If you want to share the detailed saga of your braces story, this is the place to do it. You can use this forum as a braces journal, editing and updating your posts as your treatment goes on. Remember to also visit the main ArchWired.com site for additional stories from other readers!
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[quote="marybee"]Congratulations and welcome to the wonderful world of occasional aches, pains and slow eating! Really, this is one of the best decisions you will make and the bonus is the best smile ever and a few pounds lost in the process!
It gets better, honest! I'm almost at the end of this journey and it went FAST! The changes were amazing.
Flossing in the beginning is rough but one of my best friends is my water flosser. It really helps on those days when you have adjustments and the last thing your teeth need is tugging and pulling.
Good luck! [/quote]
Speaking of pounds lost, 7 so far for me..not complaining about that! 2week braceface here.
SunshineRay wrote:I can see a difference. If you look at the wire instead of the teeth you can notice it more.
That's pretty much what I do... and I'm glad other people can see the difference too. Now I know it's not just all in my head
In other news - my first adjustment is Thursday and I would really like it to not hurt lol
Had Damons (ceramic upper, metal lower) from June 27, 2013 - January 20, 2015
15-18 month sentence, official time in braces was 18 months, 3 weeks, 3 days
My Story: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=45054
mapleleafman888 wrote:Chichi, you have the exact braces I am getting---Damon clear upper, metal lower, bite turbos and 15-18 months sentence. Funny!
How did you get those last few pictures so clear? What camera and lighting did you use?
That is funny! I'm excited for you to get braced... then I'll have someone to check up on who's got pretty much the same setup lol
And while I very much enjoy photography and I'd love to be able tell you I've got a studio set up in my house with off-camera flashes, umbrellas and a nice pro lens, these were taken with my phone. The cruddy-looking picture was cropped from an underexposed full-face shot, since I didn't have anything else from my first day (actually now I have the photos my ortho's assistant took on brace day, but they are also not quite up to par). Since then, I've been standing in front of the bathroom mirror, with my phone facing the mirror so I can make sure I've got my whole mouth in the shot, and using the phone's flash as my light source.
I am excited as well, it's now 3 weeks away. Our teeth are very oddly similar in problems---I saw you had the left fang canine as well which I must say has turned in good noticably in the picture.
And here I thought that my 10mp camera would take better photos than a phone!
I had my 1st adjustment today... it wasn't bad at all. I remember reading someone else's story about adjustments with Damons and they said the pressure of the assistant opening the doors was terrible. Fortunately, I did not experience that pressure. I actually didn't even know she had gotten them all open until she started pulling out the old wire (that's where I had some pressure since the back brackets have tubes instead of doors). I got to brush and floss without wires and it was fantastic! The top arch's new wire went on without a problem, but there was a little more pressure as she tried to get the new wire on my bottom arch (my last molars on the bottom have had brackets, but were not attached to the wire... they joined the party today). The whole process only took about 10 minutes.
I also looked at my records while the assistant was preparing and saw that my old wires were .014, which I guess is probably the standard starter wire. My new uppers are .016 and lowers are .018.
It's been almost 3 hours now and I'm definitely feeling a lot of pressure and a little bit of pain on the lowers... uppers feel tighter, but nothing major.
Adjustment #2 in 8 weeks...
Had Damons (ceramic upper, metal lower) from June 27, 2013 - January 20, 2015
15-18 month sentence, official time in braces was 18 months, 3 weeks, 3 days
My Story: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=45054
My lower arch feels like my first day in braces all over again. Ok, maybe not quite that bad since I'm able to chew (painfully), but I wasn't expecting so much pain from a new wire.
Upper arch is still hanging in there... barely feeling the pressure of that new wire.
Had Damons (ceramic upper, metal lower) from June 27, 2013 - January 20, 2015
15-18 month sentence, official time in braces was 18 months, 3 weeks, 3 days
My Story: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=45054
mapleleafman888 wrote:The 10 min changing deal sounds really appealing, another brownie point for damon!
How long was your bonding appointment? I'm told it's going to be 2.5 hours of fun and games for myself...
Hey you should post a photo update with your super-fantastic-professional-camera phone.
The wire change was super quick... definitely +1 for Damon
My bonding appointment was about 1.5 hours (and that included molds, a quick polish of the surfaces, and some pictures after the bonding). My ortho's office schedules them for 2 hours with the assumption that it will be under 2 hours.
I took a picture when I got home from the adjustment on Thursday, just haven't had a chance to post it yet. Maybe I'll get to it tonight.
Had Damons (ceramic upper, metal lower) from June 27, 2013 - January 20, 2015
15-18 month sentence, official time in braces was 18 months, 3 weeks, 3 days
My Story: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=45054
Top is at week 1, bottom is week 8, right after my adjustment.
My teeth are a little clicky, but overall back to feeling normal again... I guess I'm over the adjustment
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Had Damons (ceramic upper, metal lower) from June 27, 2013 - January 20, 2015
15-18 month sentence, official time in braces was 18 months, 3 weeks, 3 days
My Story: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=45054
SunshineRay wrote:Yay you made it through your adjustment!
I did!
Only another 2 months til the next one
Had Damons (ceramic upper, metal lower) from June 27, 2013 - January 20, 2015
15-18 month sentence, official time in braces was 18 months, 3 weeks, 3 days
My Story: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=45054
Ahhh wax... this is only the 2nd time I've used it so far, but it is truly fantastic. The hook on one of my molar bands has been grabbing my cheek every time I talk/eat and then I have to try to wiggle my way out of it without just ripping it out of my cheek.
Had Damons (ceramic upper, metal lower) from June 27, 2013 - January 20, 2015
15-18 month sentence, official time in braces was 18 months, 3 weeks, 3 days
My Story: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=45054
I hope your pain is feeling better, on an encouraging note I can see the space on the right side bite closing in, also your left canine looks like rotating in a bit too closing the space, and perhaps your upper teeth are moving upwards as well (maybe it's just your not smiling as hard)...awesome though!
mapleleafman888 wrote:I hope your pain is feeling better, on an encouraging note I can see the space on the right side bite closing in, also your left canine looks like rotating in a bit too closing the space, and perhaps your upper teeth are moving upwards as well (maybe it's just your not smiling as hard)...awesome though!
Thanks! My smile feels so lopsided because I'm so aware that my left side is all messed up. That top canine is pretty stubborn and I'm not sure it's moved in a while. It used to be pointing more towards the front of my mouth and now it's straightened out, but I can't wait for it to come down. The bottom canine on the same side (which was also pointing towards the front of my mouth) is now straight and there's about a 1-2mm gap between it and the adjacent lateral... since they used to overlap, that's wonderful I've also still got the molar buildups, but they feel like part of my mouth now... I'm don't know what my bite will be like when they're gone.
Unfortunately, as teeth start to come into line, you start to see the surface stains that were hard for the hygienist to reach when they weren't as straight. I can't wait for my cleaning at the end of September so she can scrape it all away. I've seen this on some others' pictures, but it doesn't seem to be something anyone mentions...
Had Damons (ceramic upper, metal lower) from June 27, 2013 - January 20, 2015
15-18 month sentence, official time in braces was 18 months, 3 weeks, 3 days
My Story: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=45054
mapleleafman888 wrote:I hope your pain is feeling better, on an encouraging note I can see the space on the right side bite closing in, also your left canine looks like rotating in a bit too closing the space, and perhaps your upper teeth are moving upwards as well (maybe it's just your not smiling as hard)...awesome though!
Thanks! My smile feels so lopsided because I'm so aware that my left side is all messed up. That top canine is pretty stubborn and I'm not sure it's moved in a while. It used to be pointing more towards the front of my mouth and now it's straightened out, but I can't wait for it to come down. The bottom canine on the same side (which was also pointing towards the front of my mouth) is now straight and there's about a 1-2mm gap between it and the adjacent lateral... since they used to overlap, that's wonderful I've also still got the molar buildups, but they feel like part of my mouth now... I'm don't know what my bite will be like when they're gone.
Unfortunately, as teeth start to come into line, you start to see the surface stains that were hard for the hygienist to reach when they weren't as straight. I can't wait for my cleaning at the end of September so she can scrape it all away. I've seen this on some others' pictures, but it doesn't seem to be something anyone mentions...
I have noticed this in myself as well... I can't wait for the stains to be cleaned away
I can bite into things! We're talking soft slices of pizza and I'm even managing to (carefully) bite into burgers or other soft sandwiches. My only complaint is that the braces were so much easier to clean when I didn't have food EVERYWHERE.
I also had a dream that I went in for an adjustment and they told me I would have to come back every week to learn new elastic configurations. I don't even have elastics yet... I guess it's something I'm subconsciously thinking about?
Had Damons (ceramic upper, metal lower) from June 27, 2013 - January 20, 2015
15-18 month sentence, official time in braces was 18 months, 3 weeks, 3 days
My Story: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... =9&t=45054
[/quote]
I've also still got the molar buildups, but they feel like part of my mouth now... I'm don't know what my bite will be like when they're gone.
