Five months in...

Had another checkup yesterday. The teeth hadn't moved as much in the last month as hoped.

I had what I hope is the last session of shaving down the teeth and Stephen put square wire on as this apparently exerts more pressure on the brackets. I've got various wire ligatures instead of the elastic bands, and some lengths of elastic power chain.

I hugely prefer the wire ligatures to the bands, simply because they don't stain. However the elastic power chains stain like heck so I'm not much further forward.

The plan now is to keep on with the bottom teeth. I have to go back in a fortnight because the top arch is being pulled apart and we want to catch the two front teeth when there is enough room to twist the recalcitrant one but a gap has not yet formed between the teeth which we would then have to close.

With a bit of luck the braces can come off at the end of the month, and it really will have been Six Month Smiles.

Four months in...

I've had a couple of checkups since my last post. The teeth are moving well and more quickly than expected. I have my four month checkup tomorrow and at the last checkup Stephen said that I may be able to get the braces off this visit.

That won't happen, as one of my top front teeth hasn't moved to where I think it needs to go. However the teeth are pretty much completely straight now, which is great. With a bit of luck the braces can come off at the end of September.

The adjustment visits have mostly been OK, apart from the tooth filing. That remains completely, spine tinglingly repulsive. Even the assistant was shuddering last time I had it done! I've generally felt a bit of soreness for a day or two after an adjustment, but not much. I haven't even needed painkillers. Every so often I will feel a weird bit of soreness around a particular tooth for a few days and then it passes.

Now that the teeth are straight they feel as if they are filling up my mouth a bit more. As a result the brackets have become more irritating and noticeable. I'm looking forward to seeing the back of them, to be honest.

The dry mouth and lips continue. I've found a great lip balm made by Simple that has a gloss finish so it looks nice as well as helping with the dry lips.

Lipstick seems to vanish extra quickly these days, but thankfully tinted lip balms seem to be the in thing right now and they last quite well.

Flossing with braces is virtually impossible - especially since Stephen put elastic powerchains all the way along the top last visit. However, I have invested in a Phillips Sonicare airflosser. You charge it up and fill the (tiny) reservoir with water, or mouthwash. You place the nozzle at the gum line, between two teeth and press the button. The machine blasts a mixture of air and water at very high intensity. It can't be as good as floss because you only get the cleaning at the gum line. However the gum line is where most of the gunk hides, and judging by the debris that is dislodged and the amount of bleeding you get when you first start using the airflosser, it is pretty effective. Until you get the hang of closing your lips before pressing the button, however, you will find your entire bathroom filled with water droplets.

The day after the first adjustment....

Ouch.

I feel like I have been kicked in the face by a horse.

That is all.

The first adjustment

I had my first adjustment today.

Just as well, because the bands round my brackets had become an alarming shade of yellow. Admittedly I have not been terribly good about keeping away from curry so it is my own fault.

Stephen had a good look at my teeth and pronounced himself pleased with progress. I have been able to see quite a bit of movement in the bottom teeth but it is not so easy to see the top teeth. Stephen confirmed that there has been quite a bit of movement up top, too.

He took off the bands and the wires. Although the pressure on my teeth has not been uncomfortable or bothersome, it was remarkable quite how much I could feel the release of the pressure when the wires were off.

Stephen shaved off the edges of a few more teeth. At first he used a drill attachment, which was fine. But then he got something that resembled a strip of sandpaper (perhaps it actually was?) and rasped it in between my teeth as necessary.

O.M.G. That is about the most unpleasant feeling I have ever had. It did not hurt at all but the crunchy rasping noises and the slight vibration of the teeth felt really peculiar. It was as unpleasant as nails scratching down a blackboard. Stephen could tell that I was most uncomfortable - I think I was waving my hands around a bit wildly in an effort to distract myself from the rasping.

Thankfully it was soon over, but I am NOT looking forward to more of that. Hey, ho - remember the title of this blog.

Stephen then threaded new wires through. He put some elastics on some of the back teeth - I think that is to close up gaps a bit quicker there so the front teeth can move more. Then the nice clean bands went back on. This part of the process was pretty similar to when the braces were first put on. A lot of pressure as the bands go on, and then it all settles down to a low pressure.

I had taken a painkiller a couple of hours before going. Not because I dreaded the procedure, as it happens, but because I felt a bit rough this morning. I'm not sure that the procedure would have been worse without it, though, and I don't intend to bother next time.

I've read on various forums that the first few days after an adjustment can be a bit painful, but I'm not finding that so far. Good.

Movement!

On Monday I popped back in to see Stephen and have the broken bracket glued back on. The procedure was very quick. The problem was partly due to my upper teeth pressing down on that bracket even with the bite guard on that side, so Stephen put on loads of extra cement and also increased the bite guard size. This means that I now have two areas I can use to chew, which is a huge help.

I went on to see my parents, who had no idea I was having braces fitted. They knew I had been to the dentist beforehand, so as I arrived my mother said "How are the gnashers?"

"Being straightened", said I.

She gave me a funny look. "Does that mean you have an Eggbutt Snaffle?"

What a blast from the past. I was your typical horse mad young girl, and I knew everything there was to know about horses, and then some. (Apart from how to bet on them, but I even know that now.) Anyway, when I had all the headgear in my youth it rather resembled a horse's bit, hence the term Eggbutt Snaffle, which is a type of bit.

"No, I don't have an Eggbutt Snaffle, just clear braces."

"Really?" she said, looking suspiciously at my mouth. I opened to let her have a look.

"Oh goodness, you have stuff EVERYWHERE in there!"

Anyway, we put the world to rights and I managed to resist the chocolate she offered me, since Stephen had said I should not eat anything for at least an hour.

When I got home I had a good long look in the mirror. Something was different about the lower jaw. I don't mean where the bracket had been put back; that had a lot more cement on it and did look different. No, it was the other side. The left side. The side with the one tiresome tooth that had swayed me into having a lower brace.

I could have sworn that after the braces were fitted on Thursday the wire had to kink inwards quite sharply in order to attach to the bracket on the tiresome tooth, and then kink back out again to reach the next one. Now, the wire had only a gentle curve in it. "No" I thought. "That can't happen in four days. Or can it?"

I checked out the photos I had taken immediately after the braces were fitted. The angle isn't ideal but I am positive that there was a definite kink which has now gone.

YIPPEEE! We're on the way.

Days 2 and 3

The weekend passed quite uneventfully. Eating did not get much easier, but the sore feeling when eating and brushing my teeth had significantly reduced by Sunday.

The loose bracket was becoming really quite irritating; I was hugely looking forward to getting back to see Stephen on Monday and getting it sorted out. However, the ulcers, whilst looking big and white and fierce were definitely less painful. By the end of the weekend, as I was applying Bonjela I could get by with just a slight wince, rather than the earlier histrionics of screeching and wringing my hands that I had found it necessary to employ.

I'm getting a bit obsessed with cleaning my teeth. I can still floss between the back molars so I do that first. Then I get the electric toothbrush out. That's a bit dangerous; if you get the angle just right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it) pieces of food that have lodged in the braces suddenly become loose and fly out of your mouth. If you ever go through this procedure, do not make the mistake of leaving them on the mirror after you have finished cleaning your teeth, with the idea of coming back to clean the mirror later on. They will cement themselves on there more firmly than the brackets cemented to my teeth and you will be buying shares in Windolene. Except there won't be any shares left, because I shall have bought them all.

After the toothbrush I use these rather nifty brushes:

Stephen gave me a thing called a Tepe brush to try, which is similar to these but the bristles are much bigger. It's OK, but I like these really tiny brushes. If you have any gaps big enough you can use them instead of floss, which is useful as I can't really floss the teeth behind the brace wires. They're also excellent for brushing all around the edges of the brackets and running in behind the wire. It is amazing how much stuff you can prod out; you could think your teeth were completely clean on looking in the mirror after brushing so it is well worth using one of these little skinny brushes.

I did buy some mouthwash too, but I have been having problems with that. First, it stung my ulcers almost as badly as the Bonjela. I expect that is subsiding, but it is also quite hard to keep my mouth properly shut while swishing mouthwash around. My lower lip, especially, rubs against the brackets and the ulcer gets irritated. I think this aspect will improve with time.

One marvellous effect of having braces (at least for me) is the weight loss.  I've lost a couple of pounds in only 2 days. I haven't felt hungry, particularly. I certainly haven't been doing without stuff, as such, though obviously some things are just too hard to bother trying to eat. What's happening is that I am taking ages to chew each mouthful small enough to swallow. I have always been one to chew food quite thoroughly so to get it to a stage where I think it is just about small enough for me to gulp it down takes me really quite a while. By the time I've eaten about a quarter of a normal portion I've already taken ages and start to feel full. They say you should stop eating when you feel full, but even if you do (which most people don't, especially when eating something they really like) the body takes about 20 minutes to register that you've been eating. Or so I have read somewhere. If you are eating at any kind of speed you can get an awful lot of food down you in 20 minutes. With braces on, I can manage enough food to keep body and soul together in about 20 minutes. Then I feel full, so it's really no hardship. As for snacking between meals; with braces, it just isn't worth the bother, given the cleaning job afterwards. So, unless I suddenly develop a heavy chocolate mousse habit (which is entirely possible) I am hoping that the weight loss will continue.

First full day of braces

The stock of paracetamol remains untouched. I slept remarkably well, which I had not expected.

I was on the phone to the clinic first thing to discuss the broken bracket. They offered me an appointment later that day, but I couldn't make it so I made an appointment for Monday instead.

Had a smoothie for breakfast as I usually do before a gym class, so that was simple enough to get down. At the gym class nobody said anything about my teeth, and nobody was giving me funny looks as I spoke to them so I am supposing they didn't notice the braces. Result!

I usually have fried eggs on toast for lunch after the class. However the chef can sometimes be a bit overenthusiastic about cooking the eggs, and they end up with brown, frilly edges. I didn't think egg frill and braces would be the best of friends so I opted for scrambled eggs instead. The eggs were easy enough to eat and I even managed the centre bits of my toast. Hubby got to eat all the outer crusts - he is liking this state of affairs more and more. The bite guards are really tiresome as there is so little surface area to use for chewing. I don't think I closed my mouth properly when Stephen was checking how to build up the bite guards so I can really only use one tooth on one side. I'm supposed to have the use of both sides.  I'll ask if he can give me some more chewing surfaces when I go in in Monday.

I've got a big ulcer on the inside of my lower lip where it rubs against the brackets on the front teeth. I was prepared for that and bought some Bonjela. MAN, does that stuff sting! I don't know if you have ever tried using New Skin liquid on a small cut. It stings unbelievably, and Bonjela on an ulcer is the same. (If you haven't tried the New Skin, then next time you have a paper cut rub some lemon juice in it if you are curious what it feels like.) Then the Bonjela, or the stinging it causes (I'm not sure which) makes you drool like mad. Pro-tip: wait until you are in private and near a sink before applying Bonjela unless you want to do a public impression of the Victoria Falls in the rainy season.

I discovered later in the evening that I also have a big ulcer inside my cheek where it is rubbing against the loose bracket. That was a surprise as the ulcer is not hurting at all. I thought I'd put some Bonjela on it for good measure and nearly hit the roof.

Dental wax on the front lower brackets is working well to reduce the discomfort from the ulcer at the front. I did try ramming some around the broken bracket as well, but that didn't work as the bracket spins around and dislodges the wax. I suppose if I used a large enough piece of wax it might work, but I don't really want to resemble a hamster with its cheek pouches full.

I did a really bad thing in the evening. I had red wine. And a curry. They tell you again and again that these things stain the brackets. I deliberately chose the least colourful (and softest) menu items I could find. I cut them up really small and stuck them right into the back of my mouth where I could chew them (after a fashion; I think I'd probably be more successful if I had no teeth and was just gumming everything) and then swallow without touching the braces.

The red wine didn't make any stains. Except on my reputation; as I was worried about stains I developed a method of drinking from the glass which kind of directed the liquid towards the back of my mouth rather than swooshing it all over my front teeth. I suspect this made me look somewhat deranged, especially when coupled with licking my front teeth after every swig in order to get any red wine off the braces PDQ. The restaurant staff know us very well, but they seemed oddly reluctant to chat. Perhaps it was just that it was a busy Friday night, and I expect I was imagining the strange sidelong glances they threw in my direction every so often.

I think I successfully negotiated the Seekh Kebab starter as there were no red stains on the braces. I also think I successfully negotiated the Nepali Kathmandu chicken main (it's like Tandoori chicken but coated in green herbs instead of bright red stuff) as there were no green stains on the braces. The blithering Mutter Paneer came in such an innocuous looking pale peach coloured sauce that I think I may have been a bit rash. It was the easiest dish to eat so I could shovel spoonfuls down whilst performing the interminable task of cutting up the chicken small enough to require only minimal chewing.  Yes, I think the Mutter Paneer was my downfall. On arriving home I dashed off to clean my teeth and the braces were stained a light shade of yellow just around the edges. Blast.

Actually, it's really not all that noticeable unless you are looking very closely. Which of course I am 5 times a day as I fiddle about with cleaning. Sigh. Oh well, I have only myself to blame. And the Mutter Paneer.