The Fitting.

So two days after the last lot of extractions and I am back in the dentists chair. This time its the original orthodontist that I saw. He checks the extraction areas and then gets ready to fit my Damon Clear brace. He informs me that in some cases if patients have to travel from London or further then you can have your brace fitted an hour after you've had your teeth out if needed.

First of all a latex round tube was put in mouth to isolate my teeth from my cheeks, this makes the process of bonding the brackets to my teeth quicker as it keeps the teeth from getting wet from saliva.

Each tooth was acid etched in order for the glue to have a surface to bond too. Then the bracket was dabbed with glue and placed on the tooth. The dental assistant held a blue light over the bracket for a few seconds to harden the glue and that was that, all stuck.

After all the brackets were attached the wire was measured and snipped and then clipped into the brackets. There was a slight discomfort during this on my bottom teeth, as the wire had to be bent and twisted to follow the pattern of my twisted teeth. But it was nowhere near as bad as the brace pain i had as a child!

Damon Clear Braces with elastics

As well as the brace I need to use elastic bands to help pull the teeth around. so before I left the dentist I had to prove I could put them in. I am on the dolphin set at the moment these are not all that strong and the dentist said the next time I would be on stronger ones to really pull stuff into place.  The Dolphins are 7.9mm of medium 4.5oz, and attach to the top tooth number 3 next to the gap and bottom number 6 the molar.

Damon Clear Braces

And now its a diet of soft food and constant teeth cleaning, which is difficult when you have work which provides you with a meal, and you want to eat out with your friends. For the first few days I had pain in my bottom jaw but this was the same pain I had had from the wisdom tooth extraction on the opposite side, and not really from the brace. The elastic bands also caused some pain when i was trying to sleep and I kept waking up after biting my tongue. this is because the jaws are now clamped together  and so I took them off at night for a few days just so I could get some sleep.

Elastic pulling teeth back to fill gap.

Now the pain from the tooth extraction is gone but the teeth are still a little sensitive and I can't bite or chew. I have lived off soup and porridge for a few days but its starting to get very boring. I am craving biting into a nice piece of cheese or a steak and chocolate would be great right now.