Dude Braces @ 25 --- MapleLeafMan888 My Story

[Kipepeo]

Good luck tomorrow, Maple Dude!! I'm sure you'll report back with your experience, and how your mouth is feeling.

[kids041]

Good Luck tomorrow!!!! Keep us updated

[anedia]

Tomorrow's the day!!! Good luck

[PaisleyGrrl81]

Good luck and here's an early congratulations!! Don't forget to post pics, and let us know how everything went. Don't be as anxious as I was... it's a waste of energy -- it's easy-peasy!

[mapleleafman888]

Hey thanks everyone for the well wishes, I'm sure I'll be fine until I press the button on the elevator and step inside. It's pretty much official when that happens. lol.

25 days flew by since I booked, today feels like eternity!

I will for sure post pics before I have my first braced meal---

[JeniK]

Good luck!!

[chichi]

Good luck today! It'll be a piece of cake

[MissRed]

Best of luck today!

[PaisleyGrrl81]

[chichi]

This.

Or do we have the first ever death-by-bracing?

[mapleleafman888]

This.

Or do we have the first ever death-by-bracing?

HAHA! You guys are awesome! This is actually mapleleafman888's lawyer--- How did you all know? All jokes aside...

I did survive. This is how it went:

12:30---Financial and paper signing, basically handing over my life to the ortho for the next 1.5 years.

12:45---a very eccentric dental assitant takes impressions and asks me for what choice of flavor I want then forgets to put the flavor in the lower arch but remembers to put root beer in the upper arch which she leaves on my teeth for too long to harden---the putty comes off the tray when she tries to yank it off; it takes a crowbar and a jackhammer to take the putty off my teeth...bulky canines, yeah that's it! She proceeds to tell me I am all done and tells me I can go home, to which I reply---but I'm going for the full meal deal today!

12:50---Assistant inserts cheek retractors and tongue retractors with auto suction tube and I almost gag.

1:00---all cleaning and polishing and etching and-and-and-and is done...doc places lower/upper 6/7's then finishes lower arch bracket placement

2:00 doc leaves for about 15 minutes for his afternoon jog, comes back shaking and places the upper brackets. Doc builds molar build ups and shaves them down too far and builds them up again. MMMMM that resin dust sure tastes almost as good as flavorless impression putty doc.

3:30 all is done, thin flexi wires in upper and lower are placed.

I'm now 8 hours in and the only pain I feel is in my lower back from lying in that overused ortho chair for a couple hours. My mouth feels tight, but there's no pain. Yet.

I've found swishing water violently around in my mouth after meals clears 90% of the foreign substances out, leaving brushing way easier. Baked cheese: not a good idea as it hardens around the brackets.

My first braces food: a grape. Followed by another and then several more. Spaghetti and chicken round out this one. Eating this meal probably took about 30 mins, it doesn't hurt bite or chew--I just can't chew with these molar build ups as my front centrals are my only touching teeth!

2 people that I told I was getting braces didn't even notice. I didn't say anything. First comment by a noticing human being " You look so cute with braces"

Here are the photo's eh.

[chichi]

I'm glad you made it through! That was a really long appointment, by the way.

Your braces look great, but they look too good for the first day. You've already got the little colored dots off, your teeth are as white as the brackets, and they barely even look crooked. What is this sorcery?

[mapleleafman888]

Well I'm glad someone noticed...

I spent the last 6 weeks before braces using colgate optic white toothpaste and the same brand of mouthwash.

2) Immediately after my appointment I went into the ortho's bathroom, had one look in the mirror and I was like "these colored dots look hideous and proceeded to scratch them off...with my finger nail, this worked instantly to remove all colored nastyness.

3) I had some shaving and reduction done to soften the appearance of my fangs and rough incisal edges. No my teeth aren't super crooked, just somewhat mildly crowded with rotated incisors. The bite issues are my main reason for going for braces (lots of space to close vertically as shown in the 2 left photos.

[chichi]

1. Well all that brushing with whitening toothpaste worked

2. I used the fingernail method to remove the dots too... they really were hideous.

3. My bite's all messed up on the side with the fang... I think my crossbite is starting to move over to the correct side, so that's exciting


How are you feeling today?

[Woobster]

12:50---Assistant inserts cheek retractors and tongue retractors with auto suction tube and I almost gag.

I'm glad it's not just me. That sucker thing is the devil!

I was not a huge fan of the etching either. It made my teeth super sensitive until the assistant sealed them.

Glad you're doing well... I hope this week isn't too rough!