Apparently it's not over till it's over, and sometimes not even then ...

Today I went back to the ortho to be fitted with my removable retainers. She was a bit concerned as I should have had these fitted early last week, but I could not get to the dentists at that time. So for the past 2 weeks I have been brace-free apart from the bonded retainers.

I have been given clear "Essix" type retainers. They hurt when the ortho first fitted them, probably because my teeth have shifted a bit since the cast was made. I was concerned at the hurting, and also concerned because - in my view - my teeth have started to fit together a bit better since the braces first came off, and I didn't want them to go back to the old awkward bite.

I was surprised how much I disliked the Essix retainers. They were actually much more of a big deal than the bonded retainers, which I hardly notice at all now. These big clunky plastic things in my mouth collect spit, scrape the sides of my cheeks and interfere with my speaking. I can't close my teeth, which freaked me out a bit when the retainers first went in. And I have to wear them all day for the next 3 weeks, except when I am eating or brushing my teeth.

I'm afraid I whipped them off when I was travelling home from the dentist, and only replaced them at the end of this evening. I have managed to fix the scraping with the use of some dental wax. Now I will have to see what it is like to sleep in them.

Anyway, here they are:

I've made it! Just over 2 years since my first appointment, the braces have finally come off. After a lot of waiting, plus mysterious wizardry from my orthodontist, I now have a set of nice straight teeth. We had been waiting for more than 6 months for the gaps around my left canine tooth to close. These were closing up, but very gradually. Here is a picture of how they looked last month:

This month there had been barely any further change, and the gaps were almost too small to see, so the ortho offered me the option of having the braces off now. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance!

The ortho cracked off the brackets and their concrete mounts. Suddenly my teeth felt naked, and kind of springy, like a set of dogs let off their leash. When I tried to close my teeth I found the front ones bashed together, but the ortho said this would be OK.

Then the ortho and her assistant thoroughly cleaned my teeth and got every last scrap of cement off. Here are the results:

But - I was not quite out of the woods yet. One last thing had to be done: I had to have retainers fitted. The ortho fitted "bonded retainers" to the backs of my upper and lower teeth. These comprise a wire fixed in place with blobs of resinous stuff. I couldn't get a photo of these, even after shoving the camera lens right into my mouth, but there is a link on the Archwired site showing what these are: http://www.archwired.com/6-_come_off.htm . Apparently I have to have these for the next 6 months at least. They are not uncomfortable, but I can feel them constantly with my tongue. Apparently they should not interfere with my eating.

Last of all, I will have to have a removable retainer too. I had to have new casts done of my teeth. Having this done was not pleasant, especially for the upper teeth, as the rubbery stuff pushed against my palate and made me gag. It was all over in minutes, though.

I just have to collect my retainer next week, and go back in 6 months for a further check-up, but ... my braces journey is at an end!

I have had a couple more visits to the ortho since my last post. I have now been fitted with elastics on both sides - see pic:

I have developed quite a skill at applying the elastics - I can even slip 'em in without looking, or while walking down the street! (It has to be a quiet street, though, with nobody looking.) I can feel them pulling on my teeth, and the upper and lower teeth are slowly getting straighter and more aligned.

The ortho says the next stage is to get the upper teeth rotated out a bit more, as they still slant inwards a bit, then try to close up the holes. (I am still wearing a power chain, but so far it doesn't seem to be having much effect.)

I found this photo of my pre-treatment self on a friend's Facebook page. This is why I am putting myself through the treatment - I don't know how I could have left my teeth looking like this for so long.

Just in time for Valentine's Day (I should be so lucky), I have been back to the dentists. My canine had moved quite a lot, but the ortho was a bit concerned that the power chain had not been working to its full extent - the pain and pulling sensation from last session only lasted for a day or so.

She went for a different approach this time. She applied another power chain, and then - all praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster - she ...

... drum roll ...

REMOVED THE TPA!

Yes - the inside of my mouth is mine all mine again!! I wasn't expecting this, but after just over a year of having that bar in my mouth, I can move my tongue freely again. The bands are still in place around my teeth, but I have already forgotten the Scold's Bridle.

I have another Z-string around some of my front teeth, to close up the gaps, and this time the ortho has applied an elastic on my left side. She says I have to fit a new one every morning and evening, and advised me to remove it before eating and to clean my teeth before re-fitting it.

I have just had the first go at fitting it, after having supper. I really hope this gets easier, because the thing was pinging all over the place. I am thinking of buying a crochet hook tomorrow, to make this task easier. Seriously.

Never mind, though - the TPA has gone!

Had my ortho appointment this afternoon, and was surprised to find that I needed more equipment in my mush. The orthodontist was concerned that the gap in my teeth wasn't reducing as fast as she had hoped. Therefore, she fitted a power chain. I had not expected this so had not done my usual research on ArchWired - I was imagining a(nother) huge hunk of metal in my mouth. In fact, the chain is made of elastic, as Archwired explain here: http://www.archwired.com/power_chains.htm

The orthodontist also fitted a "Z-string" around my gappy teeth, although it seemed more like a G-string to me, as it was twanging a merry tune while she was working with it. In addition, I have the thick wire back on my upper teeth, and a thicker wire on my lower ones - so my mouth was feeling pretty crowded when I left the dentists.

As threatened, here are the pictures:

I particularly like the big hook things on the corner brackets - I'm feeling like a cyborg with all this lot!

Not much to report in the last few months - I have been getting on with my life, and not paying too much attention to my teeth. The lower ones have really straightened up, though.

Last Monday it was the first anniversary of the start of my treatment. There are now signs of light at the end of the tunnel - I had an appointment just before Christmas, and the orthodontist said that I would be brace-free by next Xmas!

I still have the TPA, but I'm hoping I won't have it for too much longer.

Next appointment is next Friday - I will do a photo after that.

Over the last few months, I have noticed the following changes - see pix below:

• The hole where my tooth was has reduced even more

• The brace on my lower teeth has really straightened them.

The bracket on my crown has still been giving some problems. I was at the dentist last Friday and the ortho tried to fix it back on, but it pinged off as soon as I reached home. I fixed another appointment to have it glued back on. The ortho tried again, but the moment I sat up, PING! She was really calm about it, but this has to be some sort of record. Anyway, she has really glued it firmly this time, and so far there have been no problems.

I still have the TPA in place, though - I am used to it now, but I will be so relieved when it finally comes out.

Almost 3 months since my last posting - I didn't write because I was busy doing life stuff and there wasn't anything new to report. (Well, possibly apart from my new "spinach without tears" technique, which I developed because I was so desperate to eat salad again.)

Tonight, though, I had my lower brace fitted. I've become so used to my upper one that I had forgotten what the whole palaver was like. I feel much more conscious of these new brackets. They are causing a little bit of soreness against the inside of my lip, but I know how to fix that. The brace is also making my teeth tingle, because the lower ones are very sensitive and I guess the nerves are reacting. This happened last week as well, when I went to get my teeth cleaned - the gums tickled and tingled for about a day and a half, having been denuded of their protective layer of gunk. I found that rubbing my gums with neat TCP stopped the stinging, or at least replaced it with another kind of stinging, but I hope this dies down soon.

I still have the TPA in, while my canine gradually slots into its new position. I think it is on the move again - the (much reduced) remains of the old socket have begun feeling mushy again, which is always a good sign.

My ortho has recommended that I eat lots of ice cream while my teeth calm down. Well, that's not exactly what she said, but I just wanted to see that written down in black and white!

Was travelling home on the tube when I felt the bracket on my crown go "pop". It had already popped once, just as the ortho had applied the wire - that must have been some kind of record. We agreed that it wasn't a good record. I decided to carry on home, as I felt she and I had probably had enough of my crown for one day. I will try to get it sorted out next week.

I didn't realise that a whole month has passed since I last posted! Various things have happened since then. The brace on my crown came off again, but it was less than a week until my next dental appointment so I just left it.

Last Friday I had my appointment. The orthodontist asked me how I was doing with the TPA, and I said I was "coping" - which I am, as I have learned how to live with it and what to avoid. (In particular, I have learned to avoid eating stringy rocket leaves, after an unfortunate dinner with a friend, where I had to dash to the loo to remove the tangled wodge of green stuff that had wound itself around the wire. Nice ...) Still, I am counting the weeks and days until I can have it removed.

The ortho also said it was time to fit the lower braces. I didn't actually realise I was going to need lower braces, so that was a bit of a shock - especially after that nasty experience so many years ago. Since then, however, I can see that they might be necessary. My wandering canine has now come into line with the rest of my upper teeth (see photos below), but this means that the tooth below bumps into it when I close my mouth. I am hoping that the canine will shift over a bit further and this should help. However, it does sometimes feel as if I have been fitted with someone else's teeth!

I now have a thicker wire fitted on my brace. This definitely made the brace feel more bulky at first, but I've got used to it. I could really feel it pulling powerfully on my canine for the first couple of days, but it seems to have quietened down now. I am looking forward to the gap in my upper teeth closing up - and counting down to my next appointment, towards the end of May.

I had the first tightening of my brace a couple of weeks ago - slightly uncomfortable as the elastics were removed and the wire was adjusted, but not too bad. The extraction gap feels about half as big as it was when the tooth was removed.

I had to make an emergency visit today, though, as the bracket on my crown came loose on Friday (I felt it go "pop" as I was chewing something) and I needed it fixed. All weekend it was moving backwards and forwards on the wire, skidding across the surface of my tooth - think "fingernails down a blackboard" to get an idea of the annoyance. It even managed to flip round the wrong way at one point. The orthodontist fixed it today, though, and it is fine.

Roll on April and my next brace adjustment.

Also, roll on the day when the TPA comes off ...

I've just been having a look some of your sites. 50ft Etta - I tried to post a comment on yours but it wouldn't let me! I thought the bit about the fairy dying each time you smiled was so sad - awww!

Your bimaxillary osteotomy sounds pretty radical. I have just been reading a blog by someone called Andrea, who had jaw surgery because her teeth wouldn't close at all, and the results are amazing. It's a hell of a thing to go through, but it looks as if the results will be well worth it.

Very best of luck for your bracing appointment. The brace puts a bit of pressure on your teeth, so having a couple of teeth removed beforehand will help. I noticed a real relief in pressure when I had my tooth out.

P.S. I'm sure your little niece Maisie will be fine when her big teeth grow. By the time she's old enough to have anything done, dental treatments will probably have advanced so much that she won't have to go through what you're having.

Hello again - and welcome to my new followers! It's been a busy couple of weeks, what with staring at my teeth in the mirror about 150 times a day, trying not to get food stuck in the TPA, and somehow living a halfway normal life as well ...

In the past few days, it has really felt as if things are moving a bit faster. The space where my tooth was extracted has started feeling a bit mushy again, and the space and the teeth either side of it are aching and sensitive to cold. I don't mind this at all - not if it means there is some action going on there. I can't see much of a change, but it definitely feels different.

I have my next appointment with the orthodontist on Monday evening, so I'm hoping for more change after that.

I hope you don't mind the graphic pix - don't have nightmares ...

I may be fooling myself, but it feels as if things are on the move already. As soon as I had my premolar out, my teeth stopped aching as the pressure had gone. The gap from my tooth extraction feels a bit smaller than it did 2 weeks ago. I've also noticed that my bite seems to be much better since getting rid of that tooth, and my lower jaw sits a bit more forward, so I should be able to ward off that dangly double chin for a few years to come. For a view of the gap, see below:

Managing OK with the TPA, although it is rubbing a bit at the sides of my tongue. I still have to think a bit about what I eat, but most of the time it goes fine. Some of the oddest things cause problems - peas are a nuisance because their skins get wrapped around the device, and a coconut chocolate bar was a nightmare, because the coconut pieces got stuck all around my brace.

Here is a pic of the TPA in place, mercifully without food debris attached:

The TPA is starting to hurt a little bit, on the centre of my tongue. I have been using the saltwater washes still, and eat Rinstead pastilles when I am at work, but it is still a bit sore. Perhaps it is because I have to use my tongue so much when I am eating. Food is still getting tangled in it, but I have learned not to stress about it so much.

Otherwise, I have got so used to the whole assembly that I'm starting to forget it is there. I can't wait for it to do its stuff - but the first goal I am really looking forward to is getting shot of the TPA!

Shepherd's pie and porridge also work OK (although not both together, obviously).

Gradually getting used to the whole assembly in my mouth. The braces are not too bad at all – they just feel as if I have a bit of knitting tangled around my teeth.

The TPA is a bigger deal, but I am slowly getting used to that too.

It feels as if I have a horse bit in my mouth – I go riding from time to time, and now I will have a lot more sympathy with the horses, especially when I am putting the bridle on. To put it in more equestrian terms, the TPA feels like a curb bit with a very high port.

Another good analogy, I feel, is with the medieval torture instrument called the "Scold's Bridle". This charming device was made of metal and used exclusively on talkative or quarrelsome women. There was a big metal cage that fitted around the head, and an iron piece, sometimes with spikes in for added effect, which fitted into the mouth and lay on the tongue. If the woman kept quiet, all was well. If not, it was agony. According to Wikipedia, similar devices are still used today in the BDSM fraternity.

Perhaps I ought to post this on a kinky sex site and get lots of money ...

The TPA caused my mouth to produce more saliva than normal at first, but this seems to have calmed down now. I was worried about slurping and dribbling in public places, but thankfully this has not happened.

It does also rub on my tongue a bit. I am not having the problems that Macy/Stacy seem to have suffered, but it is a little bit sore. I have carried on washing my mouth out with salt water, though, as I did after the extraction (1/2 teaspoon of salt dissolved in a cup of warm water) and this seems to solve the problem. The orthodontist recommended paracetamol (acetaminophen) rather than ibuprofen to sort out any pain, but this was not necessary after the first day.

The most bothersome thing is eating. My choice of foods has narrowed yet again. Just about everything gets caught around the TPA if I'm not careful.

Soup is OK, but it has to be really smooth, or the bits can be a problem. I had tomato and lentil soup earlier today, and the lentils snagged on the appliance. However, I squished them up with a spoon, and the problem stopped.

Bread is a bit tricky, because it goes soggy when you chew it, and you have to suck it off the TPA (gross). Best to take small bites.

Pasta didn't work nearly as well as I thought it would. I had some tortelloni on the first night, and this managed to wrap itself around the device. I think I will give it a miss in future.

Risotto was OK. The day after my fitting, I was invited out to a team lunch at work (uh-oh) at an Italian restaurant, and risotto was pretty much the only option for me. No chewing pizza – the bands around my molars are still a bit sore for anything like that. I managed OK with the risotto, as long as I took it slowly, but the bits of pancetta got caught unless I moved them to my very back molars.

Coffee is OK, obviously.

Wine is OK – thank God.

Chocolate is OK – hurrah!

Even sponge cake is OK, which was a lovely surprise – it is more crumby than bread, so doesn't stick.

Fruit is OK, as long as it is soft. I have had some clementines, which were fine, and some banana, which was also OK as long as I chewed it thoroughly.

Omelettes and poached eggs should be fine, as they break up easily.

Fish should be do-able as well.

I am going to miss my crunchy vegetables, though. I didn't realise how often I ate them. I will have to whizz them up into soup if I have them at all.

Sleeping with the TPA was another thing that concerned me. However, it doesn't seem to be a problem, especially since I sleep with my head slightly raised.

Tooth-brushing is fiddly, but that is because of the brace. I use a soft brush with a small head, and have to go gently because my teeth twinge a bit when I brush around the brackets. I brush my tongue as well, to help keep the TPA clean. Then I follow with a salt-water rinse for hygiene and controlling any soreness.

I am starting to forget that the TPA is there, from time to time.

I have also discovered how to get a musical note out of it, by twanging it with my finger, but perhaps I had better not do that too often.

18 January 2010

Back to my team of tooth fairies in Baker Street, for the final stage of the procedure. Today the Trans-palatal arch (TPA) would be fitted, and then the wire would be applied to activate my brace.

I really wasn't looking forward to the TPA. The examples I had seen on the net looked like instruments of torture. As Macy (or is it Stacy?) says on ArchWired, the actual appliance looks like a partially unbent paper clip. As its name suggests, it goes across your palate (the roof of your mouth), from one molar to the one on the opposite side, to hold these teeth in place. It follows the shape of your palate but does not actually touch the surface. It has a little kink in the centre so it fits around the ridge at the centre of your palate.

Mine had a metal hoop on each end, which would be fitting around the molars. This is what the spacers were for – to create enough room for these bits.

Fitting the device was painless, but I did suggest that the orthodontist might be something to do with the Spanish Inquisition. She took it very good-naturedly.

It did feel bizarre inside my mouth, and I was constantly aware of my tongue pressing against it.

Apparently the TPA just needs to stay in place until my canine has slotted into alignment with the rest of my teeth, which should take only a few months. Thank goodness.

Then the wire was threaded through the brackets (this felt like a very fiddly job) and secured with elastics. Having my canine tooth wired made me squeal a bit, as the pressure was applied, but the rest were not too bad, although I was aware of the tugging feeling on my teeth.

Everything is done now, until my next adjustment, at the beginning of March.

15 January 2010

Oh goody – extraction day today. The head dentist at the practice would be doing this for me.

As you have already seen, I am no stranger to this procedure. In fact, when I was a nipper, I had to have all of my milk teeth pulled out, because they were way too comfy where they were, and stayed put while my big teeth grew around them. This may have been where my problems started. In any case, my astonishing array of dinosaur teeth made me look like a little mutant, so obviously something had to be done. The dentist took the quick, to-the-point approach, rather than the care I am currently enjoying. I remember the injections, and the weird mouth feeling, and the crunch-crunch-crunch as the pesky little teeth were wrenched out. I remember spitting mouthfuls of blood out of the car window on the journey home. Happy days ...

Many, many years later, here I was again. I wasn't scared, but did feel a little flutter of concern as I lay down in the chair.

I had no need to worry – the dentist was a master of the extractive art. Like his orthodontist colleague, he very kindly explained each step of what he was doing. The injections in the mouth were not great, especially the one in the roof of my mouth, but they were bearable. Then there was a certain amount of pressure, and the feeling that part of my nose was being pulled out (have no fear – it wasn't), but no pain. Then, suddenly, it was done. It must have taken less than 20 minutes from start to finish. The dentist let me have the tooth as a gory little souvenir.

I felt a wee bit fragile travelling home in the rush hour, but I think that was just the after-effects of my own adrenaline. I also suspect I might have swallowed a tiny bit of anaesthetic, because my throat felt a bit weird on the way home – but again, that could just have been me coming down from the stress.

I couldn't eat anything for supper, but frankly that was the least of my concerns. There was almost no pain – just a bit of a dull ache, which was easily sorted out with ordinary painkillers.