No, it’s not my birthday. It’s a term I saw the people on ArchedWire forum use for the day that you get your braces on.
When I had braces last time, I did not own my own camera – let alone a digital camera and a blog to show anyone who is interested (or not – sorry you stumbled here). Even so, I have to MAKE myself not care about what other people may think when I whip out my camera. At least I gave them a “warning” with my photo taking last week.
Lower arch – before. Spacers still intact.
Upper arch – before.
Tools of the trade.
I felt like a hamster.
Jan preparing the molar bands’ cement.
Richard was the one who fitted each of the four molar bands before handing the rest of the procedure to Anne and Jan – to be honest, I was quite relieved that he did (and knowing Anne’s experience) because he was quite…ganas. Before removing the spacers, he asked me, “How many of them fell out?”
“Uhh…none.”
“Oh.”
I thought to myself, “This is not good.”
The spacers did not come out without a bit of a fight, actually. And before my gums could breathe, he sort of jammed the molar bands in and took them out in a hurry if it didn’t fit. For the bigger molar bands, no problem – because they slip right out again. It is a problem for the slightly smaller (but not the right fit) ones because they were harder to get in, thus harder to get out. My poor gums – I was bleeding around all four molars when Anne stepped in. I was soooooooooo glad she was so much gentler when taking them out for Jan to fill them with cement (yes, before putting them on again).
Some thingamajig to make sure my teeth are squeaky clean!
*big cheesy grin*
After cleaning each tooth, Anne had to make sure every tooth’s surface was dry so that the brackets would have no problem staying on.
A sealant was applied to every tooth – then Jan would squeeze a small amount of bracket glue to the back of the brackets and hand it to Anne to place on each tooth.
I only had one earphone in because I didn’t want to be rude and not hear them talking to me if I had both in my ears.
Then the distance of the bracket measured.
You can also see some white spots on my teeth of my upper arch – that’s where the green stuff was on.
Curing process – so that the glue would harden and set.
This definitely did not happen when I was 15. Then again, the glue this time is pink and the one last time was off-white and tasted real bad!
When I took this photo, I didn’t review it to see what brackets were going on my social six (my top 4 incisors and top 2 canines) – else I would’ve told them to stop. I didn’t request for ceramics for my social six!
I guess she misunderstood the intention of my questions last week – I asked if it was possible to have all clear brackets for upper and lower arches (because Jo told me she got them and I’ve read about them online) – and she showed me the brackets then. That didn’t mean I wanted clear brackets, I was just curious. That’s how I knew how they look like and when I saw them at the end stages of light curing, I sort of panicked (pointing at them frantically!)
“Hmmm…what should I have this month?”
The colours on the ceramic brackets were to help guide their placements and usually left for the wearer to brush them off. Anne cleaned them for me because I think she thought I was worried about them NOT being completely clear when I was protesting with my mouth full of cotton.
Little did she know I was trying to tell her that I didn’t want them. I know it’s weird – most adults would want clear ones for aesthetic reasons, but I wanted all metal because I WANT uniformity. She did ask if I minded – I sort of did but didn’t want to create any fuss over it and having them redo the brackets for me.
Anne and Jan.
I chose dark blue this time.
It’s quite exciting for me because I didn’t get o-rings (ligatures) last time (or even had an option to choose it!) – I’m wondering what colour to go for at my next appointment now!
Yea, my bite is pretty messed up.
Whatdya think?
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I also got a “goody bag” from the orthodontist.
The wax that a lot of people on the forum (and even Jo) said one would need LOTS of. I’ve not needed to use them in the past (that’s even with the wire ligatures) and I hope I won’t need it.
