Oi Brace Face... Wheres your Brace?

So today was D-Day... Dentist Day and the first day I can smile with confidence.


I got to the orthodontist a little early as I was excited to get my braces off. I was quoted 18-24 months and its only been 14 so I am really pleased.

For the last few visits Ive had the bar bent and put back in to move one or two teeth slightly until the orthodontist was happy with them. The gap has filled in, and this has been helped along by overties. Its like fishing wire thats wound round the brackets and twisted tighter, along with  power chains which are little elastic bands that are joined together.

Then I had to decide whether or not to have the fixed retainer or not, I spoke to a lot of people, its surprising the amount of people who have them, and the orthodontist has guaranteed it for a year, if anything goes wrong its free to fix. So I went with them and had the mould taken for the wire on my last visit four weeks ago.

Today the first Job was to attach the fixed retainer behind the top and bottom teeth. this was done while my Damon All Clear Brace was still in place. It feels a little odd essentially its a metal bar glued to the back of your front teeth and its feels like the brackets and bar thats on the front, I am sure you just get used to it.

Next came the removal of the Damon system. this took a while and was a little painful at times when the brace was tightly bonded on and the tooth a little sensitive to being bitten down on. but I survived! The teeth were then cleaned and polished and the big reveal was nigh.


I am so Happy!!!! I am no longer a girl in her Thirties with a brace! (well one you can see!) I can smile!


They are straight... The overbite is reduced to a normal gap and the bottom teeth are amazing!

Last of all I had the moulds taken for the Vivera retainers from Invisalign. I collect these in a couple of weeks and start the teeth whitening process.

I have this man to thank. http://www.kissdental.co.uk/manchester-cosmetic-dentist-brahma.html

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.

The Treatment Plan......

What you gonna do about it?

Well three plans were drawn up by the orthodontist and his assistant. I just had to choose which one.

Plan A; Surgery to brake my jaw pull it forward and cure the overbite. Then a brace.  X

Plan B; Remove some teeth and have a brace for the next 2 years.   ✓

Plan C; Do nothing X 

Plan B it is at a total cost of £4305. Not cheap when I had braces on the NHS as a teenager.

Wonky front tooth

mangled mess of my bottom teeth

The lower metal train track I had kept popping off, and the dentist at the time didn't seem all that bothered by the mangled mess my bottom teeth were left like. This was caused by severe overcrowding in my small lower jaw. The top were left vaguely straight but with a wonky front tooth. With the pushing through of my wisdom teeth in my twenties my over-jet was pushed further out.

Overbite 11mm

So the treatment plan of my new orthodontist is hopefully going to resolve all this. It involves at least 12 visits to the dentist in the next 2 years but maybe quicker depending on how I get on with the new brace. I'm opting for Damon clear braces. As an adult its rubbish enough having to have braces so this system is clear and will hopefully reduce the noticeability of having to have train tracks again.

The options 

To cure the overbite i am having the SXLA4 removed on each side at the top and my teeth pulled back with the brace to fill the gap. if you have a large overbite and the dentist says to take some teeth out, have it done!

Face profile with overbite 11mm

On the bottom I'm having my SSXL8 (wisdom tooth) removed on both sides as I have so much overcrowding, and then the brace to spread the arch and straighten then up.

So. my first appointment is next week to have the wisdom teeth removed. I have never had any teeth out before so I am dreading it. But its the start of the journey.....

Oi Smile it might never happen......

Oi Smile it might never happen......

I hear this all the time, its very boring. I cant smile! I have two looks if I try too.

Smile 1

The Duckface

=

Smile 2

The Rabbitface

=

So you can see these teeth need correcting so I can smile like a normal person. 

I had my yearly check up with the dentist and after complaining about the pain in my jaw from my wisdom teeth trying to push through into an already crowded lower jaw he suggested I saw the orthodontist.

So a few weeks later I was back for my smile makeover consultation, where a treatment plan and estimate were put together, in order for me to achieve a semi decent smile. These guys cant work miracles so you have to be realistic, but anything is going to be better than the duck/rabbit combo!

Facebook page

Oi Brace Face!

Oi Brace Face

So I can't smile. I don't know how to do it.  I need to cover my bottom teeth that are wonky, and my top teeth jet out, so smiling I look like a rabbit, its not flattering or attractive. Don't get me wrong not smiling has its benefits, I am now 30 and I still get asked for ID. I have no wrinkles and still look young.But as my friends and family are beginning to get married I suppose I am going to have to smile in their wedding pictures.

J Hook Hear gear
 

I have had a braces before which makes it all the more annoying that I'm having to have another one, this time at a hefty private cost. 

As a 11 year old I had my first brace. It was a solid mass of metal and wires and rubber bands and head gear. As you can imagine school was a nightmare. Brace Face, metal mouth, jaws, and another million insults were hurled at me during the school day. At night you clamp yourself into your head gear like something out of a horror movie and live through the pain of your jaw and teeth being ripped apart.  

 This video isn't me as I had my brace before YouTube even existed! But this is how it looked at night and in the NHS beige colour of the picture above.
I have an overbite of 11mm and this gear was designed to stop my top jaw from growing in order for my lower jaw to catch up. This might work if you have a small overbite of 4mm. (The ideal is between 2mm and 4mm). But for mine this would never have worked and what should of happened is what I'm now having to pay privately to have done. So if you have an over bit thats bigger than 4mm and your orthodontist suggests headgear tell them NO!!!

What you can have done is have two of your teeth removed and your front teeth pulled backwards to fill the gap reducing the overjet. 

In my next blog I'll tell you more about what I'm having done to fix my smile.