End of 5th stop

Omg sorry for the lack of updates as I was oversea, to America and Taiwan! (It was a fun 18 days holiday!).

Ok this weekend I will be heading back to Malaysia for my 6th appointment. Which means I'm on the treatment for 5 full months. Time flies. Here's my current condition:

Both the gaps of my removed teeth are closed yippie! But there are now gaps in between my first molars and second molars, which I don't know why. Ortho said that my upper row is done woot. They won't be moving anymore and will just stay like this till the end of the treatment ( and forever I hope). I noticed that my bottom row is kinda slanted which is due to the gap of the molars not being even. The gap on the left is bigger than the right. It looks kinda ugly from the front :( by the way the two irritating separators are still glued to my teeth, if you are wondering. It has been 3 months. And I don't see them getting removed anytime soon. Not before my bottom row move in more (when all the gaps are closed). Patience patience! So far I'm kinda happy with the result. I feel like my feature changed, especially my jaw, to the better. Hopefully it won't revert back when the treatment is done!

4th Stop

Just had my forth appointment last Saturday. My teeth didn't move at all during the pass one month. I suspected it was due to my molars no longer touching the two separators but my top teeth are touching my bottom brackets causing them not able to move forward. I raised my concern to my ortho and he did some re-adjustment. He also changed both my top an bottom wires for the first time.  Probably to a thicker wire. True enough my top teeth started moving to the front. My front teeth are now some space away from the bottom brackets. I can feel that my top teeth are protruding out now. I regretted not telling him during the last appointment as it was already the case even then. One month wasted. Hopefully next month I can remove the separators... Another problem i am hsbing now is that my bottom teeth look slanted. It is becsuse the gap between the removed left tooth closes far faster than the right. So the 'semi circle' shape left side of my bottom teeth is smaller than the right. It is pretty obvious when my mouth opens big enough. Hopefully the gap gets smaller soon.

 I chose gray band this time but somehow it look translucent. Not quite like what I expected.

3rd Stop

Just went for my 3rd appointment last Saturday and returned in disappointment. The two irritating separators are still attached to my teeth. Ortho said that my teeth didn't move enough yet. The top row isn't forwarding enough and the bottom row isn't backwarding enough. Currently my top row is touching the brackets of my bottom row. It has to move more to the front to be able to get over the bottom brackets. That will be when the separators can be removed..

I just noticed that ortho used power chain for my bottom row for the first time.

Baby blue this time. Started liking this color more and more :D

1.5 months

1.5 months on braces. 8 days to next appointment. Still not able to close my mouth due to the separators.

My top row has started to move forward. Somehow the gap in between the top and bottom row is slowly decreasing too.

I am really glad that for the first time in my life my upper lip is more protruding than the lower lip in my side profile :)

However, due to the 2 irritating separators, I am still not able to close my mouth fully. Which means I still have problem chewing even though the teeth no longer causing me pain. Worse, ulcers have been developing non-stop at 3 of the 4 canines. They are unbearable. 

20 days to my next appointment..

OMG

See what happened to my top row after mere 6 days? All straighten! Yay~ Can't wait for them to go further in front.

2nd Stop

Had my second appointment last Saturday (20th July). Yep I fast forwarded my appointment as I forsaw some problems keeping the original appointment date. I As I will be going oversea to Korea 4 days after the original appointment, I fear of not being able to eat anything during the trip. True enough. I was really glad I changed my appointment, because my ortho decided to put on the top braces for me! I never expect that so fast, like maybe 2-3 months later after my bottom row shifts to form a 'smaller circle' so that my front row can then be shifted to the 'front'. Well if my ortho said my top is ready, then why not. The procedure of putting up the top braces is the same as the bottom. This time round, I didn't need to wait 20 mins for the dry-off as he went adjusting my bottom row in the mean time.  I chose purple band this time =D

Ortho sticked on 2 white 'separators' to my top inner molars (red arrows), which resulted in the top and bottom rows not being able to be fully closed.

The front teeth of both rows are still 'hanging' when I fully close my mouth (separators touch the bottom molars).

He explained that this is necessary for the top front teeth to move outwards, without any barriers (bottom front teeth). With the separators there, technically bitting with front teeth are impossible. Chewing with back teeth are impossible too. So? Chew with separators. Meaning I can only chew with one tooth with the separator on each side. Also means, porridge week again! Which was why I was really glad I changed my appointment date (extra 2 weeks to get use to it before flying off). Orto did said that slowly I will be able to close my mouth completely. Does that mean the separators will get thinner and thinner everytime I chew and slowly be gone? And by then my front teeth will be at the front when I close my mouth? I really look forward to that!

The whole process of putting on top braces, and adjusting the bottom row took around 30 minutes. I assumed that the same pain will start occurring few hours later for the top row, but surprisingly nope, I didn't feel the pain. Just very mild pain, when the separators touch the bottom row. However, both side (tiger teeth) of the top row are giving me mild ulcers, due to the tiny screws. I am used to the bottom braces being in my mouth. But I don't think I can get used to the top one so fast.

Oh, putting on the top braces created a problem for me. I couldn't speak clearly now. The word pronunciation, especially those with 's' and 'z', are off.  I speak like a 3 years old kid now.. :(

13th Day

Wee~ It has been 13 days since I put on braces. I now have no problem with most of the food out there except those deep fried hard or crunchy stuff. No more pain at tall and no tightness when I wake up every morning. Does that means my teeth are no longer moving? Hmm.. I don't think my teeth moved at all though. Can't wait for the next appointment for my first tightening to feel the pain again (so that I know they are moving LOL). Still gotta wait for another two weeks..

Here's the picture of my extracted premolars. I tried my best cleaning them but thats the best I could do :( You can still see some blood.. Is there no way to clean them further? I never knew our teeth are that long until they are placed in front of me soaking in blood. I really felt sad looking at them for the first few days. Like I murdered two innocent people. They are forever gone. And my teeth count is forever -2 (for now. The number will probably decrease more when I age). It's not that I can 're-plant' them later on if I want. So.. bye bye. Thanks for being a part of me for more than 20 years.

Dream

Yesterday night I dreamt that my whole braces together with my whole bottom row teeth fall out! There was no blood and I was so calm. Still can call the ortho to put the whole thing back for me. Haha. Apparently this kind of dream is very common for those with braces, or at least the 'beginner'.

Anyway, the moment I woke up today I knew my teeth are still at the correct position, because? They are tight! During the day you wont feel the tightness (at least to me). You will only feel it in the middle of the night, when you woke up in semi-conscious, or when you just woke up. Guess they change to night shift XD It's good to know that they are working at night and everyday you wake up you know your teeth moved a little (but of course you can't see it if you are looking into the mirror and examine everyday).

I tried to eat hard stuff (aka mcD mcNuggets) yesterday and it was a little pain. I need to use my front teeth to bite a chunk off (pain) and use my back molars to chew (still ok). I knew it would be painful but oh well I couldn't resist the new wasabi sauce..

I bought my first set of floss yesterday! Yes yesterday was the first time in my entire life that I use a floss. And to be honest, 2 weeks before was the second time I visited a dentist for teeth cleaning. Ya.. please shoot me. I was never a person who cares for me teeth, other than religiously brushing them twice a day. But once in a while when I had snack after I brushed my teeth at night, I will just heck care and go to sleep =X Anyway the floss I bought is called Superfloss from Oral-B, ideal for braces.

There are 2 side of the strand. A sharp hard wire side, and a soft side, texture similar to wool cotton. I am not sure how the 2 sides work even after reading the instruction, as you know this is my first time flossing. I spent like 15 mins just to floss. Nonetheless I was happy with the end result.

Oh I realised I haven't post the photo of my extracted premolars. They are still with me nicely sealed in a transparent bag. Will post it up soon. Don't be grossed out :S I wonder what should I do with them. Turning them into necklace? Earrings? Hm...

5th Day

Since the 3rd day, I stop eating pain killers. The pain and soreness were still there but bearable. Yesterday I was able to eat ramen for dinner hehe. But it was like, chew 2-3 times, swallow, chew 2-3 times, swallow. I chewed using my left molars as my right side was still quite painful when they touch. Oh well quite an improvement already.

Today I just had my lunch with my colleagues at an Hong Kong dim sum restaurant. I had fish porridge with some soft dim sums. So far so good. The pain is almost not there anymore. I just feel the braces in my mouth, without any pain. Of course if I try clenching my teeth hard I will still feel some pain at the molars area. Other than that, everything is fine. At least till the next tightening. God bless. :S

I guess my teeth have a love-hate relationship with my braces. It makes them painful but they get bathed every time after they work LOL.

1st Stop

So.. this is my first post. Today is actually my 3rd day having braces on but I guess it would be better for me to start from the beginning.

Summary of my teeth condition: Well I think my teeth are quite straight to begin with so my problem is not due to crooked teeth. After some googling for the correct term, my problem is called 'Class III Malocclusion', which is a term for the bottom row being in front of the upper row when closed, which is case D.

I have been feeling very self-conscious ever since I was small, especially my side profile,  and always prevent smiling with visible teeth in photos.


22 June 2013

I have finally made up my mind to go on braces. So straight I went to the consultation at a orthodontic clinic in Malaysia (my hometown). The moment I went, I was asked to lie down and had my teeth examined. Initially, I wanted to go for Invisalign, but according to my orthodontist, firstly it is very expensive (about RM20,000) and secondly, it needs longer time (about 2 years, for me) than the traditional braces (1 year for the top row, and 1.5 years min for bottom row). He suggested that I choose the ceramic braces for the top and metal braces for the bottom. I heeded his advice.

Initially I thought this is just going to be a consultation first but immediately after I agreed with his suggestion, the separators were inserted in between my teeth. Well, I was actually happy with it as I had been contemplating for long enough before going to him. My next appointment was scheduled at 7th July.

And yes I have to removed 2 of my teeth. Both at the bottom row, the left premolar and the right premolar. I decided to extract two at a go to shorten the healing process. The extraction itself was painless as it was performed under anaesthetic. However one of the wound did not heal even after a few days, plus the discomfort from the separators, and I have been popping ibuprofen to sleep since then. It was unbearable that I decided to forward the appointment a week earlier.

30 June 2013

I told my orthodontist that one of my wound was still bleeding and I was in pain. he noted and proceeded on with removing the separators and started putting on the brackets and the molar bands. By the way I was told to put on the braces for the bottom row first. Not sure when will the top row be braced. The process was painless. I was then asked to wait for about 20 minutes before putting on the wire as the brackets need time settle on the teeth. In the mean time, he attended other patients and the nurse started explaining to me the methods of keeping the teeth clean while on braces (like how to brush, introduction to interdental teeth brush etc). Soon, the ortho called for me and I had my wire fixed. I chose pink band for the first month (I likey!).

The first few hours was painless, but soon after the entire bottom gum and teeth started feeling pain and sore. And same thing, it became unbearable at night that I have to pop pain killers again. Some times in the middle of sleep I would suddenly bite my teeth hard without knowing, and the sharp pain shocked me up immediately. I couldn't sleep at all for the first night. It was frustrating.

The second day (yesterday), I was still having pain killers the entire day, but I could sleep better at night. However, today I no longer need pain killers. The tight and sensitive feeling is still there, but it is bearable. I still am not able to chew any food though. Liquids all the way. According to my friend who finished the journey ahead of me, the condition will continue for 2-3 weeks.

The white thingy around the molar band wasn't food. Ortho said it was the thing used for refilling tooth. Not sure why I need that though.

Next appointment: 3rd August. To be updated.