Week 42

....it's officially 10 weeks until one year of braces for me, and honestly I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, it doesn't feel like almost one year's passed since I took the plunge and decided to get braces, but on the other, the teeth that I currently have now tells a whole different story. Still, it's a bit incredulous to know that in just over two months, it'd be my one year anniversary in braces. Time flies when you're having fun with braces, I guess!

Moral of the story: Get braces if you have the inclination to do so, and don't sit on the decision unless you have an iron clad reason to do so. Misaligned bite and teeth do not improve on their own. Shocking, I know.

Anyway! I've read online that the finishing wire phase of the braces journey is the most boring phase as detailing the teeth and working on the bite are the main goals of the phase, and I think I'm inclined to go with that. With other wire changes, I was able to spot teeth movements and changes relatively soon (most within  a week), but with these finishing wires, there's not really a whole lot of movement to be had. The only thing that I noticed, and it's not exactly a positive thing, is the space in between my lower right central and lateral incisor have gotten worse, and that the lateral incisor seemed to be rotated now. I mean, I'm sure my orthodontist is aware of what he's doing, and I'm 100% sure this is one of those it gets worse before it gets better things, but all the while, it's not exactly an improvement.

Being back on elastics is....interesting. I think I've gotten so used to the freedom of being without that I had some minor difficulty in adjusting back to life with elastics. It's back to always bringing my elastics when I go out, making sure that I have enough elastics, and sweeping up elastics from the floor. I forgot to bring my bag of elastics to my night shift at the hospital the other day, and while I did survive eating and snacking with the elastics intact, it wasn't exactly pleasant not being able to change out the elastics after I eat. So I just have to build up a routine with elastics again, just like before.

The elastics this time around doesn't hurt, but then again, the elastics that I'm aren't exactly the heavy duty ones that I had when I was in the class III and box configuration. The elastics that I have right now are "Mexico" (my orthodontist office buys elastics that uses country names to differentiate between different elastics, while some uses animal names. Go figure)., and it's 4mm in diameter, and it's a medium strength elastic of 2.7 oz. Not that any of those numbers mean a lot to me, but that's the stats of the elastics that I'm in currently. I definitely feel the pressure when they're on, but it's a very slight pressure, and definitely not painful. Just you know, a big pain in the ass to have to deal with elastics again, but as always, I will be compliant with whatever the orthodontist prescribes because it's my money that's on the line. And braces aren't exactly cheap!

Week 42. Being back on elastics suck balls.

You can't really see the gap between my lower right central and lateral incisor here, but it's bigger now. But you can definitely see that the right lateral incisor is rotated a bit, when compared to the one on the left.

Week 41...and new wires!

I meant to post the week by week update over the weekend, but the internet at my place didn't want to co-operate with that plan of mine. Let me tell you, it wasn't fun living without internet, even if it's only for two and half days. Kinda makes me wonder just how we all survived without the internet to eternally entertain us. Well, correction, I am a 90's kid, and I am part of the generation that saw the integration of the internet into our daily lives, so I knew how life worked without the internet...but at the same time, all it took was a weekend without internet for me to realize just how dependent we all are on the internet nowadays. It's both a good and bad thing, I suppose.

Nothing really much happened in Week 41, so it's not like I would've had a long, well thought out blog post for it. The small gap between my lower right central and lateral was still not closed, my top left canine was still a bit tipped inwards, and I remained elastics free. Bite was still fine the way it was, and overall, the main thing I was waiting for was my orthodontist appointment. But before we get to my orthodontist appointment today, per tradition, I shall grace you with a picture of my teeth for the "week by week" segment of this post.

Week 41

And now, onto my appointment.

This appointment actually went rather smoothly, and it was probably the fastest appointment I've had thus far. I was in and out of the office in 25 minutes. I didn't have to wait in the waiting room, and I didn't have to wait too long for the orthodontist to see me once the tech removed the power chains (weirdly enough, she didn't remove the wires before the orthodontist came to do his assessment. Usually the wires are out by the time the orthodontist is looking at my teeth). The orthodontist did his usual thing of asking me to open and close my mouth several times while he examined my teeth, and then it was off to to the tech to carry out the orthodontist's orders.

There's good news and bad news that I received from this current appointment. And because I'm a cup half full type of person, I will start with the good news first.

My wires got changed! It's been awhile, and I had a feeling that I would be getting the wires changed today, just because I've had the previous wires on for over four months already, and they really weren't doing a whole lot in terms of teeth movement (I'm sure they were doing something, it's just not something that I could visibly observe). So this was something that I was looking forward to, so I'm glad that my old wires were final-fucking-ly changed.

That's not the good news though, though it was definitely a plus. The actual good news is that I'm now on "finishing wires". Judging by the name and the very shallow and limited Google search that I ran, these are the wires used to tweak, fix details and finalize things before braces are off. It means that all the heavy duty work has been, for the most part, completed. So it means that I'm at least in the home stretch of my braces journey...however long the home stretch is!

Being the finishing wires, the tech told me that these wires would be the strongest wires I would have. As in, there won't be any wires that are stronger than the finishing wires. And being the strongest wires, these suckers do hurt going in. More so on the bottom arch than the top. In fact, I hardly felt the top wires going in, but boy, there sure was a lot of pressure when she slid the gates down to secure the wires on the bottom. I would say that the pressure was almost as painful as the initial wires used when I first got braces. Almost. The tech also told me that the orthodontist had put a "step" (which is a bend in the wire) in the bottom arch wire, located in the canines, to help position the incisors better. Well, that's what I understood anyway, as I went to this appointment on about four hours of sleep after a night shift at the hospital, so the finer details are a bit blurry to me. I couldn't really see the bends in the wire due to the power chain, but I sure felt them.

Now for the bad news...I'm being put back on elastics, full time. These elastics aren't as bad, but they're still elastics, and they're still a pain and annoyance, and I really, really, really was hoping that I'd be done with elastics for good, but I guess my orthodontist had a different idea on that. The elastics are worn on my top canine, top premolar, and bottom premolar, forming an upside down triangle. And I have to wear this configuration on both sides of my mouth, at least until the next appointment. The tech said the elastics is just to improve my bite, and they'll assess how things are doing in ten weeks.

I'm not too impressed with this development, because I really, really, really enjoyed my elastics-free days while it lasted, but at the same time, I'll always comply with whatever the orthodontist wants me to do, because my desire to have braces come off sooner rather than later greatly overrides my dislike of elastics.

So that was a rather eventful appointment, all packaged and tied neatly with a bow in 25 minutes. Excited about the fact that I've entered the home stretch of my journey, but bummed out about the elastics. But it is what it is, and I look forward to the changes that these finishing wires and elastics will bring.

Onto the finishing wires now....and it's back to elastics we go.

Week 40

Week 40...that means that in exactly 12 weeks, it would be one year since I got these suckers on my teeth. That's pretty damn amazing when you think about it. It really just feels like it was yesterday that I got braces placed on. I'm ever glad that I made the decision to straighten my teeth...even though at times I wonder what the hell I signed myself up for.

But anyway...there's not much in terms of update this time around. My lower right pre molar hurts, but I've long made peace with the fact that random teeth will just randomly hurt when I'm in braces, so it didn't really phase me at all when the pre molar felt a bit sensitive when I brushed my teeth just now. Pain and braces go hand in hand, and I've long embraced that bit about having braces.

I'll make this entry short and sweet, because a) there's not much to report on and b) I'm tired as heck from a shitshow of a shift at the hospital and c) I really don't have anything more to say at this time. So instead of boring you with random chit chat, I'll just cut this entry short.

Week 40

Week 39, Month 9

Happy New Year! And so another year starts...hopefully this year will bring with it lot's of joy and love for everyone!

So this marks another month in my braces journey, and sometimes, I still can't believe that it's been such a long time since I went to get the braces placed on. April 2017 doesn't seem like that far behind, but yet it is. I mean, in another three months, I'd have been in these things for one year. And I'm not sure how to feel about that fact. On one hand, it's pretty amazing the progress that I'm seeing with braces. On the other hand, I can't believe that so much time have gone by already. I actually think I am going to miss having braces when they do come off. Weird huh.

(Seriously people, if you want to get braces, get on it like yesterday. Don't sit on that thought. Your teeth aren't going to magically get better on their own. I really should've gotten this done in my early 20's. But I sat on it, for reasons beyond me.)

I don't think there's been much teeth movement lately, but I kind of expected that. I think my midline is a tiiiiny bit off center, but it's nothing that really bugs me. I mean, I only really notice it if I scrutinize my teeth in the mirror, and I do a lot of scrutinizing of my teeth in the mirror, and I know most other sane people don't, so it's not something I'm super picky about. The gap between my lower right lateral and central incisor is still there, so I foresee another powerchain in my future. My top left canine is still tipped inwards, so I foresee either a new wire change, or more bracket repositioning. I also foresee a potential bracket repositioning for my upper left pre molar, just because of the way the teeth is a bit "higher" in the arch line than the rest of the teeth.

I do have a dentist appointment for cleaning tomorrow, and then it's off to the orthodontist on the 22nd, where I hopefully will get upgraded to a new wire. I've had these wires since August, and I think it's high time for a change!

Before braces. See all my teeth in their original state. Crossbite, front teeth gap, edge to edge bite, and non rotated upper lateral incisors.

Month 8

Week 39. It's a bit more pronounced here, but you can see how my midline is a bit off center. Again it's not anything that really bugs me.

Month 9. See how much nicer everything is now? No more crossbite. Front teeth are aligned. Upper lateral incisors are along a curve.

Week 38

Christmas has come and gone, and the holidays are just about over. The end of another year is fast approaching us, and a new one is just around the corner. This will be my last post of 2017...hopefully 2018 will bring everyone joy, hope, peace, serenity, good karma and success!

(And teeth movement for me. Maybe even an end date for braces! A girl can always dream, right?)

I am finding that I am able to eat more and more food that I previously couldn't, not because the food items were on the "banned" list, but because my teeth hurts from biting down on them. I've avoided broccoli and veggie stems for this reason, but I had steamed broccoli the other night, and nothing happened other than I was able to chew on it without much trouble. Same with veggie stems. Now, this is not to say that I'm ready to chow down on steak, but this is good news nonetheless. And I'm now able to tear into food with my front teeth again! When I first got braces, there was none of that. Because it would hurt like a son of a gun whenever I tried to rip food using my incisors...that and I never realized just how much I use my incisors to tear into food until I couldn't use them anymore! But things are looking up for me, food wise. At least I'm not exclusively stuck on the soft food anymore....though tough, chewy and hard food likely remains a no until the braces are off.

(And boy, the list of foods I want to eat when braces come off is starting to grow. You really don't know what you will miss until you can't have it anymore. I could definitely use some beef jerky right now. Or caramel filled candies. Fuck, it's difficult when it's the holidays and you can't eat half the stuff people bring to work because of your teeth. I miss Ferrero Rocher damn it! And crunchy cookies! And cereal that haven't been drowned to death in milk. Good thing I can still eat canned tuna and cheesecake and sushi and pho...because if I can't have those, I'm not sure I wouldn't be going stir crazy at the thought of potential two years without them.)

I've got a dentist appointment on the 8th for cleaning, and then it's off to the orthodontist on the 22nd for a routine check in. I sure hope none of those appointments are too eventful...though I do wonder if I'm going to get a wire change when I go in to see the orthodontist. I've been in these wires since August, and they really aren't doing much for me in terms of teeth movement. So we'll see.

To celebrate the end of the year, I'll end it with a Things That I've Learned (So Far), year end edition:

1) If you're thinking about getting braces, do it. Your teeth won't change if you don't take the first step in getting them changed. I've always wanted to straightened my teeth, and I've been sitting duck on that ever since I got a "real" job. Not sure what I was waiting for. I should've gotten it done like in my early 20's. But it was only this year that I did something about it. Better late than never, I suppose.

2) Pain is a package deal when it comes to braces. Embrace it. Learn to deal with it. Because that's not going away anytime soon. Every new wire adjustment will hurt, repositioning brackets will hurt, eating will hurt, the pressure of the wires, elastics and powerchains against the teeth will hurt. Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. Tylenol and Advil are wonderful for the pain. And sleep.

3) Piggy backing onto the last statement, if possible, schedule your appointments on a day where you don't have work the next day. Because nothing sucks more than going to work with a sore mouth from your orthodontist appointment the previous day. Thankfully, so far, I've been able to mostly schedule my appointments on days where I don't work the next day.

4) Brushing and flossing with braces are a real hassle, but it's one of those things where the more you do it, the better you will become. And, if nothing else, you will develop better oral hygiene habits because of braces, and that's always a plus. I mean, I used to floss maybe ten times a year (before going to the dentist, and the short period of time after seeing the dentist), and now, I floss daily.

5) Your mouth will adapt to the braces and you will learn how to eat with the braces on. It won't be necessarily a smooth ride, but it will get there. And you will realize how much of certain teeth you use to eat when you no longer can use those said teeth for eating (like me and my incisors). You also will realize just how much food you can essentially just swallow with minimal to no biting involved. And when you find a side of the mouth that hurts less when eating, you will use that side like there's no tomorrow.

6) Yes you will develop a minor lisp. Yes it sucks. Yes it's noticeable. But good news, is that it goes away relatively quickly. So...there's not much in terms of advice from me other than suck it up and keep talking despite the lisp.

7) You will become hyper aware of other people's teeth and you will scrutinize your own teeth everyday in the mirror. It's just something that happens as a result of getting braces I suppose. And I've noticed that many adults wear braces, and that like 99% of the people with straight teeth have had braces at one point. The 1% that naturally have straight teeth are blessed in ways that most of us aren't. And that most people do not have a perfect bite or perfect teeth. Perfectly imperfect.

Week 38. The camera on my new iPhone 7 is amazing. That's all I have to say.

See you all in the new year!

Week 37

Another 7 days have gone by, and another week of braces have been lived.

Life continues to be free and nice without the elastics. Seriously. I thought I would find something else to complain when I don't have elastics to complain about, but so far I haven't found one single thing to complain about with regards to braces sans elastics. Braces life without elastics is just so...free and amazing that I don't think it'd be right for me to find something to complain about for the sake of complaining. Like, I have not found one thing that bugged me as much as elastics did. Elastics is a necessary evil of braces, and one that I'm glad I got out of the way (hopefully).

There's not been much in terms of movement, but like I said in the previous post, I am noticing the pressure of the wires against my teeth more acutely now that I don't have braces. My left canine is still tipped slightly inward, but I'm certain that it can be fixed easily with a wire change. I would really like to get new wires with my next appointment, but only time will tell. My bite continues to change from time to time. And so far, I haven't found any indications that my open bite is back or my top arch moving back. It appears that the effects of the elastics are still there, which is good, because I am in no rush to wear elastics again.

Week 37

Happy Holidays y'all!

Week 36

And we've made it to another week. Week 36...you know, in 16 weeks, it will be one year of braces. It's pretty amazing how fast time just flies. Especially when I look back at all the progress that have happened so far. I am hoping that I'll get my braces taken off early, but then again, who doesn't? I just hope that my teeth cooperate enough that I don't have to stick it out for the full 24 months. Of course, I'll stick it out for as long as it takes, but early removal is one of those things that I aim for, even though there's really not a whole lot I can do to increase my chances of that happening. Wishful thinking is what it is.

Anyway! This week, I didn't notice any visible teeth movement (I feel like I'm saying this more and more now), but I do feel my bite changing a bit. It's subtle, and I only really feel it when I'm concentrating on it. My teeth seem to fit "better" against each other now. Also, my teeth seems to be doing alright without the elastics. I'm no professional when it comes to teeth, but I haven't noticed my top arch receding or the open bite coming back. So I'm going to assume that I'm doing just fine without the elastics. Because I am totally used to life without elastics now, and it's beautiful.

One thing that I have noticed is the pressure of the brackets and wires on my teeth. I mean, I've always felt them, but it was always in conjunction with the force that the elastics were exerting. And I think in a way, the elastics off loaded some of the pressure of the brackets and wires. Again, I'm no physicist, so all this is just pure speculation, and possibly me making shit up, but the pressure of the braces feel different without the elastics in place. Like, I'm feeling the pressure where I didn't feel pressure before. Namely, my front teeth and my entire top arch. Like, I'm more acutely aware of the pressure exerted by the braces against my teeth on the top arch than before. And I'm pretty sure it has something to do with me being without the elastics.

Life continues to be very freeing without the elastics, and I've got no complaints about that! I juts hope that this will stay.

Week 36