Wednesday 13 April 2011

Braces at last!!!

Today...I finally got my braces! I say finally, but it's actually been exactly one year since I first went to see my old orthodontist about this, and I've often heard that with the NHS it usually takes about a year to get your braces on, so I'm not doing too bad I suppose! They're aching a bit already, I'm feeling a bit ugly, and am having to cut up food very small...but I'm sure I'll get used to it! I'm just so glad they're on! I spent almost an hour at the hospital today. Before the orthodontist could put my braces on she had to take off the little brace I had behind my front four teeth. It didn't hurt but it was a horrible feeling of having the metal whirring against the back of my teeth and it went on for ages! She told me that my overbite would actually get bigger now I've got the braces on, but I don't mind that too much. But the bad news is...I've got to have my top wisdom teeth out too :( She said she didn't understand why the surgeon didn't just take them out when I had my bottom ones out. Having your top wisdom teeth out isn't as bad as the bottom ones, and it's only a local anaesthetic, but I still can't say I'm looking forward to it! I don't know when I'll be having them out yet though. She also said that because my bottom gum is thin and the bottom teeth will be moving forward, there's a chance they might have to take out one of my bottom teeth...I hope not though :s So my next appointments are to get some elastics put on and to get some metal rings around my back teeth, cos at the moment they're only on my second to back teeth if you know what I mean! At the moment they're booked for 8th and 16th June, but I'm going to ring tomorrow and try and set them back a couple of weeks cos by then I'll have finished uni and won't have to keep travelling back to Kent from Surrey! Anyway, here are some pics of my new braced-up gnashers! Feeling very much like Ugly Betty at the moment...









5 comments:

  1. I feel like my overbite looked nearly identical to yours when I first got my braces on, and my overbite got BETTER with braces, even when my ortho thought it may get worse, but the bottom teeth straightened out which caused them to bow out more, lessoning the gap! Maybe that will happen for you as well.

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  2. You're so much closer now!

    I had only my bottom wisdom teeth removed because they said my top wisdom teeth were in my sinus cavity and they were afraid of the damage it may cause if they tried to remove them. That was like 8 years ago. So my oral surgeon said it would be no big deal for him to just remove them when he performed my jaw surgery. And it really wasn't! He said since my upper jaw was being cut or whatever, all he needed to do was reach in from the top and pluck them out, unlike pulling them out from the bottom. Sorry if that's too visual for you haha but it made sense to me when he said it that way.
    Perhaps you could just have yours removed with your surgery?

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  3. I hope that does happen for me Dani! I've only had them on for 6 days and already I feel like they're moving!

    I'm not sure what they're planning to do about my top wisdom teeth. My ortho and this other man were talking about it when I was there and they were saying that they needed to talk to someone else - maybe the surgeon - about when the top ones should come out. So I'll just wait and see what they say. It would be good if they just did them during the actual surgery though, get it all over with at once!

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  4. Hey Sarah congrats on getting your braces! Are you getting used to them now? I hope you could get the wisdom teeth extracted during the jaw surgery. You'll be numb already so you won't feel any pain and they heal much faster than the bottom since gravity prevents food from getting lodged.

    How long do you think you'll have to wear braces before surgery?

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  5. Thanks Tara! Yeah I'm already getting used to them, getting used to having food stuck in them and also getting used to seeing myself with them on! Yeah maybe that's what they will do, I kind of hope so if it means not having to go through another op, although I know top wisdom teeth are nowhere near as bad as the bottom ones. When I had my bottom ones out the woman in the hospital bed next to me had only had her top ones out and was up and talking about eating pretty much as soon as it was over, so hopefully it shouldn't be too much of an ordeal! Still wish they'd just done it with the bottom ones though! Makes me think that the ortho and the surgeon don't communicate that much, which is a bit worrying!

    So far I've been told 12 - 18 months. But a girl who I talk to on facebook has only had hers on for 6 months and they're already beginning to talk about surgery, so that gives me hope that it might all happen a bit quicker than I'm expecting!

    How are things going with you? Do you have a surgery date yet?

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