Retainers + Mouthwash

There's a product that's called RetainerBrite that you can use to keep your retainers clean and odor free.. but the product is pretty costly. And I don't have it.. In the future I might go and buy to give it a try.. but as of right now, this is what I'm doing to keep my retainers clean. Aside from brushing the retainers when I brush my teeth, I have this little plastic jar that I bought at the baking section of Fred Meyer grocery store, and I just pour my mouthwash into it and mix it with cold water and place my retainers in it. Just to keep it odor-free and fresh-tasting when I put the retainers back into my mouth.

Before vs After

Here's my before and after picture (braces + whitening).

Pick up my retainers

This morning I rushed to the radiology to get my full final x-rays and photos. I spent around 40 minutes there. It's the same procedures like the first time I went there to get the same x-rays and photos before I started wearing braces.

From the radiology, I went to Trophy Cupcakes in Wallingford but I couldn't find the shop so I gave up and went to the mall instead where they had a mobile shop with limited supplies of cupcakes. Thankfully since it was still lunchtime, they still had plenty.. So I bought half dozen of cupcakes for my ortho office and his staff. They were so happy to get the cupcakes. You can never be too old for cupcakes, right? :)

I was given a paper to congratulate me on the end of my treatment. And I filled in a survey about their service and their office. Then the assistant came to show me my upper and lower retainers. The upper one is a clear plastic like invisalign type. While the lower one is just standard Hawley retainer. She showed me how to put both on and then watched me put them on myself to make sure I did it right. Just after 2 days, the bottom left of my wisdom teeth had already moved. So she had to apply a lot of pressure there and I cringed because it kinda hurt. To be honest, I don't think I'm doing it right. I just hope for the best!

After 2 days experiencing free and bare teeth, I just figured out that turns out I would have to wear retainers FULL TIME (24/7) for the first 6 months - except when I eat and brush my teeth!! WOW I didn't know this. I was pretty upset about it because I thought it was really the end of my treatment so I could have my teeth all freed again. But nope, it's the normal procedure. The retainers are intended to maintain the position of our new teeth positions so they wouldn't move and go back to the old position or move all over the place. I got to choose which color I wanted for my retainer cases, I got to pick 2 cases to bring home :) My orthodontist office offers 2 types of retainer.. One is a bigger square case with a hinge, the other one is a smaller round case that you have to just rotate the lid to open. I picked both the square ones in Gold and Turquoise.

I have to come back in 6 weeks to my ortho for a check up to make sure none of my teeth move or anything like that. He also wanted me to schedule an appointment with my dentist to take care of implants and surgery, warning me that after any treatment with my dentist, my retainers might not fit well anymore and I'll have to come see them to get them adjusted/replaced.

I am wearing both retainers in this pics,
although you can't see the top retainer since it's just clear plastic.
When I smile normally (unlike in the first pic where I purposely smile wider),
the wire of the lower retainer won't show either.
The only way other people will recognize I'm wearing retainers is
from the way I speak now. I'm still trying to get used to the retainers
in my mouth and they're affecting my speech.

Braces Off

Today was the day of the deband!

I came in at 2pm.. walked to the chair.. my ortho came to do a final check up, to prepare for my retainer. Approximately 15 minutes later, the assistant started to do the removal.

Honestly up until today I never suspected that the removal would be painful at all. When I read on the internet people said it would be painful, but the rest assured that it would be painless.. I believed that I would fall into the second category. I assumed all of this time going through all the dental work, I had managed to survive quite well with almost no complaint.. so I thought I probably had a higher pain threshold compared to most people out there.

First off, they took both wires from upper and lower braces off. Then using different sizes of pliers, they started to pull off the brackets from the glue that are stick to my teeth. A lot of pressure here, and during some moments I did feel pain against my gum and teeth because of the pressure. There were challenging moments when removing the brackets from the far back wisdom teeth, but no pain. After all brackets were removed, the assistant told me that I could go rinse and brush my teeth but she gave me a disclaimer that the yellow color on my teeth are from the glue not the color of my real teeth.

After rinsing, brushing my teeth and flossing, I returned to the chair and she began drilling the glue off my teeth. After she was done, she polished my teeth. And then I went to rinse again while she prepared the mixtures that she was going use to take the impression of my teeth. This part is very similar to the first steps before I got braces. She took 2 impression of the upper mouth and then 2 more of the lower mouth, then before I left she asked me to bite off a wax paper.

I was given a gift before I left the office. They gave me a gift bag containing chocolates and candies, all the stuff that braces wearers aren't supposed to have during the treatment! :D

It feels very weird without braces! I can't believe it's my own real teeth that are touching my inner lips, not metals not brackets anymore. I went to buy gums and apples at the grocery store on the way home. I also bought Crest Whitestrips to begin my treatment trying to whiten my teeth by my own.

I have to come back to pick up my retainers in 2 days, it's also the same day I got scheduled to get Full Final Xray and photos.

It's time!

After almost a year not updating this blog, the day I finally get my braces removed has finally arrived. On April 9th 2013, approximately around 2pm.. I will have an appointment for debanding!

Let's pop open a bottle of champagne. The treatment finally comes to an end.

All of this time, the reason I haven't been writing anything is because it was always the same adjustment for months. As you can see from pictures from even more than a year ago, my teeth had already looked very straight. It was just correcting my bite that took a really long time for me. So each time I came in monthly for my adjustment, there was just this adjustment to this tooth and that tooth that need to rotate, and got my front tooth shaved again so that it will look even more aligned.

That being said, last month I had to go and see my dentist because I experienced sensitivity on my front tooth. At first it was sensitive to both hot and cold, then after that it was only sensitive to cold only. My dentist told me that it is quite normal to experience sensitivity to cold, but the danger is if it's sensitive to hot because that means something's gotta do with nerves. He took an X-Ray and confirmed that everything looks good. The next time I came back to my ortho, I told him all this and he said that it could be a problem with the nerve then the nerve started giving up so the pain went away.

update

Went in for adjustment and cleaning today. I'm no longer wearing rubber band for this area, but still wearing this one and still half-time (12hrs). This time I'm given two additional rubber bands that I have to wear full time that go on my front teeth. I was still able to eat when I got home at 6pm and had a nice spaghetti.. but around 8pm, my teeth started to hurt and felt so tight.. until now. Per usual, I'm expecting this will last for the next 2-3 days. Probably 3 days. 

I hope that nothing will break. Last month I was yawning widely in the morning, and I broke one of the hook. I came in for a fix a few days later. I was made this wire and it was placed around the bracket with the broken hook, then it was held under my chain so it stayed put. For today's adjustment, I noticed that they had removed the chain from my lower braces, but kept the upper one on. I have had the surgical hook for the upper braces since last month, but they added the surgical hook for the lower braces today. I didn't have problem with the upper one. But the lower one doesn't feel too great, and it gave me discomfort when I was eating. It felt really sharp and obstructive.. and seems like it's irritating the inner of my lower lip. Hopefully I'll get used to this very soon.

At this point, my teeth are pretty much straight.. but all the efforts now are now focused on correcting my bite that's asymmetrical (I think it's the tricky part) and to make my upper teeth meet with my lower teeth (thus the rubber bands).

Last month as I mentioned that I had a slight scare after seeing the result of the xray. There was a dense cell or some kind shown on the x-ray.. I never heard from them but today I asked again, just to make sure that it's really nothing. We compared the latest xray with the first one that was taken before my orthodontic treatment, we saw that it was already there before and no change with it so my orthodontist told me that it doesn't seem serious nor dangerous, because it means that it's not growing or moving. Also, I overheard my ortho told the assistant who was writing my info down, that the measurement of the gap where I'm getting an implant is 8mm now.

I also met my regular dentist today after my cleaning, and he did the exam today. He said that my teeth look good, and he seemed impressed with my progress since the first time I came to his office years ago. Anyway he explained to me that once my orthodontic treatment is finished then we can take care of my teeth. I asked about the implant too and he said that the mandibular is perfect for implant, and there are some areas that I can't get implants because of the bone structure. He said that once I get my braces off, my orthodontist is going to make me a retainer with something like a fake teeth to fill in that gap for me to wear, so it will retain the space for the implant. I was relieved to hear that. Because according to my ortho plan, I would have my braces off by August or October the latest.. and I'm planning to get the implant next year instead.. but I was so worried that my teeth will start moving all over the places and will impact the gap/space reserved for the implant, if I wait too long to get an implant! So hearing this explanation is good news for me. :)

Three types of elastic bands I've worn so far:
Bummer (diameter: 4.6mm or 3/16"; force: 170.1g)
Louie (diameter: 7.9mm or 5/16"; force: 113.4g)
India (diameter: 3mm or 1/8"; force: 4oz)

pano

Today I had my appointment again.

I went in for a panoramic x-ray last Friday morning, yet my orthodontist hadn't received the x-ray result from them today.. so they asked the Radiology to email it to them and they printed it out on a regular paper then on a photo paper. They made a lot of adjustment to my braces, my ortho didn't say anything bad.. but the assistant pointed out to an area in my left chin area on the x-ray.. like a lump or something so she asked him, "Are those cells?" My orthodontist said, "It's called cematoma (not sure how to spell it).. They're basically dense cells. We should compare it to her old x-ray and see if it was already there." I turned my head to the x-ray print out.. I asked him what that was, or if that's a tooth. He said it's dense cells. In my head I was already scared to death, "My God, what if it's a tumor!" He said that he'd compare it to the old x-ray and the only thing we could do is to watch it. I don't feel any lump on my gum, it's inside my chin under my skin above the left jaw bone or something.

Afterwards I asked the assistant if I could have a copy of the x-ray. She said I could have the one they printed earlier on regular paper, or if I wanted something better I could ask the front desk to print it for me on the photo paper instead. I asked if the 'cematoma' is dangerous. She said that they would study it again and I would be hearing from them if it's anything serious. But if I don't hear anything from them, then it's nothing to worry about.

Below is the xray on the regular paper. It doesn't look that good, right.. The big gap on the lower left jaw is where I'm gonna get an implant next year.