Week 6 update

Well here it is, Week 6.

The pain is significantly less, I only have one or two sensitive teeth. The blisters on the inside of my cheeks from where the braces pinch them are mostly gone. It's been a good week. It's still weird to pry my lip off of my braces where it's been embedded if I roll over onto my face during the night, but it's not too bad. I say this, realizing that it's less than 2 weeks until my first adjustment. I'm just hoping that they don't get as sore as they did the day I got them.

So here's my comparison pictures:

The day I got braces

Today

and From Week 5, just to show I don't see much change from last week.

What I notice the most is the closing of the open space between my top and bottom teeth. It's kind of cool to see how much they've moved and it also explains why I can't "rip" with my front teeth anymore. I have a LOT of problems trying to bite/rip bread. Since I can't give up my bagel sandwiches, I've resorted to cutting them apart...but I'm coping.

Next week I'll be getting ready for that first adjustment....I'm excited. While I anticipate more pain from the new wire, it also means I'm closer to finishing. Approximately 688 days till I get rid of these things! (hopefully!)

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 (Thank Goodness) It's been replaced by the "touch your mouth, teeth shift and INSANE, IMMEDIATE, BLINDING PAIN".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

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!