Damon Clear - aspiromusings braced @33 story

[metalliKa]

Hey, your teeth are looking nice! The monthly cleaning, is that an extra cost or is it covered under your ortho treatment? I wish I get cleaning monthly!

[aspiromusings]

Hey, your teeth are looking nice! The monthly cleaning, is that an extra cost or is it covered under your ortho treatment? I wish I get cleaning monthly!

Hey metalliKa - thanks! I myself can't really believe that movement has been happening quite so quickly

Unfortunately the monthly cleaning is not included in the ortho treatment package since my regular dentist is at another clinic and doesn't have the extensive orthodontic experience I would've liked for my treatment

That said preventative is always better than cure I say, I'd much rather fork out a bit more to get cleaning done regularly than have bits of teeth decay and need fixing down the road =)

Hows your journey going?

[metalliKa]

Hey, your teeth are looking nice! The monthly cleaning, is that an extra cost or is it covered under your ortho treatment? I wish I get cleaning monthly!

Hey metalliKa - thanks! I myself can't really believe that movement has been happening quite so quickly

Unfortunately the monthly cleaning is not included in the ortho treatment package since my regular dentist is at another clinic and doesn't have the extensive orthodontic experience I would've liked for my treatment

That said preventative is always better than cure I say, I'd much rather fork out a bit more to get cleaning done regularly than have bits of teeth decay and need fixing down the road =)

Hows your journey going?

I share your sentiment. I always feel that I'm not brushing or cleaning my teeth adequately. I'm a strange person in the sense that I love visiting the dentist...having my teeth polished and probed at. LOL And overall, I just like how clean my teeth feels after.

My progress is coming along...though I wish I was done already. I think the novelty of having braces kind of wears off for me after the third month because the major part of teeth movement occurred within that time period. Now it's just a whatever-goes story for me. I hope to get power chains to close some minor gaps when I go in for my 4th adjustment this coming Friday.

[buffon85]

your smile looks completely different!! nice progress!!

[aspiromusings]

your smile looks completely different!! nice progress!!

Hey you long time no see! hows your journey coming along?

Thank you, I'm pretty chuffed as well hehe

[aspiromusings]

Update at Day 154!

Hi friends in braces!

Its been almost 3 weeks since my last ortho appointment so I guess I should update on my current progress

The good news was that my progress is good and at my next appointment (which is next week!) I will be getting my bottom row braces as well

I mentioned that I had begun to notice some gaps on my right side between my lateral incisor and canine as they were moving to close the gap where my second premolar was => the outcome of this conversation was me getting power chains put in as you can see in the pic below



I will not lie and will say that getting powerchains put in has thus far been the most unpleasant experience of my orthodontic journey so far (and that includes extractions!), that said once it was all said and done and I was leaving the clinic is was business as usual again

According to my ortho once my bottom rows are put on (next week) I am basically looking at less than a year to be debraced, I am pretty excited

Here's a snapshot of my progress so far (Day zero => Day 2 => Day 150)



You can see a bit of imbalance between my top and bottom rows now - its because the arch on my top row has widened, hoping that the installation of the lower braces will solve this

[ItsFreyja]

Great progress! Nice to see how your bite opened up some just from the straight wire. Will you need bite blocks when the lower braces go on?

[aspiromusings]

Great progress! Nice to see how your bite opened up some just from the straight wire. Will you need bite blocks when the lower braces go on?

Thanks ItsFreyja! I'm pretty stoked

The whole point of waiting for a few months for my top row to move "up" a little before putting on the bottom row was to prevent bite blocks but I MAY have the "pleasure" of experiencing them, watch this space in the next few weeks for the next update =s

How is your journey going?

[ItsFreyja]

The whole point of waiting for a few months for my top row to move "up" a little before putting on the bottom row was to prevent bite blocks but I MAY have the "pleasure" of experiencing them, watch this space in the next few weeks for the next update =s

How is your journey going?

Sounds like you're a pro with the blender already, so I bet bite blocks would be no big deal for you. Do you have a great smoothie recipe to share? I'm kind of bored with my usual breakfast shake & would love to try something new!

[aspiromusings]

Sounds like you're a pro with the blender already, so I bet bite blocks would be no big deal for you. Do you have a great smoothie recipe to share? I'm kind of bored with my usual breakfast shake & would love to try something new!

Hi ItsFreyja

Sure I'd love to trade recipes hehe, here goes: -

- 1x Scoop of Whey Protein (Milk Chocolate Flavour)
- 1 x Banana
- 1 x tbsp of Chia Seeds
- 2 x tbsp of Ground flax
- 1 x scoop of instant/rolled oats
- 1 (large ) tbsp of peanut butter or almond butter
- 1 - 1.5 cups of unsweetened almond milk

=> Blend it all in good

I normally keep the banana and almond milk in the fridge the night before

I just don't think you can go wrong with chocolate and peanut better

[ItsFreyja]

I just don't think you can go wrong with chocolate and peanut better

I agree!! I've been worried that the chocolate-flavor protein powder might be gross, though? (I'm kind of a chocolate snob.) But a chocolate-peanut butter-banana smoothie sounds amazing, so I think I might have to try the chocolate when my can of vanilla runs out.

The vanilla is pretty good with fruit. My usual recipe is frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries, peaches, whatever), scoop of vanilla whey protein, milk, and maybe some plain yogurt if I have a container on hand.

[aspiromusings]

The whole point of waiting for a few months for my top row to move "up" a little before putting on the bottom row was to prevent bite blocks but I MAY have the "pleasure" of experiencing them, watch this space in the next few weeks for the next update =s

How is your journey going?

Sounds like you're a pro with the blender already, so I bet bite blocks would be no big deal for you. Do you have a great smoothie recipe to share? I'm kind of bored with my usual breakfast shake & would love to try something new!

ItsFreyja so I had my bottom rows installed and just as you predicted I have had bite blocks installed, so far so good though though I have been only mostly soft foods since Friday - pics to come... =)

[ItsFreyja]

Aw, sorry to hear that. I didn't want to be right I hope that the bite blocks work quickly and that you won't need them long.

[aspiromusings]

My latest orthodontic adventures was just last weekend and I am now fully braced top and bottom!




Getting the bottom braces on was much like when the top row was put on, those suckers were on in less than 30 minutes - I took tylenol before the session which was a good thing as she also put in a very tight wire for my top braces.

As you can see there is quite a bit of aligning that needs to happen to my bottom row, the arch basically needs to "open up" in order to match the progress on the top row, you may also notice bottom wire doesn't go all the way to the back my left hand side, this is because I have a crown there and she wants to leave it alone till a much later stage

Question - can someone tell me what the metal "T" things she put on the top are? She explained that it was to close gaps specifically those between my laterals and my cuspids but I forgot what she called them

The bottom rows have so far been giving me a bit more grief than the top rows when they were put on, I have several ulcers (ouch!) making eating a bit of an adventure in itself

She also put in bite blockers at the back of my top row which are these cement blocks meant to prevent my top teeth from coming into contact with my bottom braces - they're not fun but not too unbearable

That said after about a week of the bottom braces my top and bottom rows are touching again

Here's my progress so far, changes are becoming a lot more subtle I think but I have noticed that my smile is getting "wider" in pictures

[ItsFreyja]

Looking good! I bet those lower incisors straighten out really quickly for you. The things crimped onto your upper archwire are called ball hooks; looks like a more thoughtful alternative to just putting a powerchain over the front 6.