I was reading a forum blog today and was inspired to start my own little blog regarding my journey.
Well, so far no braces are on, BUT i am taking steps in preparing for them. I never new there was so much involved!!
First visit to orthodontist was OK. Not scary, nothing happened apart from him reading off some numbers to his assistant and then we were discussing a few things and he told me the cost... my mouth dropped...
THEN i asked "do you do payment plans?" and he said "of course!" so then I was more like 
. anyway... i was sent to get x-rays. I had the x-rays done the next day and was back in his office about 3 days later. "You have 2 baby teeth still!" he told me. I was shocked by this. BUT they are decaying and need to come out, they are coincidently the 5th tooth along from the front, top and bottom on the right (sorry I am not really good with teeth names! I am sure I will know them backwards by the end of my braces! haha! - the opposite teeth on the left side have to come out to to even it up) I have NO bottom wisdom teeth, and to my surprise i have TWO top wisdom teeth, one which has erupted and one which is impacted. I thought "oh god... surgery and hospital it is!" then i automatically thought, there goes $3000!!! Anyway he then took impressions of top and bottom teeth with this weird blue minty tasting (thank god) stuff stuff. Which wasn't to bad, I just was hoping that my baby tooth down the bottom (with a hole in it!) didnt get attached to the stuff when it came out of my mouth! lol. then i had to bite on some wax to take my bite impression. My two top front teeth do not feel that strong. I never eat an apple without cutting it up, basically any hard fruit etc, I never bite straight onto my front teeth, so, when the ortho said "bite harder on this" i was like NOOOOOOOO!!! lol. he then made the wax a bit softer and this worked.ANYWAY.. I had a referral to a dentist and a surgeon. I needed to see the dentist to get digital x-rays which are really close shots of the teeth as the radiology place can't get really close shots. So i thought, ok, that is easy enough. Went to the dentist, ended up getting 3 x-rays and then a CLEAN!! Now, i didnt think my teeth were that dirty. I know i had a few bits of plaque and crap stuck in between them from not flossing properly, but he cleaned them and I felt like a new person! lol they were so white AND i actually have gaps between my teeth! lol.... I also showed him my big xray and he mentioned that he can pull 5 of the teeth out in the chair. However, the impacted tooth is sitting RIGHT near my sinus, and therefore if I was to get it surgically removed, I risk damaging my sinus!! so needless to say, I dont think that one will be coming out in a hurry! - has anyone experienced this before? Impacted top right wisdom tooth near the sinus?? I would love to hear from you.
The dentist also said that they can "put me to sleep" in the chair, this is not general aesthetic, just some needle thing they stick in your arm and you get all drowsy, and wake up feeling fine, and not remembering the operation. I like that idea! BUT at $600 an hour, I was thinking mmmm maybe i can tough it out... not after the clean and how much of a wuss i was then, i am thinking I will be going to sleep! haha. He said pulling the teeth would only take about 30 minutes. Here is hoping...
I have another appointment with my orthodontist on Tuesday 19th Feb. I am concerned, as he said that he needs to put in separators, size bands and then fit a lingual arch. This is to be done over 3 appointments, one per week. He said that this needs to be done BEFORE the teeth are extracted. Now, is this normal?? how can I have this gadget in my mouth while they remove my teeth?? OR does he need to make sure it fits etc and then teeth are extracted and THEN this goes on. HENCE why I am seeing him Tuesday, to discuss this further as I am really really confused. I also need to speak to him about what kind of braces I am having, I am pretty sure he quoted me the plain metal ones, but I wonder if I can get self ligating ones? I think they seem to look nicer. Also I enquired about ceramic clear braces for just the top front teeth, and was talked out of that idea when he mentioned they break easily, they stain, the brackets are bigger and you need them on longer as they are not as strong. Well, there goes that idea!!
Anyway, I am hoping to get some answers and a plan in place on Tuesday so that I can get these teeth out (scared about that...) and then get the braces fitted!! All this build up is just making me crazy, I just want the process started.
If you can please give me some information about the lingual arch and if it is meant to be put in before teeth are pulled that would be great
i mean im sure the orthodontist knows what he is doing, and I am probably confused and misheard him, but its nice to know that I have this forum to type my thoughts etc in.well, I will check in later, probably next Tuesday after my orthodontist appointment! I have read that seperators are painful, so I hope they arent to bad for me! lol. Knowing my luck they will hurt
Ciao for now
hopefully soon I can!!
have a great day!!
