Time off work

I forgot to say in my last post that I told my work about my jaw surgery the other day. I had my appraisal with my line manager, so I thought that would be a good time to bring it up while it was just the two of us. She was fine about it, and to be honest didn't really seem that interested. She said that she thinks I should get 10 paid days off, and then after that it's statutory pay (so I guess like basic wage or something). To be honest I'm just glad that 1) she didn't seem pissed off about it 2) I'm going to get some sort of pay while I'm off, and 3) I don't have to take it off as holiday. So all in all I was pretty pleased with the outcome. She said she's going to talk to the person there who deals with like personnel stuff about it. I told her my guesses of when I thought it could be, and I said I'd keep them updated when I know more. In a way I'm just glad to have told them because now I don't have to feel like I'm keeping it a secret. Nobody ever asks about my braces anyway, but before I avoided talking about them in case it lead someone to ask 'Why do you have braces at 23?' So now I don't bring them up, but like the other day I didn't mind saying in front of everyone that I was having the day off on Monday to go to the orthodontist, because if they do ask why I have braces, I can tell them the real answer!

Yeah so I have an ortho appointment on Monday 27th. I don't have the internet at home at the moment, so if anything exciting happens I'll update as soon as I can, but to be honest I think it's just going to be a standard appointment - wire changes, tightening etc. I feel like I haven't been for ages though so I'm just looking forward to making a bit more progress.

11 months of braces

Again, nothing to report, just some picture updates!

10 months of braces

Nothing new to report, just some 10 month pictures, which probably don't look any different from the 9 month ones!

The brown stains on the back of my teeth are from the brace I used to have behind them, my teeth aren't just naturally that brown!

9 and a bit month pictures

A bit late, but 9 month pictures...

The gap next to my recently bracketed tooth hasn't quite closed yet

Wisdom teeth removal and 9 months of braces

Hello bloggers, sorry for my lack of contact recently. I moved house a couple of weeks ago and we've only just got the internet.

So, 21st December was 9 months. Nothing exciting to report in terms of teeth movement, I'm sure it's all much the same but I will put up some pics this weekend anyway.

On a slightly more exciting note, I had my top wisdom teeth taken out on 15th December. Although I'd already had my bottom ones taken out, I was a bit worried about the top ones just because it's only a local anaesthetic...i.e. you're awake while they do it! I was expecting it to be much worse than it was! I was expecting loads of people all around me, hacking away at my teeth for ages, but it was nothing like that!

I just went into a room in the department I usually go to for my normal orthodontic appointments, and there was just two women - the surgeon (not my jaw surgeon) and a nurse. The surgeon explained it all to me, and showed me the x-ray of my face and where my wisdom teeth were. She explained that the piece of bone between your top jaw and your sinuses is really thin, so there was a small risk of her making a hole through to my sinuses when she pulled them out, but she said that was unlikely.

She gave me two injections in each side of my mouth. They hurt a bit but I didn't care as long as I was numb when the teeth came out! Straight after she said 'ok we'll just test if it's numb yet', and I was thinking 'already?!' I couldn't believe the anaesthetic could work that quickly, but she poked my gum with a metal stick and I couldn't feel anything, so it obviously does work that quickly! So she started with the tooth removal, and it was so quick and simple! She just used the pokey metal stick to kind of prise it out, and then she had some plier type things and pulled it out of my mouth, but it was already out of my gum by then so it was more picking it out of my mouth than pulling it out with the pliers. It took about 10 seconds. I couldn't believe how quick it was, and all I felt was a tiny bit of pressure, but nothing horrible. The second tooth was fine as well, although I did hear a bit of a cracking noise on that one!

After they were out I just had to sit for 5 minutes with cotton wool in my mouth. She said that because of the thin bone between the mouth and sinuses (which she luckily hadn't made a hole in), I should try not to sneeze or blow my nose for two weeks...so I wasn't best pleased when I got a cold a week later! But she said if I did need to sneeze to do it through my mouth, so I just had to do really big loud sneezes and put things up my nose to clear it rather than blow it! She asked if I wanted to keep my wisdom teeth, and I thought I might as well, so I said yes. They're now in a pot in my room...I don't really know what to do with them! I can't believe how mouldy they were! They were already going brown and I must've only had them a year or so at the most. According to my dentist, my teeth are very susceptible to decay, and that was definitely evidence of it!

But all in all, for anyone having their top wisdom teeth out, don't worry about it, it's not scary or horrible, and I didn't have any pain, swelling or bruising after. I wish I'd be saying the same thing after jaw surgery!

Hygienist visit

Just a quick post. I went to the hygienest at the dentist the other day. I've never been before. I can't say it was a pleasant experience...in fact it was quite painful at times! But I think it did work wonders! Since having my braces I've developed brown stains on some of my front top and bottom teeth, especially on that tooth that was bracketless until recently. Because of this I was thinking I would probably have my teeth whitened when all this is over, but the hygienest did such a good job I don't think I'll bother! As long as the brown stains go, that's all I'm really worried about! It's £40 a visit, but I suppose that's cheaper than getting my teeth whitened, and this actually cleans your teeth rather than just whitens them. The hygienist said my gums are inflamed so I've bought some medicated mouthwash which is meant to prevent gum problems.

I'm having my top wisdom teeth taken out this Thursday, I'm a bit nervous about it only being a local anaesthetic. I hope I don't hear the sounds of my teeth being yanked out! I will update my blog after that, although I'm moving house this weekend and don't think I'll have the internet for a couple of weeks. I'll try and update at work, but I'm always wary of people seeing my blog/the blogs I'm looking at as I still haven't told them about the surgery :s

8 months of braces and a bracket on every tooth!

Wednesday 23rd November marked 8 months of braces, and coincidentally I had an appointment on that day too. I finally got a bracket on that tooth that had no bracket, so it's being pulled forward in line with the others. I took the photos below yesterday, which shows how quickly the tooth has moved in just 3 days. It now just has a gap across from the tooth next to it, but is pretty much in line with the other teeth.

My ortho asked me how I got on at the joint clinic (my last appointment where I saw the surgeon - she was there for the beginning of it but then had to leave). She asked if I felt reassured by it, and I said 'reassured but disappointed by how long I've got left to go until surgery'. She asked how long they said and I told her they said 9 months (which was a month ago so 8 months now). She indicated that that might be more a case of just having to wait until they can fit me in rather than my teeth not being ready, so I asked her how far along we were in terms of my teeth moving. She said that she'll need to see me another 3 or 4 times before I'm ready for surgery, so she said that orthodontically I'll be ready by about April/May (which will be when I've had my braces on for about a year). She asked if I'd be willing to go in at short notice if somebody else cancelled, and I said 'yes, I just want to get it done as soon as possible', so she said she'd tell the woman who's in charge of booking surgery dates that I'm desparate to get it done as soon as possible and that I'll take any cancelled surgery dates. So perhaps there's a chance that I may get it done sooner than they said at my last appointment, but I'm still going to keep July/August in my head as when it will be, and anything sooner is a bonus. But I think I'm going to make sure I'm prepared and have bought stuff I'll need by April, so that I'll be ready just in case I do get to go in earlier. I haven't told my work about it yet, but am planning to tell them in January when we have our staff review. But I'll make sure I tell them that I might have to have it done at short notice. People at work have been asking me a bit more about my braces, but I try to keep off the subject as much as I can at the moment, because I don't want to have to say anything about my surgery until I've told my boss/manager about it.

Anyway, so my next appointment is on 15th December when I have my top wisdom teeth taken out. Then my next one after that is on 5th January when I'll see my ortho again.

Here are my 8 month pictures:

My cant really is a lot more noticeable in photos than in real life...I think...I hope

I still have a gap between my recently bracketed tooth and the one next to it...

...but at least it's in line with the others!