fixed retainer time and my finished journey

so I did it, I had the fixed retainer put on.

I was a little concerned the orthodontist would say no because my teeth seemed to be less straight than they had previously been, but he was fine when I got there.

He commented that it is unusual to put a fixed retainer onto the top set of teeth, people usually have it on the bottom only. I have found that my bottom ones have had minimal movement, I haven't even had to have my retainer adjusted to correct anything.

The appointment took about 30 mins, he cleaned and dried the backs of my teeth, then threaded 3 pieces of dental floss through each gap of the front 6 teeth. After attaching the adhesive and the wire to the first one (it was the adhesive that is set with uv light) he put the wire to the next tooth and pulled it tight to the teeth with the dental floss before setting that one. Repeated this for all the 6 teeth on the top. Painless and not too uncomfortable surprisingly.

He then checked that the bottom teeth didn't rub when my mouth closed and that there were no trap points or sharp edges.

So that's it, permanent retainer fixed, no more plastic tray at night! It is a very strange thing to have, no more visits to the orthodontist, no more morning slime with the plastic tray. lovely!! I have put a picture on for you to see what it looks like.

Although my teeth are not perfectly in line, they are 100% better than they were in my opinion and the slight imperfections are just me and reflect my personality!

So my journey has finished, my road to a great smile is complete and I am happy with the result and apart from having to have my teeth professionally cleaned every 6 months, there is no change to my eating or speaking.

Thank you for sharing my journey and I hope that the information I have given will help people with their journeys too.

unless I have any further problems to report, this will be my last update, woohoo!

Oops, broke a retainer

Oh dear, there I was minding my own business when I hear a shout from the bathroom, of oops I just dropped something on your retainer and it broke! Alarm bells in my head ring very loudly.

Knowing how elastic my teeth still are I immediatly paniced that it would be the top, but luckily it was the bottom, and even more lucky it was only the back part.

I contacted the dentist to get a new one made, I had to go back for new moulds and told it would be a few days.

But then I got a call that the new moulds were no good and I needed to go back again. As I knew the orthodontist was there that day I sneakly thought I could get an extra visit in for a tweak of my top retainer!
So I asked to see him and he has altered the pressure points again and my teeth are looking very good. He also looked at the bottom one that broke and actually said it didn't matter because it is the front ones that are important, so he polished off the rough edges and sent me away.

I also asked about having the permanent wire to be fitted in January. I decided that if he is going to be altering my retainer every month, my teeth will never solidify, so having the wire is the sensible option if I don't want to wear the retainer forever.

So I will keep you posted after my January appointment how it goes!

The next decision....

Here I am, 6 months post brace removal, and so far so good.

I still have my plastic trays to wear, every night. I have been back to the orthodontist twice since removal and he has made adjustments....to the tray, not my teeth.

I was sat there in the chair after he said my teeth were twisting, and then he turned round with a set of long pliers, he must have seen the distressed look on my face as he quickly said they are to make a pressure point on the tray! I have never felt so relieved, I really did think he was going to manipulate my teeth with it.

So now I have trays with a few dots on them, where he has pushed the plastic through to make a point that pushes on my teeth to move them back to being straight.

I can feel that my teeth are fluid still and some days they are more fluid than others, which I can tell more at night when I put the tray in and it is a bit tight.

So bearing this in mind, and knowing that I have at least another 18 months of continuations night wear of it, do I now take them second option for stablizing my teeth?

This option involves gluing a metal strip behind my teeth, it means no more tray and no more manipulation of the tray, it would only be on the top teeth, but I'm really not sure. Will it affect my speech, eating, cleaning, what happens if I damage it. As I don't know anyone who has this I need to do lots of research, let's hope the Internet doesn't let me down.......I will keep you posted!

Retainers

Now it is time to pick up my retainers. I am actually looking forward to getting them. I can see that a couple of the teeth are turning, so am thinking the sooner the better to get them realigned.

I should have got them on Tuesday, but a phone call changed that when they didn't arrive. So Wednesday it was. I went to the dentist and she gave me the retainer. I asked to put it on to see if it fitted and so I could be shown how to remove it. I tried, and I tried, and I tried again.....for 10 minutes, mouth starting to go red and teeth aching, I gave up. She searched through the paperwork and rang the dentist, only to find out it was someone else's retainer! Oops, no wonder it didn't fit!

So next I was given mine, putting the top on was a little uncomfortable, but that's because they have moved, taking them off.......on no, I thought it was going to be stuck on forever, in the process of pulling it off I managed to scratch my gum and make it bleed, eventually it popped off. I was told it will get easier as it is used more. But if I have to do that every day I will be going back. The bottom one is ok, slots over my teeth easily and quickly, and pops off again within a couple of seconds.

Well I have had these for 24 hours now. Sleeping in them was strange, it's like they are huge and they don't feel right, but nothing to stop me from getting my beauty sleep. Taking them off this morning, the bottom was fine, as when I tried them on, but the top.....oh dear, ouch, it felt like it took hours, but realistically maybe 2 minutes, tugging and digging my nails under, made my gum sore again. I do hope this gets easier, maybe my preconception of what was to come was wrong, or I am just a weak wimp!

Anyhow, here is a pic of my lovely retainers.

And the're off!!!!

So with baited breath I turned up at the orthodontist, 30 mins early (never a good idea at my dentist, time keeping isn't high on their list!) and waited.

I had told 3 people I may be getting the braces off, I was scared to tell anyone in case it didn't happen.

So I made it into the dentist room, sat and waited for him to look at my teeth, had my pain and suffering with the Hannibal bands been worth it, had not biting anything brought them together enough?.........

YES! He said, today we will take them off if that’s ok, I thought why are you asking, of course it is ok!

And the process began. As I saw on the video on the Internet, it took about a minute to remove each wire, just grabbed it with some sort of pliers and twisted it till the cement broke and it came away. Then he used some sort of grinding tool to take the rest off, this was a little painful, especially when he got to my super sensitive tooth. He cleaned off a bit of the staining to make them look a bit prettier and that was it done. Hardly hurt at all!

Next I had moulds taken for the retainers, these were the play-doh like stuff in the plastic trays again that I first had at the start, which took about a minute to set. I am having the plastic retainers, they should be ready to wear next week. This is a strange concept. Knowing how fast my teeth misaligned last month when I lost those bands, now I have to spend a few days with nothing on them at all?! Bizarre.

But I can't stop smiling and touching my teeth. It is strange when I do it habitually and get a shock when I don't feel anything, or when I drink something and don't have to rinse my mouth with it. But it is great to smile and not worry about crooked teeth or braces!

So here we are, the finished product and the removed braces.

I have seen a few people since I have had them removed, and so far it is about 50/50 to them commenting the braces have gone. One person said I even sound different!

Waiting, waiting,waiting.................

It's 5 weeks since the last appointment, now I'm getting scared, excited, happy, apprehensive, worried and impatient. With only days to go before I potentially get the braces off.

I have been looking on the Internet how they remove them, as I like to know what I am in for. I was actually quite surprised at what I saw. The first video was 1.45 minutes long, I thought it must be highlights, but no! It showed in full real time removal of the brace, the dentist just clipped and twisted and the brackets snapped off, shows how easily it can be done.

I know that my orthodontist said it would take half hour to do removal, cleaning and moulds for the retainer, it just seems so quick!

Now, onto retainers. There are 3 kinds, although I don't know the actual names, I can describe them as they were described to me. Firstly there is the plastic moulded wire one (looks a bit like a spider), then there are plastic trays and finally metal bands that are glued to the back of the teeth. He told me that I will have the plastic trays and potentially the metal band depending on how well my teeth stay in place. I am fine with that, even if it is permanent, why would I spend all this time and effort just to have them move back again.

The only thing that concerns me is the time between taking off the braces and getting the tray, I am worried how much my teeth will move. I have read that they will and then you get your retainer it hurts for a few days as they move back. I don't mind the pain, I'm quite used to that now, I am just worried about the movement in general, especially after my set back last month. I saw how quickly they moved, but also how quickly they moved back which does take a little of the concern away.

The only thing that did surprise me was the length of time you have to wear the retainer. I was told as much as you can day and night, for potentially 2 years. That's how long it takes the bones around the teeth to settle down and hold them in place again. I don't mind so much as the retainer will be less noticeable, but I though it would be more like 6 months, then reducing the amount of time down. At least I know what the future holds.

So here we are, in the last 5 weeks I have not bitten anything, I have put my bands on to pull my teeth together every night, I have been extra careful and done everything by the book to hopefully ensure removal this time.......keep your fingers crossed for me!

Every cloud has a silver lining!

Well, there I was brushing my teeth on Friday night, after my appointment on Friday afternoon, and I noticed that 4 bands from the top row were missing! So frustrating, they had been on less than 6 hours and already I had lost them.

So I send word to the dentist to get them put back on, they told me to go back on the Saturday as the orthodontist had a free appointment. Bit of luck I thought.

Well I got there and told him my predicament of not being able to go for a few months, and he looked at my teeth. He replaced the top bands I lost, and then changed the bottom arch wire back to the previous one, put back on the Hannibal hooks and sent me on my way with another bag of bands to wear at night!

Proper happy, it now looks as though I have only really lost a month of progress, so happy that he did that. I was surprised that my bottom teeth had pulled back straight practically overnight, so he was able to change it all.

I am now very very wary about loosing bands though, I have an almost OCD relationship with it now, I am determined that nothing is going to set my progress back again, as they could be off next month, and that would be a dream come true.

So with hourly inspections of my teeth and cutting food up really small, and most defiantly not biting anything, at all, for the next month, we will keep our fingers crossed!

I did also get some information about what happens after the fixed brace is removed, which I will save for a later date as I am just too happy and excited at this news for now!!!