The Brace Faced Kiwi

They're on! And not just the bottom set either, but both! So far so good - except that I was in a mad rush this morning putting my little kit together (spent about $50) and of course they gave me a pack when I left including everything I bought... Oh well, at least I have plenty of stuff now.

Between last night and this afternoon the gap where the spacer had fallen out had closed by about half, but they managed to get a molar band on any way, after much pushing and shoving. I have to say, the molar bands were by far the worst bit, and in a few months time I get another two. Yay.

I got a bit of a case of the giggles once they'd been put on - a combination of excitement and relief I guess - especially as I really think they're kind of cute - not at all ugly like I thought they would be! My only regret was letting the dental nurse talk me into white ligs instead of clear - because if it wasn't for the white ligs - I don't think you'd be able to notice them at all. I have an adjustment in 3 weeks so I'll ask for them to change the ligs then, if they don't anyway. For some reason they really seem to like the shape and colour of my teeth and are already planning on using me as a model case (!) and even went as far to show me where my blown up tooth shot is going to go! Actually, other than my chipped front tooth - the only thing I've ever liked is the shape and colour of my individual teeth - so I'm a little chuffed about their comments.

Already I can feel my bottom teeth are a bit wiggly / clicky, which is great! And maybe I'm being ultra hopeful, but part of the wire is already poking out a bit on my molar, when it was well inside the tube when he put the archwire on.

I'm not yet able to close my mouth properly, I feel like I've got a mouthgard in and have to stretch my lips around them - it's not uncomfortable, just totally different to what I'm used to. There's certainly pressure on my teeth, but no pain at all. In general, I'm just super excited!

For your enjoyment, here's a description of the whole process:

During the banding, they put a lip spreader in my mouth to keep my lips out of the way and a tongue protector to stop the glue getting on my tongue. I knew this so I put tonnes of lip gloss on to keep my lips moist!

Next, because I needed molar bands, they sized the bands by trying them on my teeth one by one till they found the right fit. This part is very uncomfortable and hurt but didn't not last long. Once they had the right size (this took many tries), they cemented the bands on, and while I expected the pain of putting the bands on again, this didn't hurt at all.

Once the molar bands were sorted, they lightly polished my teeth and put an etching solution on them to roughen up the surface a little. This took just a couple of minutes and they rinsed it off.

Next they cemented the brackets on with dental glue, one by one. After about 4 had been put on, they set the glue with a strong light (I think it was UV). They continued to do this until all the teeth were braced.

Finally, they inserted the archwire through the slots in the brackets and put tiny bands around the bracket to hold the archwire in place.

All in all once the molar bands were sorted, the process took about half an hour to an hour from start to finish and was super quick and painless (again, apart from the molar bands)!

Normal Smile:


Upper Arch:

Lower Arch:

Tomorrow's the big day and it appears one of my spacers was so excited about it, it jumped clean out of my mouth! Well, actually I swallowed it with dinner. Strangely, it's more uncomfortable without it than it was with it and aches a little bit. I was so proud I'm managed to keep them in too.

Remember how yesterday I said there was no pain? Well, within an hour of writing that I was in agony - even talking made my teeth hurt! In fact, despite taking two of my migraine tablets, I was still in so much pain it intruded into my sleep and I had nightmares all night involving excutiating pain and copious amounts of blood. I only woke up a couple of times, but when I did the pain was absolutely there, worse than it had been in the dream (no blood thankfully).

Still, it's nearly 24 hours down, which means only 6 days of these left! I'm still in pain, but a couple of neurofen this morning and a bit of a nap has made it bearable, and I can see that the spacers have already expanded, meaning those teeth are on the move! I've no regrets or doubt at all, just a little shock from the pain.

Well, the spacers are finally in, which took all of 2 minutes total! There were a few seconds there where I felt like my teeth were about to pop out of their sockets, but other than that it was completely uneventful. Afterwards while we were talking I was finding them extremely uncomfortable, but the orthodontist and the dental nurse both complimented me on the health of my teeth (which considering I hadn't been to a dentist for 17 years prior to February, meant a lot to me) and said how nice they think my teeth will look once they're done because they're already white and a nice shape (!?!) which took my mind off it. My Orthodontist also told me that he thinks my teeth will move very quickly. He said however that the downside to this is that I'll see incredible changes in the first few months, then not a lot at all while the teeth settle and tweaks are made. He warned me that during that time I'll probably be cursing his name quite a bit, and wonder what the hell I was thinking in getting braces! Heheh!

As I went to pay, the receptionist told me not to worry about it until next week, which was fine by me, as I get to keep a nice healthy bank balance for a few more days, but then the nurse surprised me by saying that I'm only getting the bottom braces on next week. I asked why and she thinks it's because my ortho doesn't think my top teeth will take as long as the bottom to straighten up (touch wood!) and the bottom teeth need more time.

She thinks it'll be a few month yet before he tackles the top arch... While I'm a little disappointed, I'm pleased I'll get the chance to get used to them bit by bit, and that the really visible part won't be on for the whole two years! It does mean that there's no chance I'll have my straight braces smile for my holdays in February and May next year - which is where the disappointment comes in, as I was really hoping for this.

Of course, once I walked out of the office I had to give the spacers a test run. I was walking around the supermarket afterwards chomping down on them, trying to figure out what hurt and what didn't and more than once I got some funny looks after giving out a little yelp as I found one of the things that hurt! But after a couple of hours (sans any form of painkiller) I don't even know they're there and I have to keep checking to make sure they haven't accidentally popped out! I'm keeping my neurofen handy just in case, but I really hope I don't need to use them.

So - here are some pictures of the culprits, complete with giant holes from the extractions:

Upper Arch:

Lower Arch:

Looking at these pictures I'm surprised that more work needs to be done on the lower arch than the upper - but as my teeth have already shifted a little on top since the extractions, I do think that they'll probably move pretty quickly (where the lowers haven't budged).

Well, at 9pm last night the phone rings, and it's my dentist calling to tell me she got the letter from my ortho that day, and wondered whether I wanted to come in half an hour early the next day and get the extractions done instead of just the dental fitness exam.

Heck yes I did, so I sit here having just had my 4 second premolars removed, desperately kicking myself for not going to buy some soft food last night as everything in the house has a corner or chewiness of some kind (thanks heavens for having the most wonderful parents on earth who are bringing some food around for me).

The extractions themselves were nothing compared to the injections, but I experienced more than one set of palpitations as my dentist did her work, especially on the first one, where I had no idea at all what to expect. Again, thank goodness for my dad, who offered to drive me there and back just in case I had a panic attack. I didn't but I'm still glad he was there because I was numb from my nose down.

All in all the experience just felt a lot of tugging back and forward. Initially this freaked me out as I was thinking... My Buddha! If this is just her loosening them, what the heck will the pulling out be like!!! In fact, I felt nothing when they came out at all so after that first one, I felt a lot better. When she moved onto the second one, I convinced myself she had the wrong tooth as I could feel a lot of pressure on my canine, but of course it was fine. The whole extraction experience took about 5 minutes, and the check up was the normal 30 mins. The total cost of the check up (including xrays) and extractions was $805.

I called the ortho as soon as I was able to speak coherently, and I've got my dates! I go in on Friday 21st Nov to get my spacers, and then I go back on the 28th to be banded!