Week 5: fancy a curry? Don't!

Oh dear. Went for a curry on Saturday and now look! The little elastic bands holding the wires in place are now a luminous yellow. I think turmeric is the culprit. On the left is day one, on the right this morning.

In the meantime, the teeth continue to move.

Week 4: chewing gum

I have a tendency to grind my teeth in my sleep. I did this before I had the braces fitted and I'm still doing it. I have woken up a couple of times with my upper front teeth biting down onto my lower, inner lip, too. The last thing I want to do now is find that as some of my teeth move I am grinding them down again, particularly the secondary incisors which had already worn down due to the position of the teeth in my lower jaw.

I considered getting my self a mouth guard from Amazon but as I wasn't sure this was the right thing to do I went back to the orthodontist to ask. As I suspected, she said that wearing a guard at night could stop my teeth moving as they should.

The solution she came up with was to use some of the material that is used by dentists to build up teeth and stick it on my upper molars to keep my teeth apart when my mouse is closed. What looks like mint imperials or chewing gum stuck to my teeth is this stuff.

It's hard, obviously, but I quickly got used to it and in fact it helps me chew my food as my molars didn't meet before, anyway.

Week 3: they're on the move!

My teeth are definitely moving and, when I overlaid one picture taken this morning over one from day 1, it's even more obvious:

Apparently, according to http://findanorthodontist-boston.info/treatment_speed.html, the faster your teeth move, the better.

The body reacts to the pressure from the braces, but the actual movement of the teeth is delayed, sometimes by up to three weeks. This is why it will be so important to wear the retainers after the braces come off, to stop the teeth wandering around in the not-yet-firmed up new bone.


In the meantime, I'm still struggling with eating. I'm not enjoying my food so much as I'm still not able to chew it properly or bite anything. Not being able to bite is no bad thing, though, as that can put pressure on the teeth in the wrong direction. Hey ho, I shall just continue cutting up my food as if for a small child and eating mushy food like a toddler.

I'm also a Type 2 diabetic, by the way, and eating mushed up food, such as mashed potatoes, isn't ideal as the starch in the potatoes turns to sugar so much quicker. A diabetes dietician advises mixing oil in with the mash, or eating rice, instead.

Day 5: dehydration

I find I'm drinking a lot more water at the moment and my lips and mouth are drying out quickly. As the braces stop me from shutting my mouth as tightly as I used to the lips have further to go to meet over the braces. Consequently, I keep realising that my mouth is slightly open and is getting dry.

Dry mouths can eventually cause lips to chap and bad breath. Not something my husband would be very happy with! Not that I can kiss him at the moment, mind you.

So, keep plenty of water handy and try to keep mouth closed as much as possible.

Day 3: bone chips

This morning, a tiny piece of bone finally broke through my gum from the first tooth extraction site. It was the third time this has happened and I knew it was on its way as I could feel it under the skin on the inside of my jaw with my tongue.

This is, apparently, quite a common event after tooth extractions, particularly if there was any trauma involved. In my case, the tooth - being relatively healthy and with quite a long root - wasn't too keen on being extracted, so quite a lot of wiggling back and forth wen on before it came out. I expect the movement broke a bit of the jaw bone.
As the broken bone chip is effectively dead and now considered by the body to be a foreign object, it gets ejected, eventually working its way to the surface. I prized this bit it out with my nail once it was visible with virtually no discomfort. I dare say that for any larger chips a visit to the dentist would be in order.