Week Eleven, I'm in Heaven...well not really...

Well, here we are, week eleven. *sigh* I still haven't needed to have my wires trimmed. The first wire needed trimmed after only 8-9 days. Here I am, two weeks later and no need for trimming. *sigh* I guess this just means the movement has slowed down. *sigh* On the plus side, that does mean my mouth is a LOT less sore than it was before and I can eat almost normally.

I do, however, notice the tooth on the bottom (marked by red arrows on the picture below) is bumping the one above it now. It seems that they are aligned in such a way that they touch. It's very weird to see my bite closing and getting your lip/tongue caught there where they could slip through before!

I'm also getting new abrasions along my the inside of my lips, so I suppose this means everything is moving slowly together to touch new uncalloused areas of the inside of my lips. No big deal, a little Peroxyl for a day or two and they are all better.

So here's this weeks pictures:

First day

Week 11

Week 11-Marked

I also feel much more self conscious right now. With the one side of my mouth "closing" the gaps, to me, I think my mouth looks VERY lopsided. VERY lopsided. I know this is temporary, but I feel "ugly" about it. I just don't want to smile much right now because I feel like my face is crooked. It's not as apparent with my "just the mouth" pictures, but if you saw it in proportion to my whole face (sorry no face shots) it really looks "off".

I guess for a few months, I'll just smile like the Mona Lisa.

*ADDED I just posted then looked at the pictures. If you compare the first day picture to this week's, is it just me, or does my mouth look wider? To me, in the first picture my teeth look VERY narrow--especially when you look toward the back to my mouth. I think it looks like it's getting to be more of say an upper case D shape as opposed to a lower case b shape...you know what I mean?

Hanging in There!

I haven't posted in a few days as my husband returned home from an extended trip (I hadn't seen him in 3 weeks) and I've been adjusting to my braces.

When I woke up Friday morning, I was in an incredible amount of pain. Because of my TMJ, my jaw was throbbing from being open over two hours while my braces were applied. My teeth were so hypersensitive just looking at them in the mirror seemed to hurt.

My mother made me saurkraut and very soft pork for dinner that night. I ate that, but when I tried a bite of the hot dog she made for my puppy, Veronica, I couldn't chew it. It was too "tough".

I found that Bob Evan's heat 'n' eat mashed potatoes were a good thing to have; quick, easy and I didn't need to chew.

Saturday, I was feeling better so I went to run my normal Saturday errands. I stopped at Chick-Fil-A and got chicken strips and my 'stand-by' milkshake. It took me over an hour, but I was able to mush up (not quite chew) the chicken.

Sunday, I made a casserole for when my husband returned. I would have loved to have steak waiting for him but it was not meant to be.

Each day I find my teeth less sore and more tolerable of pressure. Sure, I still can't "bite" with my front teeth and sandwiches are going to be a long way off but, it's not too horrible now. I do find it weird that my teeth seem kind of loose and seem to make little popping or clicking noises when pressure is applied. It kinda reminds me of being a kid, when you start wiggling that loose tooth and the roots seem to start to give way. I guess this means they're beginning to move.

I think I've been lucky. I've really only had 3 "blisters" or sores caused by the rubbing of my braces; one at the back left, one at the back right and one at the bottom front. The woman at the counter at the orthodontist's office suggested I try Peroxyl, a mouthwash from Colgate that has no alcohol and contains peroxide to clean out the sores.

It doesn't taste bad and while a bit on the spendy side, I'm glad I bought it. After only 3 days all the sores are healed! I only needed to put wax on the offending braces 2 nights. Overall, it's amazing how much easier most things are this 2nd time around. I honestly don't remember my teeth being this hypersensitive the first time, but all in all, I'm doing rather well.

I did get a bit "surprised" this morning, I must have rolled over in the night and pressed on my lip too hard, I cut my lip on my braces and woke up with blood all over. YUCK! I rinsed it with the Peroxyl and then put some of the Body Shop's cocoa butter lip balm on. I really like it. It does so much better than the wax-based lip balms.

I'll post a picture tomorrow to see if there is any visible progress...because it'll have been one week.

I also wanted to mention that I was quoted in a "real" article on the front page of the print and online editions of USAToday! It's kinda cool....for a geek like me...

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2010-03-31-1Aappworld31_CV_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip