movement!

There has been definite movement since yesterday! How do I know? Well firstly sore teeth, but secondly I have a small gap between my front teeth that has never been there before.

8 weeks

Just had my appointment with the orthodontist - its 8 weeks since I had my braces fitted and he said they are straightening up nicely. I said I was concerned about one of my back teeth in particular because it felt very loose; it moved quite a lot when I bit down fully but he said it was OK. Apparently that particular tooth (sorry don't know the technical name exactly, but the one right at the back next to the wisdom tooth) has a single conical root, so when teeth start moving with the braces it tends to wobble around. However he said it would be fine and would tighten up again eventually.

I had the wires changed to a thicker sort. They have a square/rectangle profile this time and he said it would start to change the shape of the arches a bit. I can definitely feel it already mostly on my very front teeth.

Anyway this is how they are looking now:

Upper arch

Lower arch
Biting together

3 weeks in

So I've had my braces for 3 weeks tomorrow and so far it has been pretty uneventful.

For the first week I was off work anyway on holiday so I didn't really have to do much talking and I could eat and brush my teeth whenever I wanted. I think my back teeth felt the most sore and I couldn't really bit together properly or chew anything. Good job mashed potato is one of my most favourite foods ever!

The second week I was back at work (teaching) and my braces caused less of a reaction from the students than anticipated. Mostly they were just curious..... one student from a lower ability group just wanted to know "how they got in there" as if braces were caused by some sort of magic that occurred in the night! I did find however that having to talk pretty much non stop all day caused some areas to rub. It isn't the brackets themselves but the longer stretches of wire between the brackets on my molars that cut into my cheeks. I'm sure I didn't have this problem first time round, but I figure as the damon brackets are supposed to be smaller and more discrete that leaves longer lengths of wire exposed between them. For me this seems to be a major pitfall in terms of comfort.

This week my cheeks seem to have toughened up a bit but the longer expanses of wire are still having somewhat of a cheese wire effect! I haven't really noticed much movement in my teeth. I tried to take some pictures to see if I could see any tiny differences but I found it really difficult to take them from the same angle and distance as last time, so I can't really tell. I guess it's probably too early anyway.

Upper arch

Lower arch

Anyway how do you guys take your pictures so they are from the same viewpoint each time?

Braces on!

Finally got my braces on yesterday! I was all set to get metal damon upper and lower..... thats what I paid for. Then at the last minute the ortho said he had some innovation C (the clear brackets) and that he would use those on my upper front 4 teeth as they would work best for what needed to be done. I hadn't really been bothered about my braces being noticeable, as I have had full fixed braces before with coloured ligatures and everything, however now they are on I can see the clear brackets do make a massive difference at the front. I realised this the first time I looked in the mirror with my mouth in its resting position - because of my large overjet (9mm!) my lips don't close naturally when my mouth is relaxed anyway. This is obviously worse with brackets on top of my teeth, and I can see the bottoms of the brackets rest under the line of my lip. Had the front ones been metal they would be visible all the time, even when my mouth was supposedly closed!

Anyway, the whole installation process was easy and much more better than the last time I had it done (probably 12 years ago). The biggest difference for me was the lack of spacers and not having molar bands this time....so much more comfortable! Also the self ligating brackets mean the wire goes in a lot quicker. The bits I like less however are the brackets with the little hooks on for the elastics I will need further along the line. Last time I had braces I did have elastics for a while but they did not attach to the brackets. Instead a small loop was made in the wire and they hooked around that, so there were no stick-out pointy hooks. This time I am finding the hooks are a pain and catch my cheeks, especially since there is nothing attached to them yet.

So far yet there has been little discomfort....nothing like the pain I experienced first time around, although I can't chew properly or bite down fully as there is one lower bracket that I will break off if I do.

I have taken some pictures tonight, after day one. I wish I had taken them straight away now, because I can already notice some difference in the positioning of my front teeth. Even after just one day they are forming less of a triangular pointy arch at the front.

a little smile!

biting down. you can see here how big my overjet is!

open, so you can see all my lovely brackets!

top arch...very narrow at the moment.

bottom arch