On with the braces!

Today was the big day.

My appointment was first thing in the afternoon, so I had the morning to fret about things. I invited my mother and a friend over for coffee in the morning. It gave us an excuse to gorge on the gooey, sticky, remains of the Millionaire's Shortbread I had made over the weekend. I sadly surrendered all that was left to my mother; I somehow don't think that braces and sticky caramel go together too well.

I was advised to eat a big lunch because my teeth may be a bit sore after the braces go on so eating could be difficult. Unfortunately, I was too nervous to eat much, though I did manage a bit of toast.

I got to the clinic ridiculously early and they were having a staff meeting in the waiting room, so I was settled down in the reception area with a raft of paperwork to read and sign. I must say, they seemed to be having a nice, jolly staff meeting. Clearly nobody was in trouble for anything that day!

I ploughed through the paperwork. It banged on at length about what to expect, what to do, what not to do, why traditional orthodontists are apparently snooty about cosmetic orthodontic treatment and it asked me to agree to arbitration instead of litigation in case of any disputes. I balked a bit at that one; being a lawyer. Nothing like a juicy court case if you feel aggrieved! However, there's actually nothing wrong with arbitration, in my view, so I signed. I also had to sign a piece of paper saying that they could use any photographs they took of me for promotional or educational purposes. I balked a bit at that one, too, but once I was satisfied that Stephen wasn't planning to erect a giant hoarding on the A12 with pictures of me on it I signed on the dotted line and we were good to go.

First he took the pictures he wanted. It felt a bit like having a police mug shot taken. Not, I hasten to add, that I have ever had a mug shot taken! Then he put a load of vaseline on my lips to prevent them drying out (I had already used lip balm, just in case) and put a stretchy rubber contraption in my mouth to keep the lips held back off the teeth. I was actually quite grateful for that contraption because it holds your mouth open and means you don't have to make any effort to do so. It could be pretty tiring holding your mouth open for an hour.

First the teeth were cleaned with some gel stuff that felt quite cold, and dried. Then Stephen applied glue to the top teeth. The brackets come pre-loaded in a tray fitted to the shape of my mouth. He pressed the tray onto my teeth and they used a light to set the glue. The tray got pulled off and then the same was done to the lower teeth. All I felt was pressure as he pushed the trays onto the glue. No pain or discomfort.

He drilled away excess glue/cement and also started the process of shaving down the edges of the teeth. Because the teeth are crowded, room has to be made for them to move. This is achieved by shaving off up to 1/2mm from the edge of each tooth (the enamel is 3mm thick so there is plenty left). I had thought that all this would be done at the first visit and that my teeth would have visible gaps. I was pleased to discover that in fact the shaving down is done as necessary on each follow up visit. Today Stephen just shaved down some large fillings I have in the back molars rather than go straight for the tooth enamel. I was very happy about that.

Then the wires were put in place. I could feel a pull on the teeth as this was done. There was quite a lot of pressure on the one recalcitrant tooth in the lower jaw which is the cause of me needing to have the lower set done. The pressure was enough to make me squeak, but that was more from suprise at the sudden heavy pressure rather than pain as such. However it was only momentary.

Finally he checked my bite. As expected he found that if I were to bite down hard I would be in danger of dislodging the brackets. So he had to built up areas of cement on my top teeth to prevent the teeth from meeting fully at any other point. This state of affairs needs to last for a couple of months until the teeth have started moving and the danger is past. Chewing stuff will be interesting in the meantime!

As expected the procedure took an hour. Stephen said that the main feedback he gets from patients is that they get mouth ulcers for the first couple of days and the mouth can feel a bit bruised and sore. He advised soft foods initially and went through the list of foods and drinks to avoid if I don't want the braces to stain. Not sure if I will survive without spaghetti, curry and red wine.

The braces feel really big and unwieldy. They are very obvious close up if you smile to show your teeth. They also push my lips forward a little so even when my mouth is closed you can tell something is not quite normal, if you know me well enough.

Speaking felt very odd at first but you fairly quickly get used to it. I can already tell I will be adjusting my speaking to minimise the amount of tooth on show; that's partly through feeling self-conscious but partly to stop the lips moving over the braces constantly and thus being at higher risk of ulcers.

I can feel a slight pressure on my teeth from the braces. I have read from other accounts that the bruised feeling kicks in a couple of hours after fitting. It's currently 3 1/2 hours after fitting and I feel no pain at all. Let's hope it stays that way.