Phase II: Braces

July 25, 2013
I had braces for both the upper and lower teeth placed on by a technician.  Everything I read online told me to expect about an hour for each application so I was planning for the process to be absolutely miserable.  I took 800mg of ibuprofen before I went in and braced mentally for another ordeal.  Surprisingly though, the application went very quickly and very smoothly. I was in and out in about an hour and that included the counselling time including what I cannot eat.  I'll post some of the list below for anyone else who is curious (or so that you know everything to eat before you get them on!) But truthfully the list did not impact me much as my jaw (and now teeth alignment) really didn't let me eat most of these foods even before the braces!

My webcam is a little grainy, but you can see that the top ceramic brackets really are a little more inconspicuous. I'll post a better pic of top and bottom brackets later for comparison.

Braces Contraband:

• Taffy, Toffee, Caramels
• Tostitos, Doritos, Tortilla Chips
• Corn on the Cob
• Apples (without cutting them up)
• Gum (which is HORRIBLE for TMJD anyways!)
• Hard Candies (they can get stuck and break a bracket)

Day 2 of Braces I was miserable. My jaw ached, my teeth ached and when my teeth touched together I got an electric-like pain that made me want to scream. I was taking 800mg of ibuprofen every 4 hours (not recommended if you want to preserve your GI tract)
Here is my post from Facebook:  "I REALLY want to take some pliers and rip these braces off of my teeth...grrr!"  

Day 3 of Braces: same as above . . . and now the brackets are ripping up the inside of my mouth. I've got so many sores lining my mouth even though I now have all the brackets coated in wax. As a note on the wax, the orthodontist told me to "try not to use the wax to allow your mouth to toughen up"  HA!

2 weeks of Braces:  FINALLY doing a bit better with the braces. I started attempting soft foods yesterday and have weaned off the 800mg of Motrin. Thanks everyone for the support it was a surprisingly rough start to a 2.5 year process!