Butterfly's story (braced Nov 2/05, debanded 1/1/07) +pix

[butterfly]

HI!

Three hours ago I was braced (uppers only - lowers follow later). So this will be my diary from now.

So let's start from the beginning!

I am 30 years old female, married, living in the Middle East, born in Western Europe.

The decision to finally fix my teeth came up after I had all four wisdoms surgically removed. Those buggers caused pain for years, but my fear of dentistry made me wait almost too long. The removals (4 individual sessions, weeks and months apart - which was stupid retrospectively) were pure horror for me. So I thought, if the teeth are now ready to be fixed why not looking into options?


September 14 2005:

Orthodontic xrays and photos were taken. The procedure was painless but kind of embarressing. I just don't like grinning to a camera.

September 18, 2005:

The first consultation at "my doctor" (I had several other appointments before choosing this one). I had my molds taken. Lots of questions have been answered. They told me it was not sure which kind of braces I will get - either self ligating or regular. After the doctor's "homework" will be finished they will know more.

September 28 2005:

I went abroad for vacation and visiting my family.

October 30 2005:


A few days after coming back I talked to the ortho on the phone. They told me everything was ready. I would not get selfligating braces on top, because there is too much pressure involved. So i went for transparent ones on top and self ligating on the bottom.


October 31 2005:

I had my teeth cleaned professionally. It was supposed to be painless but cause of some permanently imfected gum areas (I just cannot clean there) there was lots of blood, and it hurt.

BTW this was funny: I told her I will get braces the upcoming week. She asked me how old I am. I replied "what would you guess?" and she said 18, 19, maybe 20. I am 30 !!!!

November 2 2005, 1330: I am braced!!!!!!!

At 1130 I arrived at the orthos office. After a little chitchat they immediatly started to work on me.

I sat down on a regular dentists chair and got the tube in my mouth which wold S.uck the saliva so I won't have to swallow. Then they put the lip spreader in my mouth. This plastic thingie keeps you from closing your mouth. The spreader was the only thing that bothered me in the whole procedure. It makes the lips and the tongue dry - it felt like I have no tongue anymore

First they cleaned my teeth with cold air.

Then they applied some teal blue colored stuff on my teeth that tasted like a mixture of puke and toiled cleaner. I tasted it by mistake - DONT! eek.

After a few minutes they removed the stuff. Then the doctor himself glued the cubes to my teeth (everything else was done by the assistents). This is done with a sort of black light flash light. One cube I moved with my tongue! So he had to do in again. They used ACETONE to remove the bracket.. yes it was real acetone, same stuff like nails! (I should be careful not to s.uck my nails *g*).

The rear teeth were a bit nasty to be glued. This horrible lip spreader squeezed my lips all the time and hurt me! But I tried to be calm - no speaking no moving no swallowing

Finally the things were on, the spreader was removed and my lips touched the braces for the first time. I did NOT like this feeling. It's like barb wire in my mouth and it felt BIG. They looked so small and nice on this plastic toy denture but inside of me they were BIG.

They told me to go the mirror and take a look.... not good!!! they ware all over the place, out of any nice line or order, ugly, which just enhanced the crookednesss.... I was almost crying... damed!!! what did i do... And my lip got caught there all the time. nasty.

But too late!!!

After a small break I had to sit down again. Now the wire was placed. This was a bit uncomfortable, but not painful at all. I felt pressure but it wasnt that bad.

Then I thought I might be bold and ask about colors I wear fashionable glasses on black/strong orange so the assistend insisted to try orange-black (alternating). But it wasnt good... It just enhanced the crookedness of my teeth..... Maybe in a few months?? So i took transparent ones.



my ugly teeth in a close up...... when I mirrored the photo I was shocked. You are kind of used to the sight of your teeth in the mirror, but you never see yourself like others do!

One tooth (upper right lateral) is still unbraced because it is behind the canine.

HOw do I feel right now?

Immediatly after bein braced I didnt feel anything disturbing. About 1 hour later I started to feel pressure. It is EXACTLY THE SAME feeling like the bugging horrible damed wisdom teeth that kept pushing into all my mouth for years!!!

now - 3 hours later - the pressure increased. It is not painful yet, just annoying. I know, very soon pain will kick in. I just KNOW this ugly felling too good. It feels like having my four buggers back to my mouth, just the direction of the push is different....

It feels like I want to chew and brush the gums all the time. WHich i will do now... More later!

[butterfly]

My first meal.

I ate at home, alone, and started with something easy: tuna. later I made myself a sweet potato soup. Soup is no problem at all, despite that i cannot lick my lips properly! Eating tuna was OK. But afterwards I found pieces of fish just EVERYWHERE. eek. So I went to brush for the first time. Doesn't seem to be a big problem! I used the special brushes they gave me and it was OK. I decided to buy a small, strong flashlight for my handbag so I will be able to clean myself even in bad lighting conditions (restaurant restrooms). As expected the ache was much much less after I ate and brushed.

[butterfly]

Sleeping with braces - First night.

I went to sleep very late cause I thought I would be unable to fall asleep unless I am very very tired.

The first night was not very pleasant although to my surprise I found out that it is still possible to lay down on the side of your face (I sleep belly down!).

Before going to bed I brushed once more and flossed - it took me 20 minutes It was hard to thread this "/!"&!$ floss behind the back molars. I decided to trim my beautiful nails to a more comfortable length

First I couldn't really sleep. It was a twilight state of dreaming and sleeping. It must have been two hours at least. I felt the taste of blood in my mouth - I cut the inside of my cheek with some metal despite the wax I put! Not nice. Everytime I bit down while sleeping I woke up with a sharp pain like from a bad tooth. So I took some paracetamol and went back to bed.

Sometimes I thought halfway asleep: "maybe this is just a nightmare and I will wake up a normal person again!".

But, only a little time later, I had to wake up, still with braces on and with a bad taste in a very dry mouth and lips...

[butterfly]

These are my uppers on November 4 2005.
I have no idea how this lateral will ever fit into the arch. There is no extraction planned!

The left molars (right side on the pic) don't hurt at all. I can even eat on this side! I think this is because they are already arch shaped. All other teeth hurt when I bite down, especially the front ones and the canine sticking out.

[butterfly]

OK I am getting paranoid! I noticed something while brushing...

Are there really GAPS between the centrals and between the neighbor on the right??



Hey this is not the plan. I don't want gaps in my front teeth!! It's only 2 days so I guess they will become bigger?

[butterfly]

Last night I had my first teeth related nightmare.

I dreamt I woke up and found out my double parked lateral finally found a free spot and was ready to be lined up with his pointy brother, the protruding canine. (This is my next goal and I think about it all the time - due only in months though). I was happy with what I felt with my tongue but when I looked in the mirror I saw that the order of those two teeth was reversed! The canine was in front and behind it the lateral! I looked like Dracula! Since the lateral is not braced yet I was afraid it would move more and more out of my jaw and fall out! That's what happened... In just minutes the tooth moved and almost fell from the cliff! I called the doc immediatly but I was put on hold with some silly music. It was horrible.

Then I woke up. Mister canine is still there. Doesn't seem to have moved one millimeter.

[butterfly]

I am thrilled

In only 6 days my teeth moved!

here is the proof:



For the flash anim click here




How to eat snickers, mars and all the good stuff

I am a Snickers addict. I cannot imagine not to eat it for 1,5 - 2 years!! But beware: Snickers and mars is the 100% NO-NO food: it is sticky, hard, has nut pieces inside and is sweet!!

But there is hope! Just around the corner! Find yourselves a good italian ice cream shop and get snickers, mars, milky way and all the good stuff as ICE CREAM!!

I had it tonight with a chocolate cake and I am happy! Of course I immediatly brushed thoroughly after that

Thought to share

[hannah164]

Wow Butterfly! That is amazing progress especially after only 6 days! I hope I have that much progress after getting bottom braces on. I also love snickers but I eat them anyways even though I shouldn't.
Good luck with the rest of your treament! Its looking much better already!

-Hannah

[bejay23]

Great Progress Girl!!!

I can't wait until mine start moving like that!

[butterfly]

Tiny update

My teeth feel sort of normal again. No pain, much less bite sensitivity. But some are clicking and sensitive to cold. Gap in front increased. I look like a bunny. Somehow my centrals feel bigger and longer. Sometimes I hit them with my bottoms.

[butterfly]

Today I have a funny mouth feeling. Yesterday night I couldn't eat - again. But no pain at all for today (I even had meat) but the bite feels weird. I think I am getting a deep bite! My lower jaw feels "too small" to fit the upper teeth. When I bite down my upper front teeth don't touch any lowers. The molars meet in unknown positions.... Hope this is normal.

[butterfly]

First Adjustment

I just had my first adjustment!

I had taken an Advil prior to the appointment, but the pain was still pretty bad. When she was working on my front teeth I quietly shed tears. I decided that next time I will take codeine....

My wire has not been replaced but I got a powerchain from the right lateral to the left canine. This hurt really BAD. It's those teeth that hurt the most.. and on those she worked the most. ARGH. Now I feel some pressure but no pain. She said if the clear powerchain stains I can come to replace it... I think I will rather avoid black coffee and red wine for 6 weeks instead going through this hell again

I will put up pics later - I left the camera in the car and my hubby took it

I asked them some questions:

• Lowers will only be added as soon as my double parked lateral will be in line. This is great news!
  
  This will be in another 3-4 months! That's very nice.. In 3-4 months I will have a full, gapless archy row of teeth on the top!
  
  I will not have any expanders
  
  The white spot on my central is non removable. But it will get better after whitening.
  
  My movement speed is good. Treatment will be 1,5 years rather than 2 years. This is great!
  
  My cleaning regime is good. But I need to floss and bruch the lowers more... As it seems I tend to neglect the non braced lowers. Anyone else with this problem?

More later.

[butterfly]

OK here are some pics !


This is my mouth now.

This is 4 weeks ago:


Not that much progress as I hoped... But the wire got straighter.

This is my powerchain:

The back teeth are connected to eachother by a "wire powerchain" so they won't move to the front of the mouth.
I don't think these 2 mm will be enough to fix the midline? Will they?

GRR The powerchain looks already stained when you look closely!!!

[butterfly]

Second Adjustment

This was the adjustment day of hell!

Half an hour before I left for the doc (it's a ride of a few minutes) I took some Codeine and thought, boy this time I will be smarter. As I always clean my ears before going to the dentist (does anyone else do that? LOL) I took some cotton sticks and alcohol and did my 2 second business right before leaving. Hey Murphy's law must me true... ! The cotton came off te stick and got stuck in my ear. When I tried to take it out I hurt myself really bad with my nails because I couldn't feel anything because of the Codeine... It was bleeding plus the right ear was plugged completely and deaf. Oh boy.... So I went to the ortho, hearing half of what he said to say to me

First we compared my initial molds with my 2 month teeth: Amazing results! The gap size for my double parked incisor doubled or tripled! My front ones became much straighter! You see it only when you hold the molds nex to you... (I keep saying that to me beacuse in a photo I don`t see much progress).

They removed my archwire which was painless. My powerchain came off too which was OK, painwise. The wire was replaced with the same kind, just a longer one. My teeth expanded a lot and outgrew the wire! Putting the wire ligs was not pleasant. I could feel it through the codeine After she put a new partial powerchain for my front gap... SNAP! the wire just broke in the middle!! So we had to do all the work from zero.. My teeth were already sore. argh.

After the ortho I went to the family doctor who referred me to the hospital to get the "foreign body" out of my ear. What can i say... Good I still had some codeine left in my body They cleaned my ear with hot pressurized water which actually worked without causing any damage. I can hear again

After I came home we ate.. and SNAP! the wire at the last molar came off and poked into my cheek.... I called the ortho and he said OK come back we will fix that. So I went to the party for a third time ((

Best thing for last: on Wednesday I will get a removable expander on the bottom Last month I asked about it and they said NO I wont get any expander, but now he apparantly changed his mind!! Argh.

The only good news: My gap has almost closed in about 8 hours!! The new powerchain is working very well. The affected teeth are also very sore.

I will upload pics tomorrow. More to come on Wednesday...

[JN_Woods]

Wow, you've had a lot of great movement is such a short time. I can't wait to see your next set of pics. It sounds like you had a pretty awful adjustment though!