Braces Week 16: Detailing and Hope for the Future!

We are coming to the bitter end, my friends. 

First day, December 11th

April 10th, four months later

Wow. We've come a long way, have we not? :) It's not perfect, but I'm pretty amazed at how much more symmetrical my smile looks. We're trying to tilt in my left front tooth. After we do that, they can come off, baby!  Woot.

I'm a little concerned about the apparent ridge in the middle of my two front teeth. Dr. Watson said it should go away as my tooth tilts in, but if it still looks this way in a few days I think I'll call him back. I've been a little worried about it since my first IPR. I just hate to waste time.  

 When I went in today, he said they looked great. We did a little detailing work, grinding off the ridges on the bottoms of my teeth. He said he was very conservative and if I wanted, he could straighten them out a little more at my next appointment. 

I'm a little nervous for the next few weeks. I'm nervous because I don't know when exactly I'll be getting them off, and my hopes are high for really soon! And because of my upcoming gum graft.:/ And the ridge between my teeth situation. And I'm not sure what the plan is for doing my retainer. Just a lot of little things:) I'm sure everything will be fine, I mean, it's not like I have a lot of control over what my teeth do. That's up to you, Dr. Watson! My dentist did tell my to massage my gums with my toothbrush after I brush them because they were starting to grow towards my braces. I have been, and it's helped. I feel like they are relaxing back into their original position. They've been bigger since about the first week I got braces. So, if your gums are growing towards your braces, I recommend the toothbrush massage! 

Braces Update...and Gums...

Today's images are brought to you by: Non-Focusing Camera!
Seriously, though, it's hard taking pictures of your own mouth...

 I have good news and bad news. First, the good! I should be out of my braces by the end of this month. Woohoo!!! I know I haven't been in them that long, but knowing it was just a quick touch up made me really impatient for them to come off. I need to work on my whole patience thing...

Look how far we've come...

Lookin' good!

You can see a little better in this one, my front teeth aren't quite together yet, we may need a little more IPR and a couple minor tilt adjustments. And then of course a little contouring of the bottoms.

Hopefully, we can take care of these last couple of details at my next appointment and get these puppies off! 

So, now onto the not-so-great news. I need a bone and gum graft.

I know it's fuzzy, but my lower two (especially the right one) front teeth have receding gums and bone.

My lower gums have been hurting for weeks. Turns out my frenulum was just too high and pulling on my gums. It got damaged, and now I have a half-ripped frenulum pulling on my gums. Ouch. I'm super excited to get that fixed. And my periodontist is awwewesome. It's going to be expensive and a little bit of a healing process, but don't worry, I bought some sensitive toothpaste to help get me through. 

Braces Week 13

So, today was my 2nd adjustment, 3rd official appointment and 4th unofficial appointment.:)

I got a new chain put on and a bend in the brace wire to move up my second right tooth, it came down just a little too far.

Seriously, my orthodontist at Orthotime, is the best! I cannot say enough about their office. I got a Target gift card today for having 3 appointments on time and with clean teeth.  That just makes my day:) But not as much as...

Talking about my exit strategy!!!

That's right!  There is a light at the end of the tunnel!!! There was still a tiny gap when I came in, but as soon as the assistant put the new chain on, it closed right in the office:)  Dr. Watson said at my next appointment we'd just be planning my exit strategy:)  No more big fixes. Yay! I asked him if they would come off before the end of April, and he said yes, for sure!  Hallelujah:) Not that it hasn't been fun. We put my next appointment two weeks from now instead of three. He also brought up contouring the bottoms of my teeth so they're nice and smooth. I'm glad because that's something I was going to ask him about:)  My teeth are gonna look so good...;)

Bye, gap!

52 New Things: Got Braces (13 to go)

Awwwwww, yeah.  Braces. 

So yeah, I got braces:)  Never thought that would happen, but it is happening.  I'm only supposed to have them on for a few months... I'm pretty stoked to get them off, obviously ;)
I got them done at Orthotime in American Fork.  Basically, I loooove this office.  They are so wonderful:)  They're fun and professional.  If you are anywhere in Utah Valley, get your braces done here, they're the best!
In the mean time, I have braces now, weird:) My mouth is exhausted from feeling them. I'm so stoked to get them off:)  They probably won't bother me as much, you know, after the first day I have them on.  I'm really excited to see my teeth move:)  I keep hoping I'll wake up in the morning and they'll look better. I'm so glad they're clear, they're really not super noticeable.
Using the wax is tricky, it's hard to put it on so it doesn't fall off:)  I'm worried about getting sores in my mouth.  I'm sure brushing and flossing will be a beast, so... not looking forward to that, but I'm definitely going to do everything I can to keep my teeth healthy during this treatment.

Today is Wednesday the 11th, I'll post a pic every Wednesday (unless it gets boring, let's be honest...) so I can chart my progress!