Braces :)

I got braced on Tuesday May 24th. The experience wasn't too bad, the gel they put on to prep the teeth tasted gross but other than that it wasn't bad. One of the assistants gave me movie goggles so I could watch a movie while they installed the braces, they were all kids movies... I settled on the new Alice in Wonderland with Helena Bonham Carter, but should have got Toy Story as AIW wasn't very good. The movie did however provide a little distraction though I was definitely more focused on listening to what the ortho was saying to the assistant! It seemed like the first few bottom brackets won't sticking well to the crooked teeth and I heard the ortho saying they'd have to redo them or something, which I guess they did. They're stuck now anyway!


I have full braces on the bottom plus power chains (to start closing the extraction gaps). Then on the top I have braces on all but the molars which have spacers (my ortho just got back from vacation, so that's why I didn't get spacers earlier). My tops also have power chains to start closing the extraction gaps. The front six on the bottom are clear ceramic and the bottom back six are metal.  On the top there are 8 clear ceramic brackets and there will be four metal brackets at the back. 

I'd thought from research that the second day of braces was meant to be the worst, well maybe it's because I got braced at 8am, but for me the first day was extremely painful which threw me for a loop. It felt so bad with stabbing pain especially on the bottom teeth tops were not bad (but aren't fully braced yet) that I wondered why they didn't prescribe prescription pain killers for braces. I went through impacted wisdom teeth on ibuprofen and barely took anything for the pre molars so was surprised by how bad it was - the worst mouth pain i've ever had. Fortunately days 2 & 3 have been more what I expected: teeth are sore, extremely sensitive and there's dull pain and my cheeks are a little scratched from the braces: but after day 1 - totally tolerable! 

Here are a few pics of the braces on day 1: 

 My over bite is so excessive for my small mouth that my mouth is open in it's relaxed position - see above pic. Can't wait until that's fixed!
The colored dots on the braces were to tell the ortho which bracket goes on which tooth, now three days on the dots are almost all gone.

 My ortho considers me a complex case but someone who could really benefit from orthodontics. Looking at the pics reenforces i'm doing the right thing!

Will get better at taking the open mouth pics! I know i'm missing a pic of the bottom teeth. 

3 days on I already feel like things are moving! My bottom molars are wider apart and my top teeth seem different every time I floss. I think my extraction spaces are getting a teeny bit smaller but that could just be wishful thinking!

Next Tuesday i'm bracing myself for more pain. The spacers come out, molar bands go in on top along with those 4 brackets and I get elastics... Watch this space my journeys on it's way!