Brace fitting!

Before the braces could be fitted, I had to attend a 40-minute appointment to create the moulds for them. This  consisted of having a purple, blackberry-flavoured foam pressed into the top and bottom gums (one at a time) and left to harden. So long as you remember to breathe through your nose and not your mouth, this part is fine! The only vaguely uncomfortable thing is when the foam sets and the moulds are pulled out of your mouth as it feels like it might pull your teeth out with it!

2 weeks later, my braces were ready and although I was really nervous about how they were going to look, I was also excited that I would finally be doing something about my teeth. The dentist made me really comfortable and I was able to choose a dvd to watch during the process, which helped distract me from what was going on in my mouth. 

First of all, a rubber ring was inserted into my mouth to keep the lips away from the teeth. This made the corners of my mouth a little bit sore as I'm only little, but it ended up popping out anyway so the dentist just stuffed my gums with cotton wool balls instead! Next, my teeth were brushed with a substance that tasted a bit like lime juice, and this was to make the surface rough so that the cement would have something to stick to. They then applied the cement and then the braces were attached inside a sort of bracket. A UV light was passed over the brackets (which were applied in 2 halves) to dry the cement thoroughly and then the brackets were removed, leaving the little stoppers on my teeth. Next, with a set of pliers, the dentist attached the wire. I could feel it tightening once in a while but there was no pain whatsoever. And that was it, all done! It took about an hour in total and this is what they look like: