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!

Week Thirteen

Well here we are at week 13. Next week I get my next adjustment. There's some minor changes this week, but they are making a big difference.

First, the tooth that moved up to close the gap, the open bite? Well it's now banging against the tooth above it. *ouch* It's such a weird feeling. I believe the canine below it has also moved up significantly.

My left upper front tooth is now loose. :-S it's loose in the way that "the tooth is moving" loose, but it's still strange to feel it shifting around rather regularly.

As always, here's the pictures, the first day with braces and then yesterday morning. It's hard to beleive I've had them 13 weeks, 15 weeks if you count the spacers. On the plus side, I haven't had any episodes of TMJ popping or clicking since I got the braces. A very nice side effect, I must say.

I like being able to chew better and how nice it's going to look, but being pain free from the insane immediate blinding pain is a definate plus!

First Day


Week 13

Week Twelve

Well, here we are. 3 months in. *sigh* This week did not bring any major changes and it's almost disheartening that things aren't happening as quickly as they did when I first got my braces.

The only thing I've noticed was a little more of what I mentioned in my last post. The left side of open bite seems to be closing and two of the teeth are banging together. It also makes my mouth look VERY lopsided, at least to me. I'm sure anyone who's not staring at my mouth won't notice, but I do.

As always, here's the first week and current week pictures:

Week Twelve

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?

Tomorrow....a new wire

Well by tomorrow at this time I'll have my new wire. How sore will I be? Will I be back on my mashed potatoes diet? What color bands should I pick?

So many questions, no answers. Do I stay with the purple bands? I know I like them. Should I go with patriotic blue for Memorial Day and the 4th of July? A different shade of purple? Black? Hot Pink? The choices!

I must also mention, I startled myself this morning. I glanced in the mirror and realized that the one side of my bite is almost closed already! it's so close that I can't stick the "christmas tree" brush between my jaws there! it's never been closed before...

I am so stunned with how much my teeth have moved! I'm amazed they've gone so far in such a short amount of time! If they keep moving closer like this, may be I won't need to have surgery to "realign" my jaw! I do NOT want to have my skull sawed apart if I don't have to!

I feel so much more hopeful that I did when I started this process. While I am a little hesitant about the pain I may feel after the adjustment tomorrow, who wouldn't, but may be it won't take two years after all?

:-#

Oh, one more thing, I found a product, while somewhat "wasteful" plastic wise, that is very helpful to have. They are waterless toothbrushes that have a "bead" of mouthwash in them. They do not replace regular toothpaste and a brush but are very handy to keep in your pocket for when you're out and about and don't feel like brushing in a public sink.

photo from http://www.notcot.com/

They come in little plastic and foil packs of 2 that have a brush with the mouthwash bead on one end and a rubber pick on the other. I like to keep them in my purse/pocket for use when I'm somewhere and am unable to either get to a bathroom to brush traditionally or just need a quick "once-over" to clear my braces. They're a little on the spendy side, but they are very handy to have and I'm thinking that it'll make travelling much easier.