Wonky Gob

Week 2

Well, they're on. I have been braced up for about 9 days and must admit I'm only just getting used to them. For the last week I have not been a happy bunny at all and on several occasions I really questioned my sanity at deciding to do all this. But here I am, 9 days later, finally feeling alot more positive about the whole thing, and ready to "share". The day started badly; my daughter wasn't well and had to come with me to the hospital. Because of the crappy parking at the QVH in East Grinstead I usually park in East Court which is about half way from my home and then have a 10 minute walk, which doesn't bother me, but my poorly, daughter wasn't too happy about it which made me feel mean. We got there bang on time and were called straight in, no waiting! Daughter sat in the corner reading the whole time and was quite happily entertained so no trouble there. The whole brace process took much less time than I thought it would, it only took about 40 m

Without Braces: Pop snack in mouth Chew, swallow Repeat ad nauseum With Braces: Take snack and break tiny bite sized piece off Pop in mouth Chew using the one tooth that isn't causing brain numbing pain at that moment Keep chewing through the pain of the salt getting stuck on your ulcers Realise that you have accidentally swallowed your dental wax as you feel the wire poking into your cheek with every bite Enjoy the sensation of having every part of your braces stuck full of food Probe stuck food with tongue to dislodge Wince as the brackets tear your lips to shreds Begin to probe remaning food with finger with until you prick your finger on wire Swear loudly and frown at bleeding finger Find mirror and toothpick and poke about for a while dislodging more food, some of which you realise you actually ate at lunch Get glass of water, sloosh like crazy 7 or 8 times, each time marvelling at the amount of crap you're dislodging and wondering if you've actuall

Week 1

Braced Fitted

Yesterday I went to have my spacer bands removed and my metal bands fitted. The plan was to have 8 bands fitted over my back 8 molars in preparation for my full braces in a few weeks. These bands each have a little tube and hook arrangement on the outside for securing the archwire to the teeth and stay on throughout the whole process. The little bands are like fitting shoes, they come in different sizes and you have to sometimes try a few different ones to get the best fit. The blue spacer bands had made a little more space between my teeth but it was still a pretty tight squeeze sliding the bands over my molars. Much of it involved biting gently onto a plastic stick to nudge them down into position. Not painful, just a little uncomfortable. One tooth was particularly troublesome so the ortho decided to leave it band-free and deal with it next appointment. I could feel the metal hooks rubbing against the inside of my cheeks, not a great feeling, not looking forward to the full wor

Metal Ortho Bands

Just under 24 hours until spacer bands come off and metal bands go on. Can't wait, these little blue things squidging between my molars are getting on my nerves. Have been having lots of fun reading many, many ortho blogs by people who have gone or are going through the same proceedure. Fascinating reading! I'm not quite sure if I feel less apprehensive now, or slightly more so, a common thread is that braces hurt like hell, waiting for surgery seems like purgatory, and that I will be eating nothing but soup for at least two years. Deep joy.

It hurts to bite, hurts to chew and my teeth feel even more squashed up than normal. They seem to be touching in placed that they weren't before. Having spent an uncomfortable few days wondering if I was going to be able to cope with the next few years of orthodontics I was encouraged to read on the Archwire.com website that spacers are notoriously uncomfortable. It says "Many people on Metal Mouth Forum have remarked that spacers were the worst part of the entire process." "The braces don't hurt like the spacers; in fact, when the spacers are removed, it feels so much better, even after the braces are put on!" So I'm feeling a bit better about it all today. Roll on Friday.

I had some spacer bands fitted today. These are like very small blue elastic bands that are wedged in between my molars top and bottom that will make space for the metal bands that I am having fitted next week. They were a bit tricky to get in as my teeth are rather crowded, but the good news is that because of the tight fit they are unlikely to get dislodged and swallowed. It feels a little odd, kind of rubbery when I bite down, but not uncomfortable as yet. It feels a little like I have stuff stuck between my teeth, which, essentially, I have! I imagine this is how meat eaters feel after eating spare ribs. I can tell they are doing something already as if I lightly tap my front teeth I can feel the vibrations in my back teeth very strongly. They aren't really noticable at this stage, unless I open wide and then it looks like I've been eating smurfs. So next Friday I have these removed and the metal bands placed around my second to back molars, top and bottom, both sid

 Blue Spacer Bands

All systems go! I had my appointment at the orthodontists yesterday, to sign the consent forms and get a schedule in place. I was slightly disappointed to learn that I could no longer supplement my NHS treatment and opt for the tooth colour brackets because it would mean mixing NHS and Private Healthcare which is no longer allowed, so it's metal brackets all the way. I must admit I was pretty gutted about this and spent the afternoon feeling a bit blue, but I have a better sense of perspective today. At the end of the day, as long as the people who love me aren't bothered by my braces then why should I be? So, here is the plan: November 18th: Spacers go on back teeth to make room for metal bands in next stage November 27th: Metal bands go on back teeth, the archwire is attached to these December 11th: B-Day! Braces go on (gulp!) 18 months of braces Jaw Surgery 6 months of braces post surgery  As I said in my last post, I seem to have been focussing too much on

Before Work Commences

Guess who finally reached the top of the waiting list? I'd almost written off the whole braces / jaw surgery idea as I'd been on the waiting list for almost 2 years without any news at all. I'd almost decided that I could live with wonkey teeth when back in January my jaw locked up for a few days and was total agony. I went to see both my dentist and my GP and the general opinion was that jaw pain might be a reoccuring annoyance and that jaw surgery was needed. But after another 8 months of no news I began to think that maybe it was all too much hassle. When I finally got the call from the orthadontics unit I was really surprised and ever so slightly paniced. It was so long since I'd done all my initial research, read all the blogs, studied all the before and after pictures that I decided to do a quick cram on the whole subject before my appointment. I soon realised that I'd spent so long focussing on the surgery side of things that I hadn't given the brac