Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello everybody,


On discovering ArchWired:
Can I just say I'm grateful to have stumbled across this forum? I'm not a person who keeps a regular online journal (or any journal for that matter) because I tend to be cynical when I blog but for the sake of my orthodontic progress I plan to keep one AND won't be cynical . I hope I'll be able to keep it up, through this site.

The history:
I know I needed one since high school, seeing a couple of my friends got them but it was a luxury my parents couldn't really afford at that time. I realized I could get them for little money at the government hospital but I was a bit hesitant because the government health workers here were (and still are) not known for their gentle touch. Having had rough dental treatments from the government clinics in elementary school made me shy away from the free dentists. (well, maybe from all dentists all-together). But I try to keep my teeth clean by regular brushing and flossing, and seeing the dentists for scaling or cleaning a few times over the years.

The ugly truth:
Well, first things first. Lets meet my pre-braced teeth:

Here they are:


And here they are again:


The before pictures are of low quality since my teeth didn't really have modeling chances in front of the camera. I'd either do this:

or this:

I've gotten so used of hiding my crooked teeth in front of the camera that it's autonomous now. I've also been quite embarrassed to throw my head back and laugh, for the obvious reason. (I do like to laugh). So in every picture of mine I looked controlled and posed. It's really quite sad.

Fast-forward to the years after I came back home from years abroad I began to reminisce my teenage years before I left home for 5 years. Looking at old photographs, I began to realize that my lateral incisor had been sneaky! It moved deeper towards the back of the mouth over the years without I realizing it! I noticed it wasn't as inward in the old teenage photographs. Can you believe the nerve of the tooth?

The turning point
I finally went to an orthodontist last February to seek solace. And boy did I get some. Here's the list of the problems that have been lurking according to the dentist:
1) Anterior cross-bite (the upper lateral incisor)
2) A few other cross-bites at the bottom
3) Crowding at the bottom front.
4) Bites that are off at the back because of cross-bites.
Seeing another person in my office have braces made me realize that it's never too late for me to get my teeth corrected. I never saw any other adults with braces, though.

We scheduled an appointment to have braces on my upper teeth fitted. So on February 19th 2009, I became a 25-year-old woman with braces. Once at home, I promptly took out the camera. Meet my newly-built roller-coaster ride:

Whoops, major spoiler! This is supposed to be a progress report. But you can see my tremendous progress there. It took less than 2 months for the incisor to rise up to where it belongs but the whole row are far from perfect still.

The forgotten
I do not have a picture of the mess I call 'my bottom teeth' yet, they are not exactly photo shoot ready. It's largely because we haven't started working on them yet. So I'll write about them when they worth talking about.

Wowza, there is a thing called dental technology?:
I never realized there were more than one type of braces to choose from - only the varying rubber band colors. I asked the dentist for an orthodontic treatment that is fast, easier to manage, within my price range and most importantly induces the least pain for me. I'm not as tough as you ladies and gentlemen out there, dentally speaking, my pain threshold is very low. Tooth extractions? Can you just kill me please? You can just use the rinsing cup. Just smother me with it, it will do the job. I hate pain in my mouth so much I want an anesthesia for the anesthesia itself. The doctor suggested the self-ligating Damon braces, Damon3MX to be exact, as they use the biggest force of all Damons. They are not the supermodel of braces, aesthetically speaking, but they sure are fast workers. And most importantly, in my case with Damon, he doesn't have to extract any tooth. Phew.. can I say hooray? *still hoping there won't be any healthy teeth extractions in the future*

Welcome to AW your teeth are very pretty!!! I use damons aswell! my teeth moved fast too... im 9 months into my treatment and I have had nothing but good experiences with damons... Cant wait to see your bottom teeth! mine were crowded too but not anymore! (thank goodness)

good luck on ur journey and I cant wait to see your progress!



CLICK WWW TO SEE MY STORY W/PICS!!

Welcome to AW, you've had great progress, your teeth are really pretty!

NECRA, Kayleigh, thanks for the compliment. I've never heard people say that about my teeth. It feels weird, but good weird.

NECRA, I have only read the first few and latest posts in your progress report but aside from the great improvement you've had, I'm simply astounded with the early challenges (the grafting and the pain that came with it) you had to go through and the fact that you did so bravely. I can't even imagine if I were to go through the same process that you did. You're very tough! I applaud you.

Kayleigh, I can't believe that they made fun of you in high school, you're very pretty! Love the clear braces on you! I can't hardly see you have anything on your teeth in the last photo.

I'm going to recap my experiences from the 1st to the 3rd appointment that I had just last week, next. (Can't seem to get my signature to work, hmm)

try this site for trackers its pretty cool

http://www.ezticker.com/tickers/events.html

Your teeth look amazing for such a short amount of time in braces. Congrats!! I have self ligating braces too. They rule.

Thanks Tomm, Ken. I'm really glad I went with self-ligating ones. Everyone I know who's got them (my cousins - they are all young kids in high schools, btw) has the ones with rubber ligatures. They say they're painful.

NECRA, thanks for the link. I'll try it. I like your tickers btw.

(cont. w/ progress report:)

1st Appointment:

On Feb 19th I went in for my upper braces, feeling very very excited. I finally did something to correct my teeth. Cleaned my teeth real good, didn't want the dentist to see bits of food stuck in there. The dentist took my teeth impression with a tray of soft rubber thing on it. I remember hating the way the glob filled my mouth cavity, I had to fight a strong gag reflex. Focusing on breathing through the nose and on the nice music he had going in his office helped a bit.

Due to the crossbites he had put on bitestoppers, cemented on my upper molars. Then he went on with the glue and putting on brackets all the way to my 2nd molar, followed by blue light shined on each installed bracket by the assistant. There was a bit of difficulty with the molars but he managed it. Then a really tiny round wire was inserted through each bracket. Sliding doors were closed. During this whole process each of my tooth felt like it had a life of its own. For some reason I felt that each tooth was moving erratically. That was a weird sensation! And uh, my lips were really dry I felt like it's winter all over again. I was lucky to have survived five very harsh winters in my life, dealt with chapped lips for 5 years. (I loved the snow, but boy I didn't deal with chapped lips very well) I'll have to remember to apply vaseline when I get my lower brackets put on later.

The whole process took about 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was quite long mostly because my back molars were really difficult to reach. My cheeks were pulled away so widely it wasn't even funny. The process wasn't particularly painful, it was mostly very uncomfortable especially when the slid the door to close on each bracket. My teeth felt very tender after the wire was inserted.

The assistant handed me a mirror when it was over, and uh, I remember the first feeling I had was a disappointment. A huge wave of disappointment washed over me. I guess I should have expected the braces would not look good but I never really imagine how they would actually look at that point. Very zigzag-y. I remember thinking, what have I got myself into? But the dentist said some nice things and assured me that it will look better in no time. Umm, okay.

After I left the dentist's office I stopped by a local pharmacy to pick up a softer toothbrush and another with a tiny cylindrical bristle. I asked the sales assistant to show me the toothbrush section and she couldn't understand me! I flashed her my braces and did a little teeth brushing motion. I was embarrassed but it turned out that the s.a. has been wanting braces for herself but never had the guts. We ended chatting a bit about it and it made me feel good! I made another stop at the grocer and picked up a few boxes of pre-packed instant soup, a few bottles of drinking yogurt and some straws. Because of the bitestoppers I had to get on a liquid diet. Was looking forward to losing a few pounds while I'm on it, at least there's a silver lining, right?

So this is how they looked like on Day 1:

And here's a bottom view on Day2:

Excuse the glob of was on my Day2 photo. The metal scraped against my buccal mucosa it drove me over the edge...

great progress so far! i felt so happy when i looked in the mirror the 1st time cause i knew i was on my way to a better smile and the pain is somthing i like to feel too... yea im a wack-a-do but oh well! pain = movement! just wait a couple more months and thoughs damons will make your teeth perfect!

Love the progress so far! You must be really happy to see so much movement so soon. Way to go!

Hey NECRA, I know I should felt like you did but somehow I felt soo dorky.. haha. Not anymore! I love how my plain all-metal braces look now. They are so glossy I call them my mouth jewelery - sorta like my platinum tooth bracelet!

Hi catfish, thanks. I am very happy. Now the wire is almost straight they look so pretty like a jewelery!