6 Month Update: Elastic Woes!

Today I went for my third adjustment. It has now been 6 months! I can hardly believe it. The first month or so went so slowly and I had a couple of issues with broken brackets. Since then, it seems to have flown! I am so happy with how the upper teeth, previously very uneven are looking. They're much straighter! The good news is that this appointment was the least painful so far. My upper wire has been changed but I have not felt any difference at all, no pressure, no tenderness.

The bad news is I have my elastic band. It is only one but I am finding it quite a struggle. The elastic ligatures that I've had for a while, which don't need changing at home, have been reapplied but this time, I was asked to wear an elastic band as well. I understand it is to ensure my lower teeth move in the right direction to close the gap from where I had my extraction and stop any new gap forming in the process. My orthodontist fitted the elastic, told me to remove it for eating and that I'd be fine at reapplying it by hand. I got two bags full.

Then I came home and needed to eat something so I took it off and it was such a struggle to get back on. To start with, I'm not 100% sure I have put it on the right teeth. According to the diagram my orthodontist drew a circle on, I believe I am right with my lower backmost tooth which is braced (my very back tooth has no bracket on it at all). It has a hook for an elastic, while as far as I can see the tooth next to it does not, but it is this tooth which is beside the gap.

It also appears that I need to use the upper tooth second away from my front teeth, not the tooth right beside my front tooth, although in my many attempts I have managed to hook it on both. On all the pictures of silver braces I have seen, there is a clearly defined hook on the upper tooth but I can't see that on mine, which is a ceramic bracket so harder to see against the tooth. Looking at the photo I took of the tooth, it seems to be over a hook but it doesn't look like the hooks I've seen on silver braces. Are ceramics different?

I am on approximately my fourth elastic just today because the others 'pinged' out of my hand while I was fumbling in the mirror and they're unfortunately the exact whitish cream colour of my bedroom carpet. One has turned up. The others have not. I called the clinic in desperation and didn't even get to speak to my ortho, just the receptionist, who did not really help except to say there is no tool I can use (actually some articles I have read looking for tips online have mentioned a plastic sort of hook which some orthos can provide) and that I just need to practise it.

I have finally managed to get one on in what I believe to be the correct position but more by luck than by design. I managed it by hooking the upper tooth, which is relatively easy although it still takes me more than one try usually and then holding my finger on that end, while reaching for the hook on the bottom with the other. Getting over the bottom hook though, is very hit and miss. I have since eaten with the elastic in. It is apparently not essential to take it out. I was hungry but had only just managed to get it in so wasn't going to remove it.

On the whole, progress is good but there must be an easier way to put on this elastic. I am not now due back until 12th November. I am going away to uni this Saturday (about an hour and a half away by train) and moving into halls so had to select a late evening appointment during the reading week of the semester, when hopefully I will not have lectures. I hope I can manage. I am certainly not going to try and put them in on the go yet. I'm put out that the appointment was so short and I left with no real idea of what to do. I didn't even get to try and do it myself while I was there.

I have never been able to connect the knee bone to the ankle bone in Operation and that is what this feels like, trying to hook the elastic over the peg at each end. On the plus side, these are my latest pictures which I really like. Not only are my teeth looking so much better, but I have my new camera and the pictures are so much clearer. Before pictures are below.

Front

Uppers from below

Lowers

Elastic

Top Hook

This is where I was six months ago. Despite the breakages, the ulcer and now the elastic, it is so worth it!

1st and 2nd Adjustment Photos

These are a few photos from around the time of my first adjustment in May and my second in July. They've got mixed up on my computer and I'm not sure which were taken when, but they are not very clear anyway and best viewed small. I've since acquired a better camera and had my third adjustment so better pictures to follow shortly but I wanted to put them here anyway.

The ulcer took its time disappearing, even after the bracket which had caused it was filed down. Until it had started to heal and become less swollen, I kept biting it. In the end, I got out the 'lip bumper' rubber tube I'd bought just before my braces went on. To my disappointment, the bumper as a whole, though very comfortable, proved impossible to put on. But I was able to trim a small piece and cushion just the two brackets where the ulcer was for a while.

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.

Excited For 1st Adjustment

I will be going back for my first adjustment on 16th May and I can't wait. Since the two broken brackets were fixed, I have had no more problems and I can really see the changes, especially in my upper front teeth. My incisors have straightened up a lot and my canines which were quite high up, especially on the left have begun to move down. The teeth beside my incisors were set quite far back but are moving forward nicely. On the bottom, I have noticed less crowding and the tooth on the right, which was twisted, has moved into place a lot. Sadly, my decent camera is still missing so I am using my old digital camera which is nowhere near as good.

Three Week Update: Fixed At Last!

On Wednesday 3rd April, three weeks to the day since I got my braces, I had my second broken bracket replaced. Originally, I had hoped to go the week before but I had to reschedule my appointment when I knew I would be unable to make it from work. Fortunately, soon after my last post, the broken bracket came off, so I didn't have to go around wearing a lump of wax over it anymore. And unlike with the first lost bracket, it fell away gently, without breaking my wire. This meant I enjoyed a few days of relative 'freedom' and comfort in that tooth, looking like this:

The procedure was much the same as before, the old glue was scrubbed away and a new bracket applied. This time the bracket had broken off because the wire was put under too much pressure last time, when it was pushed into the bracket. That tooth is set far behind the two teeth on either side and my front tooth partially overlaps it at an odd angle, so the pressure at that point is high. The repair was done by the same orthodontist as before, a colleague of my own, as he was with another patient. He did come to see how I was getting on though. The wire was not pushed in so far this time so it didn't feel heavy after and it has lasted. I don't expect to need another repair before my first adjustment on 14th May. Finally, I am fully braced with no missing or broken parts:

Things are going quite well and the braces themselves are comfortable on the whole. I am used to them under my lips, although finding I need plenty of lip balm. I sometimes catch the inside of my cheeks on the clips at each side and have developed some tough parts on my gums. Luckily, except when I catch them, I don't find these painful and haven't had any ulcers yet. The pain is back now though, especially in the tooth with the newly reapplied bracket, which had stopped hurting altogether while free of the pressure of the wire. The overlap between it and the neighbouring tooth is particularly sensitive. My bite is still a bit odd and I sometimes catch it with my lower teeth, so I am back on painkillers every few hours for now.

Eating is mostly ok, depending on my pain, but some foods are quite messy to clean up after, particularly bread and oranges, as the stringy part gets stuck in the clips. I am managing to keep everything clean, but brushing 3-4 times a day, including at work is tedious and fiddly. A colleague who has had braces for a while very kindly bought me some interdental brushes with a nice large handle the other day, which has helped. As for whether my teeth are moving, I believe there have been changes but they are very subtle. My orthodontist said they definitely were but I have a harder time seeing it. I think my bottom teeth are maybe ever so slightly less crowded.

In another funny coincidence, I went for a haircut tonight and while she was shampooing my hair, my hairdresser asked when I had got my braces. We ended up spending most of the appointment talking about them, as she had her braces off a couple of years ago. She even used the same orthodontic practice as me, although under the care of a different orthodontist. We talked retainers and pain and cleaning and brackets and about how popular orthodontics for adults has become, even fashionable. A couple more photos of my teeth and the newly repaired bracket: