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 (Thank Goodness) It's been replaced by the "touch your mouth, teeth shift and INSANE, IMMEDIATE, BLINDING PAIN".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

A Month and a Day

Well as you might have noticed, I usually try to post at least once a week, at least on a Thursday to mark each week as things progress. Unfortunately, I was away at an out of town meeting yesterday so I could not post, but fear not! I took a picture to post!


First Day with Braces



Week Four


I'm not sure about how much has changed. I know that my right front tooth is incredibly sore right now and I can't bite anything with it. I feel more "popping"and "wiggling in the back so things must still be moving, but I don't think I notice much moving at least visually.

Two things happened this week that I didn't expect.

One: I ran into someone I hadn't seen since getting braces and I hadn't mentioned getting them to her. She exclaimed, "Oh! You got braces! They're pretty, all shiny, so sparkly. It's like bling on your teeth!" It made me feel good that the 850 times I brush a day must be paying off to keep them that sparkly!

Two: I ran into a dear friend who mentioned he read my blog. I don't know why it touched me so to know he'd actually be read and following my dental misadventures, but it did! :-#

It just dawned on me that next month at this time I'll have had my first adjustment. I'm not afraid or anything, just wondering what color rubber bands I'll choose....decisions, decisions.

Week Three

I can't believe it's been three weeks already. Well, at least in some aspects, in others it seems like forever.I can really see some changes. It's cool thinking about the change that seems so rapid. The downside is all that rapid change has been very sore on my mouth.

A friend of mine got braces on her bottom teeth the week before I got mine. She's had no pain. I on the other hand, have had enough for both of us. I've had only 3 relatively pain free days so far. :-(

The newest is a dull ache in my jawbone. I suppose it's because of all the stress of the moving teeth above it, but it's not a fun feeling. BUT on the PLUS side, I haven't had any problems with my TMJ since I got the braces. I was talking with my husband last night. I'd rather go through 2 years of discomfort for a lifetime of no/less TMJ pain than not have the braces and know that my jaw is going to hurt worse and become more unbearable for the rest of my life.

There hasn't been one single "crack" from my jaw in 5 weeks (from when I got my spacers). I've had a few minor adjustments kind of like a gentle stretching feeling and pop like when you're stiff and your back pops and you feel much better for it.

It's going to be a long road and it might be a cranky one for me...but it WILL be worth it in the end.

AND as it is Thursday, it's time for a progress picture!

First day of Braces

Week Three

(as you can see, they are playing havoc with my lips...all chewed up!)

What changes do you see? I see that my front two top teeth are almost straight, not overlapping and that the teeth beside them are also almost straight and no longer overlapping. I also see that you can see some of the gap between the top and bottom jaws closing a little bit on the left side of my mouth. As I mentioned in a previous post, the bottom teeth in the front are also starting to stand up straight and tall.

I suppose the motto of the story is that rapid progress is wonderful but it does come at a sore price. (see what I did there? :-#)

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....

I added a guest book at the bottom of the page. Please feel free to send me any comments you may have.

Was Thinking

I was reviewing my previous post and realized I should have had 3 pictures, Before, Day of Installation and Week One. This way we can see the changes, if any...


Before



Day Braces Were Installed

Week One

Is there any difference? Any noticeable movement?

Week One Picture

I'm not sure if there is any visible movement but here is the picture of my teeth, Week One


and before



Teeth are feeling a bit better, still a little sore...but nothing bad.

I've been doing some MAJOR cleaning around my house and am using updating my blog as an "excuse" to rest. Back to work!