Twas the night before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, and I’d been put through my paces

To cook, clean and wrap with my teeth set in braces.

The cookies so crunchy, the roast beef so chewy

But alas I must eat food that’s softer and gooey.

My family munched on their crackers and chips

(Well, those only would have gone straight to my hips).

With my chompers a-hurtin from ear to ear

It’s been hard to come up with that old Christmas cheer.

But I know that it all will pay off, all of this grief

When two Christmases from now, Santa brings me straight teeth!

This year, however, I’ll cut him some slack

And wish for a case that good dental wax!

So goodbye crooked teeth

And spaces too tight!

Merry Christmas to all

And to all a good bite!

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Coil Spring why do you torment me so??

So my crossbite is fixing itself during my treatment. Unfortunately it's not quite far enough to the front to be comfortable right now. It is the upper right lateral incisor that is slowly moving forward to greet the archwire. Unfortunately I have a coil spring between my lower right central incisor and my lower right canine to make room for my too-far-back lower right lateral incisor.

So what's happened is that my upper right incisor is biting and pushing down on the coil spring directly below it.

But at the same time it doesn't matter because this spring is causing me so much pain as it is I'm not even bothered by this new development. This spring can not possibly pain me more than it already is.

*pops ibuprofen like candy*


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IMPORTANT INTRODUCTION VIDEOS

Introduction to Orthodontics. It helps to explain a lot of diagnoses.


Parts of you braces. Also very helpful so you know exactly what contraption is causing you the most pain haha


Normal Dental Development. I WANT THIS I WISH I HAD THIS. I am so jealous of those with perfect teeth like this.



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Post Adjustment Owies

So it's been a day after my last adjustment and my right upper canine is killing me! Every time I go for an adjustment the bracket on that one tooth pops off when its time to change the ligatures and then I am subjected to the scraping and filing of the dental cement. I think this tooth is done and about to give up. Eating is difficult, brushing that tooth is difficult. It's like a germaphobe yelling, "Don't touch me!!"

December Adjustment

So I just came from my adjustment. It's not so great. My ortho broke off two of my brackets while changing the ligatures which meant I had to sit there and endure her filing and scraping away at the remnants of the dental cement. Not fun there. But then it turns out the spring is not working as well as it should be so I was reintroduced to my old friend the elastic  chain to help make room for that stubborn lower right lateral incisor. She changed all the other ligatures fine and dandy and retied that odd wire ligature on my upper right lateral incisor.

Overall it was a semi painful and semi painless experience. I feel like I've been getting better compared to my first few adjustments but I really can't stand that scraping of the cement. I dont know what I'll do when it's time to get debanded and all of my teeth need to be scraped clean of the dental cement. It will be ridiculously painful...

Happy Thanksgiving

To all my Followers and Lurking Readers!
I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving and those who are able to partake in the edible revelry congratulations to you!

Those unfortunate souls who just had an adjustment and are sore, my deepest condolences...

Other than that, ENJOY!

WOOHOO!

Just realized I'm SET for the next few months: Adjustment early November, can eat by Thanksgiving. Adjustment early December, eat by Christmas. Adjustment early January, eat by birthday. Adjustment early February, FML can't have candy for Valentine's day. It's okay I have to buy myself candy anyway I'll get like milk chocolate or something. Something melty. :)

Minor Complaints

Sometimes I feel like my orthodontist has me secretly hooked up to a switchboard that she sits down at every now and again going, "Well now, which one of Marissa's teeth can I cause to hurt her NOW?! "

Which is a shame because she's a REALLY nice lady and I love her as my ortho.

But DAMN my teeth do hurt sometimes.

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November Weekly Progress

Well like I said before I went to my adjustment two days ago. Here is my progress as of today.

November 11, 2011
4 months and 3 weeks into treatment



And here is a close up of my coil spring located on the lower right area of my mouth:
I swear it's only been two days but it feels like it's already spread my teeth out a bit! OW!

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November Adjustment

Oh dear God I went into for my adjustment today. On one hand changing all the ligatures was not as bad as it used to be I was able to sit through it without any cries of pain or discomfort. Only displayed facial expressions of Ow.

But then I brought up a concern that my lower teeth were traveling along the archwire in the wrong direction, thereby making even LESS space for my right lateral incisor to come forward. My orthodontist checked my teeth and my bite and she agreed. So unfortunately I now have a metal spring between my lower right central incisor and my lower right canine. And it will continue to push those two teeth apart so that my lower right lateral incisor will have enough space to come forward and line up nicely with the other teeth.

BUT LET ME JUST SAY OW! Oh Jesus this is the worst I've ever felt. It is the first day and I'm sure the pain will diminish but for now it's just terrible.

Pics will come later.

A little apprehensive.

My next adjustment is on November 9th. I'm kinda not looking forward to it. I've made so much progress with eating normal food that I don't really want to go back on the Soft Food Diet.

I need to remember that I did sign up for this voluntarily.

No pain, no gain!

It's for the greater good!

Insert other inspirational future-oriented slogan here!

Time to gorge myself on normal food I suppose... I won't be seeing it for about two weeks. :(

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WOW

So I'm looking at the pictures of my teeth that I've been taking and posting and it AMAZES me the amount of change that I've gone through in a span of four months, even though day by day is an endless procession of nothing. Especially my lower teeth, I mean DAMN.

Very happy right now.

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October Progress

So here we are for another Progress Report. Last time I left you with the jubilation that one of my teeth too far away to be initially attached to the archwire has now joined the tinsel party!

This is October 11, 2011.
16 weeks into treatment.

Also I took notice of my extraction gaps and how they are closing up nicely. The original post for my Extractions can be found here.
This are my upper extractions gaps on October 11, 2011, at exactly 14 weeks post-extractions. The gap left my tooth # 5 , (on the left of the picture) is almost gone and it so small now. And the gap left my tooth # 12 (on the right) is right behind it, and closing fast!


Pictured above are my lower extractions also at the time of October 11, 2011. These were done on July 20, 2011 and this is 12 weeks post-extractions. These are # 19 and 26. They are closing up but taking their own sweet time about it when compared to my upper extractions.

Regardless the fact remains that the holes have closed up and I'm no longer terrified that food will become trapped in there as I eat. HUZZAH!

Anyway for my latest appointment my orthodontist removed the elastics from my right upper and left lower canines. Changed all ligatures, changed elastics on left upper canine and right lower canine. AND attached the right lateral incisor to the archwire with a thin piece of metal-string-thing because now there is room for it to come forward. (YAY!)

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Apologies

I'm not very good about this blogging thing. I tend to forget about it for weeks at a time while I'm preoccupied with work, and school, and homework, and paperwork. Apologies to my followers. All 4 of you. xD

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Weekly Progress & First visible progress

September 13, 2011
12 weeks into treatment

So I've finally had my "AHA!" moment. When I first started my braces my left lateral incisor was one of three teeth located too far back to be attached to the archwire so those three just hung out in my mouth with the brackets on but not linked up to anything. Just chilling and being crooked and bleh.

Yesterday I went for my monthly visit to my orthodontist. She did the usual, change my ligatures, changed my elastic chains, clip the extra archwire behind my molar bands. And there was the usual level of discomfort regardless of the fact that I took an Advil beforehand. Then she did something new. My second premolars on top were bracketed and attached to the wire... AS WELL AS THAT FAR AWAY LEFT LATERAL INCISOR! This is the day that I truly realize that YES my teeth ARE moving! I look at myself everyday in the mirror and I see no change but looking at my past pictures, particularly the extraction pictures and I'm seeing a very noticeable difference! And now that I see it I wonder how I could possibly miss it all this time!

I mean I am SO excited about this revelation that I had to immediately tell someone. I can't wait for the other two faraway teeth to be attached to the wire. I was just wondering if I was wasting my time because there was no sign of progress but I'm one step closer to straight teeth and this is just the bit of good news I'd been waiting for.

It's slow going but progress is progress.

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Progress With Foods

So there seems to be some good news regarding the foods I am allowed to eat. The big rule is that I am to avoid anything hard sticky or tacky. However today I've discovered that I can eat potato chips (one at a time and carefully), cookies (if soft baked) and milk chocolate (if I let it melt in my mouth and then just swallow it). This is WONDERFUL news because I can not tell you how much I've missed junk food.

Only on Sunday I had McDonald's for the first time. It was a fish fillet but still progress is progress. I am so happy that I can have normal foods again. I'm two months one week and four days into my treatment and the pain comes and goes at odd intervals. Sometimes one tooth aches, another time a different tooth aches. Sometimes nothing aches and I can deal with it all. The days that everything hurts and I can't eat I survive on Ensure drinks. The vanilla and chocolate flavors are the best!

I'm told that the first three months are the most terrible and after that it's easy sailing. I really hope that it is the case with me as well.

I haven't posted a pic in a while because I've been a bit busy with work and getting ready for school but I will soon. My next adjustment is on September 13th, so it'll definitely be up by then.

Have a happy Thursday, readers! The weekend is almost here! Hooray!

Weekly Progress (August)

August 16, 2011
Eight weeks into treatment
Replaced ligatures, elastic chains and clipped archwires today!
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Weekly Progress (August)

August 11, 2011
Seven weeks, two day into treatment

Weekly Progress (August)

August 3, 2011
Six weeks, one day into treatment

Weekly Progress (July)

July 27, 2011
Five weeks one day into treatment
Got rubber bands to pull my canines back! (Hate them. Hate them passionately.)
Also please ignore the shiny sweat. It was a VERY hot day.

Weekly Progress (July)

July 8, 2011
Two weeks three days into treatment
Pre-extractions

Weekly Progress (July)

July 5, 2011
Two weeks into treatment

Weekly Progress (June)

June 28, 2011
One week into treatment

Extractions

:On July 5, 2011 I went to my dentist for my first pair of extractions. I've never had a tooth extracted before so I was really very nervous. Everyone I spoke to told me that once the anesthetic kicked in I wouldn't feel a thing. I was removing my first premolars. It was so strange because I could hear the sounds of the teeth cracking and coming out and I could sorta feel it as it left my gums (but no pain thank goodness!) My dentist even let me keep my teeth. I never knew the roots would be so long! As he was tugging I felt it moving around by my nose!


The extraction sites were so red and angry looking for days afterwards that I was afraid to really eat. I was on a liquid diet of soup and Ensure and slowly moved towards the soft stuff like mac and cheese and the Chef Boyardee stuff. I was mostly afraid that food would get stuck in the holes and that it would be so painful. By the time I was able to eat real food again, two weeks had passed and I was scheduled to go for my second set of extractions. These were for my lower first premolars.



I just want to say this once and get it out of my system: I MISS MY TEETH. PUT THEM BACK!


EDIT: During this time I was unable to use my normal mouthwash. Instead I used Colgate Peroxyl Oral Cleanser. It did burn a little and it was VERY bubbly in my mouth but I'd say it did the job. My orthodontist seemed to think so when I went back to her one week after the final extractions to get my long archwire. she told me that I was healing very well. (YAY!)

Brace Day

My official Brace Day was June 21, 2011. I was reunited with my old friend Cheek Expanders again.
I got ceramic Clarity brackets on my upper teeth and traditional metal brackets on my lower teeth. I also have four molar bands. I think those spacers and the bands were the most difficult part so far. I just didn't have enough room for the bands after one week of spacers and had to have them on for an additional three weeks before I could get bands on my lower teeth. For those same three weeks I had bands on my upper teeth but they were not cemented. But not anymore!

Sadly on the ride home, before I even reached my house I popped my first bracket. It was the one of my upper left canine. Imagine sitting calmly in the car with a sudden odd popping motion in my mouth. I briefly thought that it was my teeth moving miraculously fast only to realize that the bracket is all jiggly on the wire. :|

Even more absurdly I popped another bracket on my lower right lateral incisor only two days later. My teeth just seem too stubborn to move and the brackets give up!

My Braces Story

Alright time for my first post. This is my first time in braces. I've needed them as a teenager but for whatever reasons it never happened. Now that I'm working I can get them on my own. I went in for my initial consultation in early May 2011. After agreeing to continue into the journey of Tinsel Teeth I made the appointment for my photographs and Xrays.



So here is a picture of the computer screen after I had my initial consultation. It was taken May 17, 2011 when I went in for my xrays. It's not very clear but you can see that I have some crowding on both the upper and lower teeth, more so on the lower, a little bit of a crossbite, as well as a bit of an overbite (or maybe it's an overjet I'm not too sure of the difference) measuring 6mm. My orthodontist said that ideally she'll bring it down to 3mm. Unfortunately it seems to be a unanimous decision that I NEEDED extractions due to the small size of my jaw, combined with the size and severity of my teeth.

Let me just say that those cheek expanders are CRAZY. I was SO glad I remembered to bring my chapstick with me. Those things are no joke when you've had them long enough to take all those pictures.

Introducin's myself

Well hello Internetland! I am Marissa and I have braces. Yes you heard right. Braces. The tinsel teeth terror that many people wish did not exist... until they remove them to reveal a GLORIOUSLY STRAIGHT SMILE!

So one of these days I'm going to buckle down and make this blog about my journey to my dental transformation.

Oh, one more thing about this blog: Brace Fetishists are not welcome.
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