First Adjustment - 8 weeks

Note to future self (and any newbie to braces): make sure you have access to painkillers on an adjustment day.

I made the rookie error of not bringing any pain relief with me to work today after my adjustment this morning. I am not making that mistake again. mymouthisdyingohgodhelpme


Okay so since writing that little plea for help while suffering through the last hour of work I am home and in much needed company of some paracetamol. After my adjustment this morning, attemptimg to chew anything right now is pretty much torturous. As I type this I am making feeble attempts to mash baked beans and scrambled egg against the roof of my mouth with my tongue to try and avoid any amount of molar-contact.


I digress. So I had my first adjustment appointment this morning! I asked my orthodontist if he could send me my latest progress pics, because they're a heck of a lot better than the ones I've been taking.

Here they are, side by side (< before (day braces went on) / after (today) >)

Uppers

Apologies for the grim-ness of the 'before' pics with extractions sites. Also the staining. ick.

 Lowers

 Front view

I am sooooo thrilled with how much movement has happened already, after only 8 weeks. It's truly amazing how braces work their magic.


I now have a stronger wire on both top & bottom (.16 on top and .18 on the bottoms, I believe).

The thing which is causing me the most aggro, though, is the fact that all of my top teeth are now connected to the wire, so my back molars are finally joining the party and they're making a song and dance about it, too. Previously, the wire was snipped so it was only on my top 8 teeth. Now, they're all involved. Hooray! Not only that, but you can see in the photos that the back molars have got some major rotation issues, so my ortho did some kind of special trick with the stronger wire to rotate them, and it is SORE. With this pain I am fully expecting perfectly straight teeth by the morning.