Once upon a time... oh wait, wrong story. Actually my story is pretty boring - in a nutshell, I'm a 37 yr old female with crowding and an overbite. Some minor TMJ thrown in for fun, but that's really it.
I've hated my teeth since childhood, so this decision was a long time coming. My parents did give me the opportunity to get braces in my early teens, however I was not the epitome of good judgement at that age and declined (what an arse).
Anyway, about 6 years ago I did have an ortho consult and made it right through records before I chickened out and ran away
. I didn't care for the ortho at that time, he really put me off and it's taken me awhile to tackle the decision again. Having a supportive and loving husband has really helped, I can't deny that! So I manned up, went for an ortho consult in September and made the Big Decision. I really like the ortho this time and that helps tons.
Oct 22 was my records appointment, and I must confess I did break into a cold sweat every time I thought about it. When I had records done the first time, the girl put waaay too much goop in the tray and it all oozed down my throat while it was setting, so I had serious issues breathing and had to fight a Grade A panic attack. I had a wonderful hygenist this time, and confessed my fear, and she did everything she could to help me survive it with a minimum of nasties - yay!
I should also say at this point that my ortho is in a town 4 hrs away from where I live. My husb and I moved a couple years ago but I stayed on with my job (technology being a wonder these days) and work from home but still commute back (far too) regularly. That being the case, and adding to it that the ortho in my old town is wonderful and the creepy scary one from 6 yrs ago is now in the town closest to where I live... it was an easy decision and I can co-ordinate my travelling with ortho apptmts easily.
Anyway, braces went on Nov 5 and thankfully the prof dev course I was supposed to be taking that day was cancelled (yay) so just had a regular office day to face
I'm a worrier, so tons of panic the couple of days before and since my husb couldn't come, my sister was kind enough to come & hold my hand (figuratively). It was a good choice, because we do have a tendency to laugh at everything when we're together and that really helped through the process.
The process itself was not as bad as I thought. The hygenist did a polish, rinse, and then put the cheek spreaders on (hmm, that doesn't sound good! LOL) and that was the start of the major hilarity for my sis and I... oh, for a camera!!! Every time the hygenist would turn away, I'd lift my head and make big eyes at my sis, which she enjoyed very much. Hmm. On second thought, I'm glad we didn't have a camera. After that, she painted on whatever that freezing cold stuff is that opens the pores (?) in the enamel. That was fine, until she rinsed it with water (cold) and blew it off with air (you guessed it, cold). This was by far the worst part for me, because that stuff made my teeth hyper-sensitive so the cold water and air just about had me come right out of the chair. (My teeth are still sensitive from that stuff, so brushing isn't fun.. booo)
My ortho uses the "indirect" method of installing the braces. Back at his office (he actually has his main practice in Calgary - weird), he puts the braces on the mold of my teeth, and then puts a wax tray around them which holds them in place. The trays with brackets attached are taken off the molds and that's what they use to put the braces on me - all at once. Pretty schweet. So, next came glue, and then the trays went in, then the blue light to dry the glue. Trays got peeled off, and extra glue scraped off. Wash, rinse, then my sis and I got to snerfle through the lig colors and pick (pink!) and archwires went on - they weren't bad, there was definitely pressure which felt kind of neat (many faces at my sister during this).
A quick look-over by the ortho and I asked how they expect to fit all my teeth in without extractions... this is where I learned that they'll "lean all my teeth out properly, so they'll stick out for a while. Then the top teeth will be moved back with elastics to remove the overjet and correct the bite". I'm sorry, what? I don't like the sound of "stick out for awhile"! Stick out, as in "eat an apple through a fence" type of stick out? Gah! Oh well, I might have to drink a lot of beer through that phase.
Next worse thing for me came next - because of my deep overbite, I couldn't close my mouth properly as my top teeth hit the brackets. I expected this, but was hoping for molar build-ups (at least 2 small places to chew with!) but no... enter the dreaded bite turbos - currently the bane of my existence. So the ortho glued a turbo on each of the back of my 2 front teeth.. and hey!!! These effing things are pointy at the back. I thought they'd have square ends, you know, but not so much and I'm continually impaling my tongue on them. With the added benefit of having not a tooth in my head touch. How the bloody hell am I supposed to chew??? I received the least helpful answer of all to that, a soft chuckle and "you'll figure it out". Gee, thanks a bunch. Grr.
So that's pretty much the story of me! Nothing too exciting. I'll do a separate post with the dreaded before pics, braced pics, and a bit of a synopsis of how I found the first couple of days.
Thanks for taking the time to read my drivel, and I really appreciate the support - this forum is a godsend!!
:)
She sure helped me laugh through it, though!! Hopefully my teeth start to shift as fast as yours, fingers crossed! And thanks re straws, I didn't think of that but it might make life easier haha
. I love the pink ligs! Your teeth look very straight by the way. Those Bite turbos looks like some real beasts too! I hope they are treating you kindly 
