The Stupendous Braces Blog

I had an appointment Oct. 19th and the ortho said that he wants to talk about retainer options at my next appointment because the braces will come off soon! Then he asked me about a small gap that had opened up between my two front teeth. When I first had braces those two front teeth overlapped slightly, but after my teeth became straight the gap popped up. My ortho asked me if I wanted to close the gap and said no at first, but it was only because I was scared that it would prolong my treatment. ...

Wow time really does fly. I've been mia for a while because I was super busy and my adjustments weren't anything special. I will give a 6 month background before launching into my 7 month adjustment tale.

Six months in my ortho was very very pleased. My teeth were moving very fast so he decided to be a bit aggressive. I thought YAY but was worried that I would endure some extra pain. He placed four wedges in my teeth (again) and changed my elastics to my original configuration. I ...

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I've had three different configurations with my elastics in as many months. I was in elastics from day one and my first configuration was 1/8" heavy and went from my upper canines to the lower molar before the last one. Then a month later I had a triangle configuration with 3/16" elastics that went from the upper canine (the star in my elastics journey so far) to the tooth next to the bottom canine and the one next to it. Now I have the same configuration and elastics except everything ...

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Waterpik?

First, I've been gone a while because the hubby came for a visit, we're going through immigration and I'm writing a book (not mine, but my name will be on it), so I've been really busy but I haven't forgotten you all!

Well, I had this idea that a waterpik wasn't necessary, and then I bought one and was hooked. It was absolutely necessary for me (with the crowding and whatnot) but I was only able to experience it for all of a month until it was murdered ...

Ok, this post is going to be a mishmash of off-topic things as well as on-topic statements.
I've learned a few things since having braces.

1. Tiger blood is now a recognized blood type.
2. Gadhafi's face seems to be melting. Methinks someone has found the Ark of the Covenant!!
3. Having an 'advancement' archwire places to alleviate crowding kinda sucks, especially when you are only expecting to have a loose molar band replaced.
4. If you own a waterpik, you don't need to floss. Ruh-roh,

...

I woke up twice last night because one tooth decided to move. It was throbbing and kept me awake and woke me up. The tooth has visibly moved, although I'm sure that I'm the only one that can tell. Now it is throbbing again and I'm afraid to brush my teeth because I will have to take the elastics off. For some reason, I had a LOT of movement in my mouth yesterday. I noticed that my bite changed a bit before the tooth even started throbbing, which sucked because I was getting the hang of the ...

No, I'm not talking about the Kardashians, but canker sores. I haven't gotten a full-fledged canker sore, but I can feel the beginnings of two forming so I threw some wax on there and just let it go to work. I HATE THE WAX! It works once it is on, but I can't get it to stick like I had imagined it would so I have to sit there and poke and prod my teeth and mold this stuff in the hopes that it catches on the bracket and I can go about my business. I'm going to invest in some Orajel, just because ...

So today was the day that I got my braces. First things first, everyone that said the spacers were the worst part were right. What they didn't tell you about were the molar bands. Now, everyone doesn't have to get molar bands and if you are one of those lucky ones, say an extra prayer tonight. They hurt, but it is temporary because the bands are smaller than the spacers, but if your teeth are sore from the spacers, it sucks. The good news is that once they find the size, they will glue them ...

This month has been crazy. It seems like when I can finally chew, I have to have work done and then it is back to the beginning. Too bad dental pain doesn't work like a video game where you can just go back to the checkpoint if you fail but oh well. Now I have a new fear. I scheduled all of my dental work in Feb, so I've been on more drugs than I can count. Three Prescriptions, Percocet, Penicilin, Motrin, Tylenol 3 (huge fan of Tylenol 3's work), Novocaine, Lidocaine and Sugar Cane and now I'm ...

Yup, I'm up at 4 am but the pain is manageable. Even though it seems like it isn't (especially since I'm up this early), it is. My pain moves in wavelengths. It starts off as a dull pain and then when it crests the pain tends to shoot and then it goes back down to the dull pain. I visualize it as my teeth have shifted and are settling into their new space, then they start to move some more (the sharp pain) and then they start to settle and the cycle begins all over again. I actually fell asleep ...

I'm heading off to lala land in a few because I took a Percocet. I'm not one to pop meds quickly but when I asked the asst. that put my spacers in today if I could take a Motrin, we had a convo that went a bit like this.

Me: Is Motrin going to be sufficient?
Her: (Eyes get huge) No, actually do you have any of your painkillers from your wisdom teeth extractions left?
Me: Yup, 5 Percocets
Her: (Eyes now wild with a possessed look) Take them, take them, TAKE THEM!!! ...

I had my spacers put on all of an hour and a half ago and they hurt less now that they did when I had them placed on. The ortho did allow me to take Motrin right before they were put on and I think that helped because as I was driving home I noticed that there was no pain. They did say that the pain would kick in by tomorrow morning and that if I had to have something stronger they would call in a prescription. I don't even notice them for now, but I do think that they may give me a headache because ...

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