Thursday, August 7, 2008

why I love braces

You know? Seven-ish months into this journey, I love my braces. Here's why.
  • They are always a conversation piece.
  • They are an excuse to not try a food or a drink I don't want to at a party or social gathering (oh... no thanks, you know, I'd have to go brush afterwards again. thanks anyway!
  • They are an excuse to eat frozen yogurt whenever my teeth hurt.
  • They are working so quickly and efficiently!
  • I have met a whole host of wonderful blogging friends.
  • At the end of all of this, I will have a beautiful smile and an even-more beautiful bite!

In other words, while I'm not seeing any changes, I know that they're working in there. My teeth have been hurting quite a bit (randomly) for the past week or two, now. My jaw is very tired all of the time, and it's been giving me vicious headaches. Stupid bite.

Just two weeks ago I had a PERFECT placement to chew food - it was beautiful! I wanted to eat all of the time because so many teeth met together! However, now we're back into a more normal placement - only the outside of my rear-most molars on my right side touch when I bite, and my incisiors on my left side touch at the same time. Well, that's the bite that I chew with, not the bite that has unsurfaced itself. I'm developing quite the overbite! It's really attractive with the large gummy smile and huge braces, let me tell you :) I'm workin it!


Progress picture time! (It's too bad that it's not easier to upload photos. I really have a tough time with it sometimes!)

Look at my overbite! I'll give you two shots of it (one sideways because my photo editor is being a pain in the rear end). It is large. Very, very large. And seeming to keep growing (great). In fact, when I position my jaw where it should be (versus where I'm posturing it to be) I can stick my tounge out at people. Fun times, huh? It doesn't seem like my open bite is getting any worse, though... In fact, it seems to be getting better!!

The arch on my lowers is continuing to widen. It's really a spacious home now for my tounge! My gaps from my extraction are still there - but the one on my right side seems to be closing up quickly lately - hopefully the left one follows suit!


Finally, the uppers. They seem to be doing NOTHING! I was a bit upset at the last wire's lack of teeth moving - especially in the area of my front teeth. I assumed that this wire would kick some butt, though - and it just hasn't. It's changed a little, my arch seems a bit wider, but what I really want to happen is for those front teeth to straighten out. And they're just not. Maybe the next wire will do it - my next appointment is in just a few weeks.

Until next time!

8 comments:

holski said...

I totally agree with the "excuse to not try a food or drink" reason that you love your braces.. That's my favorite part too!

Teeth are looking great! Progress is so wonderful isn't it?

Thank you for your comment on my blog by the way... I am so lucky to have you as my blog buddy! =)

Toni said...

Hey Steph, I don't think I've commented on here before. Anyway, you sound discouraged that the progress is slow, but let me tell you, since the last time I saw you (in February) your smile is SOOO much different. You look GREAT!

nabukay said...

omigosh i totally agree with toni your teeth have changed alot. as pathetic as it sounds at my age, i love to see the progress in my mouth and just wait when you get to the ortho and they tell you that your spaces are closed!!! that is the nicest surprise cos i was too lazy to monitor them. i have to agree with seeing the teeth moving and meeting the ortho buddies as my favourite reasons.

Katherine said...

Hi - I finally read through a bunch of your older pssts, and wanted to share that my gums are kinda puffy too. On both sides, my upper gums have spots where the gum is growing up to the bracket. It is always sore, and looks bad (to me at least). My ortho said it wasn't a problem. The gum was responding to the constant irritation of the bracket, and that some folks have smaller enamel areas to work with.
*Great* progress pictures. :)

Dragon (Karen) said...

Wow your arches are rounding out nicely ... you've got to be happy with them! :-)

It's frustrating when we can't see progress, but there's loads of work that goes on 'behind the scenes', and often this is the most important stuff, so hopefully this is what's happening in your mouth!

Love your list of 'why I love braces' ... I've never thought about writing something like that ...

Anonymous said...

It's all rounding up nicely! :-)

mylene

Melinda said...

There's definitely been a lot of improvement, despite the over bite! It's amazing to look back at your beginning pics and compare!! =)

Anonymous said...

So, are you getting a waterpik? How are your gums doing these days?