Ken,
Quirky Girl,
Peggy,
browneyedgirl,
Melissa,
ShineUpMyBoots,
Mike,
Flaka,
Bekah: Awwwww, you guys are so sweet
Thanks so much for all the encouragement and well wishes!
Perth Lad: Yay, brace day buddies! I hope you are having good luck with getting used to them!
Jo: As you can see I went for baby pink and what I
thought was hot pink
Ah well, I still think it's fun. I'm sorry to hear your appointment got messed up!
Shannon: Lip balm and water have been constantly by my side, and I'm also using vaseline for those darn sores on my lips. Argh!
Skye: I'm sorry I kept you waiting! I tried to take pictures last night but they were coming out terrible - it seems the only way I can get good clear ones is with natural lighting. I can't wait for the 30th hon!
BRACE DAY (FINALLY!)
I'll start with pictures because I know you're all dying
These are from day two.
Check out the sore on the right side of my mouth... that's from having it open for so long at the ortho, and ya, it HURTS!
Edited to add:
You can also see there are 3 teeth bracketed but left out of the wire, 1 upper and 2 lower. The ortho said if we tried to tie them in the brackets
would just pop off, that's how crooked my teeth are!
Bottom & top arch - I apologize, I can never get a clear pic of the bottoms
Left & right side, to show you which teeth are being pulled.
So, the appointment. It went well! First thing they did was find molar bands that fit my teeth - apparently I have some tiny teeth back there!
That was a little painful as my teeth were still tender from the spacers. Once they found the right sizes they cleaned me all up and glued them in. That must've taken 45 minutes to an hour and by that time I had already developed that sore in the corner of my mouth - and don't worry, I was applying chapstick every chance I had!
Next came the dreaded lip spreaders, which I didn't find to be so bad. My teeth were cleaned, conditioned and dried and then the brackets went on. After that they gave me some Scope to rinse the terrible taste out of my mouth and by then I was getting a little scared - they told me those clear brackets were bigger but I could hardly pull my top lip over them! After that I got to choose my lig colors, and as you can see I dove right in and went for pink. I was hoping for hot pink like Miss Smiley had but it didn't turn out so bright. And, godlovemyortho, they do wire tires on the clear brackets
They got me all wired in, made sure that the end of the archwires didn't get in the way of the teeth that need to be extracted and sent me on my way.
How am I feeling? It's been interesting... As you can see from the photos I'm waxed as can be. If I couldn't wax those brackets on the upper "fangs" there is no way my lips would go over them. Overnight I developed sores where my teeth meet on the insides of my cheeks, so this morning I waxed the molar bands on each side and that was very relieving. Then at work this morning my tongue started getting really cut up from whatever is pokey on the INSIDE of those darned molar bands so I waxed those and my tongue almost sighed with relief
All in all it's going okay, and I'm still SOOOO happy I've got it done!
I am a little bummed I didn't schedule my extractions after my consult. I figured my ortho would've mentioned it if it was important and he didn't - when I asked him about it yesterday he said schedule it as soon as I can so I get those teeth moving back, and the soonest my dentist could get me in is July 22
I'm on a call list though, so keep your finger's crossed for me!
Now where did I put my chapstick...
So do you know when you'll have your first "adjustment"? Or are they going to wait until they can get all of your teeth hooked up? I am sooo excited to watch your progress!!!
