Week Five...

Well, there's some big changes. BIG spaces. Wide open spaces I'd say if I was a Dixie Chick. The pain I've experienced nearly constantly when biting is gone. (Thank Goodness) It's been replaced by the "touch your mouth, teeth shift and INSANE, IMMEDIATE, BLINDING PAIN".

Yesterday, I was kinda happy that the pain has been less and that if I eat carefully, I am almost able to eat normally, bagel sandwiches being the exception. So, I was sitting at my desk and reached up to touch my face on the right side. When I did, the tooth there SHIFTED and suddenly I was hit with the INSANE, IMMEDIATE, BLINDING PAIN mentioned above.

Everything went white. I had to take a couple of deep breaths and debated calling the ortho. I felt around thinking somehow that tooth gave out and would be held in place only by the wires of my braces. It seemed "stable". I exhaled. I actually began to sweat the pain was so intense. I grabbed the Anbesol out of my purse and slathered the gel on my gums like you'd slather icing on a cake. It helped. I then took 2 Aleve and waited. The pain eventually subsided.

I never ever want that to happen again!


I do have to mention that on the plus side, I haven't had any *knocks on wood* more TMJ episodes since I got my spacers! THAT'S THE GOAL! So I suppose one (hopefully the only) INSANE, IMMEDIATE, BLINDING PAIN episode is worth it.

As always, since it's Thursday, Anniversary day, I have pictures....

First Day with Braces, Five Weeks Ago



Week Five, Front



Week Five Showing Changes



The biggest changes seem to be on either side of my two front bottom teeth. if you look you can see the space I had, on the right side of the picture, left side of my mouth, has gotten wider and that tooth is sitting up higher and closer to the top teeth.(see arrow on right side of picture) On the other side, those teeth (denoted in the bottom picture by the two red arrows) have moved apart. They'd always been so close it was hard to floss and now, they're open.


The other arrow on the left side of the picture shows that those teeth do not quite touch any longer. Just showing how even the back teeth are shifting a bit.


I'll be the first to admit, I've been obsessive over my teeth and I notice the changes almost daily. I keep asking my husband and he will say he notices NO change. The other day I put the first day picture against last weeks and pointed out the changes to him. His eyes got wide and he said, "No wonder your mouth hurt so much!"


At least I know I'm not going nutty. Well, getting any nuttier than I already am! o_O

Snip, Snip, Here, Snip, Snip There and a Couple of Tra-La-Las

Who'd of thunk it? After only a week, I started getting this sharp, poking feeling in the back of my mouth. It almost felt like I was getting a shot back there every time my cheeks moved.

Unfortunately, it didn't start until Good Friday and my ortho's office was closed. I slathered my upper left band in wax and by Monday, it was OK.

With self-ligating braces they tighten themselves, so periodically, extra wire will emerge from the brackets at the back and will need to be trimmed. I never imagined that in only 8 days it would actually move enough that the wire would need trimmed. By that Monday, the extra on the top left was long enough that it bent when I put the wax on it so it didn't stick out and poke my cheek anymore. So I didn't call the orthodontist.

Tuesday, I woke up and now the bottom left was doing the same thing. I again slathered it in wax and waited. by Wednesday evening, the back left part of my cheek was raw between both the top an bottom wires poking and knowing that my ortho's office is closed on Fridays, I called first thing in the morning and they were able to get me in before work, only 20 minutes after I called!

I walked in, they sat me down and within a few seconds, both wires on the left side were trimmed and the technician looked at the right side and said that they were almost to the point of poking as well so we trimmed them as well.

What a DIFFERENCE! I got a good look at the wire from the bottom it was between a 16th and an 8th of an inch long, which seems really small unless it's in your mouth! It's amazing how it felt like they took a Mac truck out of the back out my my mouth. Moral of the story, get snipped.

Yesterday was also my two week anniversary with braces so I post my first picture with braces and this week's. Notice any movement?

Day of Installation


Week Two


Week Two, Marked

The first arrow denotes where I can see and feel that those teeth are moving, they seem to be standing up straighter and there's almost a small space between them. Between this picture and the first you can really see how the tooth to the left of the bracket is really sitting up straighter.

The second arrow on the bottom shows this tooth sitting up a little higher. I don't know why it's doing that but the ortho seemed happy with the progress when he peeked at them yesterday so I won't argue.


The arrow on the top is the one that shocked me the most. This tooth was the "reason" for my braces as a kid. My dentist insisted the baby tooth be pulled. It hadn't come out "on schedule" so I had to have it pulled. It was a fiasco. I had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia, nearly ended up in the hospital and that tooth? It didn't come in for over 2 years, allowing the teeth next to it to nudge in and take it's space making it overlap my front tooth. They put me in braces to put it back in the place it would have likely come in, had the baby tooth been allowed to leave on it's own. It was OK for a while but as soon as I stopped wearing my retainer, it started moving. By the time I got braces for the second time, it was back to overlapping and on the inside of the teeth, there was a pocket or indentation caused by the overlapping that was very hard to brush, food would get caught there and it was a pain to have a hygienist scrape there to clean it up.


Guess what? The tooth is moving back in line! it's not all the way back, but the pocket is almost gone. I can feel the entire back of the tooth now. I'll bet that by the next adjustment it'll be back where it belongs.


It just amazes me how fast there's some changes. I still have six weeks until that first adjustment. I'm excited. These new-fangled thing-a-ma-bobbers are pretty cool. Considering they're estimating I'll need them for two years I wonder how close to "perfect" they'll be by then!


I can almost eat what I want now too. I can bite through soft bread/buns and soft hamburgers, BUT not so for my favorite bagel sandwich. I still get it, but I don't get it toasted, I rip the bagel apart with my fingers then eat it. I also cut the meat just because by the time I'm done with all the bagel chewing, my teeth are a little sore. It's worth it though. I thought it could be months before I'd even feel like trying a bagel.


I have a coworker who got her braces in November and the first sandwich she ate "normally" was right before Easter! I'm glad that I don't think it will be that long for me. Her teeth are looking AWESOME!


So that's it for right now...Today is a turkey with a slice of provolone, touch of mayo on a roasted garlic bagel type of day.

BY THE WAY....

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