D

My adjustment was Monday (had to reschedule from June 29 due to illness) and I have silver powerchains because we are getting pictures taken on Sunday evening. (We were supposed to take them back in April... long story!) I'm being a good girl with my elastics, HOWEVERRRRRR, I had a not so good cleaning appointment, also on Monday. I haven't been keeping up with flossing and she said my gums are a little puffy and that they bled a little when she cleaned them. :cry: :ThumbsDown: :gavel: SOOOOO I gotta get better about flossing :-} I don't see the dentist again until November though so I will get things in order before then so that I can get a good report!

Ok stand by for picture later today!

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parsleysage
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Re: So excited to get braces!

#163 Post by parsleysage »

Pics!
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Featheryy1221
Posts: 474
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Re: So excited to get braces!

#164 Post by Featheryy1221 »

:jump:
Oh my! Look at that progress!!! Your teeth are looking incredible so far. It's crazy how much they have moved. :) I hope that you can figure all the wedding things off and that you can get them off temporarily. If not, I'm sure you can still rock them. :)

Boo to the dental appointment. I know I overheard an ortho assistant say to at least floss three times in a week, so maybe try to do that? Flossing was a pain with those things, I know. Ugh. I don't miss that. Haha.

Seriously though, your teeth are looking sooo GREAT!!! :) Congrats girl!
Image

Estimated treatment time: 18 months. (6 months- expander, 1 year- braces)
Bonded Rapid Palatal Expander: 10/1/13 - 3/31/14
Upper and Lower Metal Braces: 4/22/14 - 7/14/15
Total treatment time: 21 months

hilk82
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2015 9:11 am

Re: So excited to get braces!

#165 Post by hilk82 »

Awesome I just got my braces on too. Good luck!

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