DAY ONE OF BRACES:
The day I got my braces, April 6th to be precise, I was sooo unbelievable excited. The whole this took about two hours to get done. First a dental assistant had me lay down in the chair while she polished my teeth. I'm not really sure what she put on them, because I couldn't see. Whatever it was didn't hurt and it just felt like they were being polished. After that she took out a box of bands for my four back teeth. This was the only part that actual hurt. These bands had to be super tight so she really wedged them on their good. The first two she tried were too big so she ended up cutting my gums. All the gum tissue around all four teeth ended up getting cut. It didn't hurt all that bad and didn't hurt after my braces were on, but it was uncomfortable and I did bleed a little. Finally once she had them sized right she put glue on them and put them in place. She pushed them down with her fingers as far as she could and I did the rest. In order to get them tightly on she pulled out this metal stick with a protruding flat horizontal tip. She used this my putting in on the sides of the brackets, and then having me bite down to wedge them into place. That was easy enough but took some time. Next she dried my mouth entirely, which wasn't very fun because the air felt wicked cold on my teeth. Once they were dry she had me hold these mouth openers (Idk what they're called) while she readied the glue. Here's where I was most surprised. The lady I worked with was great and got almost none of the glue in my mouth (minus on my teeth of course). I did taste a little of it, and it wasn't nearly as nasty as everyone made it out be. It wasn't great but I'd give it a eww factor of two or less. After that she took the brackets and glued all the ones up top and then down bottom. After each one was applied she held a blue UV light to it for about a minute or so, and then blew it with air. Once they were all on and properly sealed she had be brush and rinse. Next came the arch wire which took a matter of minutes to put on. She started up top on the right side and inserted the wire into the buccal tube. Once that was in place she attached the wire to each bracket with what looked and felt like a pair of pliers. The really cool part about this was I could feel each tooth being pulled as it was connected to the wire. I was surprised to feel movement and pressure so instantaneously but I did. It was just need because I could feel which way each tooth was going to be moved. After the arch wire was applied top and bottom I had the ligatures applied (the small rubber bands over each bracket). I choose teal for my first color, which I know find disappointing because it doesn't show up at all :(
After all this I brushed and rinsed one more time and I was all done!
PAIN
This is a subject I've gotten lots of questions about. Surprisingly I've felt almost no pain with my braces. I'll admit they were a bit sore the first afternoon I had them. Mostly the front two top teeth hurt. This made sense because those teeth are of course the ones that jet out the most. The next day I was fine and haven't experienced any pain since then. My front teeth were sometimes sore in the first week but nothing that was ever really all that noticeable. I also didn't get any sores or cuts in my mouth. I had to use wax here and there for the first 3 days, but I guess my mouth roughened right up. The worst pain I had was with the buccal tubes which tend to rub the inside of your cheeks raw. The wax fixed them right up and now they don't bother me at all. I do get occasional soreness when I play too much with my braces or eat food that’s to hard.
EATING
Food has been the only obstacle I've found annoying. I have been eating most of the same foods minus candy and gum, and so far no breaks in my brackets. However food gets stuck everyone in my braces and so easily too. It's impossible to get out with my tongue no matter how hard I try. In fact some food, like breads mostly, get so stuck that they wont come out with anything besides my water pik! For the first two weeks I couldn't bite directly into anything with my front teeth, because it made them sore. I can now but I'm careful about that because my ortho told me not to. For the most part I eat food by breaking or cutting it into smaller pieces that I put in the sides or back of my mouth. This works great and was what my ortho also advised me to do.
HYGIENE
Cleaning was a huge hassle at first, but like everything else I've picked it right up. The water pik I have is really a lifesaver and I use it constantly. I got a sonic care toothbrush from my dentist that also makes brushing a breeze. I couldn't use it for the first week because the pressure hurt my teeth, but now it works great. I have to brush at an angle below and above each set of brackets, and not just right over them. This is to make sure I'm cleaning the actual teeth and not just the braces. Flossing was the most difficult. I was given floss threaders by my dentist which were helpful but still took too long. In fact the first time I flossed it took me thirty full minutes to get the job done. I went out and bought "super floss" as it called, which is really just floss that has hard tips. This is much easier and with this floss I can do my whole mouth in ten minutes w/o looking. So yeah flossing is still a pain but you do pick it up and get use to it.
So I think that’s everything I wanted to say about my braces. I'll try to stay better updated. Below are pictures of me the first day I got my braces, as well as ones taken three weeks in. Enjoy :))
MY VERY FIRST PICTURE OF MY BRACES
PICS OF BRACES TAKEN LATER THAT DAY
FRONT SHOT OF BRACES THREE WEEKS INTO TREATMENT
VIEW OF UPPER TEETH THREE WEEKS INTO TREATMENT
