#smartclip braces

[bracesdiary]

Day 196: Thoughts

The elastics on my brackets make my teeth look extra chunky. And it looks weird since I'm licking the back of my teeth. 

I am amazingly freaked out that it is less that 7 months that I may have my braces off and many people have commented, 'Your teeth are done really fast - is that alright?'

So yes, I have started to worry - maybe it is a bit soon.

I've done a bit of research and it's true, 6 months seems extremely ideal. Many people have stated, 'The orthodontist has said that it could be done within 6 months but we ended up going over'. There has been a few cases where SmartClip braces have ended up repairing the teeth with 6 months of treatment, but it seems that I've actually hit the optimum date that orthodontists wish to advertise about.

I saw something called the '6-month smile' which is braces that superficially fixes your teeth to just straighten it yet not fix the bite. Usually fixing the bite takes longer and it just fixes the teeth alignment.

I guess I could relate; my teeth were not that crooked and I did not have that much problem with my bite. The ortho did state that I should be fixing my teeth now in preparation for a bad 'bite'; however, I didn't have that much to fix. I now do have an overbite which may not be repaired since I've chosen to taken it off early but it seems to be adjusting itself. My teeth are still a bit sore these days which means that it's still being a bit stubborn but hopefully by my next appointment, I won't feel the pain just in time for the retainers.

As for my upcoming appointments for removal, there are no phonecalls about it yet. I'll be chasing up the orthodontist tomorrow as I need to finalise some dates since I'll be going away for my 'day of ageing' (i.e. birthday). 

But whatever it is, I barely recognise my teeth now and I'm so damn proud of them! They're extremely straight!

I do worry that they might shift soon after since I've only had my braces for a short period of time, but I've researched and saw that the best way to let your teeth calcify is to wear one's retainers daily for 3 months and then nightly for up to a year. Even though the ortho might recommend less, I think I may not want to take risks since I've only had it for such a short period of time (though she may recommend more, then I'd be a bit sad).

Fingers crossed that I get to hear a date soon.

[bracesdiary]

Day 131: Hands Do So Much More

Please excuse the mussed hair out of bed look. I have spent the whole of today literally in bed...for rather mundane reasons and unfortunately not very wild ones. Yes, I act 80 despite being in my 20s...let's just say I'm getting old early.

I have to say that an important lesson I've learnt about having braces as an adult is the fact that taking care of your teeth is like taking grooming any part of yourself: you really just need time an effort. The benefits of being an adult whilst having braces is the conscious effort of understanding why you need to gargle/brush your teeth/floss because you are very aware of the consequences (i.e. goodbye teeth/hello fillings/hello dental bills/pls no root canals). On the other hand, you capabilities of inhibitions are thoroughly lowered and sometimes it's harder to say no to that snicker bar/popcorn. 

However, I have spent my week off classes tending to my teeth with teeth brushing, gargling and flossing and my teeth are starting to gleam a little and even set itself back in place. I'm loving the progress of where they're going. This could also be due to me accidentally tightening my own wires by accident since I got so gungho with the tandoori chicken causing the wire to hop out of place.

Another benefit is that it really is worth it spending a bit more on the Clippy-C's/Smartclip braces. I will honestly admit that I have been real naughty about my junkfood and have eaten everything that's a no-no to braces-wearers (except gum...but seriously, mentons and Japanese chewy dragees come close). So far, nothing serious has happened (touch wood) except my wire coming off which can easily be clipped back in with care and clean hands. That's another benefit of being older: fine motor control. Not that you should be wearing braces as a baby. To be honest, I'm pretty certain my motor skills are worst than a child. So that means if I can do it, you all definitely can. 

However my ulcer scraping against my bottom braces is really starting to irritate me whilst drinking/eating/brushing. I did do an impromptu dental moment whilst brushing my teeth today by actually using my other hand (remember to sanitise your hands!) to pull my cheeks so that they don't clash to make teeth brushing more bearable. It's easy to avoid the niggly bits when you've got a bitch of an ulcer screaming murder everytime you put any dental product near it so when you don't have the tools, make do with the closest thing you've got (i.e. your hands!) 

It's difficult not being able to have the time to care for you teeth but I realise that it is quite comforting to care for them when you do. I had a bit of lows because I started to feel awful about having braces but now that they're a bit whiter than before, I don't mind showing them off once again. 

[bracesdiary]

Day 115: Crawling Pain

Yes I do realise that my new fringe is slightly out of control. 

The slight drawbacks about these braces are that the pain is unpredictable. On some days, my teeth will be fine and dandy and on other days, my teeth just decides that it's going to walkies all over my jaw only to realise that they are planted into my gums hence they take immense amounts of frustration and pain upon it.

Today may be one of the latter feelings.

It really isn't too bad but it's just surprisingly. Sometimes you feel like collapsing into the plate in front of you and then you realise, hey, you're okay again. Repeat cycle.

I still could eat though but I do without the achiness.

[bracesdiary]

Day 114: Activating the Smartclip Braces

Hello!

I've been procrastinating on this entry for far too long because:

a) I have developed an unhealthy obsession with Supernatural and now have finally caught up to date with the current series (yes I wasn't really working as hard as I kept saying…the truth all comes out now…)

Castiel is my favourite mofo. 

b) I have actually been honest about falling sick. I haven't been eating too healthy and I keep falling sick nonstop and it's taking most of my time. Today I landed with a really bad case of food poisoning…and well, to keep minimum details for one's own sanity, I spent most of my day in the bathroom. There was a point I even fell asleep in the bathroom because I hadn't had enough sleep but I was too ill to leave the bathroom. 

Sadly not the result of a night out. Oh how I've aged.

c) I got a haircut! Irrelevant news but the hairdresser decided that she should make me cute…I don't think it worked.

ANYWAY.

Right. I have done a bit of research on what my orthodontist means by 'activating' the braces however I couldn't find much. Maybe it comes with the manual of 'how-to-be-an-orthodontist' or instruction steps for SmartClip/Clippy-C braces, but I can describe what happened in my recent 'meh' appointment.

Regular braces are tightened at every appointment and I did wonder what happens to self-ligating braces since it well…tightens itself hence the term 'self-ligating'.

Turns out that there is a procedure that my orthodontist does at every appointment (but usually she puts in some fancy things like more separators or changes the wire, etc.) but since I've changed to the thickest wire (consequently making my braces look more apparent), she can only 'activate' it.

What is activation? (This is starting to look like one of my Psychology papers)

Even though it sounds like something from Back to the Future, it really doesn't look or feel like it. Truth is...I don't know. The procedure involves her unclipping my brackets and removing the wire and re-clipping them back in. Usually it's much tighter once she's clipped in back in and sometimes she only removes half of my wire out. It's a bit strange because it feels like she's done shiznit, but the next day, I feel my teeth aching the cucaracha or moving mountains across the Pacific. I.e. It hurts. I don't know if it does ever hurt as much as braces tightening but it is a bit sore. I don't have difficulty eating but sometimes I do have difficulty with flexibility of it the day after.

A very accurate picture of me.

I can't really find official procedures of it online but I'll be on the lookout but I thought I could share the braces. If anyone is wearing the SmartClip or Clippy Braces, do drop a line about it! I'm starting to find that we're a bit of a rare niche group; I mean the orthodontist was so happy to tell me that 2 other people were about to get it and they were usually much older people whom travel a lot because usually the appointment times are lessened.

I hope that was educating enough and I didn't put you to sleep.

The news however on my teeth are that they don't seem to be doing much which is a real bummer. I feel like they've tightened up and I can't really clean between my teeth anymore and my right front tooth is even moving inwards consequently slowing down the process. I have some bad feels that these braces extravaganza my go beyond 8 months.

Lately, I feel like I've forgotten how it is to not have braces. It's strange to think that it's become such a permanent addition to my life. I also need to stop being such a drama queen about it because it's only been 4 months. 

Me.

Laters! 

[bracesdiary]

Day 112: No New Teeth News

Unfortunately no progress with the teeth. I've been drinking ridiculous amounts of coffee so my teeth are definitely much yellower. The aching's stop but I'm not really noticing the change in my teeth.I think I'm not too sure what my orthodontist is looking for so I'm not sure what the change should be. I'm pretty happy with the state of my teeth now though!

Internet's slow so I can't really post about the activation methods of SmartClip braces by opening the brackets and removing the wire temporarily but so far it looks like the real shindig. 

[bracesdiary]

Day 110: SmartClip Activation

So the activation thing does exist. No research yet but my jaw today hurt like a bitch - surprisingly the upper left jaw! Whatever it is, my teeth are more definitely moving because I struggled to eat today though it didn't stop me for very long. I guess this is the SmartClip/Clippy-C's equivalent of 'tightening'. Now please excuse me whilst I go wallow in my pain.

[bracesdiary]

Day 109: No Change

There's sadly been no change whatsoever since the last visit. My teeth aren't budging as quickly and in fact, I've gotten a bit lazy with my brushing that I got told off for the plaque build up on my front two teeth above the wire. 

Shame moment.

In any case, my orthodontist is away for the upcoming Eid holidays so she wasn't willing to take any risks and wants my teeth to move more and hopes to place the bottom brackets by the end of next month. I'm not expecting anymore because meh. Yeah - can't say that I'm not disappointed.

But in the grand scale of teeth fixing, it has been 3 months and a half and I'm expecting massive change? It's been hella rapid, it's insane.

Fun Smartclip braces fact: Did you know that you actually have to activate the Smart Clip braces during appointments to create more movements? At least I hope that that's really the case and I'm not imagining it. I think I'm going to look into it and do an update on it hopefully soon because my internet now is dying and I've got an early wakeup call as usual. 

[bracesdiary]

Day 93: Braces Chats

There's been a lot of braces chats this weekend during Community Service time. I've met a few new colleagues (our seniors) whom asked me how long I had had my braces and they were surprised to hear how quick the predicted duration for my braces would be. The average damon brackets would be about 2-3 years and it is a good chop off time when it's down to 8 months (of course, not guaranteed as it all depends on how cooperative my teeth would be). 

I've been told that self-ligating braces (i.e. speed braces/clippy-c's or smartclips) are more likely to move faster henceforth you'll have to wear your retainers on for longer. I'm unsure about this but I guess once I'm back home, I'll be doing a quick research on the effects between self-ligating ones and regular ones in terms of the retainer length of time. Could any of you enlighten on me on this?

I'm so shattered (and when am I ever not these days?) I gotta crash so I hope everyone else is having a lovely weekend.