Thirty Minutes Later

After reading a lot of blogs about braces, one common theme is abundantly clear; fear. People express their fear of pain, discomfort, and public shame.. But most of all, it's the fear of the unknown that they talk about the most. For one, how will I react? After all these years how will it feel to have pieces of metal on my teeth? Will it hurt? When will I see my teeth moving? Will my wife/girlfriend/booty call still be interested in me? With each new person that gets braced, these common themes unite us all under the same umbrella- adult orthodontics.

Today I went in to get "braced". When it was said and done, thirty minutes had elapsed and my mouth felt a whole lot bigger than it did prior to this visit. Am I experiencing any discomfort? Not really. At this point in time my teeth feel "funny" and I'm already getting used to my top lip residing in a new zip code (on top of my wire).

Since I'm sitting at the computer, eating very tasty grapes, I wanted to upload some pictures that will show my illustrate my new-found bling.

Here we go!

That's a grill that only a mother could love.

This is my "normal" side. The other side has 1 extraction (2nd bicuspid)

Notice the cross bite that developed as a result of a previous extraction

The top is by far my most complicated region of my mouth.
As you can see, I need expansion (w/o surgery) to open my arch.
We hope to accomplish this movement with NiTi wires and the In-Ovation sytem.

It's almost time!

Well,

I am sitting here at work and having a hard time focusing on the tasks at hand! In three hours, I will show up, sacrifice my mouth and aesthetics with the hope that these metal brackets will be able to fix my not-so-complicated (or so I hear) case.

After wearing spacers for ten days, I can honestly say that they are not that bad. During this time, I have been able to eat any food that I wanted (although it took me extra time to do so) and the discomfort that I experienced was minor. After 5 days, I was well on my way to a comfortable mouth and by day 7, I have no issues whatsoever.

Wish me luck!

And there it was...

So,

It's been a few days now since my spacers were first put in. While the discomfort is strong when I am eating (I can eat almost anything), I can't really feel them there during the rest of the day. I'm hoping that this is a good sign and it will predict the level of discomfort that I experience once I am braced. Since I am getting "braced" on Friday, I wanted to take this opportunity to post a few pictures of my messed up grill.

Here we go!

Straight on!

What a lovely arch you have!

Hey Buddy, can you move over? It's a bit crowded in here...

Well, I did it...

I made the mistake of flossing between my first and second molar. At first, I didn't even notice that I was there... But, when I went to pull the floss out... OUCH! Damn that hurt. Luckily I did not pull the spacer out with my careless approach to flossing.

Note to self, make sure you remember that you have spacers in.

:(

Ouch! Why am I doing this to myself?

OUCH! WTF! BAJEESUSS, THIS HURTS!

How long is this recession going to last? I can't believe that we're still bailing out AIG! Wait, wrong topic... let me get back on track.

Today was the day that I got my spacers put in. After reading all sorts of blogs, I have to admit that during my walk to my appointment, I did have a little day dream about running back home, to hide under my bed, and stay pain free for a little longer. After realizing that I was about to stumble down the two stairs into the building, I woke up, shacked off the fear, and walked through the front door with nothing but confidence.

Once I sat down in the chair, all the stress that surrounded this initial step had faded, and I was excited to get started on my quest for better teeth. With each spacer was placed (dorsal and ventral to the first molar), I became more used to the discomfort and I was very excited to have take my first step.

As I headed home from this quick visit (ten minutes!), I headed straight for my medicine cabinet, grabbed 400mg of Ibuprofen, and started to self-medicate. Now some of you might ask, is it really that painful? For me, the answer is no.... I'm not experiencing any real discomfort and on the first day, I was still able to eat a tasty, "Heavenly Ham" sandwich (although it was turkey!), a cookie, and a bag of chips.

Wish me luck!

And so it begins...

Let me introduce myself...

My name is "Steve" and I am 27 and headed for medical school in August. For the past ten years (yes, I know that's a long time!), I have been told, during each dental visit, that I would be a great candidate for braces and that if I was serious about improving the health of my mouth, I would get my teeth straightened! Well, here I am, a 27 year old graduate student, about to embark on a crazy journey to get my teeth corrected, all while trying to pass the hardest school of my life.

Over the next two years, I will try and update this blog at each milestone (Spacers, Brackets, Adjustments, etc) and give pictures of my progress through it all. Also, I will try and highlight any inconveniences that I will have to overcome (soreness, headaches, etc) that will surely complicate my scholastic schedule.

If you have any comments, feel free to post them!

-Steve, MD 2013