Expander, Take Two!

Well, its nearly time to go and get my second expander. I'm not really all that bothered by it, the first one never annoyed me all that much. It seems quite a lot of hardware to take at once, but a lot of people have this combination I guess, and some even have surgery to contend with on top of that. I've definitely been feeling quite stagnant, even though Dr O seems pleased with how things are progressing. I'm leaving work 4pm tomorrow afternoon to go get it cemented in, and luckily enough my boss is letting me take off work on Thursday - I really don't want to be dealing with my clients whilst drooling! Hopefully I should be good for Friday, and back to normal.

Will show off photos tomorrow night, promise!

new wires + powerchains = OWWWW!

So I had my third adjustment today, and all went well. Dr O is quite pleased with how we are progressing, obviously my crossbite is still an issue and we're not quite ready for elastics yet. I did come home with two spacers on each side for the [6], so tonight I do have two rather unhappy upper [6]'s. A new powerchain from [3] to [3], so the front 6 teeth on the uppers are now chained up together. I also had a wire change, now sporting .18 NiTi's upper and lower. Apparently the wire will not be hooking up to the bands that will be installed to hold the RPE immediately, eventually he said, but not for a whilst - so I had the wire changed today along with all my ligs.

I don't know if anyone else notices this, but getting my bottom ligs changed, not a problem...but the tops - OWWWW! I think its because the ceramic brackets are so much bigger than the metal ones I have on the lowers, therefore the ligs have to be stretched and pulled more to go on. I'm in quite a lot of pain and discomfort tonight, due to (a) new powerchain, (b) new wires and (c) spacers annoying the [6]'s and the [6]'s in turn sharing the love by pushing on everyone else.

Next Wednesday I get to go back and have the new expander cemented in, which I am looking forward to in some ways. I know its going to be a pain in the behind for a couple days with speaking, drooling and food smushing up there until I retrain my mouth on how to eat food, chew and swallow with said food being eaten rather than sacrificed and smushed to the great expander. It really is possible, just difficult at first, but eating can be relearned for the sake of nourishment and not having a completely disgusting appliance at the end of each meal.

Here are some photos, taken from April 2006 and then from today - I think it shows quite a difference!

Five weeks in! Wow, time flies...

Hello again! Its been a whilst, but been busy with work and then took some time out to go back home and visit the UK! As far as my teeth are concerned, I don't really think too much has happened - although it does look like one of the laterals has moved downwards and lined up with the centrals. I was getting a gap between the centrals and laterals before the powerchain was put on across from [2] to [2] (and am now also sporting .16 NiTi's on both arches to go with my first powerchain!), but now I think I may be getting a gap between the laterals and canines.

Am looking forward to the expander, I feel kind of stagnant at the moment where I took my vacation and now Dr O is on vacation! I'm definitely ready to progress a little now! My next adjustment is on the 31st March, when I should get some more spacers in preparation for the RPE! Should be fun...

The End Of The First Week

Well I've nearly survived my first week with having braces, and apart from a small amount of tightness and discomfort I can't really say that its been anything to complain about! My upper laterals and centrals definitely feel tender, and I seem to be getting a gap in the centrals - but I go back to Dr O on Wednesday for my first adjustment, so I can complain adequately then about the gap! My lips have probably been the worst affected, and I don't even mean the insides of my lips. My lips just feel constantly dry and tight, not really sure what that is all about.

My lowers don't even feel like they have a wire on them - well, they have a .12 NiTi I believe, and the uppers a very respectable .14 NiTi. From what I understand, both are baby wires. I'm wondering whether my lowers will get switched to a .14 when I go in on Wednesday, but I don't imagine my upper getting switched until the banding and expander happen next month. Anyways, my darling baby has just managed to rent me a copy of Wario Ware : Smooth Moves for my Wii - so I'm off to play. Will update with photos over the weekend!

Day Three With Braces

Today I had my first day back at work with the braces, quite successful - most people seem to think they were cute. Pain hasn't been too bad today, although eating has been a challenge - heres to hoping that I manage to lose some weight before going back to the UK. I managed some mushy cereal for breakfast, a cheese sandwich at lunchtime...soaked by three bottles of water by the time I was finished. A chocolate pudding for snack, and then some scrambled egg & fake bacon for dinner. I'm definitely feeling good for all the extra water I've been drinking, good for skin and the body as a whole.

...And They're On!

Everything went very smoothly today, although the appointment took a little longer than anticipated. I have full lowers and everything up to the [5]'s done on my uppers. There was a slight change of treatment plan, which is why the appointment ended up being quite a bit longer than scheduled. We spent some time talking, and have decided to do another RPE along with the braces - Yay! Fun! So I don't have my uppers banded, the bands were fitted, impressions were taken and I will have the RPE fitted after I return from my visit home next month.

I definitely listened to all the advice from those who have gone through this before me - plenty of water to be hydrated, but paid a visit to the restroom before getting started. Lots of lip-balm, and salt water rinses have also helped. The lip spreaders weren't so bad, although my mouth and jaw did get a little tired of being open for such a long time! I also had this strange thing to bite down on, which caused a couple of gags, but nothing too bad - Michelle was wonderful and did a great job throughout the whole appointment! Ryan, bless him, has quite a hilarious photo of me in sunglasses, lipspreaders and trying to keep warm under my blanket (Dr O keeps his rooms fit for the artic! ) The etchant and glue stuff was a little bitter tasting, but nothing too bad. Ry stayed and watched the lower bands and a couple of brackets go on, took some rather amusing photographs of me, and then departed for the nearby Best Buy to amuse himself whilst I got finished up. I have a .12 wire on the bottom and a .14 on the top, nothing too heavy at this stage. No elastics yet, I'm assuming not for a couple months now that we are moving ahead with a second RPE.

So far it has taken me around twenty minutes to clean my teeth and floss, hopefully I will eventually improve on that time! I was shown how to clean and floss whilst I was still at the office, but its definitely not that easy for the first time. The brushing wasn't too bad, and I also have some inter-proxy brushs for getting between the archwires and cleaning the brackets nicely. Flossing was definitely the hardest part... I usually use those little bits of floss that are on a stick, much much easier than trying to work with a piece of string! However, that is no longer an option (except for the back teeth on my uppers ) I bought some of this Oral B Super Floss, the stuff thats stiff, fuzzy and then floss. Its pretty tricky stuff though, but I've found that coming down through the archwire somewhat easier than going up. I hope this flossing lark becomes easier with time!

So far, no pain - and Ryan even took me to the Olive Garden for dinner tonight. I managed to bite into the breadsticks just fine, and managed a meal of Pasta with no problems. I'm definitely eating slower, but with cutting everything up real small, it wasn't too much of a hassle. I did however give up the after dinner mint, chocolate just isn't appealing at the moment. I had my dentakit, and was able to clean up easily after the meal. I think thats quite an accomplishment, eating in a restaurant on my first day with braces!

Here is one photo, but its late and nearly time for SNL!

The Night Before...

Tomorrow is the big day, I have my appointment to get my braces on! I'll be glad to get rid of those darn spacers, they're just aggravating now - fortunately, not painful anymore. I've told a couple of people that I work with, and so far, everyone has been way supportive of the decision. I'm lucky in the fact that no one has been in the slightest bit pessimistic towards me, in fact, this afternoon before leaving work, my co-worker and I were discussing possible colour combinations for the lower ligs, and I've promised to text her a photo tomorrow after they're on!

All in all, I'm looking forward this - by the time I'm thirty I should have an amazing smile! Bring it on!