Six Month Braces UK - 42 F

[DaisySmith]

So I lost lots of weight in my early thirties, got really fit, gave up smoking and basically really started looking after myself. In my teens I had two teeth (the ones behind your canines) extracted) and had a removable brace made, a bit like a Hawley retainer. Only it hurt and was uncomfortable and as soon as I got to school and out of the eye-line of my mother, I took it out. Despite her constant badgering/coaxing/shouting/bribery, it in the end, at age fourteen I told her point blank I wasn't going to wear it. Surprisingly, I still had a small amount of progress but I am left with some gaps and twists. My other half doesn't see what the issue is but supports whatever decision I make so I have decided to go for it. It feels like the last thing on a tick list of self improvement. (Apart from the annoying vein in my leg but we'll let him get over the tooth thing first!)

I told my best friend I was having a brace and she crinkled her brow and said 'What's wrong with your teeth?' It's not something I have made a massive deal about because being overweight was a much bigger issue. Funny how when you solve one problem, the smaller ones rear up. Anyway, despite having to wear night-time retainers forever, I would rather go down the braces route than veneers simply because the thought of having so much of my own teeth shaved off makes me feel violated! (Does that sound ridiculous?) It really does feel like a 'no going back' choice.

I know that 'Six month smiles' are frowned on my Orthodontists but I have seen plenty of brilliant results from them so here's hoping I am satisfied with mine. My dentist has a great reputation so all I can do is cross my fingers I can a decent result. I don't want a Hollywood smile. I just want my own teeth, straightened and without gaps and that's what he has said he can do. He'll also whiten then, file down the bottom set to make them even and fill a top incisor which has been chipped. Sounds good so far. The only thing that put me off a touch was when he said he thinks my case might take seven or eight months. However, it will take what it takes. I just really hope my result will be worth it.

Day 1 - 20 th January

Sitting in the chair, I was SO excited. I don't mind and aspect of the dentist. Even we he accidently clonked me on the front tooth with a piece of equipment. If was when he'd finished and I tried closing my mouth for the first time over these massive picket fences that I thought what the **** have I done? I literally fell a corkscrew of anxiety shoot through me. He then looked at me sheepishly and said 'My ears will start to burn over the next forty eight hours!' I thought, why? Oh.... it didn't take long to work out why. My other half drove me home and I quickly realised that opening and shutting my mouth was never going to be the same again. My top lip kept getting snagged on these nasty spiky plastic hooks. I could cope with the very tight feeling across my teeth. I even relished it. Pressure = progress. This tearing at the lips though... oh no, it was horrid. Still I kept practising making massively large mouth movements to compensate for opening and closing my mouth around the office block in my mouth.

Later I managed day 12 of Jillian Michaels 3 day shred and felt not too bad. Later still I took pain killers and started to feel a bit sore. I realised the brackets were starting to rub in places. I tried a bit of the wax but it felt of so I didn't bother. I had read that its best to just let ulcers harden up anyway. The sooner they do and form scar tissue the sooner they'll stop hurting. Oh... lovely.

[DaisySmith]

Day 2 - 21 January 2014

Day from Hell. No other word to describe it. Woke up so sore. Head hurt, all my teeth were very tender. I couldn't close my mouth and if my teeth accidentally touched I winced and wanted to cry. I had sores in my mouth and the nasty spiky brackets now felt like broken glass. Got up, brushed my teeth, used the interdental brushes, did a salt rinse and then tried with the wax again but it still fell off. The picket fences still felt massive. A few hours into the day and I felt worn down. I thought, this is ridiculous, I am a grown woman, not a baby, teenagers go through this, grow up! But I felt like crying and stamping my feet. This thing felt like a horrible punishment, some horrific torture device. I thought can this be real? I can't manage with this? I would seriously have returned to the dentist and got him to take them off if it wasn't for the fact I would have lost my deposit. It was only after reading similar stories of similar pain and despair and THEN the reassuring words that it really DOES get better that although I wept (how embarrassing) I was able to keep with it. I took pain relief which helped but Jillian Michaels had to work out on her own, I could just about manage to cook dinner. Ate mushy vegetables and yogurt. Talking with a lisp, spitting and drooling. Nothing good about this so far.

[DaisySmith]

Day 3 - 22nd January

Decided to be more pro-active this morning. I am lucky I work from home. I do feel for people who have to interact with others during these first few days. I do have to speak on the phone to people and interesting enough one man I speak to a lot from an IT support team was telling me about his brace wearing experiences. He had a brace as a teenager and he said he even had head-gear that he had to wear to school. He said it was only for a day but his parents still made him go on with it. He said 'How cruel was that!?' In a way I wonder if it wasn't a bit character building??

Anyway, I took painkillers, brushed, flossed, rinsed, rolled that wax around and packed it around every nasty spike I could find. This definitely made a different to my psychological outlook. I didn't feel so negative or ready to burst into tears. I had to remind myself that the reality is I have these on for seven or eight months so I may as well learn to adapt to them as quickly as possible. I still didn't have the energy for my workout but it didn't matter. I just feel a bit better in general. Bought some 'Iglu' mouth ulcer treatment which forms a seal over them and helps protect them and heal faster. It actually came off when I was eating so I'm not sure how much difference it made but I did a couple of salt rinses and I think that did help.

[DaisySmith]

Day 4 - 23 January

Light at the end of the tunnel. A lot better today. Used tons of wax. Made sure I took the maximum amount of pain relief so it meant I got in there before anything got to me first. I even went out in the afternoon for some retail therapy. I didn't buy anything but I felt well enough to try on clothes and walk around for a couple of hours, something which I would have found impossible to contemplate of day 2. I suppose I am saying this because it is something I would have found comforting to know. Things really do improve quite quickly. I am still not at the stage where I am completely pain free. I still feel a lot of pressure but as we know, pressure = progress! As for the sores, they are stinging less but I'm afraid it's part of the process we cannot avoid. My mouth also seems able to open and close without snagging on my brackets. It's amazing how quickly the body adapts. I am sure I am producing less saliva too. That constant drooling in the first couple of days is hideous but again, we all go through it! What I know it, it HAS to get better or people simply wouldn't wear braces for one or two years. We'd see people screaming at the dentists door, yelling 'take them off, take them off' and we don't! That has to say something doesn't it?

[DaisySmith]

Day 5 - 24th January

SO much better than day two. Mouth automatically opens and closes over this thing without catching on it. No drooling. Still using wax although not AS much. It seems areas of my mouth are already toughening up. I'm not sure if I'm imagining this or not but my wires seem more poky at the ends leading me to think my teeth have moved already thus producing the excess. Again I'm prepared to accept it's my wishful thinking and considering I've been one big mouth full of spiky, poky pain, it's hard to work out what's what!

Went to the pub last night. It's our quiet, country local. We know them really well. The landlady's youngest daughter has braces so we were talking about sores, wax etc. It's like this whole other world of information that if you have braces, you just know. Spoke to some other people we know and they didn't mention them. I thought there's no need to formally introduce my braces, if people notice and want to ask about them, they can. They didn't. Let's face it, when braces are first happening to you, it's a really big thing in your life but most other people are really not that interested lol!

Just so pleased to be feeling so much better. Still quite lispy though. Looking forward to having improved speech. (More than anything I'm so excited at the the thought of one day smiling really broadly without being remotely self-conscious, I suspect that's why we're all doing this isn't it?)

[DaisySmith]

Day 6 - 25th January

So, day six already. I can't wait to say week six, then month six. Wow.... Anyway no point dwelling on it and wishing my life away. In fairness today has been fine. No pain at all. Enough pressure to convince me that movement might be happening but not so much that it's been remotely difficult to deal with.

The only braces related emotion I've experienced today is irritation over the stupid lisp when speaking. I'm also still fully aware of their presence all the time too but it's not a big deal. The no pain thing is brilliant. Still using little bits of wax but again, a lot less than I did. Eating is easier too. I can chew slightly using my back teeth whereas three days ago I was barely able to let my teeth touch.

I really enjoy reading other people's stories and experiences on this site and I love seeing the amazing progress photos. It's exciting and inspiring.

First adjustment is on 19th February. Looking forward to seeing how much progress has been made. My dentist told me he thinks 75% of my progress will be made in the first three months. Now that is something I AM looking forward to.

[Tlal23]

Wow great blog. We got races around the same time I was braced on the 17th.
Just starting to feel better too, but still use wax at night.

I can see slight changes already which is so exciting.
Good luck and I'll be reading along.

[DaisySmith]

Hi Tlal, glad you're starting to feel better too! Did you find it horrific too at first or was I just being a massive wimp lol?? How long are you expecting to be in braces, or as some describe it, what is your expected sentence lol? Are you thinking of posting pictures? I am considering it but not brilliant at all that uploading business, may have to get my other half to do it. Also for some deeply disconcerting reason, since I got these braces put on, my teeth seem to appear slightly yellow in a way they really didn't before. I think it's because these six month smile braces have a bright white 'wire' and clear plastic brackets. Anyway it's not a flattering look. However, if people start secretly thinking '*******'s teeth are looking a bit rough' then when my braces finally DO come off and I have my whitening treatment it'll have even more impact!

Been trying to work on not lisping today. I am wondering what will happen when I am de-braced. If I spend months moving my mouth in an exaggerated fashion to avoid lisping will I look like Mick Jagger does when he sings (when I talk) when my brace comes off? I suppose I'll simply have to go through another adjustment period. I really cannot imagine loving my smile and the thought that I really might is so exciting. I have seen so many wonderful success stories on here; it's really uplifting.

Also... after dinner, cleaned teeth and haven't applied wax. That was three hours ago and no problems. Won't be long until bed for me so I might even try sleeping without wax. (Might be a bridge too far!) Thanks for commenting. Good luck with your journey.

[DaisySmith]

Day 7 - 26th January

Thoughts... Was reading somewhere that a person commenting on anothers experience of their brace tightening, feeling like they'd been 'hit in the mouth by a baseball bat' was, and I can't remember the exact words but, not a good thing to do because it might scare people.

Here's what I think. As long as you're honest, I think you should share exactly how your braces experience feels for you. For instance, from what I've read some people don't find the first few days too bad at all others like me find it tough. What I know is, everyone who seeks out a site like this is often seeking a story they can relate to. I haven't had an adjustment yet but after my braces were fitted a week ago I was in a lot of pain so reading similar stories where I was reassured that the pain soon subsided really helped. If everyone pretends there IS no pain I'd have been even more worried that something was seriously wrong rather than just going through an unavoidable part of the process.

Anyway - update. Slept without wax and no problems. However couldn't eat without it this morming as my lips kept snagging on a couple of brackets. However I was eating porridge and trying to get the whole spoon in my mouth like I usually do lol. (The last few days I have been gently sucking bits of food off the cutlery I have been using for fear of pain/knocking off a bracket) Once I pushed a couple of little blobs of wax on the the worst offenders my lips slid over them nicely. The wire at the top right had side is definitely more exposed at the end of the last bracket and my right central incisor and right lateral incisor and definitely closer together.
Progress in a week, hurray!

No pain at all though. Still constantly aware of my oral scaffolding. I wonder if that will ever change? Enjoy Sunday everyone.

[DaisySmith]

Day 8 - 27th January

Something weird has happened. My braces have shrunk! Well, obviously, that's not possible. However when I woke up this morning they just felt different, smaller, less obtrusive, less alien, less vindictive. (I realise how dramatic I sound/am.) But it's really true. Seven days in braces and the last couple of days have flown, which can only mean they can't have been that bad. I haven't popped any pills for days. The first two or three days I was watching the clock to ensure I was dosed up to the max. I was reading as many blogs as I could for reassurance that the hideousness would soon subside. Now I am thinking about other things. Like right now, I am listening to conference calls for work and taking notes for them (and doing this! Naughty) but I am not being ruled by the constant awareness of B R A C E S. I can smile about life in general. About other things. See.

[DaisySmith]

Still day 8. Very busy day, working from home. Luckily didn't have to do much talking although I think I'm probably much more aware of how I sound than anyone else is. I definitely have a a tiny speech impairment (a bit of a lisp) but from what I've read it should improve. No pain at all. Used a tiny bit of wax on the poky wires and on one or two poky brackets when eating but again, no need for pain relief.

Still eating softish food although can chew on back teeth. Am trying not to over-brush but am rinsing and spitting (at least) after everything I eat. When you see how much debris that comes out it makes you wonder why you don't do this all the time. (Maybe I will from now on!)

My brackets have a definite yellow tinge. I can only put it down to the black tea and coffee I drink... Oh well. Good job I'm not looking for love at this point in my life! Crooked gnashers are one thing, yellow crooked gnashers are quite another!

[DaisySmith]

Day 9 - 28th January.

Slept fine. No wax on in the night and forgot to put any on at all this morning. Have eaten breakfast and lunch without it even though both were soft options. No pain although slight snagging on a bracket up on the top right somewhere but considering where I was at this time last week it is barely worth mentioning in comparison.

Speech is still impaired and this is annoying. Finding myself trying to extend my lips unrealistically further out than I can, to stop my braces interfering with them. I think this is either going to be a time thing or a 'get used to it' thing. It's only slight and now there's no real discomfort, it's simply the most obvious negative about the braces right now.

Having said that, if someone offered me a couple of hours out of these things I'd say yes! (Only a couple though, don't want to delay progess too much!)

[jenna88]

Hi DaisySmith, I have just read through your diary so far and you have had me in kinks!! Very humorous! I had 4 rubber expanders fitted yesterday on the top and my teeth feel like I have huge bits of burger (or something meaty n big) stuck there, very annoying!! Slight pain when I eat, and close my teeth together. I am getting my upper right canine exposed on the 21st Feb so I am excited about getting that little blighter in its correct position *hallelujah*. I will also be getting a quad helix expander fitted soon and then braces to follow (not sure of date yet). I shall look forward to reading your updates!

[DaisySmith]

Hi DaisySmith, I have just read through your diary so far and you have had me in kinks!! Very humorous! I had 4 rubber expanders fitted yesterday on the top and my teeth feel like I have huge bits of burger (or something meaty n big) stuck there, very annoying!! Slight pain when I eat, and close my teeth together. I am getting my upper right canine exposed on the 21st Feb so I am excited about getting that little blighter in its correct position *hallelujah*. I will also be getting a quad helix expander fitted soon and then braces to follow (not sure of date yet). I shall look forward to reading your updates!

Hi jenna88, thanks for your reply! expanders sound a bit scary. I must read up and expand my dental/ortho related knowledge, although I seem to learn something else every time I come on here. I will definitely look up 'quad helix expander'! Sounds like some kind of off-road inflatable dirt bike lol! (me and my imagination!) but good luck with your canine exposure. Once you've been through that lot, braces will be like a weekend in Paris I'm sure!

[DaisySmith]

Picture of my teeth taken an hour before braces.