Tin grin!

Monday was the big day! The brackets went on and the expander was removed from my mouth. It was such a joy getting the expander out. I can speak sooooo much better! Plus feeling the new roof of my mouth was so much fun. It felt huge compared to what it had been!

After removing the expander, they took some impressions to fit the trans palatal arch which eventually replaced the expander in the roof of my mouth. Next the assistant glued on all the brackets. While she was working on me, the ortho assistant was telling me about her trip to Vegas that past weekend. Being Monday morning, I was concerned that she may not be in the best shape to work on my mouth. Everything seemed fine until I brushed my teeth that night. First, the bracket on my left front tooth fell off. In the morning I brushed again and the bracket fell off the tooth next to it. I didn't know what was going on! Did I brush too hard? I put the brackets in a plastic baggy and went to work missing two brackets and tried not to grin too much. Since I was heading back to the ortho in the afternoon for wires and the TPA, I figured I'd get them reglued then.

That afternoon, I ran out of work to make my 3 PM ortho appt. The ortho assistant placed four new brackets on the front teeth since it was a matter of time until the other front two fell off. Apparently they needed to use a tougher bond since the front four teeth are veneers. Once they were rebonded the front four brackets, we were in business. They put in the trans palatal arch as well as the wires.

Even with the trans in I can still talk much better than before. I do have a bit of a lisp still because of the gap and some syllables still sound a bit funny, but big big improvement. Food doesn't really get stuck in the trans. The other thing I was surprised was I was sore in my bottom teeth, but not the upper teeth. I think my teeth in my upper jaw are so used to moving with the expander that it's not big deal for them. They put a wire powerchain between the two front teeth to start bringing them together. Literally in the ortho's office I saw the teeth move. I am now at 4.75 mm though I have spaces developing between the next teeth over. The power chain works to move the front teeth really quickly and the next teeth over will just move over on their own. When I come back in October for my next adjustment, they will use a powerchain to bring the next set of teeth over.

Day 2 in braces

Up close and personal