Well, its been a whole month (and a few days) since I got my top braces on, and its been an interesting adventure thus far.
Even though I've had them on for several weeks now, my teeth are still a bit sensitive. Mostly they are sensitive during meal time in the front teeth and I guess this is because I haven't been using them as much as my back teeth to chew. I've been having some interesting interactions with food and these braces. Soup was ok for those first weeks...but I got bored of that really fast. I have moved on to almost all food groups now (except really hard foods like raw carrots, bread crust, etc...). Eating a lot of bread has been a bit of an issue because of all the chewing it consists of and the fact that it's still a little tough to bite off right from the sandwich/wrap. Usually I will cut up my food into small chewable pieces as to not have to deal with the sensitivity...but that isnt possible when your on the run and really want to eat a delicious burrito (which I attempted this week in front of many financial peeps in a grassy courtyard in downtown Toronto....I got a few weird stares). The main problem is that once your done eating that delicious food, you get all this awesome food stuck up in the grill (please refer back to Miranda in Sex and the City when she had braces for that one episode as a visual reminder). Tortilla wraps can be particullarily bad, especially if you dont have floss handy in your purse to fix yourself up before grinning at that nearby hottie.
At night I find that I have been clenching my teeth while I sleep and this causes my mouth and side of my cheeks to be a little raw in the mornings. I don't know if this will disrupt the process, so I will have to ask my ortho when I'm in for my next appointment (which is late June I think).
My flossing technique has been getting a lot better! I've brought the time down to 15 minutes from 30 minutes (WOOP WOOP). It's still a hassle and I still am not loving having to do this everyday...but there is no way I'm paying all this money and not getting my perfect teeth because I'm a lazy bum. I've tried several different flosses and I have concluded that I really like the Oral-B Satin Floss. Its really easy to get through the tight spaces (i.e. the overcrowded lower teeth). I tried out the Oral-B "Superfloss" and was NOT impressed. On its packaging it says that it's "ideal for braces, bridges and wide spaces" and has a "stiffened end to floss under appliances" but it is definitly NOT ideal for tight spaces. It hurts. The floss is way too thick to be able to get through a night of flossing without wanting to poke your eye out with the "stiffened end". So basically I wasted $5...awesome.
I've been getting a great response to my blog and YouTube account and I just wanted to thank everyone who has been reading this and watching my videos :) I hope that my tales will help other adults who are going through the same process. A few of you have asked me to explain why I got braces in the first place, since my teeth dont look THAT bad to put myself through 2 years of grills...so I thought I'd give a bit of a summary as to why I chose to start this at the ripe old age of 24. I was supposed to get braces when I was younger, however it was not financially doable at the time. Now that I am out of school and have a full time job and parents who are super supportive, it was time to finally start the process. I've wanted these puppies as long as I can remember because I've always been jealous of people with straight and perfect teeth. It always makes their smile THAT much more amazing. When I was about 11 or 12 I had 3 top teeth removed (1 was a baby tooth and 2 weren't growing in right I think) and this is why I have so much spacing on the sides of my upper teeth. In the long run it's better that is happened or else my top teeth would have probably been as overcrowded as my lower teeth. As far as I can remember my dentist has been telling me that I will need jaw surgery at some point, and I knew that I needed to make that happen. The jaw surgery will be a huge transformation for my face structure and for my bite (it will even help me breath better and talk better). I can already feel a shift in my bite from my braces, but the surgery will ensure that I have a perfect bite. I can't wait for that day when I can give a great big smile and have my teeth all perfectly alligned with no spaces :) 23 months to go (hopefully)!!
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