Damon Clear - aspiromusings braced @33 story

[aspiromusings]

Congrats on your 3 months! I can't wait to get there myself..

I've been mostly okay, thank you Today I'm celebrating one month in my lowers, and in a few days it'll be 3 months in my uppers. I hope you're right about upper gaps closing faster:D I had my extraction 3 months ago and I can already see the gap slightly closing:) Good luck!

Thanks twentyseven! countdown 3 days! I'm a bit excited mainly because after a month or so in braces my top row has had a lot of movement and based on where it is now I can see why I need the extractions, there's no way my canines can come down otherwise

how are your gaps? I read somewhere else on this forum that it can take anything from 4 months to a year to close depending on the individual which is a bit concerning but hey you probably don't want it to move too fast too in case of resorption

[twentyseven]

Congrats on your 3 months! I can't wait to get there myself..

I've been mostly okay, thank you Today I'm celebrating one month in my lowers, and in a few days it'll be 3 months in my uppers. I hope you're right about upper gaps closing faster:D I had my extraction 3 months ago and I can already see the gap slightly closing:) Good luck!

Thanks twentyseven! countdown 3 days! I'm a bit excited mainly because after a month or so in braces my top row has had a lot of movement and based on where it is now I can see why I need the extractions, there's no way my canines can come down otherwise

how are your gaps? I read somewhere else on this forum that it can take anything from 4 months to a year to close depending on the individual which is a bit concerning but hey you probably don't want it to move too fast too in case of resorption

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you! It's gonna be just fine Make sure to let us know how the extractions went!

I just uploaded my latest progress photos in my thread, my gaps is slightly closing, I think it's about 2 mm smaller than in the beginning (since January). But we only started the process of closing one month ago so it seems like a really fair result.

[aspiromusings]

today's the day!

Last day with my premolars! so excited and nervous!

[aspiromusings]

So i did it, after a mere 30 minutes or so my premolars were removed, it was a fairly painless procedure (just heard a bit of cracking and some pressure) and to be honest I have been eating like normal, the only thing I'm doing differently is brushing refraining from the electric toothbrush and going old school, avoiding the extraction area

She replaced my wire so it all nice and white and clean again

I am told 1/3 of the extraction gap closes within the first month, the other 2/3 can take up to 6 months =S

Here's a pic from the front (day 35 since top braces on)



The extraction spots (WARNING: Graphic content! )





If there is one piece of advise I can now share is I have no idea why I thought it was gonna be such a big deal, just like that the most invasive part of my journey is done so if you have your extractions coming up just now you'll be fine and just that one step closer to perfect teeth

Now then, off to practice how to smile without exposing my gaps

[6bug]

[quote="aspiromusings"](4) being Asian as well was 100% sure my dentist just wanted to make more money out of me

[/quote]

I'm Asian and I don't get this part. LOL

Anyway, congrats on your journey. I just got braced over a little of a month ago and I can definitely say that aside from having my wisdom teeth extracted at 27 or 28 (my brain forgets)...braces are definitely the best thing I gifted myself.

[aspiromusings]

(4) being Asian as well was 100% sure my dentist just wanted to make more money out of me

I'm Asian and I don't get this part. LOL

Anyway, congrats on your journey. I just got braced over a little of a month ago and I can definitely say that aside from having my wisdom teeth extracted at 27 or 28 (my brain forgets)...braces are definitely the best thing I gifted myself.

LOL well you can't be a real Asian then .. just saying....

I guess at that stage I was not ready to get pieces of metal on my teeth and get teeth extracted, it took another dentist pointing out to me that my overbite would cause issues down the road before I really started seeing this as a possibility, the dentist I was referring to in my first post focused more on the aesthetics benefits of braces, an area that I thought didn't need help

Definitely no regrets getting braces here as well, whilst I can't wait for the final results I am convinced this is one of the best things I've ever done for myself

Good luck with your journey

[buffon85]

I can't believe how fast, teeth are moved by braces! your canine looks almost in the right place.
this forum is trully motivating. on the other hand i feel i have the worst teeth here but i always thought the movement is very slow.

[aspiromusings]

I can't believe how fast, teeth are moved by braces! your canine looks almost in the right place.
this forum is trully motivating. on the other hand i feel i have the worst teeth here but i always thought the movement is very slow.

haha why thank you and yes it does move fast - that said my canines were never that far off, now to wait until the gaps close (could be up to 6 months I've been told) and for you to be able to see my bottom row of teeth when I smile

How's your journey going? I too love the forum as it reminds me that there are other out there going through this as an adult too

[buffon85]

no, they weren't but you could see the difference the second day! amazing!
I am still waiting for my third appointment. it will be a weekend of great decisions!

[aspiromusings]

no, they weren't but you could see the difference the second day! amazing!
I am still waiting for my third appointment. it will be a weekend of great decisions!

Good luck buffon85, definitely for me picking an ortho I could trust (even if she was more expensive) was the most important criterion, after all, you're gonna be stuck with the ortho for a good 2 years lol

Hope to soon welcome you to the club!

[aspiromusings]

Well its been 58 days (aka close to 2 months) since I got my top row braced so I guess I should show some progress pictures, here's a snapshot



As you can see my canines have come down quite a bit and my front row teeth have come forward a bit to line up with the canines. The right canine is a bit more stubborn whereas the left one is almost in line with the rest of my teeth now

The top premolar extractions happened around day 30 and I am at present waiting for the canines to rotate into position and also of course for the gaps to close

One thing that is really obvious now (for me anyway) is how jacked up my teeth were before this which is especially obvious when I compare the top and bottom rows (bottom row is yet to be braced)

And if this is how I feel 58 days into treatment I cant wait to see what the final results will look like!

All the pain, lack of confidence and food abstinence is suddenly worth it

Oh and I am the fittest I've ever been in my life thanks to the brace diet, I have even managed to burn off the elusive belly fat that I've always had despite by best efforts at eating well

[ItsFreyja]

Looking good! Your overbite looks a lot like mine. Lucky you, being able to delay getting banded on the bottom -- what is the timeline for opening up your bite?

[aspiromusings]

Looking good! Your overbite looks a lot like mine. Lucky you, being able to delay getting banded on the bottom -- what is the timeline for opening up your bite?

Thanks ItsFreyja! Your teeth are a lot straighter than mine though lol

Looking at the pictures now I also realised how much straighter the archwire is (day 3 versus day 58)

Well in my case I have opted for Damon clears top and bottom, apparently clear brackets are a lot more abrasive than metal, coupling this with my overbite and bruxism it makes sense that my ortho has opted to wait for the top row to move up a bit before she places on the bottom row brackets =)

The bottom rows are estimated to go on in another 2 months time and my total estimated sentence is around 2 years give or take

[aspiromusings]

I went to my third orthodontic appointment yesterday which was to basically see where I was at post extraction, the gap on my left side is closing nicely however the gap on the right is still a bit stubborn, she did this ribbon shape tie thing between the gaps which is superbly tight to close the gap faster



Aside from that I received 2 pieces of good news, firstly that my bottom braces will not go on for another 4-6 months at least and that it will most probably be on for less than a year only since most of bracework is required for the top row only

The second piece of good news is this means that I will be done either before or within the standard 2 year period

[aspiromusings]

Hullo archwired friends

I know its been a while since my last update but life seems to keep chugging on... moreover I have been finding after a while that I have stopped worrying about when my braces are going to come off and have accepted that this is how I'm going to look for a while hehe

That said its coming up to 120 days so I thought that I'd share my progress with you

As reminder here were my teeth pre-braces

Day Zero



and here is my progress as of day 118



The very last orthodontic appointment was relatively painless, my orthodontist said that in another 2 appointments time my bottom braces will be going on and from there we will be looking at less than a year of brace time - pretty exciting stuff

My extraction gaps have closed about 30% or so but I still have a bit to go

Meanwhile for those who are interested I also go to get my teeth cleaned once a month by my regular dentist to make sure I don't get any decays during my treatment

I am excited at all the progress but am thinking I may even miss my braces a little when they're gone.. sadistic? probably

signing off for now =)