1 month in braces!

Hasn't time flown by! I cant believe I am 1 month into the first phase of getting my underbite fixed. I have had my braces on for 1 month now and I'm amazed by how much my teeth and my bite have changed in this short space of time. My snaggle tooth on top has almost been pulled into a nice and neat formation with my other front tooth and my backwards bottom tooth is almost upright, which means I almost have a proper underbite!!!

I'm pleased to announce that both the wisdom teeth war and braces vs cheek war have ceased. This occurred when a small brave square of chocolate entered no mans land (the tongue) and waved his yummy chocolate flag. They ended up joining forces to destroy the square of chocolate and the subsequent squares that followed. All areas of my mouth are still happy with eachother and currently getting on fine. On Monday there was a slight argument and some teeth were particularly sensitive, so I was reduced to soup and my new BFF Hartleys jelly as it hurt to chew again, but all was resolved by Tuesday.

Braces Best Friend

I've just got to remember that my teeth are being moved and that they will hurt sometimes and I need to be less of a wimp and just take painkillers, eat properly and moan less. I have my braces tightened in 3 weeks so lets see how long that attitude lasts after that!

I am treating my braces to a 10 night stay in Malta on Saturday, so I will update when I'm back. I'm away for my birthday too and I'm so excited to be spending my 24th in the sun with my lovely man, who has been given the task of finding me a birthday cake while we are out there. It's not a proper birthday without a birthday cake!

The braces are biting back!

Well so far this week has been rubbish for my mouth, and the outlook for the rest of the week continues to look bleak. My braces are currently having an argument with the left hand side of my mouth, and the braces are winning, quite well I may add!

Something must have moved because all this week they have been cutting in to my cheek and it's rather sore. I woke up this morning and it felt like my cheek and braces were one. Either my cheek had tried to grow over the braces in an attempt to fight back or the braces had hooked on to my cheek and were not that willing to let go. I had a good old look in the mirror and although there are no ulcers (thankfully) it's rather bumpy and cut up, I can see where my cheek it trying to toughen up but it's just not doing it quick enough. The wax that the orthodontist gave me would be brilliant right now but I've obviously put it in a very safe place for when I do need to use it, so safe that I cant remember where!

So I have that war waging on the left hand side of my mouth and on the right hand side my lower wisdom tooth has decided to rear it's ugly head and inflict pain and swelling on my poor unsuspecting gum. I don't know if this happens to anybody else but when I get wisdom tooth pain it seems to manifest itself in other ways too like swollen glands in my neck, sinus pain, headache, jaw ache and a general feeling of being unwell and wanting to stay in bed and eat ice cream all day. I've had to opt for work, ibuprofen and cups of Lady Grey tea instead.

So my poor boyfriend has had to listen to me moaning and whittling on about my mouth and showing him the damaged cheek and making him decipher sentences like; "Lut, lut, an ooo see air de races are atching on ry cheek? Uz it lut rad?!" So sorry Ben for being such a big wimp and trying to talk to you with my mouth open and my fingers in it.

On a very positive note, I'd like to say a huge, ginormous, massive well done to my little brother Matthew who got his degree results today, he passed his degree in French Studies with an outstanding 2:1!!!!!! Well in baby Biff, Je suis très fier de vous! 

Waterpik advice

I have requested a waterpik for my birthday but I don't really know a great deal about them; what is a good brand, make or model, what's the best sort to buy and which ones should I avoid? I would prefer something portable for when I'm staying at my boyfriends house or away on holiday, business etc but I don't know if a portable version reduces the effectiveness because it's portable? Me and my mum had a quick look last night and we found some for £50 and some at £150!? And if I use a waterpik does this mean I can stop battling (and loosing) with Superfloss?
If anybody has any advice or recommendations I would be very grateful to hear it.

Is she an adult or a teenager?

Yesterday evening I went to a marketing seminar as part of my job, it was a fairly relaxed event mainly made up of local, small business owners that were looking for some advice and guidance. The company I work for had used the company hosting the seminar for bits of marketing before I started, so I went along to see what they were all about and for the free biscuits. However I realised I couldn't eat any biscuits due to the risk of biscuit debris in braces, not good for networking purposes. So i was sat waiting for the seminar to start and a gentleman came and sat next to me, he introduced himself and his business and asked me what I did, so I replied and as I was talking away I noticed him looking at my braces, then my face, then my braces, then at my face.
Now I have experienced this before, some people are more discreet and don't want to make a fuss and others do gawp at your shiny metal teeth. This man was different, he wasn't a full on gawper, I could tell he was trying to be discreet with his looking and then I realised, he wasn't offended or horrified by my braces, he was trying to work me out. I was dressed in smart clothes like an adult, I was at an adult seminar, in an adult business environment, with other adults, but I had braces on, that children and teenagers wear, not adults. He didn't expect to see braces in a business environment. In this man's defence most of the people I spoke to that night did the same thing and tried to hide a confused face.
This was my first business/work related outing with braces and I hadn't expected as much of a reaction as I got, I'm used to them now, my boyfriend, friends, family and work colleagues are too. I suppose I forgot that they were there and people just don't expect an adult to be wearing braces. It's something that we associate with children and teenagers, not adults, and I guess that's why people looked confused because they had all ready formed an opinion/impression of me before I had opened my mouth, (just as I had of them) and when I did, the braces threw that pre-formed opinion/impression of me out the window.
At first my confidence was knocked a bit and I tried to hide my braces when I spoke, but then I thought, what if that man had of opened his mouth to speak and he had a really high pitched voice, I would of pulled the same face that he just did to me, because I wasn't expecting that. So I just got on with it and actually the more confidently I spoke and interacted with other people the less they looked, or maybe I just stopped caring that they were looking, but either way I survived my first corporate event in braces and not being able to eat the biscuits was probably a good thing. I'm going on holiday in 17 days (not that I'm counting) so the bikini is going on, and a biscuit belly probably wont compliment it.
In other news, I almost conquered the super floss last night! Yaaaaay! I read the box properly and started a little earlier and it went rather well. I did get it caught on one of my hooks but it wasn't as bad as last time. I used the proper end to thread under my wires, (sooo much easier by the way) and the special spongey bit was good too and I even had a go on the normal floss. I'll be able to do this flossing lark with my eyes shut soon enough!

Super floss trauma

Well last night I attempted to floss my teeth for the first time in braces. I have to admit, I wasn't a regular flosser before I had my braces put on (occasionally I would use some of my boyfriends floss while he was flossing his teeth, only so I looked good and like I was caring for my teeth properly) so needless to say my floss technique isn't great.
I bought some Oral B super floss especially for the occasion and I was rather confused by the three different sections when I got it out of the packet, I didn't know what bit to use. I didn't use the specially designed reinforced end for easy threading under wires, I used the normal floss and struggled to thread it through the wires. I didn't use the strange spongey section, I thought that section was designed for a comfortable grip during the act of flossing. It's not. On further inspection of the packaging this morning I discovered you're meant to floss with it, it's good for brace wearers and larger gaps apparently.
I got round my top set of teeth doing what I presume is the correct flossing motion of backwards and forwards in about 20 mins, by this point my jaw was rather sore and I had shoulder and arm ache from holding my arm up in various odd angles to floss my stupid teeth.
I did consider giving up at this point, but I thought no, man up, it's a bit of jaw, shoulder and arm ache Natasha, finish flossing your teeth. So I embarked on the bottom set which was far harder as my teeth are much closer together and at funny angles, and then disaster struck! I got the stupid super floss stuck on my bracket. So there I was, stood in my bathroom at 11.30pm with this great big long piece of floss hanging out of my mouth, just wanting to cry. (Upon reflection I should of taken a picture of myself because I did look rather funny.) I did consider just going to bed with it in there and dealing with it in the morning as I was so tired but I took a big, deep yoga breath to calm me down and started to untangle it. I'm glad to say I didn't go to work today with floss hanging out of my mouth, I eventually got it out.
So tonight will be round 2 and I'm reading the instructions properly and starting a bit earlier than 11pm, wish me luck!

Picture update

I took some pictures on Friday 8th of June, a week on from when I had my braces fitted and I'm really impressed by how quickly my teeth are moving. I've noticed that my top teeth are staring to straighten out, my little snaggle tooth is slowly disappearing, its been pulled down to meet my other front tooth in length, and the bottom tooth that snaggle tooth met has also been brought forward a bit so it isn't leaning as far back in my mouth any more. I need to take some better pictures really and I will, I promise!

1 week in braces

1 week in braces

1 week in braces

Braces (almost) 1 week on

Wow a week (almost) has flown by! I hope the next year or so goes as quickly as that, it probably won't but I'm hopeful. So how has my first week in braces been? Sore and hungry, that's how it's been, rather sore and rather hungry indeed.
I'm a grazer, I eat little and often, probably every 2 hours during my working day I'll have something to eat or I'm snacking on nuts and fresh fruit, so I've had to cut that out this last week, mainly because it hurt to do anything other than swallow.
On Friday I cooked my man a brilliant birthday dinner of chicken and steak fajitas, with rice and salad, I was so hungry and it smelt lovely and looked so nice and yummy and it was all laid out on the table and then I realised I'm not going to be able to eat this. I gave it my best shot and had mainly rice, cut bits of chicken up really small and sort of chewed/mushed it up, I didn't attempt the steak or the peppers thought I should walk before I run. It just really hurt my teeth to chew anything, to have any more pressure on them was too much for me. I'm such a big wimp!
Saturday was pretty much the same, scrambled eggs for breakfast before we set off to London, couscous for lunch/dinner and a fair few Vodka and diet cokes. Then Sunday came and it all changed! I could chew again on the left hand side of my mouth without wanting to cry, so as we were still in London for my man's birthday weekend we went to a really nice French patisserie/cafe and had brunch! I had a crepe with honey, bananas and strawberries with Greek yogurt, it was sooooo good! I wanted another one but we had to get the train back so I held out till we got back home and then off we went to KFC for a good helping of fried chicken, perfect for a slightly hungover person that hasn't eaten properly for 3days! Granted I did have to cut it up small and avoided any really crunchy chips but I had a KFC in my stomach and I could chew again so it was a good day.
My teeth are still a bit tender but it is getting better, I just cant believe how much my teeth have moved all ready, I can feel my bite has changed and some teeth have moved a bit. On Thursday when i had them fitted I could really only feel the brackets touching the left hand side of my mouth/cheek but now I can feel them on the right hand side more. It's incredible. I bet they have only moved millimetres but still, it's great that they are moving!
I've ordered some special orthodontic brush heads for my electric toothbrush and some special floss, I'm getting a bit obsessed with cleaning my teeth, I'm worried that I'm not doing it right and they will all fall out. Does anyone have any tips on how best to clean bracey teeth?

Check out my new grill!!!

Here are some pictures of me Pre-braces and a couple of me with braces, I will take some better, with braces pictures soon, just quickly did these at work!

 Neutral

 Smiling

Teethy Smile

No Teeth Smile

The Naughty Teeth

My New Shiny Smile

My New Grill

I got braces on

Well I did it, I have braces and I never thought I would say this but I'm so bloody happy that I have braces. I had them fitted at 11.20 and I was really anxious and nervous yesterday morning so I took myself shopping, nothing like a bit of retail therapy to calm your nerves!
My Ortho Mr O'Neil was brilliant and so was my dental nurse, he made me feel relaxed and kept telling me how well I was doing and what a good job I was doing. At the time that was great to hear but when I think about it now all I was doing was lying there with my mouth open, some funny glasses on and breathing in a calm manner.
Having the brackets put on was fine, I had that lip stretcher thing in and had to bit down on a bit of cotton wool while he cleaned my teeth up a bit, then put the adhesive on and used a special torch/light thing to activate the adhesive then stuck on the brackets one by one. It was a very efficient affair, the dental nurse had them all ready each time, no messing around or fumbling which was nice, made me feel more relaxed.
It was so strange when he took the lip thing out and I could feel the brackets, they felt enormous, like I had a square of chocolate stuck on each tooth.
Then came the wire, I think I had a number 4 on the top and a number 2 on the bottom, not sure what all that means though. The bottom wire went on first and it felt strangely good, as he was tightening it I was thinking yes, this is what these pesky teeth need, they are heading in the right direction now. I quickly changed my mind when he did the top, that hurt a lot more than the bottom lol and because I still have a baby tooth incisor on the top I got to have a curly wurly wire going over that tooth as I don't have a bracket on it.
So I felt fairly good after I left the hospital, I had a good look at them in my car mirror and I don't mind them, they are a part of me and my smile now. I went shopping (again) and got some bits for my travelling tooth fairy kit; mini toothpaste, mini mouth wash, inter-dental brushes and nice cosmetic bag to keep it all in. Then I got some ingredients for my boyfriends birthday Peanut Butter and Chocolate cheescake, (it is his birthday today, Happy birthday Ben!) and I went to the checkout and the checkout lady was having a chat with me and there I was having a nice little conversation about the Jubilee Weekend with my braces on and she didn't recoil in horror or point and shout " EVERYBODY LOOK! THIS LADY HAS BRACES ON!" like I thought she would, it was fine. So I'm not worried about that any more and everybody at works has been great too.
Eating is a challenge, it hurts but that will go soon enough, yogurt doesn't hurt to eat nor does ice cream and peanut butter and chocolate cheescake batter, and I suspect it wont hurt to eat it when its cooked either. Brushing my teeth hurts, but again that will go soon, just used my yoga breathing to get me through a couple teeth that really hurt, but it's fine really, and trying to get to grips with inter-dental brushes is tricky I don't know what size I should use, I think I bought a number 4 not sure, I should of asked my Ortho but forgot in all the excitement. Anybody have any recommendations or does it all depend on the size of your own teeth? 
I'm off to London this weekend with my man to celebrate his birthday with his friends and his brother, so I got myself a nice new dress and some new shoes, (I couldn't resist!) and I'm pleased to announce that I can still drink vodka and diet coke, just with a straw! Yaaay!
Happy Jubilee weekend for those in the UK and happy weekend for everybody else!