Week 37

All is going well, but still very small, very slow changes. I'm getting a bit worried that the braces were really going to take longer than the end of February (as the orthodontist had suggested in October/November), but looking at the pictures, they look better than I thought. I'm really happy with them, but looking forward to getting them off more and more!

There is a slight gap between two teeth on the lower jaw, so I'm expecting that next time the power chain will be moved to close this. Unfortunately, as the orthodontist remarked, one of the central teeth on the bottom row is slightly smaller than the others in the row, and it seems it may not always look so 'perfect'. I've heard they can file the teeth down to make them all even, but I'm not sure I want that done. So long as they're all straight, that's fine by me. I don't really want big, white Hollywood teeth!

From the front, the upper teeth look pretty much finished, but when you see the picture showing them from below, it still needs to move just a few more millimetres. If you look closely, you can see the kinks in the wire are still not straightened out - which I'm a bit surprised about, I thought maybe they would move a little by now. Next appointment - 29th January, I'm looking forward to seeing what they will do.

Week 30

I realise it's been so long since I updated this, apologies if I have any regular readers! I lost my camera phone so I haven't been able to take regular progress pictures, but my parents were visiting me last weekend and luckily brought their camera.

Well the teeth are moving very, very slowly. It's so frustrating right now. I have had two check ups since my last update, and both times they didn't change the wire. The October check up, they simply cleaned away some tartar (hardened plaque, gross I know) from my bottom front teeth. The last check up was last week and they tightened the wire, and also added new power chains to one side on the bottom teeth, and on the opposite side on the top row of teeth. There's also a small power chain on my two front teeth. Although I can't eat so well for a few days when I have that done, it also feels like something is being done, and I could feel the teeth were a little loose.

I also had the news that they would probably be finished in February, which I was a little disappointed at. I thought possibly Christmas they could come off. But I can see and feel that they're not quite perfect yet. The upper tooth, to the right of the front teeth in the picture, is still not quite in line with the others, although it has moved a lot since treatment started. And of the bottom front four teeth, one is still stubbornly refusing to be guided to the right place. I still wear the elastic bands around these new hooks at night and I noticed this morning that the stubborn bottom tooth looks better after the bands have been on all night.

Next check up in three weeks time!

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 17 (Progress picture)

Progress Picture from Week 17

Progress photo, taken 21st August 2013 (just over four months since I've had my braces put on - time flies so fast!). In this picture you can clearly see the other wires that I have top and bottom that thread around the brackets. You may also just be able to make out the small elastic power chains I have between my top two front teeth.

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 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 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 36

Day 36 with Damon Braces

Day 36, no real change but the past few days my two front teeth have been a bit sore, as well as the crooked tooth next to them. I was told by the orthodontist to brush vigorously but when the bristles catch on the wire and pull, it makes it slightly more difficult.
Today the moving teeth have just been feeling loose, and the feeling in the gums below can be quite irritating. As if they're 'itchy' somehow but also ache at the same time.

Day 30 with Damon Braces and 'before and after' comparison pictures!

So it's now been a little over four weeks and although the time has not really flown by, it hasn't dragged so much either, in part because it's quite fun to write this blog. There's not really much pain to report, and eating is mostly fine. I still don't bite into anything like a sandwich though. I find it better to cut it up into smaller pieces.
I feel I can now bite down and my back teeth fit together. I felt that I wasn't able to before, not properly, and that my front overlapping teeth were hitting the brackets on the bottom front teeth. At first that was painful and sensitive. When I would try to grind my teeth at night, I instinctively opened my jaws again because it hurt a little. But now my back teeth all connect together.
I don't push it and really try to bite down because I don't want the brackets to be damaged. But it's enough now that I can chew my food properly.
So here is a quick 'before and after' review after a month of having the braces on.

Left picture taken at 3 days. Right picture exactly 4 weeks later.

The change is quite subtle to see from the front, maybe you have to zoom in a little, but you can definitely notice that the wires are much straighter in the after picture. The teeth either side of the two front bottom teeth have really come out from behind those front teeth. And looking at the two front teeth I can also notice that the one next to the very crooked tooth has actually been turned to face the front more, which has straightened the wire out considerably.
Then there's these comparison photos which were taken 9 days apart.

Left picture taken on Day 21. Right picture taken on Day 30.

The difference is much harder to see, but the tooth just to the left of the two front teeth has very slightly moved, perhaps only a few millimetres, but it still is moving.

Day 14

2 weeks with Damon Braces

So today marks two weeks with the Damon braces on. They feel fine and I'm even chewing a bit more. I am able to bite into soft things using my front teeth, but I prefer to use my back teeth.
I do notice I'm still trying to grind my teeth in the early mornings and because of the brackets I can't. My mouth keeps trying and then my brain realizes that the brackets are there. Perhaps it's possible that I'll even stop trying after a while, who knows.

Today I was in a bit of a panic because I've been using wax on this one bracket and it's been covering part of my gums, and today the gums were looking a bit odd. So just in case, I went out to the pharmacy to buy medical gel to treat gingivitis. It wasn't hurting but if it ever started to, I know that this gel would sort it out. I ended up getting a little on my lips as well, and they went so numb. The gum seems to be looking ok now, but I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days.
My bottom front teeth are ever so slowly moving. I notice because the wire gets slightly straighter. The two teeth either side of the centre bottom teeth are being pulled out from behind those two. Before the braces, I couldn't feel all of the backsides of these two centre teeth, because the teeth either side were kind of slotted in behind them. Now I'm able to brush the entire back side of those centre teeth.
Only one more week until my next appointment, I'm pretty excited to hear if they will do anything next!