GillyWeed's Adventure with Braces!

[GillyWeed]

Hi!

I’ve been on this site for the past few months, mostly reading up on all your wonderful journeys thus far. I decided this past December that I wanted to get braces. I went mad looking through all the information on the net; AW, youtube, various different blogs, EVERY Ortho site in Toronto. You can say I got slightly obsessed.
I decided to book some consultations (I went to 5!) and find out what the deal was inside my mouth. My teeth have never really bothered me with the exception of my one “snaggle tooth,” my top right canine. Otherwise I’m good, or so I thought... turns out I’m not so good :’(
I have:
-moderate crowding on both bottom and top arches
-3.5mm overjet
-a 50% overbite (deepbite) leading to chipping of the teeth (nothing too bad yet)
-slight protrusion
-upper front teeth are to the left of the facial midline by 3mm
-class II maloclussion on my right side due to the crowded upper right canine

My treatment recommendation is braces for about 1-1.5years and the extraction of 1 upper right bicuspid (premolar).
With the exception of having my perfectly healthy bicuspid pulled *tear* the treatment plan sounds great to me. I really love the Ortho I decided to go with. He’s the only one that spent the entire consultation with me. He also addressed my face and profile and how treatment could potentially change things, something none of the doctors even brought up. PLUS he’s a Prof at the University of Toronto, so if he’s teaching future Orthodontists, he must know what he’s doing and he must be really good at it.

I had my consultation on March 1st and I’ve finally got my initial deposit saved up ($2000.00!) I have my records appointment this Thursday (tomorrow!) at noon and I am soo excited. I know a lot of people my age dread the thought of having braces. My friends think it’s completely unnecessary and a waste of money but this is something I want to do for myself so I’M DOING IT!!! It is a HUGE financial burden to take on, the largest amount of money I’ve ever spent but I know it will be well worth it.

By the way, I am a 23 year old University student who works part-time as a gymnastics coach. I will be getting traditional metal braces on both my bottom and top arches. I figure since I’m either at school, at home with my guy or coaching kids, the metal in my mouth won’t be too big of a deal.

I think that is all for now. I am super excited to be starting this journey and I cannot wait to be braced! I’m hoping to be a bona fide metal mouth by the end of the month.

Thank you all for sharing your stories and I hope you will share mine with me

-G

[BetsyBug]

Hi Gilly!!!! Your teeth sound a lot like mine except instead of an overjet I have a negative overjet. Aside from that seems like we have a pretty similar case.
I'm sure your investment in your healthy teeth will definitely pay off in the long run. I have metal uppers and lowers as well, and really I don't mind them. I don't think I was ever real self conscious about my metal braces but I was self conscious about the lisp I have with the bite turbos I have for my deep bite. Luckily I have adapted to them now and I barely lisp at all. So if for some reason they decide you need molar build ups or bite turbos relax they really aren't as bad as they sound. It may take a few weeks to get used to them though.


Anyhoo!!! welcome can't wait to see you progress.....

[GillyWeed]

Thanks for the warm welcome, BetsyBug! Your metal brackets look great! I hope I can pull mine off just as well.

So, I had my records appointment last Thursday and it went really well. I got my moulds done, was sent for x-rays and that was that! Turns out I will be getting my uppers fitted first followed by my lowers a couple of months later because of my over bite, so no molar build-ups or bite blockers for me My extraction is set to take place on May 2nd (terrified!) and my uppers are to be placed exactly a week later on May 9th. I am soooo excited! I really wanted to get the extraction done this week but my girls have a competition this weekend and I can’t imagine having a huge hole in my face while smiling for team photos :s so next week it is!

I really wanted to have an idea of what braces would feel like so I purchased some wax , rolled it into little balls and placed them on my teeth (yeah, i’m that silly)! Obviously wax is so much smoother than a metal bracket but it actually showed me what my lips will look like with the brackets on them. Super dweeby but really funny.

As i mentioned in my intro, I’m only having a single bicuspid pulled. I know it is common practice to pull 4 but my Ortho doesn’t believe I need that much room. I was just wondering if anyone else on this board has had only a single tooth pulled? Does your mouth seem symmetrical?

-G

[BetsyBug]

I haven't had any extractions but I may be having a rogue babytooth (premolar on my right lower arch) its about twice as wide as a normal premolar is and is causing most of my crowding problems. I'm not sure if the ortho is going to be able to expand my arch enough to straighten out my lower arch problems.

As far as symmetry. It is really important in orthodontia to have symmetry. I doubt that your ortho would have just one tooth removed and feel like they couldn't still give you a symmetrical smile. If you have questions about it I would urge you to talk to your ortho in detail before you have it done. Also i would suggest finding out if he has any alternate plans that might work for you that doesn't include extractions.

Thanks for the compliment - I'm not sure how well I'm pulling off the braces but they are there now and I have learned to live with them I don't look in the mirror and cringe but they are still pretty weird sometimes. I think the best way to think about it is that they aren't ugly and strange for an adult and embrace them as well as you can and have fun with them if you can. (that's why I have the colored ligs) if they need to be there fine, but I'm not going to take myself so seriously that I can't have what little fun they can provide me

[GillyWeed]

So I had my extraction earlier today and oh my what a strange experience it was. Not nearly as bad as I imagined but still pretty freaky.
My dentist is wonderful and before she began she explained everything she was going to do and told me I would feel no pain only pressure and my oh my was there pressure! As she tugged on my tooth my head was jerking from side-to-side and I could hear and feel my tooth breaking off from the bone:s All in all it took about 15mins from when I sat in the chair to when I left. Its been about 2 hours since and I can feel the pain creeping up. I took 2 tylenol extra strength and I'm hoping that will keep the pain at bay. The bleeding had slowed but it started up again and I placed a soaked teabag on the extraction site... I am crossing my fingers that a dry socket doesn't develop. I get braced in exactly one week. Can't wait!

[maeby]

Congratulations on making another step on the journey, GillyWeed!

I have to say that I really identify with the obsessive-ish research you did and even putting wax on your teeth to see what braces would look like on you! (I just used gum though. Yours is much more clever.)

Anyway, it sounds like you have a great dentist and a great ortho and I can't wait to see your progress! Good luck!

[Acklay]

Glad things went well for you when you had your extraction! I didn't have to have any extractions as part of my orthodontic treatment, but a couple of years ago I had all four of my wisdom teeth cut out. (all at the same time) I opted to be put out during the procedure - I just couldn't stand the thought of watching as they pull my teeth from my mouth!

I hope things go well for you when you get your braces on. For me it was nowhere near as bad as I expected, though I'll admit I was ready for the worst!

[GillyWeed]

Thanks for the words of support, Maeby and Acklay:)

Tomorrow's the day and I am soo excited! Top braces come on @10:00am... I'm definitely going to have a hard time falling asleep tonight.
I'm going to figure out how to post photos and hopefully I'll have some up by the end of the week.

-G

[NICURN85]

Good luck as you start your journey tomorrow!! Keep us posted tomorrow as to Warrenfon how everything goes in the morning!!

[GillyWeed]

I am officially a METAL MOUTH!!! Well half a metal mouth but it feels sooo good to have legitimately started this journey:D

I arrived @ my ortho's office at 9:55am and was promptly seen at 10am. My Ortho took me back to the treatment area, briefly explained what he was going to do, went over my treatment plan once again and asked if I had any questions. I didn't so we began! He did a quick clean of my teeth and then began to glue the brackets on and cured them with the lovely blue light. I was then asked to rinse my mouth out and then I got to choose my lig color (yay fun!) I chose dark purple and I quite like them. The brackets are a lot smaller than I thought they'd be which I'm thrilled about.
Today is day 2 and I have no pain just a slight bit of tightness. I don't know if I should be concerned because I was told that I should expect my mouth to feel quite sore this morning but nothing:s I guess I'll just wait and see how things go until June 19th, that's when I have my first adjustment.
I haven't had to change my eating habits at all because as I mentioned, I have no pain. And since the brackets are so tiny brushing and flossing has been a synch.
I'm currently using a bit of wax on my 2 back molars on the right side because the hooks keep digging into my cheeks. Otherwise everything is good and braces aren't as bad as I thought they'd be:)

-G

[GillyWeed]

I finally figured out how to post photos

This is kind of an awkward smile but it illustrates what parts of my braces are seen when I speak


Left side


Right side


Overjet/Protrusion


I'll make sure to take some pictures of my arches next.

It's day 4 of being upper braced and there is still like no pain, it's weird. There is the slightest bit of tenderness in my first molar on the left side but it's fleeting. Either I have a super tough mouth or these things aren't working the way they are supposed too... Otherwise I am really happy with my braces and I cannot wait to start seeing some changes

*also HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all the braced mommies <3

-G

[GillyWeed]

Hey AW,

So it's been a week! I have had my braces for 7 days and you know what, it hasn't been bad at all. I haven't had any pain since I got them on and the feeling of tightness has subsided so I am feeling really good
As I mentioned previously my extraction site is healing so well and with no pain so I think I'm just lucky when it comes dealing with pain in my mouth.
I think my mouth has toughened up for the most part the only thing that's causing me any trouble is the fact that the wire on my right side seems to be poking out of the last bracket more than before... Maybe a sign of movement.
I cannot wait till my snaggle tooth canine starts to come down and fall in line with the rest of the bunch.
I'm still at the stage where I'm fascinated and utterly intrigued with my braces. Surprisingly, I quite like the look of them and I can't wait to get my bottoms and really get this show on the road.
All in all, it has been a great first week. Here's to the next year!

-G

[catgyrl]

Hi Gillyweed!

I wanted to chime in to let you know that I also had only one bicuspid extracted (the same tooth you had pulled, just on the left instead if the right). My upper teeth were pushed over to the right, so he extracted one on the left and moved everything back over. It's been just over 2 years, and you would never know I had a tooth pulled. Everything is perfectly symmetrical. You can check out a before/after (current) pic in this thread:

http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... 13&t=42035

(Sorry, that's a bit of a whiny thread about me wanting to get my braces off. Don't let it discourage you. LOL. I was super-excited about my braces the whole time, until a month or so ago.)

Good luck to you!

[GillyWeed]

Cathy, Thank you so much! I feel soo reassured I trust my Ortho completely but it makes me feel so much better to actually see a real person who has gone through the same thing! Your teeth look AAAmazing by the way--I cannot wait until mine look like that

*still no pain... I hope these things are working*

[kitsune]

Glad to hear everything is going so smoothly for you! Normally I have an incredibly high pain tolerance, but when it comes to my mouth, I turn into a huge wuss (I guess this is why I whine in my thread so much). Also, I was one of those "lucky" people who developed dry socket after wisdom teeth removal, so I am happy that you did not have to go through that.

Looking forward to watching your story progress!