Well... hello there!

Don't worry... I didn't forget about my blog. I've just been rather lazy about posting on the regular.

It's been so long that I can't even recall when my past appointments since my previous post were. I've had silver ties for the past 2-3 months. The ortho has just been focusing on moving my one tooth forward and had it tied to the wire to bring it up.

My most recent visit to the orthodontist was on 10/2/2009. I put on silver ties on top to remain somewhat discrete. However, since it IS october...I found it appropriate to put orange and black on the bottom. They've finally attached the tooth on the right of my right front tooth to the wire (I don't know the name of that tooth...I'll look it up later) .

I'm going in again at the end of the month on 10/26 because I am heading to Las Vegas for halloween... and I wanted to have the more subtle silver ties back on. Yeah......

Anyhow, I can't think of anything else to post today.

Pz, Binna.

Pic: Silver on top, Halloween'ed out on bottom. I'm so fly. Teeth are really starting to straighten out. Woohoo!

Funky canines, Powerchains, Crooked smiles... oh what fun!

So I definitely had an appointment at the end of July. I think it was on the 27th or the 29th, but I'm not sure. When I do remember, I'll change this post up a little.

I went with silver ties til the next appointment, because they are more discrete on my braces (if that makes sense). They are still pulling that one canine towards the back of the teeth to make room for the tooth that is pushed back. In order to get that canine moving, they added a power chain behind all that weird springy stuff that's tied to the screw up in my gums.

Other than that, there isn't any real painful news or insane updates on my braces. Hoping to see some changes soon enough! Because the canine is getting pushed back into place, I feel like my crooked upper row seems so much more prominent when I smile. I can't wait until they start to really straighten out so I can be more confident in my smile! It's so weird how my upper row is displaced to the left so much.

I'm considering whether I want to stick to more clear-type or less noticeable ties from now on, as I will be trying to get an entry-level job out in the real world. Somehow, I don't think bright pink or alternated color ties would work well in interviews, hahaha!

I'll put up a photo sometime this week...as I have misplaced my USB cord for my camera!

C ya later, Binna.

Pic: Silver ties as I told you. The crooked tooth next to my front teeth on the left for the image. You can see a yellow plastic tie that is tying the tooth to the wire to bring it forward. (:

Throwing some rubberbands into the braceface mix!

Okay! I had my appointment at 12 noon today and it seems like pain-wise...the treatment will be all downhill from here. On the upside, I guess that means my teeth will start trekking their way to 'straight-dom' soon enough. Hah~

When I walked in for my appointment, I decided to be festive with my choice of ties this month. This is obviously because the 4th of July holiday is coming right around the corner. I requested for clear blue ties on the top (as to remain somewhat discrete about my braces, hahah!). However, the dental assistant said she didn't have any and proceeded to use light blue ties. Oh well, what can you do. As for the bottom row, I got a red and blue mix. I always tend to regret my creative choice of ties after I get them on, but since its only for a month...I suppose I can deal with it!

It seemed like any other regular visit, and I was on my way out the door until the dental assistant stopped me. She had forgotten to give me rubberbands. I couldn't help but think to myself that ugh!... I was so close to exiting the building. Sigh.

Anyhow, she put on the rubberband and handed me a little packet full of all these tiny rubberbands so I can replace it daily. It definitely constricts my mouth and unlike other rubberband placements I have seen, mine is shaped in a triangle. This will eventually adjust my minor crossbite I have on the right side of my mouth.

As per usual, I have attached a photo to show what kind of funky junk I will be cheesing off to the world this month!

Enjoy and take it easy, Binna.

Pic: Here are my colorful ties and the rubberband they have placed in the shape of a triangle in the back right. Sadface :(

Its been awhile since I posted...

Whew, time sure does fly... and I have definitely been lazy about updating my braceface blog.

Let's see what I can recap about the past few months:

4/20/09 - got clear blue ties
5/29/09 - went to my dentist Dr. Pham to get my upper-right bicuspid extracted :(
6/10/09 - was my orthodontist appointment for this month; had a screw implanted into my gums; picked out clear blue ties again

That's basically what has happened over the course of the past few months.

The tooth extraction went pretty smoothly, with little to no pain during the quick procedure. However, I did have a sore throbbing pain later on that stayed with me the remainder of the day.

As I mentioned in my little ortho-summary, last Wednesday I went in for my post-extraction orthodontist appointment. The doctor hand-implanted a screw into the upper right side of my gums, and boy did it hurt like hell. I don't think he used enough novacaine to numb me out completely since I definitely felt pain on top of the immense pressure.

The screw will be used to tie groups of teeth that they can pull back so my teeth can shift more quickly than if they were to pull back one tooth at a time. Afterward, the doctor gave me some Peridex (an antibiotic) to apply to the area where the gums are in order to prevent infection. Its been really irritating and painful to have to get adjusted to this random chunk of metal just hanging out in my gums. This is particularly because the screw rubs against the inside of my cheek and has been keeping that area raw. I hope that the inside of my cheeks callous up soon so that it won't bother me for much longer.

Anyhow, in more cheerful news... my bottom row is really beginning to straighten out a lot! I know that my upper row will take a LOT more work, but I am so psyched to start seeing results up there!

I will try to stay on top of updating this blog every month like I should be~
Only a 1.5 years left to go!!!

See you later,
Binna.

Pic: These were all taken on 6/19/2009. You can clearly see how all the metal gear I've got on sometimes makes me feel like Frankenstein!! @_@!!


Here's just a front view of how they look right now!





This is the upper-right bicuspid that was extracted...as you can obviously tell from the huge gap hahaha~


This is where they implanted the screw :\ ...it still hurts a bit.





Peridex. This bottle looks so illegally made, haha.

Recurring circumstances

I had another appointment yesterday (3/23/2009) at 10AM. It really sucked. That's really all. I got light purple ties for the Easter season..but they just look kind of clear/light cream color once the dental assistant put them on my teeth.

When do I start seeing any changes...?

On Monday, February 23rd, I went into the orthodontist to get my braces re-wired and put on new ties. I was running a bit late for my 10:30am appointment due to my recovering stomach flu. I was worried that I would have to reschedule for being late, but the office decided I would have enough time. I was admonished for my not-so-punctual actions and not be late in the future.

Anyhow, during my visit that day...I could not help but think to myself that... wow,I still do not fully grasp how the process works in actuality. They are doing all this stuff to my teeth and I am just sitting here and going la-di-da in my head. All the while, the assistants have my mouth pried open and doing all kinds of stuff.

Dr. Ellis informed me that he would like to get one of my upper right bicuspids extracted in two months to make space for my teeth that are blocked out. This is what I think he said: He wants to put on heavier wires every month so that my teeth can adjust to weight and change. So the assistant put in a wire that was a bit thicker than the last one, and changed up my rubber bands.

Anyways, I dealt with the same soreness I got the past couple months, but its getting easier to deal with. My friend Melanie said that the real pain starts when the teeth actually start moving and straigtening out. Clearly, that pain will probably be a ton worse for me and my severely crowded and crooked teeth. Jeez...thats one thing I am NOT looking forward too.

One thing I do dislike about braces is that I feel like I am thrown back into junior high. Sometimes people give me looks, but I just shrug them off. I guess I have no one to blame but myself since I do choose ridiculously bright-colored bands. Speaking of bands, I opted to go with bright green ties for this month in celebration of St. Patty's Day and the upcoming spring season. I am 110% excited for longer daylight hours and warmer weather to spread around some happiness!

Might as well enjoy the braces while I have them, no? Hahaha. I just hope to start seeing some changes in the next few months, so I can start smiling with more confidence :D

Take care, Binna.


Pic: Green ties, woopie!! ...bottom row starting to straighten out a little bit :D

Is it too late to change my decision to have them on?!

Alright so, as I mentioned previously in my last blog... I went in on Monday, January 26th to get the rest of my "grill" put in. Oh boy... I think the reality of what I will be going through has finally set in.

The dental assistant had a lot of trouble finding and fitting the correct anchor size for my metal bands and so what should have taken 10 minutes...ending up taking like 40. She was definitely ripping my mouth apart. I just remember at one point that I looked down at my bib and there was blood all over it, hahaha. Yeah, I'm laughing now, but when I look back on it... it was pretty gross.

So anyhow, the orthodontist came around after the assistant was done fitting me for sizes, and he proceeded to glue those suckers in and get me all wired up (literally). Afterwards, I tried to handle the pain of that strange and incredibly achy soreness that I felt, but eventually gave into the torture and completely jacked myself up on ibuprofen, hehe. Here I am 3 days later definitely still having trouble with adjusting to my new "steel-y" mouth. I went grocery shopping the night before and found myself to be cruising through the more mushy and easy-to-swallow food isles all over again.

Hopefully I'll be up and eating everything in my path again shortly..at least until I have to go in to get the braces tightened.

While I was on my way out, the orthodontist mentioned that he'd probably have me start getting the teeth pulled within the next couple months. He needs to pull from 1-3 (depending on what he believes to be the best course of action to get me that "oh-so-beautiful smile") in order to make space for my teeth. Apparently, while most people have U-shaped mouths...I got lucky [sarcasm] and ended up with a V-shaped one...which left me with inadequate space for all my teeth. That, plus I'll probably also have to get my wisdoms removed within the next year too.

Oh boy, I just re-read my last paragraph and am grudingly coming to the realization that the next 2 years are going to be.. not so fun. This brings me to remember that the other day I was joking around with a friend and said, "If I go back to the orthodontist to get my brackets taken off, do you think I'll get a full refund?!..I dont think I can handle it!" Ha, as much as I don't want to do this, I do at the same time..so I suppose I'll stick with it.

Anyhow, I've provided a photo of what I look like with my full set of braces with my light pink ties for all of you to enjoy! I hope you don't get too grossed out, haha~

Until that dreaded next time, Binna.



Photo taken on 1-26-2009.
(I think the wires make it so much more obviously crooked, sigh.)

On a mission to have a nice smile :D

Early in December, I got serious about getting my teeth fixed because I was tired of having severely crowded teeth give me an ugly smile. I feel like at 22 years old and in my prime, I shouldn't have to be ashamed of any part of myself, so I'll take action and get whatever I'm upset about now while I'm still feeling somewhat young HA!

For most of my self-conscious life I've been bothered mainly by two things: my weight and my teeth. The weight issue I've been dealing with pretty well for the past year, and hopefully I'll be at my goal size by the time summer rolls around. However....getting my teeth straightened is a much more time-consuming, expensive, and serious matter. So I went around the Northern Virginia area for several orthodontic consultations. Why did I visit so many? Because I wanted to compare the doctor's opinions, their employees/office atmosphere, prices, and the different treatment plans.

I ended up deciding to stay local to my Alexandria/Annandale area and went with Dr. Michael Ellis. So 2 days ago on Monday, January 5th... I went in for my appointment at 11am to get my brace brackets and spacers on. Valeria, the dental assistant who was prepping me to get the brackets on, asked me if I wanted ceramic or metal, and well..I decided to go with metal. I figure if I get braces, people are going to know I'm going to have them on anyways. So there is no reason for me to try and somewhat conceal that or try to make it look more aesthetically pleasing. Oh yeah, I also decided to get hot pink ties on...which was a decision I instantly regretted, seeing as how I felt about 12 years old as soon as I saw my teeth in the mirror, haha.

Over the past couple days, my teeth have been incredibly sore and I've limited myself to eating basically yogurt, jello, soup, rice porridge, and mashed potatoes. I feel so deprived of eating (which is something I LOVE doing and I do it OH SO extraordinarily well) and don't know what to do with myself. I've also been loading up on aspirin, but I'll be trying to lay off that sometime soon.

Things I have to look forward to for the rest of this month? Well, on the 19th I go back to get my spacers replaced, and then on the 26th I get my wires & metal bands placed in. The pain from the upcoming appointments is supposed to dwarf my bracket soreness..so I'm not excited about any of that.

My good friend Nick brought up the idea of me keeping a journal/log with photos of my epic battle against orthodontic destruction and so here I am, posting about what I've been up too. So hopefully I'll be keeping up-to-date about making logs to show my progress. I'll also be uploading a few photos within the next few days to show how my 2 year journey will be starting out!

Toodles, Binna.

EDIT: Here is how my teeth looked when I got my brackets, hot pink ties, and spacers in :)

Photos taken on 1-5-2009 & 1-19-2009 respectively.
(I brightened the photos a bit so you can't really tell how in-your-face pink the ties were... but I assure you they were! The blue spacers in the latter photo are also harder to see.)