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Sheba77

First Time Brace Wearer - The Journey Starts Here!

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Sheba77
, 05-27-2009 at 03:30 PM (457 Views)
After being conscious of my less than perfect smile for a few years I've finally bitten the bullet and got brace fitted! I never had them as a teenager, it wasn't until my wisdom teeth came through that my front teeth became overcrowded and I needed them.
I got metal lowers, ceramic uppers and a carrier (thin metal bar) going from my left incisor to a few teeth back with a rubber band on it to improve my bite. I should only need the carrier for a few months, the rubber band for about six and the whole lot for around 18 months - although I'm hoping closer to a year if they tighten them to the max each month! I'll put up with the extra pain if I can get done faster!
The procedure wasn't entirely comfortable, I reflexively spat out the first set of mouth stretchers and tongue holder / saliva extractors as they felt too big for my mouth. They found smaller ones which were better! Then the background movie they had on was Backdraft - after some wide-eyed pointing they changed it to Wild Hogs, there was a scene involving a crispy body in a morgue which wasn't conducive to a relaxing experience!!

They don't look much like the braces do on the models in the brochures, the metal wire is a lot more crooked than I was expecting. They're not too painful though, just just feel awkward in my mouth. It must be nice having invisaligns you can take out, but this treatment is going to be faster and more effective for me.

Much as I'd like to be a hermit until I emerge with straight teeth and a beautiful smile, I'm forcing myself to carry on as normal and go to a couple of winery parties and dinner tonight. I'll probably just eat soup or dessert as I haven't mastered chewing yet! It's kind of a hassle taking the wax off to eat so I might leave it on and hope I don't accidentally swallow any! I started dating a new guy a few weeks ago and he's never worn braces. He thinks they're going to look cute on me so I think he's in for a shock - we'll see if he sticks around or stops calling me!
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Comments

  1. mariahfromchicago's Avatar
    Congratulations on getting braced!
  2. Sunny's Avatar
    It's great your treatment has started, and soon you'll be eating as you did before you got braces. Do leave the wax on when you eat, as this is one of the most important times to wear it, due to the amount of movement going on in your mouth. Eating wax should be harmless, as there's nothing in it that should hurt you, and most brands are vegan friendly ... I checked that when I first had my braces put on.

    Your carrier sounds interesting and here's to it doing a great job. You sound like you have a short treatment time, which will be a huge plus.

    About your appointments ... they don't do tightenings anymore, that was a term that belonged with the old archwires that didn't have memory and used to be wound up, to force the teeth to move. This has caused many problems for patients, due to root reabsorption and gum issues. Luckily our ortho's now use modern archwires with memory, and they will continue to try to get back to the correct shape they were in, prior to being put in your mouth. That means that one of those archwires can continue to work for a year or more, if your teeth aren't in the right shape within that time. This continuous gentle pressure also means the roots of our teeth aren't at risk of re-absorption due to pressure to move, which is good for their long term health.

    Hope your bloke thinks your mouth bling is cute! If he doesn't stick around, then he was never meant to, so don't worry about things like that!

    Good luck with your treatment!
  3. Bunny's Avatar
    Hi Sheba77. Welcome.
    I have found this site very usefull and supportive. I am sure you will too. I must of eaten my own weight in wax at the early stages. I used gishygoo now, it tends to stay on a little better and I find it less bulky.
    I hope your new man likes your braces if not, he isnt worth liking anyways.

    Good luck with everything. x
  4. mikeg's Avatar
    congrats and welcome to the blogs
  5. Sheba77's Avatar
    Thank you all for your messages!
    Sunny - you explained the whole memory archwire thing better than my orthodonist!! I guess the people I talked to about it had braces years ago when they were kids / teenagers and treatments have thankfully improved since then.