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........