Orchid's journey (lingual top, bottom ceramics)

[orchid]

I decided to start my own story. Reading other people's stories was very helpful for me when I started considering braces. I'm soon 27 years old. When I was 12 the dentist told me I needed braces. Stupid as I was, I downright refused. How I wish I could go back and tell my inner 12-year-old to shut the hell up and get those braces already Up to 18 years of age, getting braces is free in my country ... what a shame. The dentist did pull out four of my molars though, with the reason that they wouldn't fit in my already crowded mouth.

I've been ashamed of my teeth all my life, always hiding behind closed lips and covering my mouth while laughing. So in october 2014 I went to an orthodontist. He said he could do lingual upper and ceramics lower for 6100 $ (about 4100 £). I decided to go with it and got braced with my upper linguals on december 4th. I like my ortho's office and his staff. In hindsight, I should have gone to another office to get another offer, but I was just so happy that I finally could afford getting braces that I didn't care.

I have crowding in my upper jaw and uneven teeth in my lower. I also have a (class II?) overbite and a deep bite. I haven't got a treatment plan from my ortho, but I will ask for it when I return tomorrow for my FIRST ADJUSTMENT! I will also ask him what kind of result I can expect. I can't imagine that my bite will be perfect with braces only. I know, I know ... I should have asked all of this before getting braced, but I do trust my ortho's skills. I'll write down all the questions for him so I can bring them to him tomorrow. I don't demand a perfect bite either. A functional bite with good-looking teeth will mean the world to me!

I actually don't know the name of my lingual braces, but my lower one's will be Clarity SL. I chose self-ligating because I don't want to worry about staining. I eat colorful things all the time and I can live with them being a bit more noticeable than clear brackets with clear ligatures.

I apologize for the pictures, I know they're not great. As you see, for 7 weeks I've only been braced on my upper arch. Tomorrow I will get my lower ceramics. I'm a bit frustrated since I can't see that much of a result. Some stories here show great progress in just a month. I'm very jealous of that

[orchid]

Omg, the pictures are very big! These next pictures show how my smile looked from the side before getting braced. I have a very pointy arch, I think my ortho called it something fancier, but I can't remember what it was. I also find it very difficult to post these pictures

[orchid]

I've just been to my first adjustment! I also got my bottom self-ligating ceramics fitted. It feels as though my lower lip doesn't quite fit the brace. My lip keeps sliding down when I smile, which annoys me because then it's more obvious I have braces. I wasn't prepared for how thick the brackets would feel. It's like I have a whole set of teeth outside my regular ones. Quite annoying. I will post pictures later tonight.

The ortho told me it would feel tight tonight because my lower teeth are so uneven. My front teeth also hurt a bit when he changed the wire on top. Oh, well. I looked up a bunch of soup recipes for this week. Right now it feels okay, but I remember feeling betrayed the last time when the pain came after 12 hours or so. I thought I would be one of the lucky ones without pain.

I didn't have time to ask my ortho all the questions I wanted to, but I feel good after this adjustment. I'll probably e-mail him in a couple of weeks or so.

[msw]

I soo get what you mean about the ceramic brackets being bigger than expected. I had had metal braces on high school, and so I kind of thought I knew what to expect this second time around. WRONG! I've got ceramic on the top (the social 6) and metal everywhere else, but it took me a LONG time to get used to the clear brackets. For a short time, I even regretted getting the clear brackets and wished I had gone with all metal. Hang in there, girlie! I promise, it'll get better! Getting braces -- even as an adult! EEK! -- was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

[orchid]

I soo get what you mean about the ceramic brackets being bigger than expected. I had had metal braces on high school, and so I kind of thought I knew what to expect this second time around. WRONG! I've got ceramic on the top (the social 6) and metal everywhere else, but it took me a LONG time to get used to the clear brackets. For a short time, I even regretted getting the clear brackets and wished I had gone with all metal. Hang in there, girlie! I promise, it'll get better! Getting braces -- even as an adult! EEK! -- was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

They do feel ridiculously big in my mouth right now! Thank you for you kind words, I'll hope it gets better soon. I accidentally bumped my waterpik real hard into my wire and now my lower front teeth are starting to hurt. Yikes.

Here are my lower brackets in place! It's super difficult to get a good picture of the lower arch. I have some plaque between my lower front teeth that I have to get rid off. Is it possible to go to a hygienist with braces on? ?

[msw]

Yes! You can most definitely see the hygienist with braces. My first dentist appointment with braces -- the hygienist used a fancy thingamabob called a Prophyjet to basically sandblast my teeth with a gritty, lemon-flavored toothpaste-sand. Not fun. At my second appointment, my dentist used the regular (pre-braces) instrument to clean my teeth. Then she used a threader to floss between each and every single one of my teeth. It took a lot longer than usual, but I was just glad they were getting cleaned and that nobody was using a Prophyjet.

[orchid]

I'll make sure to book a cleaning then Thank you for your insight.

Today is not a good day. I slept for 10 hours (pain always makes me very tired) and I can't do anything. I'm hungry but already tired of smoothies and soups. I don't think I can bite into pasta... I hope it gets better soon. My dental routine also takes a bit longer now with the lower arch on. It's harder to use the waterpik properly. I'm not at the stage where I want to rip the thing out of my mouth, but I'm probably going to get in a couple of days

[BeautifulDisaster]

I know what you mean about being embarrassed with your smile and covering your mouth when you laugh. I was the same way pre-braces. I actually think your "before" isn't bad at all. I had so much crowding that they never resembled anything close to "straight."

I had my teeth cleaned lat month. I went to my ortho's office right before the cleaning to have the wire removed, then went back after to have put back in. Luckily, my doctor's and ortho's offices are only about 5 minutes away from each other. If that's a possibility for you, I really recommend it. It helped my hygienist get a better cleaning.

[xpx1]

good progress, very encouraging

[orchid]

Well, I haven't updated in a few weeks because nothing's going on. I posted in another thread about my issues with changes in face shape/structure but I'll try to keep this thread devoted to progress in my teeth. I've noticed a change in my bite, but since I haven't been able to bite together for three months now I don't know if my bite is better or worse

I went to a dentist yesterday for the first time in 3-4 years (my ortho does not count . I didn't have any cavities and he said I was keeping my braces really clean. That made me happy. Although I've been cheating some days, most days I do my routine of brushing, waterpik, mouthwash quite steadily. I'm also going to a hygienist to clean my teeth. I'm very pleased with the zero cavities thing.

My next adjustment (the 2nd one) is March 5th. I've noticed that I press my tongue against my lower teeth quite a lot now so I guess I'll have to talk to my ortho about that. I still can't bite into a burger properly. I'ts not that it's painful... it just feels weird and pressure-y.

[orchid]

Tomorrow is my second adjustment and I'm quite nervous! I hope I'll get new wires on top and on the bottom. I feel my progress is kind of slow compared to what I'm seeing here on the board. One of my ligatures broke about a week ago, but it's still in the brace and sort of holding the wire in place. I didn't have the energy to call my ortho. I've seen some movement on top. My canines are straighter and I've also developed quite a gap on my left side. It looks ridiculous

I just want my two front teeth to get in line! From the side, my teeth still look terrible. I've also felt my bite shifting a lot. My jaws feel tired and I'll have to talk to my ortho about that. I'll also talk to him about my facial changes but I know his answer will be "you're probably just losing weight", which I'm not...

Here's my update for the upper arch. I need the help of my boyfriend to shoot my lower arch so I'll post that later. The progress is so slow... My teeth look longer in the third picture. This is partly because I'm smiling bigger but also because they are straightening out ... I guess.

[orchid]

So I had my second adjustment today. It was funny because there were these students there who'd never seen lingual braces before. The assistant asked me if it was okay for them to watch and I said that it was. They were "oooh-ing" and "aaah-ing" while my ortho talked them through the whole thing. It was cute, but I'm just tired of this thing. Quite a contrast.

My ortho did not change my upper wire. He said it wasn't ready yet, what the heck that means. He changed one ligatures that was broken and now I can feel some soreness around that bracket. I wonder why he didn't change all the ligatures and just kept the wire. It feels as though the pressure is uneven now? I'm worried it will affect my progress somehow.

He did change my lower wire, into a 0.18 or something like that. He said that next time, which will be in 6 weeks, he'll change both of the wires. I just want RESULTS. Wearing braces is really a good way to enhance your patience.

[orchid]

Okay, so I'm a bit upset. I went to a regular dentist 3 weeks ago and he said I had no cavities. I forgot to mention the brown part on my front tooth that's been bugging me for a year or so, but I was so happy that I just forgot. Now I see that it must be some sort of decay or cavities. I paid a lot for him to tell me what condition my teeth were in and I feel as though he missed to check my front teeth. He was just so concerned about my braces and my bite that he probably didn't notice.

Grr. Now I have to call them again, wait a month or something for an appointment. Walking around with what clearly seems to be decay bugs me a lot. Oh, and a ligature broke so I had to go into my ortho's office a couple of days ago. I'm tired of dentists and orthos and braces



EDIT: Sorry for the big and gross picture.

[orchid]

So going in to my third adjustment on monday. Last time, my ortho said I'd be getting new wires on top and bottom arch this time. I'm hoping to see some movement because it's been quite sloooow for me. The last month or so I've been eating more like I used to, pre-braces, that is. I've been eating more salads and chewing my way through raw broccoli and cauliflower. It takes some time but I've missed raw vegetables so much. Raw carrots cut in to pieces is still hard for me so I stay away from those.

My bite keeps shifting, hopefully for the better. I no longer wake up at night due to clenching jaw. I do have some mild TMJ pain in my right joint but it's getting better and better. It feels as though I'm getting more and more used to living with braces although I'm still tired of them. I've been slacking a bit with my waterpik. I have to keep that up!

Here are some new progress pictures. Nothing has really happened since the last picture, but I like this ritual of posting new ones before my adjustment. The pictures are quite big. Next time I'll make them smaller so it's easier to compare.

[orchid]

So ... I went in for my third adjustment today. I was a bit sore in my front teeth before I got there, sometimes I get randomly achy teeth throughout the month. Nothing big. But let me tell you, when my ortho started to put my new wires on, it was pure hell.

He put rectangular wire on both of my arches. He also put a powerchain between to teeth where a gap has developed. Closing this gap will, according to the ortho, help my stubborn front tooth get in line since it will create more space for it. He also filed a bit more between my front teeth, upper and lower. When I look in the mirror now it seems as though my front tooth has got a thicker ligature on, I've never seen this and he didn't tell me about it either. He's very good at telling me what he does if I ask him, but I didn't since I didn't know he did something special to that tooth. Has anybody gotten a thicker ligature (I don't think it's a steel wire) to one tooth?

The biggest thing though was the pain. My adjustments has never hurt before, but this one was excruciating. Getting that rectangular wire in line and putting the ligatures on ... I was sweating all over the chair and ready to burst into tears at any moment. I even thought I was going to faint after a while. It hurt so much and although my ortho tried to be gentle, there simply wasn't any way to make it more comfortable. Halfway through he asked me if I wanted a pill of some sort. I still don't know what he meant... the pill would not have worked that fast anyway.

So now I'm in rectangular wires and on a soup and smoothie-diet. It would be really nice if my stubborn tooth could get in line.