5 Months, 17 Days

My teeth have been holding up quite well, albeit not making much visible or tangible progress that I can really get excited about or that I can really make a case for. The orthodontist implied that my progress is going well, and said that I'd be out of them quite soon. Fair enough not saying exactly when.

The photo below shows how my clear modules or ligatures held up just before I went into the orthodontist and got them changed. The clear ones, I've found, do discolour and yellow more than the pearl coloured modules. In addition to that, the yellowing of the modules makes your teeth look more yellow by contrast.

In today's visit I got a new "finishing wire" on my upper arch and the first four front teeth got a clear power chain elastic. The rest of my teeth on the upper arch got clear pearl modules. Before applying the arch wire, the orthodontist filed away slightly at between each of the front three gaps to help the alignment gel and come together as desired.

The orthodontist only changed the first four modules of my bottom arch. I found that odd, for a few reasons. It doesn't take much effort to change them, and I am paying quite a bit for this treatment so it's unreasonable to not have all my modules changed. They are also quite discoloured as you can see in the photos, and one of the last modules on my left bottom arch is only hanging on half of the bracket.

He did mention that the back teeth of my bottom arch aren't a priority, or that important, and said not to worry too much when I lost a module a few months back, so maybe that's why he didn't bother with changing them. I really would have liked them changed, though. I didn't even realise he wasn't changing them until I walked out of there and was on the train home and had a good look.

I also asked him about the centreline of my teeth, and he said there's not too much more room to move with that, because they're pretty centred as it is. He also said that manipulation depends on different tooth widths. I don't think it will be moving much more, but we'll see. There's still an indefinite time to go, and I have been developing small gaps between my front upper teeth.

The orthodontist also said that there would be a few more months of wire wear, then something about putting another wire in with some kinks and bends in it to make tweaks and fine tuned adjustments, followed by making my retainer impressions done. He reiterated that he wants to get rid of me as soon as possible, with a laugh.

I am still to wear my 'E' and 'D' elastics on alternating days, for half the day, and I do so after dinner until I wake up. I have been wearing them everyday, but I've probably been a little naughty and have doubled up on them a few times. I'm not sure if it's quite alright to be doing this, but I thought it wouldn't hurt.

Other than that, not much of an update this time, but I am delighted with my overall progress, and can't wait until they come off. The orthodontist said before Christmas—and then laughed and said, "But, I didn't say which Christmas!"

Eating Braces-friendly—What to Eat with Braces

Before I got braces, I was inundated with the overwhelming amount of sources telling me what I could and couldn't eat when I finally did get them on. Let me tell you, I wasn't looking forward to bans on certain foods.

No crunchy things, chewy things, sticky things, hard things, nutty-crunchy-yummy-crispy things. Oh no, goodness no! That was pretty much everything apart from yogurt, soup and scrambled eggs—which, there's nothing wrong with, but what ever else would I eat?

As I sit here composing this, all the while crunch-munching into an apple—having eaten popcorn earlier today, as well as celery, amongst a myriad of other things before, like lollies, nuts, Doritos and crunchy, sourdough bread—restrictive eating has not been on my agenda! It may be because I'm special. It may be because food is in love with me. Or, that I am in love with food. Whatever the case, whatever the food, I've been able to eat it.

I will pull myself up on this one here though. When I get new wires, for the next few days to almost a week, my teeth do become sore, but not unbearably so, or for a prolonged amount of time. This does make it uncomfortable to eat certain foods as the teeth are tender and don't take much give.

Also, there will always be a self-sabotage, protecting mechanism built-in from the moment you get braces, which you will unconsciously become less aware of, which won't let you crunch with no abandon. I'm sorry, but once those things are attached to your teeth and have invaded eating space, your mouth and teeth won't let you ferociously plunge your teeth into something. They know they have something on them.

Unless you're an idiot and have no self-respect or understanding that you when force your teeth into something, something hard or difficult, that you won't do any damage. It doesn't work like that. You know you're wearing braces, and you'll self-regulate like that. But the good thing about it is you won't notice. Or, over time, you'll learn not to notice. Unless of course you've just gotten an adjustment, and it really will hurt you to bite.

I have gotten one new archwire set over the course of over 5 months of treatment now. No biggie. I wish I had new wires so my teeth could move more. In this case, I haven't had much experience with restrictive eating due to sore teeth from new wires, in that respect, because I haven't had any new wires to make my teeth sore in the first place.

What's the go here? I do think I'm a little bit special.

One word of warning thing though, I wouldn't go nuts on unpopped popcorn. Not saying it can't be done, but those babies are hard with a capital 'H'.

You should know what feels right and how much tension your teeth can take. Jaws of steel I have, I think! 

Either way, I love my new bite marks and chewing style. I now use my incisors to completely clasp onto crunchy foods like apples and celery, and it's an amazing, rounded feeling. Since the upper teeth are in front of the lowers, it's a completely new way of eating, and chewing. It just feels so right!

I can't wait to bite into an apple sans-braces. That will be the day!

In all, use your own judgement and don't feel you're missing out on anything, because I haven't in the slightest. It's all about adapting to the feel of your teeth, plus those teeth training-wheels, so it will take a bit of getting used to settling in.

Nuts to all the haters!

Although, avoid sugar. It's bad for you, and say no to cavities!

So, what's on the menu next? An apple a day keeps the dentist away, right?