I can't get over how much my teeth have moved! it's not even a week and there is easily visible evidence that the top has moved down!  I can't believe it....it's so AMAZING!



This is Wednesday, October 27th




This is Thursday, October 28th




Monday, November 1st





On Wednesday, you can see a fair amount of space between the canines on the right side of my mouth (left side of the picture) By the next morning, only 24 hours after I got the rubber bands, the teeth are about even and by today, not even a week later, the space is practically closed! My jaw is nearly level! IN LESS THAN A WEEK!!!!

I'm so excited! I'm going to hae a "movie star" quality smile very soon!

What a difference a night makes? Week Thirtyone

So...it's been a little over 24 hours. I won't lie, I HURT. The rubber bands are really pulling on my mouth and it hurts. But I honestly think I can see a difference! The first picture is the one I took yesterday. Note the left side of the picture (right side of my mouth) and the amount of space between my canines as well as the space between my upper front tooth and the one below it...



Yesterday, October 27th, 2010



Today, October 28th, 2010



Yesterday there was space, today, there isn't! It's not a LOT of movement, but you can see the difference and it also explains the amount of pain I am in. Just think, In 7 weeks I'll be so much further along...

The only bad thing is I'm only supposed to take them off to eat and brush and only 3x a day....I'll just have to eat all my Halloween candy in place of meals, LOL!

Seven Weeks

Moving right along....to me...it seems like things are moving very fast. May be not as fast as in the beginning, but still chugging along. I was sort of down this week, feeling like not much had changed. I've begun to associate the pain with movement, so to me, pain is good. It means something's moving.


This week, very little pain. VERY LITTLE. Does it mean they've stopped? My first adjustment is next week...so even if they have stopped, it's only for a week, right? Why do I feel kind of panicked? I almost WANT them to hurt. If they are hurting they are moving, the more they move may be the sooner I can get done! (that's my warped little brain thinking that I'm sure, I know the ortho said 2 years...but still)


Here is my picture from the first day:


And here is my 7 week anniversary picture:



Here I've marked it with what I think are the biggest changes:


1. On the far left you can see how much that tooth has straightened out and started moving down.


2. This too, too, has turned more straight and is aligned. The space that was forming behind it is gone.


3. This to me is the 2nd most dramatic change. In the first picture you can see how slanted it is and how big of a difference there is between the bottom edge of this tooth and the front tooth. Now, it's very nearly level with the front tooth! It's also almost in line and no longer crooked or overlapping the front tooth.


4. The is the BIGGEST change! This tooth has been pulled down so much it is almost in the right place! I was absent-mindedly chewing on the straw to my soda yesterday at lunch and instead of being able to slide right out as it always had (since my teeth have never met in the front)...I was able to hold onto the straw! For most people, that's not a big deal but for someone who's had an open bite most/if not all of their lives, it's a big deal to be able to bite something and hold onto it.


Despite all of the pain, discomfort, blisters, all of it, I'm am so happy that I decided to do this. I can see how nice it will look, how much better I'll be able to bite and it's only been the first seven weeks. It's not easy but I KNOW it will be worth it.


Now the big question for next week...what color bands should I pick? ;-)

Move Along, Move Along

This was both a horrible and a wonderful weekend. Friday and Saturday, the tooth to the right of my right front tooth hurt so terribly that I nearly spent those two days crying. I hardly ate anything because it was so sore.

I stared at it and realized that one of my overlapping top teeth had "popped" past the side of the front tooth it was overlapping and had moved quite rapidly. No wonder it hurt so much!

Sunday, we had tickets to a baseball game and I got a hot dog, fully expecting to have to pull it apart with my fingers. We got to our seats and I sat down and not thinking...took a bite. For a second after I realized I did it, I had a panicked moment, waiting for the pain, but there was none! I realized it didn't hurt to bite! I also realized if I kept the dog to the opposite side of my mouth, I could eat it just like I always did. It was the best hot dog ever!

My husband usually gets Cracker Jacks or peanuts at a game...but those are both on my "no-no" list, as would be the cinnamon roasted cashews, twizzlers, sour patch kids, sunflower seeds and at this point, even Skittles. So what to snack on?

Cotton Candy. I figured what the heck, first game of the season, treat yourself. When I read the back, the pillow sized bag only had 114 calories! YAY! Finally! Something worked out!

I took my time and it took the entire game to enjoy it and being that it was only the 2nd game of the season, the cotton candy was soooo fresh. It was like a little piece of heaven.

Later, we stopped at a mall so I could pick up a new cord for my iPhone and we stopped at a restaurant for dinner. We ordered some bruchetta, that came with some "Texas" toast to spread it on. I tentatively took a bite of the toast...and while it was firm, I could bite it! I ate an entire dinner like an adult and didn't have to pull it apart or cut it into pieces. It was wonderful.

I thought I'd put in 2 pictures to compare so you could see some of the changes that I am now noticing.


First Day


Today

The arrows indicate the beginnings of a space where this tooth had overlapped the front tooth!

I can't get over how quickly everything is moving. my two front teeth are almost straight up and down and side by side already. It won't be long!

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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