Wow, 4 months with my Harmony Braces already!

My apologies for the delay in posts, November seemed to just disappear before I knew it! And now here we are just a few days from Christmas. My teeth have moved quite a bit since my last post, especially in the past 2 weeks since my last appointment. Dr. Cliff added some "stops" (I think that's what he called them) to help my super-crooked front tooth move. I will be honest, that week was pretty painful - right up there with the first week I had my braces. I went back to soft foods for a few days and had to take quite a few ibuprofen lol. BUT the good (great) news is that it worked!!! In just a week that tooth moved so much that two people as soon as they saw me went "oh my gosh your teeth are so much straighter!". So all the pain was definitely worth it, because that is my most hated feature and I desperately want it fixed. I haven't been very good with using my AcceleDent lately, because I was sick for 2 weeks and then had that adjustment which left me not wanting to put anything in my mouth haha. Although Dr. Cliff suggested in future that might actually help when I'm sore, so I will give it a try. But I'm going to get back at it because I really do think it's working and I notice a difference from not using it. I will be posting the pics they took Wed so you can see the difference, and I'll also be putting together a time-lapse video on my YouTube page soon: http://www.youtube.com/user/HarmonyLingualBraces. My next appointment is mid-Jan so y'all have a great holiday and happy New Year, and I'll talk to you again in 2013!!!

getting used to my Harmony Lingual braces

It's been a couple weeks since my last post so I thought I'd do a quick update - not much exciting or new happening really, my teeth are still moving slowly but surely and don't hurt, even after getting new power threads today so that's good. Also Dr. Cliff was pleased that my upper extraction gap on the left had closed enough that we needed to file down the pontics (fake tooth) to make more room. I actually opted to have them both removed as I find them irritating with food getting stuck etc. and I don't have any more weddings so I'm not too concerned about it. I can see how much the lower left has closed too which is awesome, especially since that's the one that's been missing for over 10 years (we didn't have to remove it). For some reason one of my front teeth has been insanely sensitive lately - to cold, or even room temperature drinks, and even just the air at times. That sucks but I've been using prescription strength fluoride toothpaste which has been helping. It's the same one that used to do this in the past so not really to do with the braces but still extremely irritating. Still using my AcceleDent and it still seems to be working so all in all good progress and I'll keep you posted.

Links

it occurred to me that I should probably post a link to learn more about Harmony Lingual self-ligating braces. Check out Alexander & Alexander in Coppell and Dallas at www.alexanderortho.com or go to www.myharmonysmile.com My next appointment is next week so I'll update after that :)

New power threads on my Harmony braces

Thought I'd do a quick update - I had another appointment with Dr. Cliff at Alexander & Alexander Orthodontics yesterday. I'd been having problems on the right side, with something hurting my tongue and causing a blister. It was driving me crazy because I couldn't figure out which bracket it was. Turns out I had a broken wire! We ended up taking out the broken piece, because it was at the back on the right and we're working on the left right now so it won't affect the treatment and when we put the next wire in it will be fixed. I also had a wire poking me at the back on top and they bent it back so it doesn't bother me anymore. My teeth have definitely been moving, we had to put in a new set of power threads on the left because the first ones were loose, so that means the gaps are closing which is awesome! Negative side is my teeth were REALLY sore yesterday, and still a bit tender today (although way better). So I can tell the threads are doing their job lol. Getting the new threads (they're like elastics) is kind of irritating at first, just because my tongue gets stuck in them, but since it only lasts a day or two I can live with it. That's about it for now, will keep updating as things change :)

One month with my Harmony lingual braces!!!

Well I've had my harmony lingual braces for just over a month now and been using my acceledent for a few weeks - although I have to admit I was on vacation for 10 days and didn't exactly keep up with it : s I do believe the acceledent is working though because it seems like when I wasn't using it my teeth didn't feel like they were moving as much. So it's time to get back on track! I still find the teeth on either side of the extractions to be quite tender when biting down but other than eating my teeth don't hurt at all any more. Also, happy news - today a coworker told me she is starting to see a difference in my smile!! That's awesome because I was feeling like there was no difference at all lol. I have an appt next week so will update again after that.

Harmony Lingual Braces - 1st official visit

I had my official follow up visit today, to check the wires and positioning and to get pontics (fake teeth to fill the extraction gaps) and also get power chains. Those are to help close the gap. I actually got power threads instead, they're like little stretchy elastics, Dr. Alexander thought they would work better with the lingual braces. I felt them right away so hopefully that means they're working already! I have a wedding Saturday, so I'm pretty happy about the fake teeth because I've been really self conscious about smiling, and getting pictures taken, because you can see them if my head is turned to the side at all. Dr. Cliff put them in really quick and I couldn't even feel anything while he was building them up which was great. Basically the fake teeth are for cosmetics only, I can't eat with them and they don't actually reach if I bite down, but they hide the gaps and look amazingly real. I'm not sure how long I'll keep them after the wedding, just because I feel like it's an extra place for food to get stuck etc. but we'll see I've been using the Acceledent, not every day as intended (I missed a couple days on the long weekend) but trying hard. It seems to be less powerful now and I'm not sure if that's because I'm getting used to it or if it actually is doing less vibration but either way it's super easy and doesn't hurt at all. My teeth are pretty much fine now, it seems like they rotate aching lol, one tooth will be sore for a couple days, then a different one, etc. and sometimes when I chew on the right side it feels like one is loose, but I'm just careful and it's fine. I am still careful about what I eat, nothing hard or difficult to chew, but I've had pasta, chicken, shrimp, rice, eggs, bacon, even pizza. I'm still having trouble with my "S"'s but everything else seems to have improved a lot so I'm happy about that as well. That's it for now, will keep you posted :)

Pics with harmony braces

almost forgot, they gave me the pics from right after I got my harmony braces on - I'm almost embarrassed to post these but that's the point right? Notice what a huge difference there is in my bite, you can actually see my bottom teeth now

Braces are ok

Just wanted to give y'all a quick update - I went to Dr. Cliff today (Alexander & Alexander Orthodontics) and he checked all my brackets for me to check if any more were loose. He said all is well, and thankfully the bracket I had reattached in PR is also good to go - a side benefit of these custom Harmony braces is that they really only fit in one place! If I had regular braces I would have had to have him re-attach it in the proper position, of course only if I didn't lose it when it came off :s So whie I was there they also fixed the wire that was poking up and cutting my tongue, so that feels a million times better, and I got a new supply of gishy goo since I used up the last one protecting my tongue from said wire lol. They also gave me a new appliance to try, called "AcceleDent" which is supposed to help accelerate the movement of my teeth so the treatment time is shorter. I have to plug it in overnight so I'll try it tomorrow and let you know what it's like. That's all for now, ttys

back from vacation - 2 weeks with harmony braces

well, I survived my week in Puerto Rico, and my second week with braces! I'm still recovering from the busy week but wanted to post an update. All in all going on vacation with braces this new was not fun. I was very limited in what I could eat, and even what I did eat was slow and frustrating. The worst part though, is that on day 2 of the vacation, one of my brackets came off!!! Of course it was on a molar, at the very back, so it was just flopping around and I was terrified of losing it. I couldn't eat anymore at that point (and had taken all of 2 bites of my pasta when it came off) so that was extremely frustrating. Also because it was at the back the wire was cutting the heck out of my mouth. I wasted an entire day of my vacation finding a dentist in PR who could reattach it (I was looking even for someone to cut it off so I could eat again and take it back with me for Dr. Cliff to reapply). Luckily I found an American who was able to reattach it, but it cost me $100 out of my limited vacation fund, which was another bummer. I can also tell that at least one more if not 2 or 3 brackets (all molars) are also loose, so I'm praying that they stay put until my appointment tomorrow afternoon, because I do NOT want to go through that again. So all in all I would definitely not recommend going on vacation within the first month of getting lingual braces. On a happier note I seem to be able to eat more real foods now, like pasta and scrambled eggs, without pain. But it's still almost impossible to bite into anything with my front teeth, and the wires are still hurting my tongue a lot. And one weird thing I've noticed - it seems like when I sleep my braces are crushing my tongue, so my mouth is really sore every morning. I've tried applying wax right before bed but it only helps a little. That's it for now, back to work tomorrow and I'll keep you updated on my progress :)

1 week with my harmony braces!

Well it's officially been a week since I got my brackets on and my teeth yanked (sorry for the graphic) but I realize this could be a bit misleading since it's only really day 4 with the full braces including wires - which seem to be what is the real adjustment. I was hoping to pretty much be able to eat like a normal person by now, not anything hard or tough, but at least eat pasta or similar easily. No such luck I'm afraid - my teeth are really just tender now, sort of like a healing bruise feeling, almost itchy, hard to explain. It's not agony, ,just irritating. But when I try to eat something with any substance it's a fair bit of work, that's when I really feel how tender my teeth are - of course I try to eat with my molars but as soon as I put any pressure on them it's like jabbing a bruise :s so it ends up being slow and frustrating and I give up. And I find I'm using a lot of gishy goo, going to have to order more very soon as it's kind of a small tube. One other thing I've noticed is that yesterday and today I keep hitting my front teeth together - that is REALLY painful, but I'm hoping it means either my teeth and/or my bite is moving so I just try to be careful when I talk. Still lisping quite a bit, tomorrow I have 4 meetings including one where I am doing all the talking so it should be interesting. I leave for my vacation on Sunday, so I'll try to post an update Saturday before I go. Will also do a new video post on youtube tomorrow or Saturday so you can hear how I sound. I do have to say though, this whole "lingual" behind the teeth braces thing is pretty cool, at least I don't worry about people noticing my metal mouth when I talk, or feeling self conscious at all (except when I talk haha).

Day 5 - dinner out

Well I had a terrible sleep last night, kept waking up trying to get comfortable :s My teeth were driving me crazy in the morning and I had to take 2 aleve just to take the edge off! BUT I am happy to say they feel a lot better now Thank God. My friend from CA is in town this week so after postponing last night we went out for dinner tonight. I chose the Olive Garden because I figured pasta was my best bet lol. The gnocci was awesome' warm & soothing but also filling and soft to eat. I tried chicken penned Alfredo but it was frustrating and after eating about 1/10 of it I gave up and had it boxed up. Hopefully in a day or two I can try again. I'll say again thank God for gishy goo! The one wire is sticking straight up at the back and ripping my tongue to shreds but the gg totally protects it and stays on forever Lastly, I bought a water pik to help since flossing is REALLY irritating. I actually like the waterpik - its very odd and I sprayed water everywhere lol but it really made my mouth feel clean and got all the little bits out that brushing couldn't. So all in all I'm adjusting pretty well and hoping im back to almost normal by the end of the week, so I can enjoy my vacation next week!

Day 4 - Wires on

wow - I got my wires put on today and HOLY CRAP are my teeth ever funny!!! I had no idea it would be like this, within 30 minutes I could already feel things happening and I swear I can even feel the air when I breathe, it's like every tooth is super sensitive, it doesn't hurt it's just annoying :( I called Alexander & Alexander first thing this morning since I'd forgotten to on Friday, and they were able to take me right away (they're so awesome there) Dr. Cliff was great as usual, we decided against putting the "fake teeth" in because my teeth on either side of the extractions are still super tender and I couldn't take it - the poor girl doing my wires had to be super careful not to even touch the one top one but she did a great job. I feel like I was just getting the hang of talking around the brackets and now I have to start all over again with the wires. Oh, and the right side of my tongue is super raw so I broke out the gishy goo and that is my hero - that stuff rocks, make sure you ask for it it's so much better than wax! Now I'm just praying Dr. Cliff was right and the super sensitivity will ease up in a day or two - I'll keep you posted PS I'm doing a video series on YouTube to document my progress as well, check it out by searching harmony lingual braces :)

Day 2

Well, it's safe to say the most irritating part of this whole thing is definitely the extractions - I'm hungry and irritated lol but the braces really arent that bad! I had a long phone conversation with my friend last night and although I could tell I sounded funny (like I have a fat tongue) it really wasn't that bad. I haven't used any wax or gishy goo yet, mostly because I'm afraid of mucking up my extractions and I don't want to use it until I really need it. I can tell the most irritating parts are going to be the sides of my tongue at the back, which doesnt surprise me because that's where my teeth are really narrow. So the worst part of all this is that I'm terrified of getting dry socket, so that means no hard foods, no brushing the teeth (I did brush the front teeth and tongue because I couldn't stand it but I stayed away from the extractions), no hot liquids and just generally being careful. Pretty sick of lukewarm soup by now lol but ice cream is a gift from heaven! Tried scrambled eggs last night but that was extremely frustrating and I gave up. Thinking maybe I'll try mashed potatoes tonight, just to have something different than soup. On the upside, it's like a built in weight loss plan haha, and I'm going on vacation in a week so hopefully I'll be beach ready! Of course I really just want to be able to eat real food by then so wish me luck ;)

Before Pics

Thought it would be a good time to post my before pics so we have a frame of reference! Also I should be getting pics of what the braces look like when I go in for the wires on Monday but for now, here's what my teeth are like: This is my smile from the front - you can see how my top teeth completely cover the bottom teeth, and how the front 2 teeth are kind of crooked all over (they slope down, in and sideways lol) and also the one canine overlaps a front tooth big time - this is the main culprit for me being unhappy with my smile and hence going for braces btw

Looking at the top jaw, you can see how "squished" my teeth really are, so rather than being a nice "U" shape, they're like a wobbly line of spaghetti :s You can also really see how overlapped that canine is

On the bottom, as you can see I'm already missing a pre-molar, that's why I only need 3 teeth removed. But you can also see, again, how short my teeth are on space - although my lowers have a much nicer arch than my uppers.

Got my Harmony lingual braces on!

Sorry for leaving such a gap in blogs, but there really wasn't much going on between getting my impressions and getting my braces on. So let me tell you about Thursday... I went Thursday morning and got my Harmony Lingual braces on. This was a slighly irritating experience, but not painful at all. The irritation came from the cheek and tongue holders, not very comfortable, and having the assistant constantly telling me to "open bigger". I had my mouth open as far as I possibly could - that's part of the problem, I have a small mouth which is why I need braces!! Anyway, after it was all over I was fine, actually better than expected. I had a bit of a lisp, but it really didn't hurt. Dr. Cliff (Alexander) and his assistant explained how it would get better before it got worse, and gave me a kit with all kinds of goodies for my new braces - floss, wax, gishy goo, etc. Since my appointment to get my teeth extracted was that afternoon we didn't put the wires in, but agreed I'd come back in afterwards, or on Monday to get my wires and the little fake teeth to hide the gaps from my extractions until my teeth close. So that was all good, I went to work for a couple of hours before I had to go to the dentist and I felt fine (although nervous about the extractions). My dentist appt was at 1 with Dr. Siegrist in Las Colinas - who by the way is an AWESOME dentist and I love them! I was seriously freaked about having the teeth pulled, which I told him haha and he was so gentle and reassuring about it, didn't make me feel bad at all. They gave me nitrous gas to help relax me, and then of course the freezing stuff. The whole while he and the assistant were so calming and nice, she kept patting my shoulder which was awesome, it was like a mom gesture lol. And Dr. Siegrist kept checking to make sure I was ok and was feeling relaxed. Turns out I needed a second doese of freezing for 2 of the teeth, so he did that and double checked that I couldn't feel a thing before continuing. I honestly didnt even know he'd taken one out it was so smooth and painfree. The other 2 I heard but that was it. All in all it took under an hour to get 3 teeth pulled, and I was fine to drive home after. What I did find though was that I was exhausted!!! Probably mostly from stressing myself out, but man I slept and slept. I was also concerned that my gums kept bleeding until about 9 at night, but seemed to finally clot up after that. Will post again in a day or two to share how I'm doing

fitted for harmony braces

I went for my appointment the other day to get my impressions taken. What an experience! Everyone there is so ridiculously friendly and genuinely nice! They all welcomed me and congratulated me on my decision. The process of doing the impressions wasn't too bad, but of course I had to be the exception to the rule and it took 3 tries to get my bottom one right. On the upside Michelle and Dr. Cliff were both very meticulous in making sure they were right before they go off to the lab. The reason it took 3 tries is that my teeth are so crowded the bottom palate is kind of squished, so we had to switch to a smaller tray. And overall it still only took about half an hour so not a big deal. Michelle was kind enough to send me my pictures and x-rays, which I will post soon. Now begins the waiting - the impressions get sent to the lab in Europe so it will take about 6 weeks to get the braces back and then I can get them put on (and get a couple extractions - eeks!) Stay tuned...

The big decision

Well, this is it, I have really decided to get braces! Since I did NOT want the visible appearance of traditional braces, I did a ton of research and found the new self-ligating systems, which are less noticeable and don't use elastics. They also offer clear brackets for the front teeth, which make them even less noticeable. Then I found lingual braces, which go behind the teeth so you can't see them at all, but they used elastics which concerned me about the hygiene and inconvenience. Finally I found the best of both worlds...lingual, self-ligating braces!!! Surprisingly the cost was not much higher than the other options, and for me it is worth it. In my search for the perfect smile, I have had consults with 3 orthodontists in Coppell, 1 in Dallas (Highland Park) and 1 in Carrollton. The cost of treatment ranged from $6,000-10,000 and all of them estimated the same treatment time of 18 months. I finally settled on a fantastic ortho in Coppell, Dr. Alexander, because I was the most comfortable with him and his staff, the environment was very friendly and welcoming, and he is the only ortho I could find who offers Harmony, although I found him while looking at a different type of brace. Good thing to note, most orthos in the Dallas area offer free consultations, including an estimate on the treatment, and I even went to see Dr. Alexander twice because I was getting cold feet and had some more questions I wanted answered. All of the offices also offered no interest payment plans, which was a big help although I know there are other options like Care Credit if you need to stretch your payments over a longer period of time. So now that I have decided to move forward, I go in next week to get the molds taken of my teeth, and then it takes 6-8 weeks to get the braces back from the lab and have them put on. I think the waiting will be the worst part, because now that I'm going ahead with my decision I want to get started right away!

What do you mean I need braces???

I am 31 years old, and have never had braces. After years of hating my teeth, and finding that they are getting worse as I get older (or I'm just noticing more) I was looking for a solution. After my dentist told me he could fix my front tooth (the crooked one that really bothers me) with a root canal and crown, I wanted to be sure by getting a second opinion. In fact I figured, while I'm at it why don't I get some veneers and have a nice white smile! So the second opinion was from a cosmetic dentist, referred to me by a good friend. He was very honest and told me that while he could do crowns and veneers, it would mean ruining a perfectly good tooth, doing an unnecessary root canal, and I wouldn't be happy in the long run because the crowns would fail, and the rest of my teeth would still be crooked, including my overjet and overbite. He was brutally honest, and said what I needed was braces. WHAT??? I was not expecting this, and to say the least I was not happy about his announcement. I fought and argued and asked a million questions about non-braces options. He was firm that I wouldn't be happy with anything he could do, that I really should consider braces and that there were lots of options on the market now that were less noticeable, and more suited for adults. Urgh, ya right, this is not what I want to hear. But like I usually do, I thought it over (and over and over), and did some research. Turns out he was right, there are all kinds of braces out there now, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad...