Week 39

I didn't get the most reassuring news during my last visit: I still don't exactly know when the braces are going to come off. On the one hand I'm not too surprised; on the other, it's not so convenient for me to fly back to Germany every month and my orthodontist realises this. They tightened the wire and then said to me that next time they would have to reposition two brackets on my front lower teeth. After I enquired when exactly I'd be finished, she then remembered that I have to fly from England for each appointment and said she'd reposition the brackets there and then.
The lower teeth are still not without gaps. There's a little one that can be seen in the picture. I hope this will close on it's own.
I have have to wear the elastic/rubber bands on my back teeth again. Apparently my bite doesn't quite line up. I couldn't actually really notice it, because one of my front teeth was hitting a bracket below when I tried to close my mouth fully, so it was hard to see. So she also smoothed down the front two teeth slightly and now I can bring both sets of teeth together.

Week 33

Week 33

My latest check up was Monday and everything seems to be going well, although they weren't ready for removal yet. This time they took off the top wire, and replaced it with a slightly thinner wire. I can't actually quite tell if it is round or square though. Two kinks have been put into the wire. One is between the brackets on my two front teeth, the other is between the right front tooth and the one next to it. This wire should straighten out and also move that tooth by the two front teeth back just a little bit more and into its final position.

The two 'kinks' in the top wire

Before the appointment, I also had a small gap between two teeth on the bottom front row. They have put new power chains on to close this gap, and a white wire running around three of the brackets to prevent any more big gaps opening up. I still have one stubborn tooth in the bottom row that moves into its right position with the rubber bands, but moves back again when I take them off. So until my next appointment in February, I've been told to wear them as much as I possibly can.

Week 23 - before and after pictures

Week 23 with the elastic bands

I didn't mean to leave it nearly two weeks before doing an update, but lately I've had a lot of stuff on my plate, sorry about that.
So I was expecting a lot more pain with this square wire, but actually, it really only hurts the first few days - exactly like the other wire changes really.
The teeth are moving very, very slowly at this point. I'm still wearing the elastics - although this week I have not been very disciplined about wearing them all the time, but I do wear them every night.

Apologies for the, again, rubbish photo quality. The past few weeks, I had access to a proper camera, and now I am back to taking pictures with my smartphone again, and the image quality of the pictures has really declined over the past 5 months.

So my top row of teeth are near perfect. Only one thing, the tooth to the right of my front teeth (in the photo) just needs to move a few more millimetres. But it is moving. I can now floss and see a bit of space, so it really just needs to edge in a little more to be perfectly in line with the others.

Damon Braces Before & After: Start of treatment to almost 6 months later.

On the bottom row of teeth, you might be able to make out in the picture there is a small gap just to the left of the centre teeth. It's not really too big of a gap, and from reading other Blogs this is quite normal. I expect next time I'm at the orthodontist they'll do something to close this.

To the right is a before and after picture from the first week to this week, so almost 6 months treatment time. Looking back at the time before I had braces, my teeth really were quite jumbled. They're looking so lovely now, I'm glad I had them done!

Week 21 - Wire change to 'square' wire and new hooks

New 'square' shaped wires with new hooks

Last Sunday I flew back to Hamburg to have my check up, which was on Monday morning.
As you can see, the white wraparound wires from the bottom teeth have gone, but remain on the top. The plastic power chains have also been removed from the bottom teeth and the two top front teeth. And I also have extra hooks. Unlike the silver brackets, the clear/white brackets don't have room for hooks, so the orthodontist had to fashion these hooks using very fine wire. Sure, the braces don't look as asthetically pleasing with these new additions, but I'm so pleased with what they've done so far, I could hardly care less at this point.
If you look at a picture from last update, one tooth on the bottom row was sticking up a lot compared to the others. They repositioned the bracket a little higher to bring this tooth in line with the others.

Before I had the appointment, I was concerned that the teeth hadn't moved so much since the last check up. And on the left side of my mouth, the teeth weren't fitting together at all. But a day later they are already slightly better. Actually, because of the repositioned bracket, the new wire was slightly crooked at first. But when I checked a few hours later it had already straightened out and the tooth has moved down, so it gets to work very fast!

As usual they took out the other wire and this time replaced it with the new, sturdier 'square' (or sometimes called 'rectangular') wire. From other Blogs and Vlogs, I was never quite sure what was square or rectangular about the wire. For some reason, I wondered if it meant that it didn't curve around like the round wire did, but was in itself a more square, rectangular shape - kind of like putting something the shape of a ryvita in your mouth (that I thought this, might seem kind of stupid or improbable to people reading, but my defense most of my classmates at school didn't have braces, and I don't think I'd even ever seen someone with braces actually close up before). But anyway, in case you had also wondered what exactly is square about the wire, it's the wire itself that is square/rectangle shaped - for a better explanation visit this page, and scroll down to 'Wires'. It has a picture that you can see, as well as an explanation of what the square/rectangular wire actually does, compared to the round wire.

New hooks and new elastic band formation

I still have to wear elastic bands in a triangle shape to keep uppers and lowers fitting together. The difference is, I now have to wear them on these new hooks (see picture right) and I was told to wear them as much as possible, not just when I sleep at night.

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 13

Week 13

From today, I’ve started to really wear the elastics as much as I can manage. I really want to make sure the braces are working as quickly as they possibly can do and don’t want my orthodontist to be disappointed in a week and a half when I have my next appointment.

Other than that no real change. Same old, same old.

Week 12 - Wearing elastic/rubber bands

I switched to wearing the elastic bands again in the daytime. It was taking longer than usual to get to sleep with the bands in. To be honest, I've only been wearing them for 6 hours, instead of the average sleep time of 7-9 hours. But it's difficult to not snack as much as I'm used to and having to keep taking the bands out every time I want to eat.
My bite feels fine though, and the canine teeth look as though they fit perfectly with the bottom teeth.
Frustratingly, the teeth don't look as though they've moved a lot in the past few weeks, but looking at past weeks photos, the wire does look a tiny bit straighter than before.

Week 10

Technically, it's week 11 as I write this but end of week 10 so the title is not so far from the truth. No real change has been going on, the elastic bands have been getting much easier to wear, I can even wear them at night while I sleep now. It makes my day a little bit easier as I don't have to try and talk wearing them (s and th sounds were difficult to pronounce when I couldn't properly open my jaws) and I also don't have to plan my mealtimes around wearing them. There's not been much movement in the teeth, although I do feel the top ones are a little loose.

Week 9

Week 9 with Damon Braces

I've been so busy the past week, I haven't had much time to write. In any case, there has not been so much to report over the last week. I began to get an ulcer the first few days of wearing elastics and as it got so much worse and more painful with the elastic bands rubbing against it all the time, I decided to stop wearing them altogether until the ulcer healed, so today has been the first time I've had them on in about a week, I think. It doesn't seem like my teeth have made major movements, so I can only hope that the bands will still be able to make the changes that my orthodontist is hoping to see by the next appointment. Speaking more about elastics, I've discovered this channel Ortho2 Systems on Youtube that has video demonstrations of how elastics move your teeth, how you should brush your braces, as well as a bunch of 3D videos, it's really cool!

Week 8 - Elastic Rubber Bands, Part 2. Rabbit and Chipmunk

So then, I did not in fact 'power through' as I said I was going to do. On Tuesday morning I rang my dentist to ask if I could wear them during the day instead, and the nurse told me to try again and if it really wasn't working, come in again and they would see what they could do about it.

Tuesday night I wore them a few hours before going to bed, and then also took a sedative and two painkillers (NOT to be recommended, although it really didn't do anything to me). Two hours after turning off the light, I buckled and took them out. The next day I went back and said it was just impossible for me to sleep with them in, so they gave me some more which are slightly bigger and told me I could wear them during the day as well. Ominously, she also said something about the idea of wearing them at night was to 'get used to them'. I'm crossing my fingers that I won't have to wear them longer than six weeks.

I wore them today at work. As I sleep about 8 hours, I can just as well do the same in the day, so it's not that I have to wear them the entire time. The newer, larger ones are much more comfortable, although around the hour 7 mark, my cheeks were starting to ache.

I found this useful article all about elastic bands with braces, and why they're so important. In the article it says that movement only occurs after 6-8 hours and if you take the bands off for more than 30 minutes your teeth won't move. I don't think I wearing them to move my teeth, but in any case I made sure not to spend too long eating.

Types of Elastic Bands

Elastic Bands: The Chipmunk and the Rabbit. The actual bands are above each packet.

Before I got the braces on, I watched a few Youtube Vlogs (and still do, in fact). One of them, TheMatlachChannel is really informative, and in this one, he talks about the elastic bands there are - Quail, Parrot and Ram. I don't know if it's different here in Europe, but the ones I've been given are 'Chipmunk' and 'Rabbit'. The 'Quail' and 'Chipmunk' look quite similar, but in the video the 'Parrot' band looks much larger in comparison to the 'Quail' and as you can see, the 'Rabbit' is not that much larger than the 'Chipmunk'. So I really don't know if there are a whole other bunch of bands out there that I've not seen, or whether elastics companies decided to market them differently in Europe.

Week 8 continued - Elastic/Rubber Bands

Week 8 with power chains and elastic bands

So the first night with the elastic bands and... it wasn't so successful. In fact they were so uncomfortable I couldn't sleep with them in. I'm a really light sleeper and it takes me a long time to get to sleep, so if I'm even the slightest bit uncomfortable it's difficult for me.

The bands really lock my jaws together. I can still speak but I obviously can't move my mouth and lips as much as I want. I get really dry lips and I constantly have to put lip balm on them, so that means I'm used to rubbing my lips together to rub in the lip balm. I can't do that while they're there. And they hurt. They don't just hurt my teeth but my my jaws and cheeks feel like they're straining and sore. The relief I felt when I took them off the last night was massive. Having the braces in for the first time was not nearly so bad as this.
So I'm wearing them during the day while I'm writing this, to get my jaw used to the feel of having them on. I've read from other threads that the pain subsides once your jaws and face muscles get used to the feeling. This article from the actual Damon System website recommends you just 'power through' it, so that's what I'm doing!

The pain of having the new wire means I again can't eat so much. Even a Kinder Bueno bar, one of the softest sweets you can chew, is painful for my back teeth.

Since last week I've also been suffering from some mysterious stomach infection, so yogurt and milk, even soya, give me painful stomach aches. As do bananas (no smoothies). Toast I can't chew, and I think vegetable soup would also not be so great for my stomach (I'm vegetarian, so chicken soup is also out). So what's left is porridge (oatmeal). At least it's cheap and quick to cook.

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 4 - Wax, hooks and snacks!

Use your wax!

I now have a huge mouth ulcer inside near my bottom lip, so if anything. I can recommend you put wax onto your brackets as soon as you feel it's rubbing against some part of your cheek.

Today and yesterday I've been feeling a little more self-conscious about my decision and really thinking "Am I better off with these?". I knew I would have this feeling sooner or later, but to deal with it is sometimes difficult. I try to distract myself from thinking about them and how they look, and remember they'll look good in short time.

Hooks on the brackets

In case braces are absolutely new to you (as they were to me before I started researching them), I realise that those people reading might not realise what the little hooks on the braces are for. Sometimes it's required to wear these elastic bands to make sure that your teeth will align up properly. After I had them put on I was expecting to be given them. But they told me that they're not necessary yet, and it's possible I may not have to wear them at all. Sometimes the braces hooks can tear into your cheeks. In this case, see above paragraph.

Snacks to try the first few days with Damon Braces

Eating is becoming more and more comfortable, although I can't yet just pick up anything I want. 

Eating just yogurt and soups is not much sustenance, and whilst experimenting I've discovered a delicious new snack - ground almonds and blueberry yogurt.