Week 48

Oh my. I just wrote the title of this post and realised that at 48 weeks I am almost a year into orthodontic treatment. Wow! Time has actually flown.

I remember after  having my initial consultation with the orthodontist, to find out what he could do for my wonky teeth, thinking that the time scale for treatment (18-24 months) was an awfully long time. And actually was seriously thinking I wouldn't have it all done. It wasn't until my old work colleague said that that time was nothing in the scheme of things (as in life) and would fly by. 

If it hadn't been for her, I don't think I would have done it. I couldn't imagine having braces for 6 months, let alone them potentially being on for almost 2 years!! 

Well I'm pleased I listened to her as, like I said before, I can't believe they have already been on for almost a whole year!! Amazing. And I've survived eating in braces , skiing in braces and even going to my first hen do.  All with my braces on. 

It has gone soooooo quickly. But then again, I am finding that every year seems to go by faster and faster. Anyway, back to my appointment. 

Firstly I told him I'd tried really hard in the past few weeks to improve my brushing technique, mainly by switching back to my manual toothbrush. I love my electric one but I think you can get into bad brushing habits and get a little lazy. I had also used the disclosing tablets that highlights the areas I had been missing. Funnily enough, these weren't where I thought they would be. Between my bracket, wires etc. but in fact were in between my back molar teeth. In the small gaps that have been created by bringing the molars forward slightly to fill the gaps where I had the teeth extracted. Very interesting. Well he was pleased with things in that area, so that's better!

Next I heard him mumbling about a stone something to his assistant. I lay there wondering what on earth this could be as it didn't sound fun. I actually didn't find out until the evening after my appointment. I will tell you later what this was all about :)

So, I mentioned to him about my chain coming off my front tooth and it looking like it had gone crooked. He said that he didn't think it was due to the chain coming off, but that the brackets on my upper two front teeth were now no longer in the best possible positions because of how much they had moved. He was going to put new brackets on. This all happened rather quickly and before I knew it he had pinged off the brackets!! Ahh. Then he changed the wire on my bottom teeth. He said he needed to use a much thicker wire this time. Right, so normally the wire pokes easily through the back brackets then is popped into the other ones. 

He literally had to SHOVE this wire in. And it hurt. It was so thick that when he snipped the extra length off the wire, my back teeth actually throbbed. Ouch. 

Then, he left me! For a couple of minutes as he needed to speak to someone at the practice, but obviously my front two teeth were bare! No brackets. It felt soooooooo odd. I've gotten so used to how big the brace is in my mouth. Pushing against my lips etc, that it felt like something was wrong with it missing. I could feel my teeth with my tongue! All very peculiar. 

He gone me different brackets. Ones like my cousin had. I think they have a metal bit where the wire is thread through. Meaning less friction when the wire moves through. He also told me he's put a couple of kinks in the wire at the front to straighten out the wonky tooth. Cracking I say. Who wants a wonky tooth!

The top wire was a lot easier to pop in. Oh and he gave me chains on the top teeth that skip like 3 teeth. It's hard to explain, and I'm not entirely sure why he's done it, but I don't really mind as I got the following news at the end of my appointment...

My orthodontist said probably not next appointment, but potentially the following one, my braces might be able to come OFF!!
As in, all done. So excited. That's like 10 weeks away!

Here are my photo updates at 48 weeks into orthodontic treatment:

You can kind of see the span of chain here

Sooo. With regard to the "stone" that was mentioned earlier. Look at this... 

Ok, below are photos of my teeth to date, and also 5 weeks ago. Look at the front middle upper ones. The one on the left (my right upper middle tooth) had a 'bit' on it. It's from when your adult teeth cut through the gun when you first get them. Anyway this bit had never worn down flat due to the angle my teeth used to be at. It had always annoyed me and made me feel like a child. 
I have always dreamt of straight, adult looking teeth. Now I actually might get them! 

Anyway, when my orthodontist asked for a stone thingy, he needed it to gently file off that teeny extra bit of tooth. Look. Now the teeth go straight across!!! Love it. I didn't actually notice this until the evening after my appointment. When I was cleaning my teeth.

Week 48

Week 43

Can you see the little bit I mean?

Not long to go now hopefully. Although, now I'm starting to look at just how straight they are and I want them to be the best they can be. Oh and I think I'd like to have them whitened too. Why not ey, after all this? 

Roll on 10 weeks time :)