JN_Woods's Story (With Picture Updates)

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#16 Post by **JN_Woods** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 8:47 am

KK wrote:Looking good JN_Woods! Great about the dental hygiene ... hoping I hear positive words this Friday at my adjustment!

KK,

Thanks! I hope your adjustment goes well. Are you going with purple ligs again? They look really great on you.

Jen

#17 Post by **JN_Woods** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 9:59 pm

11/30/05

I had my second adjustment. It wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as the first. First, they popped off my lower expander, which was more painful than I was expecting, but it was on there tight. She took it away and widened it somehow, then she brought it back and put it on, which was also a little snug. They took off my old ligs (which wasn't as painful as last time) and replaced with new clear ones. My archwire still hasn't been changed (not that I'm complaining). The assistant clipped the end of one wire, but there wasn't enough on the other end to clip; last adjustment the wire was tearing me up. I got a 5 out of 5 for dental hygiene.

The ortho came over to check me out and said "Wow, your upper arch looks great. I bet you're really happy." Boy, am I. I can't believe how much my teeth have moved already. If I got my braces removed today, I would be happy with what they've already done for my upper arch. I get my lower braces at my next adjustment, on 1/5/06. I was talking to the assistant about my lower braces and told her I was seriously considering the regular metal braces, rather than the SmartClips brackets, in case I wanted to go with colors at some point. She said something about my upper lip covers up my teeth for the most part when I'm talking so my braces are hardly noticeable at all. I'm a little self-conscious about my upper lip and the area between nose and lip, so this just made me feel a little freakish. Well, I guess my upper lip is helping because no one has noticed on their own. I have to tell people I have braces. My boyfriend's family still hasn't realized that I have these on my teeth.

Do you think the discolorations on my teeth look that bad? I have like 3 white spots. Not being able to use whitening toothpastes is killing me. Oh yeah, did you notice my new sexy gap in my lower arch?

Full View, 12/5/05 - 5 days after 2nd adjustment

Full View (with sexy gap), 12/5/05 - 5 days after 2nd adjustment

Upper Arch, 12/5/05 - 5 days after 2nd adjustment

Lower Arch, 12/5/05 - 5 days after 2nd adjustment

Side View (right), 12/5/05 - 5 days after 2nd adjustment

Today, 12/5/5 is my 3 month anniversary for getting my upper brackets (the wire came a week later). My next adjustment is in exactly one month. Yipee! This is already flying by pretty fast.

#18 Post by **dfac001** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:10 pm

Hey
Just wanna stop by and say hi...nice progress!

Hehe, I probably have the very similar problem as urs.
Very bad crowding, my upper is similar, but worse than urs. One of my incisors are not aligned with others, it's hidden in the back.

I have more crowdings in my lower. And my arches are just like yours. Hourglass shape. My molar bites are off too....I wonder how can I manage to eat all these yrs...since my bite both anterior and posterior are so off...

I need 4 pre-molars extractions. My hourglass shape is right at those 2nd pre molars. So taking them out and straightened out the arches would be beneficial on my case...

I bet i'm those complex cases too...any treatment shorter than 2 yrs would be bonus...

Hehe...nice progress...I'm looking forward to see ur great results to boost my motivation

#19 Post by **jenns91civic** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:49 pm

I would never have imagined those expanders could work so quickly. Your upper arch looks really good! You sound like you have a really positive attitude about the whole thing and that's great. Keep it up!

Jenn

#20 Post by **debonairdenise** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:24 pm

Your teeth look great. I can't believe how much movement you have had. Good Luck

#21 Post by **JN_Woods** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:24 pm

dfac001: Thank you! Good luck with your braces process. I can't believe I put this off but I'm so happy to be doing it now. My little sister's teeth are worse than mine. She has to have 9 teeth extracted (4 wisdom teeth, 4 molars and 1 premolar) and will be in braces 3-4 years. I feel bad for her.

KK: Thank you for the encouraging words! I think we've both made a lot of progress in a little amount of time. The discoloration is between my two upper teeth and the teeth next to them (sorry I can't remember what they're called). I guess it isn't very noticeable but it's like bright white to me, but I'd rather have discolored teeth than the crowding I had before.

Jenns91civic: Thank you! I didn't expect my expanders to work so fast either. I guess they estimate 6 months with them in for a reason.

Debonairdenise: Thank you for the kind words! [/b]

#22 Post by **JN_Woods** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:44 pm

01/05/06

I had my third adjustment. This was by far the worst so far. I go in and as soon as I sit in the chair I remember I didn't take any Advil, but let's hope for the best. Oh yeah, they're putting on my lower braces today. Well, she changed my top ligs without any pain. Then she put on my lower brackets, which wasn't bad but the cheek retractor is awful. Then she puts on my wire. Oh my god. I thought I was going to die. She pushed on my teeth to get them to go where she could put my wire on. She's usually gentle, but as she said my teeth were being a "challenge" to get wired. Well, after she did that the ortho comes over and asks if any of my teeth are hitting. Well, one of my teeth on the bottom has been so he kindly narrowed my upper expander, but since my bottom teeth have been hurting so much I haven't noticed any pain from that. So, I've been doped up on Advil for a couple of days now. I'm able to eat things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and white castle burgers (because they are like half grease and soft). My upper wire didn't need clipped (yep, same one since the beginning). My lower wire is also an 18 thermal. I got Pearl on my top brackets (instead of my usual clear) and Light Blue on my bottom brackets.

I've noticed that my lower arch has widened about twice what it was before. Before braces I could fit one index finger in the narrowest point. Yes, it was that narrow and I have skinny fingers. Now, I can fit both of my index fingers in there.

Also, a few weeks ago one of my ligs popped off so I had to go back in and I had them change all of them for me.

My fourth adjustment is scheduled for 2/16 (unless I change it). I'm starting a new job in a week or two.

Full Mouth, 1/4/06- day before 3rd adjustment

Overbite, 1/4/06 - day before 3rd adjustment

Upper Arch, 1/4/06 - day before 3rd adjustment

Lower Arch, 1/4/06 - day before 3rd adjustment

New braces, 1/5/06 - after 3rd adjustment

Braces, 1/7/06 - 2 days after 3rd adjustment

I had gaps open up on both sides on the bottom, next to my lower canines (is that what they're called?), but the braces have already closed up the gaps and started pulling the teeth back. My two bottom teeth in the middle are so tight now that I can barely floss between them. I can already feel a little bit of the wire poking out on the bottom, so the teeth are already moving! Yay!

Thanks for looking

#23 Post by **JN_Woods** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:40 pm

KK,

Thanks! The bottoms really aren't bugging me too much. The ceramics tore into my mouth (especially during the week before the wire went on), but I've had no sores YET. They just feel kinda full sometimes. I tried flossing like normal down there because I'd forgotten they were there. The teeth tilting the worst at the bottom are sore, but getting better. I would yelp when I would rub my toothbrush over it, but not today. It's not hindering my eating either.

I keep expecting everything to be worse than it is. I guess that will come in time - powerchains, elastics, etc.

Your teeth are coming along fabulously, too. I hope I can someday work up to be comfortable with colored ligs on top and bottom. I thought my light blue ones would show up darker - I tried to be bold!

Jen

#24 Post by **JN_Woods** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:59 pm

Yikes, I had a lunchable (crackers, ham and cheese) for lunch and it was way too soon for that. It was pretty painful, but I managed to eat all of my little sandwiches.

Also, I've noticed that when I floss next to my molar bands I have sensitivity to cold water by those teeth - it hurts so badly (I mentioned this before). When I don't floss next to those teeth I don't have the problem.

Does anyone change their own ligs? I'm thinking in the future this might be something I'd like to do, so if I want to try colors on my ceramics I can but then not be trapped for 6 weeks or until my ortho can take me.

#25 Post by **JN_Woods** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 7:46 pm

I had to go to the ortho's office today to have my expander wire clipped. Yes, my lower expander's wire has come up between my teeth and has been stabbing my mouth and hurting me bad. My pics are reversed, so it's on the left side (my right side) of the pic. In the pic of my lower arch from 1/4/06, do you see the wire sticking up a little bit? Well, the braces pulled my teeth back right against my expander, so that wire was sticking out quite a bit. They trimmed it back and it's not hurting anymore. They also bent back my elastic hooks on my lower brackets because they were also tearing me up (hey, they offerred), so if your metal brackets are hurting you, have them bend them back. My mouth feels sooooo much better tonight!

#26 Post by **dark_angel475** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:24 pm

WOW!! It's unbelivable how fast things are working! You're teeth look amazing!

Congrats on everything so far. Wow again.

#27 Post by **JN_Woods** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:40 pm

dark_angel475,

Thank you! Your teeth look great, too. I love your colored ligs. Maybe some day I'll get colored ligs on my top brackets. I'm not sure yet. Part of me wants to go crazy and try the rainbow and different combinations but part of me is reserved and doesn't want anyone noticing my teeth. I hope I get over that soon!

Jen

#28 Post by **JN_Woods** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 11:58 am

On 1/31/06, I had my ligs changed. I asked my ortho if I could change my own but he said no. I just started a new job and the clear ligs looked filthy and I couldn't handle having to look at that for another month. I chose silver for my uppers and teal for my lower brackets. The silver are hardly noticeable at all and I'm sure will stain even less than the clear. I really like the teal ligs!

I go to my dentist for a cleaning tomorrow which should be fun, then my next adjustment is in a week on 2/20. I'm not sure which colors to go with this time. I would really like to get colors on top, but I'm a little nervous about it still.

My boss, the founder and owner of the company where I work, was talking about how I had lost weight (5-10 pounds) lately (I temped there back in October for a while) and I said it was because of my teeth and had to explain that I had braces. He grabbed my face and wanted to take a look. No one saw, so it wasn't that embarassing. That's just the kind of person he is. My lips have been going a little crazy on me lately, too. Dry, sometimes cracking at the corners and it sometimes my lips get a little bit blistered for a little while then it goes away. I have small gaps next to my molar bands on top and food keeps getting caught in there.

#29 Post by **jennielee81** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:09 pm

Looking GREAT!!!

Isn't it funny how people notice so much about us: hair, weight, nail color, pimples, but NOT our teeth?

Love the teal ligs!

Jenn

#30 Post by **JN_Woods** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 12:15 pm

Jenn,

Thank you! I just looked at your pics and your teeth look so great! I hope my arches start shaping up like yours soon.

My boyfriend's family just figured out I had mine around Christmas. I was playing a game to see how long it took them. His aunt (who's son has braces) saw them.

I can't believe no one ever recognizes that I have braces. I have to tell people all the time.

Jen

Metal Mouth Message Board

JN_Woods's Story (With Picture Updates)

Second Adjustment 11/30/05

Wow!

Thank you everyone!

Third Adjustment 010506

"Emergency" ortho visit!

Lig change - silver and teal