Thursday, March 15, 2012

March 2012

March 2012 TopMarch 2012 BottomMarch 2012 Front

March 2012, a set on Flickr.

Orthodontic Elastics Collection March 2012

Orthodontic Elastics Collection as of March 2012Diagram Elastics Braces

I own wayyy too many elastics. LOL

Braced Lets

Braced Lets by Jay Medeiros
Braced Lets, a photo by Jay Medeiros on Flickr.

So these are pretty amazing and cool. These are NOT used but new braces brackets on powerchains. of my different colours.

http://bracedlets.com/

Braces Adjustment March 1, 2012 The Video

Inflammed Gums

Hey everyone so Recently, while taking my progress pictures, I noticed from a certain angle my lower front teeth, the gums were swollen. And also the top fronts were red and such and when I flossed between the front left tooth and the one next to it it bled a little. So I called the orthodontist tonight when I was on break at work. I told her about it and she said the swollenness can get contributed by mouth breathing (esp. at night). And so i asked her about there being a special mouth rinse to help with that and she said "Yes I have some, I will give it to you at your next visit." So I told her I was going in on the 22nd with my friend who has a consultation with her. She said not a problem she would give it to me then and maybe look at my gums, if not at my visit she will. She said it sounds like there maybe some food stuch somewhere but the best thing is to brush and floss on a regular basis and that will help. The mouth rinse is called PerioMed

Poking Hooks - I Took Them Out of my Braces

Hooks I Took Out by Jay Medeiros
Hooks I Took Out, a photo by Jay Medeiros on Flickr.
Hey so I know a lot of braces patients like yourselves have had a lot of pokey oarts of the braces. Usually wax will do the trick, sometimes you either have to cut something or take care of it yourself or go in for an office visit. That was impossible for me considering it was midnight and I am working all this week. For me it is mostly these two upper Canine hooks that were not being used. the thing with Damon braces is that you can add or take away hooks at any time to any bracket. We had these fromt he first time. The other day it was really bad, it was like a cheeze grader making mozzerella cheese of the inside of my mouth ripping it up making horrible sores and causing it to bleed. I could not even eat or close my mouth it was HORRIBLE. So I put wax on it, DID NOT stay on long nore did it help and I put a heaping wad. So I topok out both of these hooks. I called the office the next business day and let them/Kathy be aware of what I had to do and she said it was not a problem at all and did not matter because that was not the hooks I was presently using. I toldher I tried to salvage the hooks when trying to take them out so then can put them back in but I couldn't she said it was fine they have a ton in the office.

6 Month Braces Anniversary March 8, 2012

Hey everyone so it's my 6 month anniversary for having braces, in March 8th, 2012. I've officially been through this journey for half a year so only two years left.

Braces Fourth Adjustment 4-1-2012

Hey Everyone, so I had my fourth adjustment. It was at 8:20 AM and I got there early studying my flashcards so then I brought them in with me and went in early at 8:15 AM and sat in the waiting room and studied my flashcards. I talked to Kathy and told her what I was studying and what not. So in walked my orthodontist like 7 minutes later with a HUGE thing of flowers bigger than she is. She's on the shorter side; smaller than me. She walks by me saying "That Jenn is always studying." She went in her office and get ready for her day of work. Weird thing is she came out to the waiting area and called me over herself, usually her assistants do that. So I sat in the first chair. As I was about to sit down my orthodontist looked at me and said "You're scary!" (Which makes me think she is a Harry Potter fan or has seen the movies because Ron is always calling Hermione scary for being a smart know-it-all, I ought to ask her next time I go). Funny thing I dropped my new cell phone on the ground and the battery came out, talk about embarassing she she picked it up for me. So she looked at my teeth and was super excited about the movement she said "WOW! Your teeth are just cruising along." So then I asked her to pick out a colour. She said "No way, not unloess you want brown." I said "Why cause no one wants it?" She said "Exactly I'd spring clean them on you." I said "No thanks" So then she said ".018 on .018 on the bottom same wire on the top). That is the square wire on bottom.  The orthodontist got up and went over to two younger girls, teenagers. They bother had to wear elastics:
To the Zebra elastics at night girl:
Ortho: Have you been wearing your elastics?
Girl: No
Ortho: You need to be wearing them if not every niht most nights of the week
Girl: Yeah about that.
To the 24/7 elastics girl:
Ortho: Have you been wearing your elastics and all the time?
Girl: Yes
Ortho: NO you havent, I can tell.
Girl: I swear to God I have been.
Ortho: no you havent and I don't appreciate you lying to me. I can tell you have not because your teeth have not moved at ALL since the last time you were here. How old are you?
Girl: 14.
Ortho: Yeah you're old enough to follow my simple instructions nad yet you have not. Start wearing them.
          So that is a little word of advice: NEVER lie to the orthodontist, well basically never stop following her commands and you will advoid that embarassing situation. So I asked to brush my teeth and the assistant let me, I took out my electric toothbrush and brushed at the brushing station after waiting for one of the patients to finish. I turned aorund to sit back where I was and the orthodontist looked at me like I was nutz I said "Yes, I've gone bonkers and lost my marbles." She said "You aid it not me" We laughed. She came back over to me and did major "Reprox" Intersproximal Reduction(IPR) on the upper four and a small amount on the bottom. I said to her "Hey save me some tooth too ya know!" She said "What do you think I am doing, stealing your whole tooth?" I said "Maybe." She said "No, I only take 1/10th of a mm. Which is small and good. She told me the same elastics and I got some more. I told her I was gonig to visit my college, the one I am transfering into. I ended up chosing blue (the sparkly one) for my braces this time around. She said "Oh good, and I will see you in 6 weeks." She walked over to some lady who was like 60 and I find that odd. So I made the appointment with Kathy, and so I left and visited the school in the same area just 20 minutes south. It was AMAZING. I CANNOT WAIT. I got a free shirt.

Orthodontic Bite Wafer

The WaferThe Bite WafersThin Bite WaferChewing on the Wafer

Orthodontic Bite Wafer, a set on Flickr.
Hey so I have a tough time with the braces pain nothing really helps it at ALL. So I found an alternative Method; Therapy/Bite Wafers. They're like a siliconey material and you bite on them to restore blood flow to the teeth and help with the pain. You can order them here:
http://www.dentakit.com/bitewafers.html

Tooth Sculpture Dad made the Orthodontist

February 2012

February 2012 TopFebruary 2012 BottomFebruary 2012 Front

February 2012, a set on Flickr.

Snapping Elastics

Hey everyone, So i've been having trouble with my elastics, they seem to snap very easily, whether I am talking, yawning or eating. So I called up the orthodontists office and they said that it is pretty much normal to happen with the thinner elastics and won't happen once I get stronger ones. So they asked me if I needed more elastics and I said yes and made mention that I needed another elastics tool because I had lsot my other one at my physical. So the assistant who was on the phone said she would put those in the elastics packets and send them in the mail for me. This was in February, since I wasn't due to go back until March. I recieved them two days later. While I am very far from the Orthodontist's office I am still in the same state.

January 2012


January 2012 Top
January 2012 Bottom
January 2012 Front

January 2012, a set on Flickr.

Third Braces Adjustment - January 12th 2012

Braces Third Adjustment 1-12-12

This was a bit different as I had three dental related appointments in one day. The first to get the wires out, second teeth cleaned and such a basic dental appointment, and then to get the wires back in/ adjustment. My firebd took me to this appointment.My friend and parents like to switch off,
9:30 AM [Wires Out]:
I arrived early at the orthodontist at 8:55am, and got called right in surprisingly. I sat in the last chair, and just got my wires taken out and colours off and the doors of my brackets shut. My ortontist wanted to see some of my dad's artwork so I brought two paintings and the tooth sculpture my dad made for her. I hsowed her the artwork and she loved it and then I told her i had a gift for her nad she said "Jenn I told you no more gifts." I said "HAHA tell my dad that cause I tried HAHA." So I pulled out the box (which I used my digital camera box and had to assure her it was NOT a camera LOL) so then I showed her the tooth sculpture made of wire (how appropriate :)). She LOVED IT. She was a little sad knowing that my dad did not sign it so I promised her that he would bring his finnishing touches (felt feet and signature pen) the next time I came. Then she told me she noticed how well my teeth were moving. She even went over to the computer that I was near and pulled up the pictures (even though it wasn't the adjustment yet).  I told her that I don't smile like that anymore; gumy smile. She had asked me to do it on purpose jsut for a second and I did nad she said WOW yes they are DEFINATLY going great. I asked if I still needed the Herbst Appliance, she said more than likely not and probably not if my teeth keep going the way they are which she thinks they will.

10:00 AM [Dental Cleaning & Examination]:
I got there at 9:05 AM and waited a little while and got called in 15 minutes later. The assistant scarpped my teeth of plaque and such, especially of the areas most hard to clean with braces on/ the wires. She had to get a special head for the tooth polisher, kind of like a kids version because  the spacing in between the brackets and the amount of tooth surface available to be cleaned. So then my dentist came in, not the same person I had the last time a way cooler dude, he's arab and I LOVE his almost Indian accent. He was soooo nice, I told him about my friend being the one whol built his office too and he said "Ahh yess I know him. Mike's a good guy".I said "Yeah he's pretty awesome." He told me he needs to keep a close watch on my  upper left second molar/last tooth. As it seems to have been a poorly done cavity, buildup on the surface, etc. So I left there with pretty much a clean bill of health on my teeth, no periodontis or gingavitis or anything bad. We left literally at 10:59AM because my friend was helping out around the office at my dentist.

11:00 AM [Adjustment Appointment]:
I went in for the adjustment at a few minutes late around 5-8 minutes past 11AM. This time I sat in the first chair. I was asked what colour I wanted and I picked up the colour wheel and the colour I picked it up by was a clear sort of colour and I said "OMG is the GLOW IN THE DARK?!" The assistant said yes and I chose it, kinda because I was taking my sweet time thinking of the colour I wanted. HAHA. The orthodontist came over and I told her about how my cleaning went. She said I needed two new wires, both being .018 on both upper and lowers. I asked about elastics and she gave me more quals. I wear them the same place as last time from the top first pre molars to the first lower molars on both sides. I am in Quails again, and the orthodontist gave me two more packets. I asked for some more mouth wash and she said "I told you not to be eating that stuff Jenn." I said "It's been three months like you said though." She was like "Oh my bad sorry Jenn." I laughed. So she came back over did Interproximal Reduction (IPR) in between my six front teeth top and bottom. She noticed my chipped front tooth and said "Oh i will fix your chipped tooth once it srats to turn for you. I thanked her for that. So then I left with my next appointment on March 1st, 2012 at 8:20 AM.

So apparently I need to buy a Sonicare toothbrush because my Oral B Pulsonic which is the EXACT same thing isn't good enough. I was upset when I was told that because I am a college student I cannot afford that. So I might as well just brush a little longer than normal no big deal.

So I got stuff from the Dentist and the Orthodontist's offfice
Dentist:
Proxabrush on a stick by GUM brand with replacement heads
Floss
Floss/Bridge Threaders (which are AMAZING)
Super Floss
Orthodontist:
2 Travel Colgate Gum Protection toothpastes
Phos Flur Bubblegum Mouthrinse
Appointment Card
2 Packets of Quail elastics