Quick Update.

Hi everyone,

The month has been busy in terms of orthodontist appointments. I've been there once a week for this whole month. This is because at the beginning of the month I got the TADs installed. The process was good and bad at the same time.

Let's start with the good. Remember when I mentioned in my last post that they were kind of like piercings? Well it's not quite like that. The TADs that I got are actually small screws. Two were inserted between the canine and one of the back molar. The first time they did it, it did not hurt at all due to the local anaesthetic. Then when they proceeded with taking a mould of my teeth to order some new longer brackets to be used with the TADs part of one of the TADs fell off! So...that meant unscrewing the broken one and then inserting a new one in. This was where it went out of control. The orthodontist had to unscrew and reinsert it three times to get it back into place. The irritating part about this whole process was that they had to take x-rays in between each screwing. I was there for over 3 hours. Nonetheless, they were finally installed and there was some minor soreness at the site afterwards.

The worst part I would say was the irritation that my gums got from having the unfamiliar TADs in my mouth. It definitely cut my gums several times, which was worst than regular braces cutting the gums. Thinking back now I could have used wax if I wanted to but it eventually went away after a week and a half.

It's much better to understand if you look at some pictures. It's currently dark outside where I live so I can't take pictures right now (no r lighting) but I will post some tomorrow or the next few days. I will elaborate more on what has been happening in my mouth then also. For now, I will leave you with an image I found online that pretty much looks like my teeth to give you guys an idea of what TADs are and look like.

TADS!

Hey everyone,

I went to the orthodontist the other week and was expecting to have a usual wire change, which did happen. However, the orthodontist was there that day to look at my mouth. After looking at it for a few seconds he said I should get TADs. The dental assistant and him keep talking about other possibilities (i.e., power chains) but they eventually decided on the TADs. The whole time I was like, 'what the heck are TADs?' To my horror they told me that they were going to puts some screws on my canines so that they can turn it with much more force. Yikes! So I went home and did some research. TADs stands for Temporary Anchorage Device, which are basically small screws inserted into the bone. How they work is that the TAD does not move but the tooth can move up against it causing rotation and movement of the tooth. Sounds bad eh? Apparently they don't hurt! I forgot what the orthodontist said but it's something to do with having no nerves in the outer portion of the bone that they are planning to implant these TADs. I will ask my orthodontist in 2 weeks times when I get my TADs. For now, I guess I can just think of them as piercings for the gum. Trendsetter! LOL

Broken brackets.

Hey everyone!

Today I was chit chatting with a friend of mine in class and she commented on how bloggers tend to say sorry a lot for not updating their blogs. This was after I told her I had a blog. Hearing that I felt bad that I have not posted a new entry for about a month and a half. However, after talking to my friend, I made it a priority that I post a new entry today even though it's almost midnight where I am (darn you Abby!).

Where to start? What has happened in the last month and a half? For one, I came back from vacation and everything was fine. I went to my appointment and got my bottom wire changed. Everything was good for another two weeks until....a bracket fell off!!! You often hear stories about how someone was eating some kind of fruit or some form of hard substance and that caused their bracket to fall off. Well I was not even eating anything when mine fell off.

One night after flossing my teeth I decide to touch my left canine just to see how much the wires have straighten up. I decided to wiggle the bracket a little and the glue that holds the bracket to the tooth moved and I knew it became loose. This is not the worst part. I called in to my orthodontist to book an appointment to glue the bracket back and they just happened to have an opening that morning. I go in thinking this is going to be short and sweet. Well the outcome was not. After the first attempt at gluing a new bracket, it immediately fell off. Then they tried again and I thought everything was going to be fine. Unfortunately it was not because when I walked out of the door to the orthodontist office it fell off again. I was going to be late for school so I decided to just leave it at that and book another appointment next week. I actually went in today and got it glued again but it feel off again the first attempt. However, they decided to place a thinner wire on and recommended that if it were to fall off again, I should leave it until my next appointment to get it bonded.  Everything has been good so far....fingers crossed.

During this whole turmoil I was very scared that my canine would dramatically shift back into its old position. To my surprise it did move back quite a bit but not that much to be worried about. For those of you who don't remember but my canines were severely rotated. Eventually after getting a new bracket the teeth moved back to the proper position -- where it's suppose to be now. If this happens to you, be alarmed but don't be too scared of the shift. I would recommend going to see your orthodontist immediately. But for whatever reason you can't, I think you could get away for a week with a broken bracket without it shifting back dramatically.

Okay, let's move onto the progress and pictures. These are some pictures that I took about a week ago. Believe it or not but my current teeth look different from a week ago -- at least the bottom racks.

6 months 2 weeks 5 days

6 months 2 weeks 5 days

6 months 2 weeks 5 days

Sorry for the poor quality in pictures -- my camera is being lent out again. Okay, so what has happened to my teeth? For one, I officially have an underbite in my frontal region now. The braces have shifted the bottom frontal teeth upward and apart from each other. Secondly, my canines have shifted dramatically! Woot woot! The main concern I had when thinking about getting braces was whether or not these vampire fangs of mine were able to turn. I was definitely worried for nothing because they moved quickly! I can't quite say goodbye to these fangs forever just yet but I am very ecstatic that they are turning to their proper positions. I think this was the reason why the bracket keep falling off -- it couldn't take the heavy pressure from the canine.

I will post more pictures soon!

Okay, I'm off to bed now.....zzzzZZZ

5 months 5 days

Hello everyone! It's been a little over two weeks since I got my bottom braces on. I can official call myself a true metal mouth now! Here is a picture:

5 months 5 days

So, how does it feel to have a full mouth of metal? I wouldn't be telling the truth if I didn't say that it felt weird in the beginning. What kind of weird? It's kind of hard to explain but it's like you know that something is on your teeth and you can feel it but you can't do anything about it. This "weird" feeling goes away though. I definitely got used to them quickly.

So, how was the pain? There definitely was major pain this time around. For one, the first time you get braced is always the most painful time because you're teeth are being constantly pulled by the wires and brackets for the first time. Two, my canines were where the majority of pain was located. I think it's because they are the ones that needed the most rotation (and actually are rotating the most). As always, the pain was completely gone in 3 days but there are occasional soreness to the canines - nothing hardcore though.

So, what should you watch out for? The only thing I must mention is that I was warned about the wire falling out of the brackets because it is very thin. It indeed did fall out. One option I was told I could do was cut the wire myself (with a sterilized nail clipper) but I haven't because it hasn't bugged me yet. If this happens to you, I would recommend cutting it yourself and if not (because it's scary!), go to your orthodontist and they will be happy to do so for you.

So have there been any progress? There definitely have been some. The braces have straighten out my four central bottom teeth. So much that now I have a little underbite. Please refer to the Day 6 photo for reference. There has also been more shifting outward of the top teeth (minus the two front teeth).

Day 6

I tried to take some pictures of the canines from an upwards angle because I wanted to show you guys the movement but failed miserably. Not to worry though I will attempt to bring out the photographer in me the next time I post. (If not, not to worry [again], I will just use my trusty sister assistant).

I won't be posting anything new for the rest of this month because I will be going on vacation to Switzerland but do come back when September (and school X_X) comes along. I'll be around to answer any comments though. But until then have a safe rest of the summer everyone :D