Week 5: Another trip to the ortho

This week marks week 5 for me.  Other than another trip to the ortho for a lost rubber band the week was pretty uneventful.  Since having my teeth extracted, the back side of my gums behind my top front teeth felt different.  I chalked it up to the trauma from the extractions and the loss of teeth.  Well, I am pretty sure part of the difference was from the movement of my front teeth.  I's amazing....for the first time since I was 8 my front teeth are side by side!  I now have a small gap between them at the gum, but that doesn't bother me!!

I also had a cleaning this week.  It took quite a bit longer than a cleaning without braces.  The hygenist told me that everything looked great and that I'm doing an excellent job keeping up with it.

I'm very excited to finally see some movement!

WOW!!

For about a week now I could SWEAR that I was starting to see a difference in my front teeth.  I kept on chalking it up to looking at them from a different angle or the pictures were shadowed or something.

Last night when I flossed, it really hit me that my front teeth are different.  Before, with my teeth being overlapped, you had to come in from an angle to get the floss in.  Today it went right in there like it's supposed to.  The downside is that I also notice a gap at the gum line, but at least there's movement!

Week 4 Here comes the pain again

Week 4: Here comes the pain again.  In my desperation to get these holes closed up, I decided to see if I could get my adjustment moved up, and they were able to.  So on Monday evening (5/2/2011) I went in for my first adjustment.

They started by taking off the ligatures.  Unfortunately, the Dr. was busy and I had to wait for about 15 minutes with no ligatures in place.  Just from normal talking I popped the wire out of one of the brackets but they told me that was to be expected.

The Dr. came over and instructed the denstal assistant what he wanted done.  So she pulls out wire, pliers, snips, ligatures,and chains (long ligatures with multiple holes.  She wired the teeth across the gaps and put the ligatures on.  WOW....instant headache.  She told me that the 15 mintues that the ligature were off was enough time for my teeth to "relax" and that the pain was from them essentially being wrangled back into position.

The Dr. told me that he hoped to have the gaps half closed by August....I was hoping to have them completely closed by then.  He also told me that the front teeth may start moving back to make room and align them.  Then they'll start pulling them inwards to correct the overjet which will close a portion of the gaps even more.  He basically told me that things are going to get a little better looking, then a little worse, then over time significantly better.

I scheduled 2 more adjustments for 4 weeks apart.  At the third adjustment, 8 weeks from now, I MAY get a new wire.

Has it really only been three weeks?

I can't believe it's only been three weeks since I got the braces on.  In some ways I've gotten used to them.  In some ways I don't think I'll ever get used to them.

I know it's only been three weeks, but I'm a little frustrated.  I had hoped to see SOMETHING move.  At this point I'm worse off than I was before I started this whole process as I had three more teeth at that point.  I want these holes filled in NOW!!

Eating is still difficult due to the gaps in my teeth and the pressure put on the wires when trying to chew.  It hasn't gotten better at all really.  Food bits still get stuck in the extraction sites.  I can't wait to go back to the ortho to get the powerchains on to start really moving these teeth.  My next appointment is 5/9, but I don't know if I can wait that long!

Today marks Week 2

So today is the end of my second full week of having my braces on.  I've seen little to no change in my teeth, but that doesn't surprise me.  I didn't really expect to see anything this quickly.  Now that those teeth have been extracted I am hoping things will move quickly.  Especially getting the teeth to take up the gaps of where the teeth were.

By the time I got my teeth extracted I had just about adjusted to life with braces.  Now I find myself starting all over again.  Feeling my gums with my tongue where my teeth were grosses me out.  I look in the mirror and it grosses me out.  Touching my teeth together disgusts me.  I feel like a hillbilly with these gaps and they can't go away quick enough.

After the extractions I felt like the neighboring teeth were loose, sorta like how they felt with the spacers.  My teeth are just starting to not feel loose anymore.

Chewing is a nightmare again, only I'm not sure when it will go away this time.  Where the wires are and teeth aren't it is next to impossible to truly chew.  The wire essentially does the work that the teeth used to do in chewing.  Obviously the wire is connected to all of the other teeth.  With nothing to support the wire in the gaps, it moves when you chew and it is not a good feeling.  I tried eating grapes yesterday and ended up swallowing them whole.

Again, this better be worth it.

And they're out!

No, not the braces.  If you've actually read my posts you knew that I had to have three more teeth removed.  Oh joy.  The first one that Lenny (I told you we got to be good friends) removed was my upper left.  The thing was like the Mike Tyson of teeth.  After it came out we found out why.  I was lucky enough to have a tooth with three roots, and the damn thing did NOT want to come out.  He pushed, he pulled, he twisted, he cussed, and finally it came out.

The day after the extractions I had to go back to the ortho because both wires had popped out.  Just my luck.

For those of you that are fortunate enough to NOT have teeth extracted in your lifetime you should count your luck stars.  It sucks.  The pictures tell more than my words.  I hope you all enjoy the gaps as much as I am.

My Right Side

My Left Side

And they're on!

So it begins.  My first day in braces.

Bottom Teeth

Full Metal Jacket

Top Teeth

Putting them on was for the most part uneventful. Three not so great things happened:
1) The dental assistant smelled like an ashtray. I truly almost had to ask to get someone else. I can't stand that smell.
2) When my mouth was pried open and they were putting on the brackets the Dr. dropped one in my mouth. I caught it with my tongue and enabled him to finish the bottom. We had to take out the mouth guard thing, fetch the lost bracket, and re-prep. Oh well.
3) I found out I have to have 3 more teeth pulled more or less immediately to make room for the movement. I was really hoping to not lose that many healthy teeth. Obviously they are they experts and I'll defer to them, but ouch! Luckily, one of the ones to be removed is one that is twisted sideways. They said it will take 8-10 weeks to close the gaps created by extracting the teeth.

I feel pretty tight right now, but other than that it's not too bad yet. My gums/lip on one side keep getting caught, but I'm sure that will work itself out over time.

What's really kinda cool is that they checked my bite when I got there. After the braces were on they checked it again. I could feel one side hitting where it hadn't in the past and they said that it's due to the tooth already starting to move!

Unfortunately I had to go back to the ortho later in the day because a bracket popped off.  They said that they didn't glue it on well enough.  If my experience with the oral surgeon is any kind of predictor, I'm guessing I'll get to know the ortho very well.

And so it begins.

This has been a long time in the works.  It all started when I was 8 years old and ran into the back of my friends head with my teeth.  They've been twisted ever since.  They really don't look that bad in the picture, but they are pretty crooked, and they've bothered be almost my whole life.

Over the past few years my wisdom teeth, which were sideways and impacted on the bottom, began pushing inward on my bottom teeth.  The bottoms eventually started to twist and overlap.

About 8 months ago I decided to get serious about getting them straight.  I went to several dentists and orthodontists asking about Invisalign, which I thought would be a great option.  The first thing they all told me was that the wisdom teeth had to go.  For any of you that have had that done you know it isn't cheap.  I decided to delay getting them removed until we had dental insurance.

We added dental insurance and I scheduled my visit to the oral surgeon.  He and I have become great friends since then.  I had my remaining three wisdom teeth removed on February 15th.  The removal wasn't that bad at all.....it was all of the complications they never told me about that sucked.  To make a long story short, I went back to the oral surgeon a total of six times to take care of sores, suspected muscle atrophy, infection, and eventually an abscess in the inside corner of my mouth that prevented me from opening my mouth wide enough to eat a banana.  The abscess was removed on March 29th, 2011.  I could FINALLY open my mouth.

My wife suggested I visit another orthodontist, the one she is going to, and get one more opinion.  I went into their office on March 30th, the day after I had my abscess removed.  By this point my patience had worn thin and I wanted SOMETHING done to my teeth to get them straight and I wanted it started NOW.  By this point I had done enough research on my own to doubt whether Invisalign was the right option for me.  The ortho confirmed this.  On my first visit to the ortho we reviewed x-rays, took impressions, took photos, did an exam, and at my BEGGING put the spacers in to begin the process of braces.

The spacers were uncomfortable, but really not that bad.  You can definitely feel them moving your teeth.  It's amazing to me that rubber bands can move your teeth.  I also scheduled my bracing day for April 5, 2011.