Week 19

Week 19 - no significant improvements

Thinking about it, I've noticed since my last check up that my teeth have not actually moved so much. The bottom teeth are looking good, but the top teeth don't appear to have moved at all. Considering I'm supposedly going to be totally finished in 4 months, it's pretty worrying.

Chewing food on both sides of my mouth is a little bit problematic at the moment. I can't eat sugary things on the right side of my mouth, because every time something sugary gets near to the tooth with the receding gum and the exposed root, it hurts like hell. And on the other side it just hurts to chew hard, crunchy things.

Also worrying me is that I've still not been able to find an orthodontist to see me sooner than 3rd October and I'm trying to decide whether I should go back to Hamburg to have my next appointment, or just tell them I've found a new orthodontist that will treat me.

Week 15 - Third wire change and power chains!

Week 15 picture

I had my third check up appointment on Monday and they did quite a lot. The wires now run through all of the brackets. Previously it didn't reach the lower bottom teeth, but now those brackets are being used. One bracket on a top molar was re-aligned to a slightly different position. This is the tooth where there is not so much gum and they were blasting it with cold air. It was pretty painful but didn't last long.

I now have a white metal band threaded not only around the top six front brackets, but also the bottom six front brackets as well. Again, I was told these are to make sure that the teeth do not move so far apart from each other that they create gaps. I thought these were called power chains, but I guess I was wrong because this time, I actually did get power chains (like thin elastic bands) on my braces.

Misaligned tooth, top left; now with wire and power chain

In this second picture to the left, you can (just about) see that the back tooth is quite misaligned in comparison to the other teeth. The power chain stretches down from this bracket, down to one of the front bottom teeth. On the other side, the power chain doesn't stretch right to the back tooth, but the second to last. They ache quite a bit at first, but it's not so bad two days later.

I'm guessing this power chain will pull that crooked tooth into position as well.



My orthodontist also told me that this new wire would be my last 'round' wire, and the next wire I would get would be a 'square' wire. She also told me that I'd see a lot more change in the next few weeks and they'd start to look pretty much like they will once they take them off. From what I've heard, the square wire is used more to move the roots of the teeth - I found the info here, scroll down to 'Wires'.

I'm still wearing the elastics, although now with all the extra stuff on my teeth, I can't get the elastic to stay in place on my incisor/canine teeth. I've noticed my bite also feels odd and it looks as though there are many gaps. So I will go back soon and ask them what I should do about the elastics.

Week 8 - Second wire change and new top wires

Update: Today I had my second check up since getting on the braces and they replaced the wires again. Now on the top teeth, the wire runs through all of the brackets. I'm not sure if it's actually thicker, but the wire seems to look stronger and thicker every time it's changed!

Week 8 with the new top wires (white, a bit difficult to see)

Also on the front six teeth I have another wire that is threaded around the brackets. It looks like a power chain, but whenever I’ve read about power chains, they all say that they’re used for closing gaps between teeth. When I asked what this would be for, I was told that this wire will prevent gaps from forming between the teeth while they’re being straightened. I was initially a bit surprised to see them on when they gave me the mirror, but they’re practically invisible from a short distance away (it's not such a great picture this time, but you can just about make them out).

My teeth weren't hurting when I left the dentist but during the day they've started to ache and chewing hard things is again becoming painful, so I will eat softer food for the next day or two.

Another thing now is that I have to wear elastic bands at night while I sleep. I was kind of bummed out by this news. I really thought that my bite seemed fine and that I’d be able to get away without wearing the bands, but just at night is ok I guess. I have to wear quite a lot (six in all) for the next six weeks until my next appointment. 

Oh god, just got the elastics on now, and jesus christ are they strong, another six weeks of this!! But hopefully if I follow all my advice correctly then I could be looking at a shorter treatment time, who knows.

I got a comment to my last post, but I've been trying to reply and can't, I don't know what I'm doing wrong (it also happened with the last post, sorry to Kiki, who by the way if you're reading this, I really appreciate you reading my blog!). So to the person who asked: I've been told they really look very subtle, not so noticeable at all. There is this loose feeling that comes with the braces, but that is totally normal, and not so painful that you have to take an aspirin or anything. As far as dating goes, I've been asked out and have been on dates since getting my braces on, so really don't worry about that aspect of your life. Good luck with your treatment, I'm sure you'll never regret it :-)

Day 21 - first wire change!!

Day 21 with Damon Braces

This morning I had my first appointment three weeks after getting the Damon Braces on. I thought they would just check to see what had happened and ask if everything was comfortable and that would be it. That did happen and they also took out the old wire and give me a new one. I’ve heard from other Blogs and Vlogs that at some point they possibly switch from a ‘rounded’ wire to a ‘rectangular’ wire. But I was told this new wire is similar to the other (‘rounded’) one, just stronger. To me, it doesn’t appear to me to be that much thicker. It appears very much like the old one. Incidentally if anyone was wondering (like I was) about how many wire changes one goes through with Damon Braces and how quickly, I found this thread which suggests that it’s really different for everyone, and more wire changes do not necessarily equal a faster treatment time.

Bottom teeth with the braces on

The dentist also took out this hook from the bottom bracket that was tearing into my cheek and caused a huge ulcer in my first week. Now it’s a lot smoother and I don’t have to keep putting wax on it. But I was given two more packets of wax in case things start moving and hooks start to rub against my cheeks again.

It’s hard to see from the picture just from the front but my bottom teeth have already moved a lot. There’s less crowding together of the bottom four, which I think means that the surrounding teeth must have also moved back to create space for them. A clearer picture is to the left which shows the two teeth either side of the bottom front teeth moving out from behind. 

My next appointment is in five weeks, I think I’ll be able to see a lot of change by that time!

My top row of teeth with the braces on

Day 2

Not the greatest picture, but here you can see what they look like, and also the tooth that was causing me and my smile the most irritation. This is the second day of wearing Damon Clear. I wish I'd taken a picture the first day, because then you could have really seen how those four brackets on the lower jaw were squeezed really tightly together and they're already evening out

Feeling

So far I haven’t had much trouble but the feeling is weird, like wearing another set of teeth over your original ones. I have ceramic brackets over the front 6 teeth on the upper jaw and ceramic brackets on the front 6 teeth on the lower jaw, the rest of them are these silver metal colour. One silver metal bracket was giving me a bit of trouble, rubbing against the inside of my lower cheek, but using the wax the dentist gave me has made this problem better.

Pain

Apart from the one bracket rubbing against my cheek, it hasn’t really been painful, but I probably won’t be able to eat anything solid for the next few days, because the pressure on my teeth feels a bit too much if I touch them. And also I don’t want to have the hassle of having a major clean after just snacking on something. I’m hoping it will have a positive knock-on effect on my diet (I usually snack on a lot of sweets at work – this is now almost impossible!).

Smiling

It’s also a bit difficult smiling. I feel I have to either smile very wide (to get my lips out of the way), or not at all. And the braces have given my mouth a slight kind of ‘trout pout’ appearance. But I hope that as the teeth straighten out that this will get better.

Brushing

Brushing has not really been much of a problem, it is a little painful when I brush that upper tooth that has the receding gumline, but I try to avoid the gum as much as possible and just stick to brushing the bracket and the tooth enamel.

I have to say the first day, I did feel like this character ‘Cleetus’ from the Simpsons. Although my front two teeth did not stick out at all before the braces, having the brackets on there (the ceramic brackets are slightly larger than the normal silver metal), made me feel a bit like there were these two huge boulders there! But the second day, I’m getting used to the feeling – it really does get better!

Movement

I really don’t think I’m going crazy, perhaps it’s just the new look and feel of having the braces on my teeth, but examining my teeth it seems they have already moved just slightly. Usually when I ran my tongue around the inside of my bottom row of teeth, the front four were very crowded. Now I can feel with my tongue they are evening out a little bit. It’s really fantastic to feel like you’re having results almost immediately!