Thicker Wires and an Ulcer

Time for a very overdue update. On 16th May, I went for my first official adjustment appointment, after two unscheduled visits to replace broken brackets. My orthodontist removed both wires to inspect my teeth and was very pleased with the progress that had been made. After two attempts, he was able to apply a thicker wire to my bottom teeth. The original thin wire was reapplied to my upper teeth, as my orthodontist felt they were not quite ready for a thicker wire.

With the thicker wire in place, I felt a lot more pressure on my lower teeth and noticed movement quite quickly. In particular the teeth on either side of the gap where I had a tooth extracted before getting my braces started to move and I became more aware of the bracket against my cheek. Unfortunately, I got an ulcer there. I have always been prone to mouth ulcers from time to time but have so far been lucky and avoided any significantly sore places since getting the braces but this ulcer stayed and started to get bigger.

Eventually the ulcer had become very swollen and inflamed and even started to bleed. I was catching it with my teeth when I spoke and when I chewed or swallowed and it would often scrape against or get hooked on that bracket. Since it was constantly irritated by the bracket it couldn't heal and despite my next adjustment appointment being scheduled for today, 9th July, I had to make an earlier appointment to get it looked at. I went in a fortnight ago and my orthodontist could immediately see how difficult things were.

He took the hooks off of the bracket which the ulcer was catching on and filed everything down quite a bit. This was unpleasant because it meant prolonged use of the filing/polishing tool which sounds like a drill. Although I wouldn't say it's painful exactly, the heavy vibrations were very uncomfortable as my teeth are quite sensitive. Even the pressure of my brackets being opened and new wires fastened in is hard for me to take. Worse, the noise seemed to fill and reverberate through my entire head. Afterwards, the ulcer stopped catching on the bracket and things improved, although it was still quite large and occasionally sore when irritated by something I'd eaten.

With the bracket filed down, I took to applying copious amounts of Bonjela Cool and using the rubber 'lip bumper' I bought just before the braces went on, when I created a dental kit for myself. I was disappointed with the lip bumper initially. It's a clear rubber tube with a slit along the back that goes over the wire and brackets but was impossible to put on. I was not able to cover all the brackets successfully but found that by cutting a small length of it, I was able to cover the two brackets the ulcer was catching on and the wire between them and it stayed put while I ate. The ulcer has started to heal and it should soon be gone.

Today, I went back for my second adjustment. This time I have had thicker wires applied to both my upper and lower teeth. This means my upper teeth now have the same thickness wire as my lower teeth got last time and my lower teeth have gone up yet another thickness, to a square wire rather than a round one. Elastics have also been applied to start closing the gap but the ligatures my orthodontist will change which can stay put and not elastic bands I have to change myself. They are clear so can hardly be seen. One bracket also came off during the fitting and was replaced. I will try and post pictures soon.