Moonlit Narratives Blog

A couple of personal issues came up; unfortunately causing me to delay this visit. Initially the appointment was scheduled for April 23, 2009 but was postponed until today. I asked for green elastic ligatures this time to celebrate the evincing of Spring… I have to have a little fun with this braces experience somehow. I’ve had less problems with pressure sores recently. It’s probably because there’s a little less movement of my teeth. I suppose they are more or less where they need to be; that is, give or take within millimeters.

May 7, 2009

Another uneventful follow-up visit. I asked for pink ligatures this time. Maybe next time I will ask for green (for Spring)? Dr. B replaced the elastic on my front lowers. I try my best but they are really tough to clean since there’s no space to work with- I’ve been using my proxabrush to run under them but that’s all that I can really do besides the regular brushing. By the end of the visit, I felt a slight mouth ache. Usually that means a bad next day, especially in the morning, but this time only my right lower canine and the tooth next to it were aching for a small part of the day. I was still able to eat my lunch (salad) without too much difficulty. It’s a good idea to chop your food up more than usual; I wish I had thought of that before I added the dressing. I’m still so annoyed that there’s a big gap among my left lowers. I also want them to extract my right lower wisdom tooth (the only one remaining). Maybe that would make room for my teeth to spread out? I don’t know if I’m imagining this but one of my front upper teeth and my right lower canine seems to be turned in slightly? I can’t believe how aweful my teeth were before; it’s taking such a long time for all of them to get into their proper places. The side profile of my current bite looks strange. I really hope everything will be corrected by the end. I still have a slight overbite, noticeable at a frontal angle. I would be so happy if my teeth end up looking like the mold they showed me in August, 2008 of the “new me.”

A few days ago I started to feel right-sided jaw pain (a quarter-sized area in front of my right ear). Sort of like a dull ache. Thought of applying Icy Hot to that area LOL but decided against it. Two consecutive days of feeling like I couldn’t open my mouth all the way to eat my food. What next?…. Today I’m feeling so much better. I guess my bite’s really changing even though I don’t visibly see any big difference. Well, I’m glad the pain subsided because it’s such a nuisance to go to the dental office, though I did promise myself that if the jaw pain persisted I would go to Dr. B for an evaluation. One more thing, one of my left-sided lower brackets was scraping against my mouth for half the day yesterday (only felt bothered when I was eating). I’m feeling okay now. Maybe everything is shifting from left to right? I hope the gaps close soon. I’ve heard many people say that the pain of childbirth is soon forgotten (Divine intervention), so hopefully all the negative experiences of having braces too will also become distant memories someday.

Another routine visit. This time I requested purple elastic ligatures (my fave color) although I think the pinks are very nice. Strange right? I made it a point to look on the tray to see if my cleaning has been efficient enough (a small reward when I saw that everything was relatively clean). I would have felt embarrassed if I saw the contrary. I take this maybe a little too seriously. I’m still very frustrated by the gaps in-between my teeth (there are two spots in particular I’m watching like a hawk). After Dr. B tightened the braces, one gap almost disappeared while the other one got even bigger. It was a low point to see that. I know I’m just impatient. After returning home I began to feel that all too familiar discomfort. Well, tomorrow will be a bad day =(; another round of soft foods I suppose. It’s rough to feel hungry and not be able to have what you want and at a normal eating pace. Hopefully, it will be like usual and the pain will dissipate by later on that day. I dislike turning to pain killers but will do so if it gets too much.

Update on February 21, 2009: I noticed my front uppers are flared out again =(. I’m eating almost like normal except my bite feels a little off. This is probably from my teeth shifting. This is the second time I’ve felt like this since I had the braces placed. I imagine that everyone goes through this and like the previous time, the teeth will find their comfort zone again.

*Here’s the pic I promised; as always, thanks for visiting my Blog*

Yesterday was another routine visit to ortho. Nothing really that remarkable. He tightened the uppers and lowers. Dr. B added elastic to the few front lowers. I did tell him I was concerned that the gap was taking so long to close. He responded by saying that the progress was as expected. I requested pink elastic ligatures this time since Valentine’s Day is approaching. Next time I will go with purple (my fave color). Of course today I’m in discomfort so no calamari salad for me (as I had hoped) =(. The most tender spot is the right side upper big front tooth. As the day is wearing on, the discomfort is subsiding. It was another round of soft food tonight. I nearly jumped out of my skin this morning from brushing over the tender spot =(. Luckily, my lowers are not nearly as tender. My over-bite seems to be gradually disappearing…WOOHOO… A small first victory… Here’s a pic of my yucky teeth. It’s hard to hold that mouth position for a picture to be taken but I do try my best. ‘Til next month…

P.S. I’m not sure if I ever posted this but it takes me tops 10 minutes to clean my teeth at night and just a few minutes in the morning and after meals. It didn’t take me too long to adjust and I’m sure that it’s the same for anyone else who is adjusting to braces. If you are reading my blog and are planning to get braces, just remember– no big worries.

January 22, 2009

I saw Dr. B first today before going to the hygienist for my quarterly deep cleaning. Dr. B removed the archwires, elastic ligatures, and elastic band and left the brackets alone. I told Dr. B the elastic band was causing me some discomfort despite my attempts to remedy the situation. The orthodontic wax was not always successful with protecting my mouth from sores. Canker X helped only somewhat. He decided to leave the elastic band off this time since they were doing more harm than good. Luckily he also felt that I didn’t really need them for now. The hygienist had mostly good things to report to Dr. L after everything was said and done. The only problem was I had some plaque build-up behind my bottom front teeth. I had some inflammation and a small amount of bleeding during the cleaning =(. I was really disappointed to see that since I take so good care of my teeth everyday and I use the Sonicare compact head to brush that area (no cheating), but maybe the damage was done and the plaque was building up there even before I began using the Sonicare and made it that much harder to remove? She said it’s a typical issue that she sees in many people just because of where our salivary ducts are situated. She gave me a pediatric brush for that area and taught me the best way to keep it clean. I just started a Vitamin C, Magnesium, and Multi-B Vitamin regimen in hopes to improve the health of my gums. I also thought a Flouride Treatment twice a year could be beneficial (very reasonably priced and takes about 4 minutes). It wasn’t a big deal at all. I was looking through fashion magazines the whole time and listening to her chatter away even though she knew I couldn’t answer her =). The time was up before I even noticed. I went back to Dr. B, everything was put back (pink ligatures and all) and he tightened both the uppers and lowers. Yeah!!! Well, I don’t know what else I can do? My dental health has become like a full-time job. The dental staff have been vocal about being more than willing to help me mainly because I seem to care so much. They also know I have an unfortunate genetic disposition to some of these problems. Maybe I am their successful pet project (a patient that they could finally reach) =))? When I think back to the way I was before; I’m so glad I’ve changed for the better. Hollywood smile, here I come! Only ~ 14 more months to go =( *big sigh* …..

December 21, 2008

I love my new Sonicare RS930! It really does work well in getting my teeth clean plus I love that it has a sanitizing system for the brushes. I have to work on letting the brush do all the work instead of pressing down too hard. Unfortunately, years of having that bad habit has caused a little gum recession. I may need some minor gum surgery to fix the problem =(. Another aspect of the Sonicare that works well for me is the automatic timer, which helps me to pace my brushing quadrants. It’s pretty subtle. I only wish the beep was a bit louder. I think everyone should be using an electric toothbrush, whether it’s an Oral B or Sonicare. Hopefully I’ll be able to convince my parents.

When I bought my Sonicare, my dentist had mentioned that some of his adult patients with braces were not properly caring for their teeth. He said, “it’s like buying a new car and not getting it cleaned.” That was a perfect simile.

P.S. This particular Sonicare model in the 900 Series uses the ProResults brush head.

http://sonicare.com/brushes/flexcare/c_flex_t2_prod2_compare.asp

I had to place orthodontic wax over the elastic knot since the sharp ends of the knot were digging into my lips; certainly making it unbearable to eat or speak =(… If it’s not one thing, it’s something else =(. At least I’m starting to feel a little better.

Just had my lower braces tightened yesterday with elastic ligature changes. I’m a little disappointed that yesterday he left the upper braces alone. He said he was concerned about closing the bottom gaps and wanted to leave the uppers alone this visit. I really hope that my teeth will look nice at the end. No surprise that today my lowers are tender but thankfully not enough to need pain killers. I’m trying to treat them gingerly and eat soft foods or at least not rush through eating. I wonder with all the advances in orthodontics why the process is still so painful? It’s hard enough on adults; I just can’t imagine how kids go through this?

I mentioned to the dental hygienist, I noticed a little bleeding on my three front-most lower teeth recently (during my proxabrush cleanings). Dr. B said he didn’t see any gum inflammation at all. I was surprised that this happened after months of going through the same thorough routine. She told me hormonal changes could be the culprit and recommended rinsing with equal parts water and peroxide to resolve this issue.

During yesterday’s visit, Dr. B called the dental hygienist into the room to help resolve the issue of keeping the white elastic on the lower front teeth clean. I told them it was a food trap and that my attempts at cleaning it weren’t the most successful. Kind of tricky working with such tiny spaces. She gave me a Crest Glide Floss Pick; using the end to gently open up the elastic so I could use a tiny Go-Between to brush the remnants of food out. It’s been proving useful. Come to think of it, a GUM stimulator could also take the place of the Glide Pick… Another small issue solved.

I’ve been using the GUM stimulator (soft tip) to gently remove food particles collecting around the brackets only because I’m not sure what else to do and my rinsing and Oral B brush aren’t always successful at getting the food completely off.

The dental hygienist reminded me to keep my brushes clean by using an equal part mixture of water and vinegar.