Train Tracks

Braced on August 30th, 2012 Removal date: May 21st, 2015

[on-the-train-tracks]

Graduated high school yesterday… without braces!

[on-the-train-tracks]

(But yeah I got my retainers today and, surprise, they’re the clear Essix/Invisalign-looking ones and my teeth already shifted enough to hurt and they are really irritating in that I can’t close my mouth properly and the plastic ridge under my tongue is making me want to gag and I have a horrible lisp)

(I have to wear these just about 24/7 for four months)

(But I guess I’m still happy to have my braces off.)

[on-the-train-tracks]

My rad-as-hell retainer case collection.

(The middle one DOES INDEED glow in the dark!)

Yeah, I’m the coolest kid in school.

[on-the-train-tracks]

Excuse my ridiculous face but my snapchat story today says it all.

[on-the-train-tracks]

THREE HOURS until my appointment to get my braces off. THREEEEE HOURRRRRS. If I get there and they're like "lol jk" and don't take them off I may cry but THAT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, RIGHT? I'm so excited I could've slept in an extra three hours but I woke up at the ungodly hour of 5am anyway.

[on-the-train-tracks]

One week till I get this metal crap ripped out of my faaaaaaaaaaaace!

SO PUMPED.

[on-the-train-tracks]

Side note

I could hear the conversation between my ortho and another patient and he was telling her she’d be getting her braces off soon, and she got so happy she started crying (she’d had them on for over four years - can’t blame her).

It just made me wonder how it feels to be an orthodontist. Or any dental or medical specialist, really. The happiest you ever make your customers is when you tell them your service is done and they don’t have to see you anymore.

[on-the-train-tracks]

May 22nd

Guess what this is for.

Das right.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Given what they’d said at the last appointment I was expecting to have these things on for at least four more months. So today I sit in the chair expecting the usual appointment, right?

But like 20 minutes later the orthodontist’s there and looking at my teeth and all of a sudden he’s like, “how would you like to get these off next time?” AND MY RESPONSE WAS LITERALLY JUST,   :D

It’s only been like 2 years and 7 months for me but if everything goes according to plan, this means I’m getting them off two weeks before graduation. That’s frigging awesome.

I’m to wear an elastic on one side at night-ish and I have instructions to call the orthodontist if this one gap I have hasn’t closed within a couple weeks of my removal date; things are still happening but it’s so so so so slight and removal is so close!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[on-the-train-tracks]

Appointment waaaaas… yesterday? Tuesday? Something like that.

I’m thoroughly confused because I thought my bite was messed up on one side only (hence the one elastic) but they now have me wearing one on either side. Maybe it’s for the slight overjet I have. I only have to wear them during the evening/night now, though.

Plus they repositioned the bracket on a tooth and I THOUGHT I knew why they planned to do it, but upon seeing where they put it, I can no longer rationalize it myself (and no one has explained it).

I don’t know. I feel like I never know for sure what’s going on with my teeth and the fact that I see three different orthodontist (same practice - they kind of rotate) always scares me too.

That’s all. Pain’s not too bad.

[on-the-train-tracks]

Four hours ago...

Four hours ago I hit my tooth with the lip of a glass bottle and it's still aching.

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I love when I yawn and my elastic snaps and flies out of my mouth into a void.

#bracesproblems

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Also a note for newly braced or pre-braced people is that if you diligently wear your elastics a CRAP TON - and you have to wear them for like more than a month - it might actually get to the point where, not only do they hurt significantly less (or not at all), but your jaw feels weird without them. This is good.

At that point, it's pretty much impossible for you to "forget" to wear them which means you'll continue wearing them a lot which means your teeth move according to plan which means you'll get your braces off faster.

On the other hand, wearing them irregularly just increases your discomfort ten-fold because the roots of your teeth are constantly being confused by the sudden changes in pressure, with not enough time to acclimate and stop hurting. Plus, your bite will never get fixed and you'll be in braces forever.

Wear them. Do it.

[on-the-train-tracks]

Here are a bunch of photos from ~a week ago. I took a lot, because I figured the whole 'over two years in braces' thing was significant.

[Speaking of which, I finally changed my avatar which previously, judging by the style of glasses, was from when I was 15. Yikes.]

My normal(ish) bite?

The weird curvature of my bottom teeth that they're presumably trying to fix with...

This kink in the wire.

And here's my slowly improving bite on the right side +elastic.

Top teeth, so very nice and in line.

And finally, bottom row.

[on-the-train-tracks]

Yesterday's appointment.

Hmm. Top teeth: thicker wire plus complete power chain (again). Bottom teeth: same wire, but they added a kink in one area. +Continued use of the elastics. Prognosis? The ortho said something like "we aren't done quite yet but they'll be off before you know it." He said they're going to be changing the position of one of the brackets next time so I know that these won't be off in the next four months, and I'm gonna hope - perhaps optimistically - for 6-8. Kinda sucks to look at it like that because I think graduation is in 7 or 8 months, BUT on the other hand the likelihood of me having to start college with braces is low as it stands today (knock on wood). Probably some photos to come later because even though my bite in the back is messed up and I've still (APPARENTLY) got one (VERY SLIGHTLY) off tooth on the bottom, my teeth look pretty great tbh.

[on-the-train-tracks]

The second anniversary of my bracing was today.

Ah. Two years ago, I was told I’d be in these things for about two years….

[on-the-train-tracks]

So I am a horrible klutz but I did something particularly """talented""" today. I was putting something in the bottom of the cart at the grocery store, and when I stood back up, I whacked my face off of the cart. Specifically my lip; specifically the skin over my teeth/braces. I nearly cried. My mouth bled.

[on-the-train-tracks]

Third day with the elastic?

My bite is screwed up in such a way that, when I close my mouth normally, only one pair of teeth touch. My jaw is very sore on the opposite side of the elastic. I used to get pain like this before I got braces - I guess it was some brand of TMJ disorder - and this feels exactly like it. Liiiittle bit worried.