My Braces Journey Recap:
The Doomsday!
My initial appointment should be on the 9th of June, thought of having it set on my teeth, then I can spend my rest time at home during this end of posting period. Got a call from the clinic that my orthodontist will be outstation for a period of time. Got my date reschedule to 5th of June, instead.
I'm actually excited!
Commercial break
Went for bowling with colleagues few days back in MITC
Back to the topic
For the past few nights before I could fall asleep, I've been scrolling through stories and blogs about the procedure. Giving myself an idea how it is done and what to expect. I'm mentally prepared and excited about being the new member of metal mouth gang.
I was among the last patient that day, since they give me the 4pm slot (seriously killing my excitement). After a long day, Dr Kok still being very nice and friendly. Not much exchange of conversation, well, I couldn't talk during the procedure while she was being really focused.
Scaling and Cleaning
COFFEE LOVER just can't escape this step. I have this guilty laugh when she told me "You need a lot of cleaning". Yeah, coffee stains the teeth a lot, but I'm not giving up (Grin and slowly roll away).
The amount of discomfort during scaling is way disturbing. Some areas of my teeth and gum are quite sensitive, the sharp poking and scraping pain gives me some jolts at certain part. I wish it will be over soon. However, it took about 15 minutes. It might sound like a short one, but no, I freaking don't like it.
When I was ask to rinse my mouth, quite an amount of blood from my gums.
Putting the Braces On
All I was focusing was watching the busy hands of my orthodontist and her assistant. I have no idea what's going on. The whole process is fairly comfortable. Keeping my tongue relax is one important step that I need to keep myself reminded.
I could taste how sour the adhesive is. I was informed that she was placing the bracket starting from my lower set of teeth, followed by the upper set.
Pressure was felt when she placed the archwire into each bracket. Each bracket of the Self Ligating Braces has their own door called Auto Clip, once the door is closed, the archwire stays in place. This is where the difference from the conventional braces, where coloured elastic band was used to keep the archwire stays in place.
The archwire has memory of its own original shape. It exerts pressure on the brackets and then to the teeth for it to go back into its own straight line. I guess this is the simplest way to explain how it works. I'm not the best person to describe this. Hehe.
WARNING!
Awkward gigi pictures ahead!
Mirror image (The coil spring on the left of this picture is actually on the right side of my mouth)
Pay attention to how crooked the archwire is crossing every bracket in each tooth.
They must be crying to get their straight position back.
Lips is super dry, effects from all the foreign objects in my mouth. Taking time to adjust.
Right side
This is an open coil spring, used to open up space.
Open coil spring is the most annoying monster in my mouth now, it is jutting out, scraping my inner lips 24/7. Due to its most outer position and rough surface. Wonder how long this monster gonna stay there.
Another monster is the hook attached to the bracket on the canine. It has a blunted round end, but it still happily scraping my inner lips.
Notice that one tooth that doesn't own a bracket? Because it has insufficient space for a bracket until my right canine fill up the empty place, where my premolar was extracted.
The criss cross wire at the side is called colligation, it is to close the empty space by pulling the canine.
Left side
This side is less troublesome, the hook over this side is a bit more in the inside, staying in a further distance from my inner lips. There are times it still try to scrap my inner lips, but way better compared to the right one.
Edited the colour of this picture to emphasize on the colligation over this side, for the same purpose, to close the gap.
See that monster on the left side of this picture, the most jutting out part. That's the coil spring LOR!
I called this Life Saver!
All the sharp hooks' worst enemy, the dental wax. Just take a pinch, roll it into a ball and had it paste over the sharp area. Safe me from getting more ulcers.
Twin!
I didn't feel any pain on the first day.
Just a mouthful of metal, taking time to adjust how to close my mouth and my lips just feel weird. Definitely lots of pressure inside, but no pain felt at the moment.
The most significant changes is that I can't bite!
Even the softest food in the universe. My teeth feel so tight that bitting is painful and sensitive.
Well, no problem la, since I've been on soft diet on the past few weeks, full of experience fuhhhhh....
Cost: RM 2,900 (RM 100 for consultation)
Love
