Second tightening - 6 weeks in!

Just returned from the second tightening - I wasn't expecting any pain this time as everything was straight forward on the last visit but I found the process quite uncomfortable. I had the 'eyelet' taken off my upper right tooth with a nutcracker-like device which felt like it was going to pull the tooth out, and replaced with a full-size bracket. I also had a new power band out on the front two teeth which pulled the tiny remaining gap closed almost immediately. You might not be able to see from the photograph but there are now quite large gaps on either side of my front teeth. Although it doesn't look very nice, it's actually a good thing as this space is going to be used to build up the two smaller teeth to make them more uniform. 

The great news is, my dentist thinks that I will be able to have the braces off at my next appointment  - almost 4 months early! I'm really excited about this as it means I only have about 2 teaching weeks left with them on.

Anyway, here they are: 

3 weeks

Today marks 3 weeks of having my braces on and I had my power band put on today. Previous to this my teeth were looking pretty much the same as the photo below but in the last few hours they have moved quite a bit and are almost touching! Naturally, they're a bit sore but not as much as I was expecting. The dentist was really pleased with how clean I kept the braces and even though I had passata, tea and coffee yesterday (as I knew my bands were being changed today) I experienced zero staining! I'm not going to go mad eating coloured food but I feel a bit more confident that I can eat most things. I'm going back in 2 1/2 weeks to have the power band changed as apparently it loses tension quite quickly.

Day 8

So I've had my braces for just over a week now and although the embarrassment factor hasn't lessened yet, I'm really grateful that I've had such a small amount of discomfort. Since I was little, I have suffered badly from mouth ulcers but I haven't had a single one since I got my braces - maybe it's because I haven't eaten many of the foods I usually eat! Speaking of food, I've branched out a little bit this week and I can confirm that green beans, mushroom risotto, weak strawberry milkshake and weak caffe latte are all ok! My braces are still looking nice and clean and I've seen a little bit of progress too. The gap in my front teeth has closed about 1mm and the lateral incisor to the right of it has moved forward a little bit. I will put up a picture although you can't really see any difference from the last photo!

Day 2 of braces!

So far, so good! I've had very little pain and no ulcers but it's still early days. My front 2 teeth in particular are quite tender so I've found it uncomfortable to eat but so long as the bottom teeth don't touch the top, it's really not too bad. I've found that the trick is to chomp on your back molars with your mouth open, although this isn't really an option when you're eating out! 

It's going to be hard for me to avoid coloured food as I love cooking and eating, and I'm Italian so passata and espresso are a big part of my diet! I'm normally a dark chocolate kind of girl, but I'm trying to grow to love white chocolate as it's one of the only treats I can eat with these braces and it just dissolves on the tongue, which is handy! My dentist has asked me to go back for a tightening in 3 weeks' time so he said I can eat whatever I want the night before - ragu here I come!

Today was the first day I've been to work since I got the braces and I have to say, I have felt really self-conscious, particularly as the reaction of some of my colleagues wasn't great. I think they show a lot more than it seems in the photos, but here is what they look like today: 

Luckily, my boyfriend thinks they look fine but at the moment, I'm hiding myself away as much as possible. Tomorrow will be the first time my students see them and I'm not looking forward to it at all!

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:

Why have I decided to get adult braces?

I've been umming and ah-ing for some time now as to whether to take the plunge and get adult braces fitted. I have a noticeable gap between my front teeth which some people find sexy, some say it's lucky and others just hate it! I feel it's been part of my identity for such a long time that it was hard to come to a decision but as it's my ambition to become a television presenter I decided that ultimately, braces were the right route to take.

The Consultation

I decided to visit a number of practices before making a decision and I have to say, I was very disappointed in a couple of them who charged me £70 just to talk to them and I was in and out within 15 minutes! I decided to go with Winning Smiles as I was so impressed with the amount of time and care the dentist took over the consultation, going through all the different options for gap closure, showing me what it would look like and he didn't charge me a penny. My options were:

Invisalign - Although Invisalign is the most subtle type of braces, it is not always a suitable option for closing a diastema (gap) and the treatment takes around 2 years. 

Veneers - This would involve filing down some of the teeth and adding porcelain veneers in a slightly larger size than my natural teeth to close the gap. My dentist was not happy to do this as I am only in my 20s and he didn't want to damage perfectly healthy teeth, which I definitely respect him for.

Traditional Braces - The best option for straightening or bite correction but also the most obvious as it involves wearing silver train tracks.

6 month smile - I decided this was the best option for me because of the short time-scale and the fact that the wire and brackets are white so don't show as much as traditional braces. I'm a teacher so not being able to see them much is high on my list of priorities, but I also love the fact that 2 of the 6 months will be the summer holidays so I won't have to see any students for a third of the treatment!

Costs

Although my dentist wanted me to have both arches (which I can understand, as he is trying to create the perfect smile), I decided just to go for the top arch. This is because I thought that having both would make me more self-conscious, would be more likely to affect my speech and would probably lengthen the amount of time I would need to wear braces. Also, you can't really see the bottom set when I smile or talk! However, he did convince me that I should have the 2 teeth either side of my front teeth built up with a tooth-coloured composite as they are a bit smaller than my other teeth. So the costs are as follows:

Brace on top arch: £1,900

Brace on top and bottom (which I didn't opt for): £2,400

Composite bonding on 2 teeth: £700

So my total cost is £2,600 and would normally include free whitening but we decided I didn't need it, particularly as I was in a hurry to get the braces on before the summer holidays.

The braces will be ready in 2 weeks, so in the meantime, here is a 'before' picture of my teeth: