BOO!!!!

Not necessarily braces related but thought I'd post this entry.
Since getting my braces on, I decided new teeth means I'll get new glasses and new hair too. Lets have a bit of a change.
So here is what I look like now after my trip to the hairdressers this morning. This is the first time my hair has EVER been coloured! And I'm LOVING my new red glasses :) The short hair is a bit of a shock to the system hehehehe.
But and there's always a but isn't there...... I HATE how squint my face is getting. I don't know if it's the teeth moving or what but I'm sure my lower face looks worse than before. It all needs to be shifted over to the other side just a wee bit. It would all look fabulous if I didn't have my jaws and my teeth right now.
Oh I can't waitl til after jaw surgery and I'm going to go for a new look then, only then will will look much better :)

2nd Adjustment!

Today I had my 2nd adjustment at 9.30am. I got there early was taken in at 9.20am instead. Today I got:

1.New archwires upper and lower

2. New ligs...I couldn't choose between orange, green, red and azure so I asked the ortho assistant to choose for me from those colours. She said azure was really nice (and I'm definately going to get them next time) but chose red for me to match my (new) glasses. ROFL! My fav colour is red too! They don't make my teeth look like they are bleeding as I thought they would but I can't say I LOVE them, they are alright.

3. I got impressions UGH! I HATE top impressions. But my denture tooth just won't sit correctly any more. I can't eat with it in or it starts to rattle round my mouth and over the past couple of days have found that if I'm not going out anywhere then I just leave it out. So I got impressions to have a new one with a bracket attached. However, I have to 'persevere' with my current denture tooth til 1st October! Could hear the ortho assistant behind me phoning the people who make such thngs and she said they could have it ready for the end of the week but my ortho said it wasn't urgent and could wait til my next appointment...grrrrrr I'm not a happy bunny but hey ho. I'll just need to go in search of extra-super strength denture fixative.

4. I had an argument with my ortho over my chipped tooth *sigh* he is convinced my chip is old and I tried explaining to him that yes one of the chips is old but this one is new and only appeared 2 weeks ago. But he's not having it! And I didn't have my hearing aid in so wasn't in the best position to argue further with him (I'm hard of hearing and he is very soft spoken) So if he's not bothered then neither am I. I guess he has taken stock of the first chip and I'll get something done at the end to sort it out...I'll leave that to the restorative dentist to fix when I'm going for my implant/bridge.

5. When he was removing the lower arch wire he muttered something about something being weird. I have no idea what is weird but never mind...nothing about any kind of treatment I've had for anything is ever straightforward. I'll just stay in pondering as to what is weird about my teeth ROFL!

And that was that. All done for another 6 weeks. Managed ot get next appointment which is 1st October which is a wednesday which fits in brilliantly with me going back to uni (I'll be off most weds)

My teeth feel more secure and snug together with these new wires in..it's only way I can explain it. But within an hour of them in my teeth were uncomfortable..I'd say nippy but not ouch ouch sore. It's more an ache now, I'll need to take some paracetamol.
below are some pics. I didn't realise how much my bottom teeth had moved til uploading this pic and comparing it with last adjustment's pics! WOW! that is cool movement.




Bite with red bands




Bite with no denture in


Lower arch...WOW! Look at that movement!


Top arch..not much teeth! Just realised I have it upside down!

Uh-Oh!

The chip! The gap!

Look what has happened! I spy with my little eye a slight chip on my top incisor! Have tried to circle it in Paint but you can hardly see the circle. But basically it's the dent on the left of the picture. It's being cause by the bracket below..it fits in just nicely when I bite together

Sigh I REALLY hope this doesn't mean molar buildups back on again.
I'm not worried about the chip actually, because that tooth has had the first dent on it for a long time (no idea how it got there), I'm more worried about getting molar buildups back on. Bad I know I know!

2 weeks til 2nd adjustment....aside from the chip...my denture isn't a happy bunny (I'm surprised it is still intact actually) and that wobbly tooth is a little less wobbly but still wobbly.
Now got a huge gap between incisor and next tooth along and think the lower arch is straightening more.

First Adjustment

Today I had my first adjustment...exactly 6 weeks since archwire and ligs went on

Today's changes:

1. New molar band on top left back molar

2. Molar buildups are OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He had to take the top left one off to fit the molar band and then it dawned on him that that molar buildup wasn't actually doing anything anyway as it wasn't hitting against any other teeth. I said he was a cruel man! He said how was he because he was taking it off..I said cause he put it on in the first place and I had spent a week gagging and took 3 weeks to be able to eat normally LOL.

3. Asked if he was going to build up the molar buildup top right but he said it looks like my top incisor is clear of my bottom brackets below it so no need to have that build up again either.

4. I chose purple ligs (see pics below) and think they look super dooper cool. I LOVE them!

5. All lower ligs are in figure of 8s. Top incisor lig is figure of 8, rest are just normal

6. New archwires are MUCH thicker...so much so it was the first thing my daughter commented on when she saw me after my appointment.

7. I have a battlescar where ortho's hand slipped trying to put on lig on bottom left canine (apparently the canine is twisted)

8. Ortho is still humming and heying about the wee half tooth I have top right (can see in top arch photo below, tiny wee tooth next to last molar on left of pic) as to if it should come out or not. When braces went on he said it may or may not have to come out, we would wait and see. Today he said he thinks it will have to come out. I just wish he'd give me the letter to take to my dentist to get it out and get it over and done with!


It hurts a little now. I think it's going to hurt a lot more in the next 24hrs. I think it's gonna be a case of chew through the pain! But OMG! having those molar buildups off and being able to eat normally again (despite the pain of the new wire) is just sheer bliss!!!!! My sandwich for lunch tasted extra good just because I could eat it properly.


Mega cool purple ligs doing their figure of 8 routine



Bottom arch. Finally found the macro button on my camera!



Top arch with my denture plate in. Please ignore the fact you can see RIGHT up my nose! I only have 9.5 teeth in the top.


Me!

Profile Pictures - 1 Month 1 week In Braces

Here are some profile pics I took today. They aint great but hopefully you can see something :)
Actually looking at a side profile, I don't look too bad and even worry a tad that by putting my lower jaw back I'll look chinless. But I just have to remind myself that it's only going to be a few mm back from its current position.
But it's when you look at the front profile that you see where it's all wrong and wonky and squint and I do indeed need surgery.
I always kinda think, side profile view, that I'm a bit flat faced from the cheeks down, like there's no much definition going on.
I think from the top front view pic that you can see how one eyebrow is higher than the other, one eye is more closed than the other when I smile. I want a more even smile even if we can't do anything about the wonky eyebrows :D

Hmmmmm

I just came across this link

http://www.maxfac.com/facial/jaw.html

Considering how squint, sorry asymmetric my face is, I'm sitting here thinking wouldn't it be absolutely cool if I could have Le Fort III + mandibullar sagital split osteotomy + genioplasty??

I didn't actually think it was possible to correct facial asymmetry to that extent!

However, I do think that 8hrs+ in theatre, blood transfusion and all the post op stuff just isn't making me want to have all that done realistically! I also can't have anything done to my upper jaw anyways because of my velopharyngeal insufficiency (plastics refuse to put me on the table to correct it again)

I wonder if there is anyone out there who has indeed had it all??

So I'll just stick with the mandibular sagital split osteotomy and the genioplasty instead :)

First Staining

Oh no!
Yesterday my lovely baby pink ligs became not so lovely kinda lemon and pink mix ligs :(
It was my husband's birthday yesterday and he wanted chinese takeaway for his birthday tea.
I chose peanut staya chicken. Didn't even think of my bands. Wasn't until food was ordered, delivered, on plates on the table that Steve said 'oh that's a bright yellow isn't it?' that I realised that my ligs were in danger!

Sure enough, no more lovely baby pink. But it doesn't look tooo ewwww and only 2 weeks til my first adjustment anways.

Still undecided what colour to choose...red, orange or purple??