Day 3

Brace Myself—I Got Braces

I am in jail—I just got braces that is. All the metal, the behind bars look, the permanent and lengthy sentence, pain and shame—yeah, that's pretty much sounding like jail to me.

I feel like a kid.

I got  braces today. They are ceramic braces and I got them applied to my upper and lower arches. The process took well under an hour and wasn't as long as expected for the 2 hours which I was quoted for. It wasn't painful either, merely uncomfortable, with the plastic trays which pulled my mouth open pushing at sensitive areas, like gums. The pain set in the pretty much well later that day, and my mouth felt like it had been punched for the week.

Please ignore the gum. It's key lime pie flavour and it's delicious.

My orthodontist put on what he refers to as clear ligatures around each bracket, but I know they're pearl because they have a slight tinge to them. He didn't even ask me what colour I would like because he knows I want them to be discreet. From what I've read about online, the pearl colour stains less than clear, and with the amount of no-no stainer things I drink—always through a straw now, mind you—they hold up well.

Before putting my lower archwire on, the orthodontist lightly and nonchalantly filed away at the spaces between my front two incisors. This was to make a little bit more room for my teeth to move back in the lower jaw. He also gave me some GC Recaldent Tooth Mousse paste to use on the area five times a week to aid in the formation of new enamel in those areas. The stuff is really great.

The elastic bands on either side are of the 'E' variant which I got from day one to wear 24/7 to fix the underbite. They are worn from the second last molars which have the molar bands and hooks, to the space between the second lower incisor and canine where the orthodontist has made a small loop in the archwire to hook onto. The lower archwire is doubled over itself in an interesting way and loops over all the molars twice. The bubble gum, I can finally chew, and is excellent and is key lime pie flavour.

Not to scare anyone, but I can't forget the very quite indeed pain of when the orthodontist slipped when using a pointy tool to apply the hard-to-get-on molar band of my right tooth. It was bad, is all I can say—and it happened twice.

I got molar bands on my top arches only, which I guess is a good thing. Less metal is more, don't you know what they say, ladies?

At first, it felt really weird, just like there was extra space in my mouth. Almost like my teeth had grown and they stuck out a little in my mouth against my lips. It didn't look all that bad either, which I was happy about. It looked as good as braces could look, let's put it that way.

And with that, I finally have braces. Am I happy about it? Well, I can't say I'm disappointed, which is a good thing. I can't wait 'til they're off already. I have to keep telling myself it's for perfect teeth.

Plate Expander of Doom—Maxillary Arch Expander

I can luckily say that I am no longer experiencing the wonders and absolute pleasures of having to wear a plate anymore. It is a complete and utter death trap. A lisp-producing, liberal saliva-giving piece of orthodontic technology which I am absolutely glad is behind me.

I wore the removable maxillary arch expander plate 23/7 for 3 months since Tuesday, 5 October 2010—minus about an hour a day for eating. I used a winding prong weekly to tighten the plate by 45° in each of the three dimensions. It opened up my arch and gave me a little gap between my front teeth—months 2 and 3 are shown below—which was as expected.

It gets smelly, you can't completely close your teeth down together, and chewing gum—which I did para-religiously—is pretty hard to do. What can I say, it's great!

Maybe I'm most definitely overreacting here, and if you ever have to wear one of these, just think of how much it'll be worth it in the end, but this thing is horrible. The worst of it is the socially-debilitating lisp which is most likely the cause of the profuse amounts of saliva I had constantly pooling in my mouth. It was really hard for someone like me who never really does shut up.

It didn't hurt at all, which was a positive. It just felt like a firm pressure behind my teeth and upper roof of mouth. The only real good thing about it was that it wasn't very visible, but the clincher was that it was removable. If it wasn't, I'm not too sure how well I would have fared if it weren't.

Getting accustomed to the plate being in my mouth, and my speech around it, did get a little bit better after the first couple of weeks, but it wasn't anything to get really excited about. It didn't completely feel or sound normal, even after the first month and a half, but I did just get over it—aside from the speech which made me sound like, to be honest, I had a problem. I really wanted to be done with it, but not so much completely, because I wasn't looking forward to braces. Catch-22, really. What I can say was I was extremely happy when I got my blue, baby spacers put in today and only had to wear the plate for 16 hours a day until Friday, 28 January 2011, the date when I get my braces.

Dr. Pretty Teeth Orthodontist

I initially got the opinion of a local orthodontist, one who's practice I saw on a daily basis, huge sign and teeth signage glaring and all. I popped in one day, really on a whim, and saw the gentleman and we had a talk and as far as I remember he heralded me over to get some X-rays done. As nice as he was, I never intended to get my treatment done with him, and after he charged for the initial consult, I really didn't want to pursue in his business.

My mother found the name of an orthodontist based in the city who had treated others we knew of, who seemed more reputable and professional, and ultimately the orthodontist I am undertaking my treatment with. Their two opinions were quite the same, the only difference between them was in the use of a particular appliance which essentially does the same thing, so my worries were eased to hear their accord.

The orthodontist prescribed the first phase of treatment to achieve further arch length and width in the anterior region for the alignment of the anterior teeth due to mild arch length shortage and a constricted upper arch form. The second phase of treatment with braces will be directed towards alignment of the anterior teeth and correction of the crossbite with a programme of fixed appliances, or braces. The orthodontist also noted the wearing down of the first incisor on the right due to the nature of the bite, that he predicted would only have gotten worse without treatment.

I found out that the treatment is due for an overall time of 12-15 months which includes 2-3 months of a removable maxillary expansion plate on the upper arch, followed by ceramic braces on both arches. The cost comes to a total lump sum payment of $6745.00 which includes retention treatments and consultations up to two years after active treatment is finished. I begin treatment on Tuesday, 5 October 2010 with the issue of the upper expansion appliance.

Virgin Teeth—Before Braces

As I'm just about reaching 6 months into my whole treatment, I've had to look through my photo archives and find all the photos I took of my teeth before any orthodontic processes began. I understand this is a really backwards way of recording all this, but better late than never.

I took all of these the night before I was due to get my plate expander for my upper arch. You can see how my mouth rests in its normal position when my mouth is closed and the extent of the underbite. The furthest I was able to push my upper teeth was just meeting in line with my lower jaw. My right incisor, which comes up on the left, is a little crooked because the poor thing hasn't enough room in my upper jaw.

Excuse the yellowness, too! I am a (black) coffee and Diet Coke fanatic, and do drink my fair share of tea, but my teeth are really not that yellow!

The bite relationship between both jaws really wasn't that great. I didn't find eating or speaking a problem, although it did feel wrong and quite annoying that I couldn't move my upper jaw in front of my lower. Most of all, I couldn't smile, which did not make me a happy Jan indeed.

So, with this, here's to bye-bye bad bite and hello perfect teeth and perfect smile!

My Teeth's Story

I have had an underbite from since I can remember. I never smiled with my teeth, just because there wasn't really a smile there. That, or it looked really awkward and just not right, so it didn't happen.

What I had was a slight underbite which closed behind my bottom teeth when my mouth was shut, making my bottom lip protrude slightly. The furthest I could push my upper teeth above my bottom was just matching.

Did it affect my confidence, no, not really, but it did make school photos pretty hard, especially in my very younger years with the photographers really wanting that teeth-barring cutesy smile of an angelic youth, which they did get, but I wasn't happy about.

I was teased a little about my bottom lip making me looking like a bulldog, though. Luckily, that didn't persist by the particular individual and I can't say it effected me immensely.

My parents didn't exactly see an issue with my teeth as a child, and neither did I. Being very against braces myself, regardless, it didn't cross my mind as an option to even consider. As my mouth grew older, or due to a bad pen sucking habit when I was 11 (which my orthodontist disagrees with as the cause), I developed a crooked upper tooth.

I've also bitten down on a couple of forks in my time, and chipped my bottom right incisor, and another time dented and caused a hairline crack in my left upper and lower incisors.

Times sure did change, and as I got older I became more self-conscious about my insane ability to resist smiling with my teeth, and I always wished I could, and so did my parents and friends. As of recently I also developed a habit of covering my mouth whenever I laughed, which I did not like at all.

I decided to get braces, as an educated and mature individual, because in the end it's really a small sacrifice I'm making for something I've wanted my whole life. With that, I salute to the journey for a perfect smile and hope getting there is something worth it.

A smile is something you should be proud of, showing contentment, joy and laughter, and above all happiness. It is a thing of beauty, not to be shyed away from. I think the window to the soul might actually be found accessed through the mouth, not the eyes. To the beautiful smiles that could be, and will be!