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!!!

Worst fears confirmed

Well, today was my orthodontist appointment and he confirmed my worse fears.

After looking at my uneven teeth in the bottom row, that I caused with loosing the bands and not checking, he has put me back to an arch wire to pull them in line again. He removed the metal hooks for the night time elastics and put normal ones back on.

He says that it has probably cost 2 months as it will take one month to pull them back and the next to do the Hannibal closing again, so I am totally kicking myself.

Also to make matters worse, I can only make it to my next appointment, then all of the orthodontist visits happen when I am out of the country, so I cannot see him until September this year. They said to talk over the options with him next time I see him, but 3 weeks ago I was expecting to have these off within a month, and now I am looking at Christmas again!

I am so disappointed and frustrated by this....it was all going so well.

Again I reiterate, if you think there is something out of the ordinary or something missing, sort it out straight away, as little setbacks can turn into huge ones very quickly. :-(

Aaagh...so annoyed!

So, after the last visit I noticed that the bottom 4 front teeth had no bands on them. I just assumed the orthodontist didn't put any on as I didn't think I could have lost them so quick.

I should have checked with the dentist, and this is a lesson to everyone out there, if in doubt check, because they should have been there and I have probably just set myself back at least a month on my progress.

The bands have 'jumped' is the professional term, meaning because of the metal things that hold the Hannibal bands on, they can come off easier, and they have. Now the arch wire is too far away from the teeth because the have moved so much that I have to go back a step and have them realigned.

The only reason I went and checked was because one of them had been really pushed back, and I though this isn't right, my next appointment is in 2 days time so was going to wait. I am so frustrated with myself that I waited this long and thought it was normal.

So moral of the story, if in doubt, check, as otherwise you may prolong the treatment.

Hannibal eat you heart out (no pun intended!)

I am on proper count down now, I have been lead to believe that I will have the braces off in 2 months, providing that the next stage goes to plan, which in the past it all has, but touch wood anyway!

My last visit to the orthodontist went smoothly, although I didn’t understand what was happening till he had finished.

Last time I went he was saying things for his assistant to note down, teeth numbers and technical stuff I didn’t understand. But this time it all became clear. Firstly he asked for some technical thing, which basically means a piece of metal wire that he twists round the bracket to form a hook above the top teeth and below the bottom ones. Obviously because it is in my mouth, they feel like they are 10 feet tall and visible from space. But in reality, they are a little noticeable, but not to the point that it is going to stop me from smiling and laughing, you can see them on the picture below.

Anyhow.....after he fixed these, 4 to the top and 4 to the bottom, he then put on some new arch wires and told me that I am going to hate him....interesting.....which for the last few days I have!

Every night I have to truss my gob together with 4 elastic bands, fixing the top jaw to the bottom jaw so that it pulls my teeth in line and closes the gap so I can bite burger lettuce again. Once these bands are on it is impossible to open my mouth, which is the strangest, and one of the most horrible, experience I have gone through in this treatment. Imagine dreaming that you are having your mouth held shut and you are fighting it, scary. Also you can't lick your lips, cue endless amounts of lipbalm before bed. If you want a drink of water in the night, think again, not even a straw is getting through there!

The first night I managed to keep them on for 5 hours, after waking myself up every 2 hours by trying to open my mouth, feeling like I was ripping my front teeth out at the roots, the pain just got too much so I relented and took them off and got 3 hours quality sleep. The following night I managed 6 hours, with much of the same process. Last night I managed 8 hours, only really suffering the tooth ripping jaw snap once...how very brave of me! I am now hoping that the worst is over and I can put them on every night without too much sleep deprivation.

However I can see the difference already. Also I am highly motivated to go through that pain so I don’t prolong the treatment. This is the only part of it that has been my responsibility, I don’t want it to fail because on my pain threshold and wimpyness of a lack of sleep.

So as you can see from the below picture, every night I go through a ridicule of turning into Hannibal Lecter and answer with "and I ate his liver with a bottle of nice Chianti"!!!!!

So providing that this part of the treatment has the results that are required, next visit I will have the impressions for the removable brace taken and following that, fingers crossed, I will be permanently brace free!!!

Getting closer.....

Well here I am another appointment closer to the end, getting a little excited!

This time he actually said another 2 months, so I really am hoping that he means this and doesn't keep extending it.

My appointment was pretty straight forward, he ground some off my front teeth to even them up after years of them being uneven and wearing at an angle, and he put a linked elastic on the bottom to pull them straight, but otherwise nothing much happened.

Last time I said I was getting some bands to sleep in. He changed his mind and said I didn't need them, but on the next appointment he would sort out the remaining gap at the front. Where I had previously had the bendy wires to pull them together, it has opened up again, so I have lost some of my bite, back to removing lettuce from my burger before eating again, otherwise it ends up down my chin. So I wonder what he has in store for me when I go back again.

I am very excited about it all coming to an end, but I also don't tell people, because I still don't believe that in 2 months he will take them off, fingers crossed though. I am looking forward to having them cleaned again, and being able to clean them properly myself, I have loads of tea and wine stains again, I know it is my lifestyle that has done it, but trying to clean round the brackets isn't easy.

As I said previously my niece should be getting a brace too, although it keeps getting put back, I was telling my sister all about it and she is now in the thinking that she will be cleaning her daughters teeth for her all the time she has it on, I pointed out that a 11 year old probably doesn't drink as much red wine and tea as me, so it may not be such a problem!

I am that excited about having my teeth back that I have even bought a new toothbrush, a nice electric one, I did have one previously but it broke and I didn't see the point of getting a new one when it just gets ruined when brushing over the wires and brackets, but since I am now that close to the end I though it was time.

So let's hope that the countdown is defiantly on now........

The end is eventually in sight!!!!!!

At last, the orthodontist has committed to an end being on the horizon!!!!!!!!

At first I misunderstood what he said, I thought that he meant he had nearly finished what he was doing, well when you hear the words, ‘we are thinking of finishing soon', you have to put it into context with the situation you are in.

I was getting towards the end of a very long and quite painful appointment, and the regular dentist asked how much longer we would be as the next person was asking, my orthodontist said a few minutes, then his line 'we are thinking of finishing soon', but then I clicked to what he really meant, finishing treatment! Maybe only a couple of months left he said, yeah!!

But back to my appointment. He took off the bendy wires, which was painful in its self, but then he put a straight one on the top, and started to tie it on with metal ties, pushing and pulling and twisting, I felt like I could have screamed. Then he seemed happy, ground a bit off my teeth on the bottom and undid everything and took that off. I was very confused. What he was actually doing was manipulating them into a position so that he could even up my bite by taking a bit off my bottom teeth to stop them knocking together. Which seems to have worked.

But as he was taking off the top wire, he pulled off the top anchor, so I had to endure cleaning and cementing of that back on, not comfy to be sat there with the sucking drain and cotton wool stuffed in your mouth when you aren’t expecting it.

So he has put straight wires back on top and bottom. The anchor didn’t take so he has left it off, just saying that we don’t need it anymore! Well he knows best I suppose. Then he told me that next time he is going to give me some bands to tie top and bottom together for sleeping in, then soon after that we will be finished!

All I need to do then is get a retainer for sleeping in and I will have as perfect teeth as I am getting.

This was the best news I could have got on the 1 years anniversary of having the braces put on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More bendy wires!

This month hasn't been without action, within 2 days I had lost 3 of the bands, I have no idea how. One of them constantly falls off anyway, but the other 2, on the other side, next to each other, no idea what happened, very strange. However had them replaced with no further problems.

However I am still having problems with the pain of the bendy wires that were attached last time, although they have done the job from what I can see, and enabled the bite to be closed once again, it hurts a lot. Back on pain killers for a few days to ease it. I was talking to my boyfriend about it and even he thinks that my teeth at the top have moved in significantly and my lip doesn’t stick out as far any more. I just can't begin to imagine what my face will look like without any braces on at all!

But I am so happy with the result at the moment, I am not even a year into the treatment and I believe I am nearly finished.

Over Christmas I have nothing to report, the only time that I had a problem was with a bacon sandwich, I had to cut it up really small, which was commented on, but I am still surprised how people don’t say things about them, I really did think that I would get comments, but nothing has been said, well to my face anyway!!

Fingers crossed for a smooth ride until my next appointment.