For this weeks post, I thought I would go through my "journey" (?) of my braces and what I had to go through to get where they are now and how I felt when I went through these different stages. I thought I would write this as a guide for people who are getting braces and don't know what to expect and if it really is all that bad! WARNING: there will be multiple images of my teeth - so if you're squeamish or don't like pictures in that context, then skip this post and I will see you on Friday ;). But lets get into it!!
| The first orthodontist appointment I went to was by far the scariest. My nerves were flying through the rough on the car trip to it, but honestly after about 3 visits of the hundreds I went to, the nerves soon wear off! My first brace that I had was this horrible bracket thing that was stuck to the roof of my mouth. I thought it was like the normal brace that everyone started off with - the one which you could remove and you only had to wear it for a few hours a day. Nope, I had to be awkward and have this horrible thing that wasn't removable, made me sound like I had a constant cold and the worst thing - the first 3 weeks my mum had to tighten it up with a little screwdriver type thing every day... It was not fun! So I had this brace for around a year and a half and all it really did was pull back the teeth to make room for the new ones to come through. (Btw, the image is not my mouth - its just a mould from the internet...) |
I was 13 just about to turn 14 when I got the full train track look and went for the most dashing colour - purple brackets. They didn't hurt when they got put on, but a day later - they hurt like crazy. It was hard to eat anything and especially when you have to clean them extremely thoroughly with loads of different brushes (ugh that was the longest thing ever, trust me you don't have to do it every time you brush your teeth!) The pain lasts for a few days then you're fine...until you get them tightened then you have to go through all the same pain again and again. Its not so much agonising pain more like your teeth are super sensitive and the slightest movement will cause you agony! Basically, paracetamol will be your best friend through this time! | |