The orthodontist had a general look at my teeth to check they were still healthy and then explained about filing!! Errr......what?!!
This is where they take a tiny sliver of bendy metal-slide it down in between teeth that need moving-and file! I was reassured that it was painless, but not a nice noise-thank god the TV was on above me for a bit of distraction! Indeed it was painless-you can't actually feel it at all! It sounds like when you're on the beach and have sand between your teeth that crunches! Some of my teeth were really tight though and a few of the files snapped while he tried to get them in between the teeth! So he used-a drill type file-also painless! Then the file slid straight in.
Next he painted my teeth with something and blasted it with air, which felt a bit weird-again not unpleasant. Then you get to rinse! The nurse puts the bonding/composite on the tooth side of the brackets, which were all in a small plate-and he put them on my teeth and held them there. The nurse moved over each tooth with a blue light until it beeped-then onto the next. He went round all my teeth doing this. Then he let me rinse again. The plate's that hold all the brace brackets in are then removed. I think they're actually attached to it as some came away really easily and others needed more encouragement. After they were all off, he put a bracket on my 'snaggle tooth'. I think it may have come off with the plate by mistake-so he had to do that by hand. Or maybe that one just came separately to begin with. Then another rinse!
After that, he attached the wires-which seemed a little fiddly. But he said as my teeth get more and more in line-they will be easier to fit. Apparently you start with quite a flexible wire so that you don't get too much pressure! That's that then.
My lips were then totally dry and shrivelled from being stretched for ages whilst they put the braces on. I would definitely recommend multiple Vaseline applications on the day of your appointment and just before you go in-the softer and more supple they are to begin with, the better I should think!
So, out to reception to pay and book my next appointment in 1 months time, which involves changing the wire to a less flexible one! My first real conversation, with the receptionist! The main thing I noticed is that my top lip keeps getting stuck up above the brace brackets!
Then I hot footed it out to the car to look in the mirror!! First impressions? The tooth brackets are the same colour as my teeth-the wire is much whiter-I'm sure that will change with time though! 2 things I wasn't prepared for. On each and every bracket-there is a coloured dot (You can see them in the photo's, the black ones are the easiest to spot)-I believe this is how they know where to put them. Top right are red, top left green, bottom left black and bottom right blue!Its a small dot-but definitely makes the braces more visible!! The second thing is that there are small tabs coming off the bottom (you can see these in the phot'os-but they're not on any of the front teeth), of the bottom brackets, and tops of the top ones, except for on the middle 4 teeth top and bottom. Maybe its to help fit or remove them?
So how does it feel? My teeth feel fine-no pain-just feels like all my teeth are one instead of individual teeth. As the afternoon has gone on (they've been in 6 hours now) I've become more aware of my teeth-but they don't hurt. The dentist said they are likely to hurt when biting-so we shall see what tomorrow brings at work!!
The inside of my cheeks and lips felt a little irritated to begin with, then it began to rub a little-mainly where the tabs on the brackets are-and now they're a bit sore. So I ave liberally applied bonjela, which is helping. I tried a bit of wax on the ends of the wires and on the brackets at the ends of the wire which are metal and have a little hook on them-but it was pretty fiddly and I decided that I should only use it for really sore bits, otherwise my mouth will never get used to it!!
Food: So I came straight home and ate weetabix and a banana-which was fine, but even after I swallowed food-I still felt like I had a mouth full of food, above my teeth between the lip and gum. Off I went to the mirror-and most of my meal was up there! Plus in the brackets, wrapped round the wires, wedged between my teeth.....you get the idea!! So cue lots of teeth brushing-problem solved! For lunch I went for tomato and vegetable pasta-same problem but on a much more colourful scale!
You cannot have a conversation in between mouth fulls!! Not so much of a problem at home. But eating out and at work is going to be an issue! So, I think well blended soup and yogurt's, without bits in, are going to be my staple work diet!!! I'm pretty sure 'diet' is a good way to sum up the first day-and probably the first week! Eating bread is going to be an issue, as will crisps, chocolate....:(((
bonjela, a diclofenac and some distraction are what's next for me!!
Again I'll try to upload some pics and will post again if anything else happens-good or bad!!A travel toothbrush, toothpaste and a nifty little compact mirror with a light on will be travelling with me wherever I go from now on! Cue mantra "It'll be worth it in the end"
Anna
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