Stupid blogger!

Seems like blogger's been playing up recently, so if you've commented and it hasn't been published it's because it apparently no longer exists! Mai thanks for your comment which I now can't see, but I hope you're right and that it's not another 11 months of braces!

1 month of braces

Today is my one month brace-iversary! 1 down, probably at least 11 more to go! I came back to uni this week, so was anticipating what people's reactions would be to my braces. The people who already knew I was getting braces have pretty much just gone 'Oh you've got your braces on', maybe asked a few questions, and that's about it. However, the people who didn't know haven't even said anything! I know it's not a big deal to anyone else, but surely they must have noticed?! I don't know whether they're just being polite and not saying anything, whether they genuinely haven't noticed (but surely it's pretty hard not to?!), or they just don't even care enough to say anything! It's weird! I'm going out on Friday night and people will be drunk so maybe they'll be a bit more blunt and might say something about them! I kind of hope so, I just feel weird when people don't mention it, somehow it makes me feel more self-conscious of them.

I had one of those moments today where I was reassured that I'm definitely doing the right thing. It's weird cos whenever I look in the mirror to try and convince myself that I'm doing the right thing, I end up thinking 'oh maybe it's not even that bad, am I being completely ridiculous?!', but then when I just happen to see myself from the side I think 'Oh my God, how have I lived with this stupid face for so long? How do people not look at me and think what a weird face that girl's got?!!' I do know that nobody else notices or cares, but to me sometimes I just think it looks so abnormal that I can't believe people don't notice. I was positioning mirrors so that I could see my hair from a different angle, and I caught a horrible view of the profile, but as much as I hate it, it makes me happy too cos I know that I'm definitely doing the right thing by going through with this.

Recently I've been getting a bit more worried about the possibility of permanent numbness. I remember when I met my surgeon he said that only 5-8% of people (I don't know whether he meant in general or his patients specifically) have permanent numbness, but through my own research I don't think I've found anyone who hasn't been left with at least a bit of permanent numbness. I could cope if it was like a bit of chin or cheek or something, but the thought of having no feeling in my lips forever scares me :s

Anyway, here are some pics of my 1 month braced teeth. They probably don't look much different and it's probably not very exciting seeing the same pics of my teeth over and over again, but I want this blog to be a record for myself too so I can look back at my progress.

I don't know why the alignment of my teeth looks wonky here :s

The gummy smile

That canine on the left of the pic is continuing to be pulled out further in line with the others. My teeth look so wonky from this angle, reassures me that my teeth definitely aren't normal.

I said before how this tooth without the bracket on was annoying me...Well now it's doing more than annoy me, it's causing serious pain! The other day when I spat out my toothpaste, the bottom of my tongue got caught in the newly formed tight gap between that tooth and the one next to it, and it bloody hurt! It really bled, and then for days after I kept catching it again, and it was really painful if I caught it on a bit of metal when I was licking around my mouth to get food out of my braces! It seems to have healed up now luckily!

Also, the other day when I was looking in the mirror, I noticed that my chin is slightly unlevel! I told myself that I was just being over-obsessive, but in this pic you can really see it!! It's got a massive bump on one side! But I'm pretty sure that in real life it's not something that notices. God I really don't want to have to start sorting out my chin as well as my jaw!

I also noticed the other day that behind my front four teeth where my old brace used to be, I've got some lovely brown marks all over them. You can see them a bit in this pic. I'm guessing it's the staining that's resulted from the brace being on for so long, but as long as it's behind my teeth I don't really care!

Overbite's not looking much different yet

My nose looks humongoooouuuusss!!!

Similar to Dani's recent post, I thought I'd do one of the dreaded profile caught in an unexpected picture. The most horrible thing is that I was actually tagged in this pic on facebook, and it still exists on facebook! Noooooo! Lol! It's a rubbish pic cos I've cropped it from someone else's photo, but seriously, it's horrendous, my nose looks massive! Somehow these pics always look worse than the one's you take of yourself from the side to try and show the ugliness of your profile!

Also, I was thinking the other day how nearly every pic of me on here is absolutely horrendous, and probably makes me look worse than I really am. Believe it or not, I can look a bit nicer if I try lol, so if anyone wants to add me on facebook and see what I look like in the pictures I choose to have tagged of myself, or if you want to ask me any questions or anything, feel free to add me. The link for my profile is http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=824189639

Hopefully that should work!

2 weeks of braces

So, I've now had my braces on for 2 weeks and 2 days! Seems like much longer, they already feel like just a normal part of me! I've already got used to seeing myself with them on when I look in the mirror, and already I've decided that they don't really bother me...it's only a bit of metal on my teeth! Who cares?! They're really not a big deal!

Eating is still a bit annoying for me. I tried to eat a panini today, forgetting about the braces, and then had to ask the man in Costa for a fork cos I had to cut it up :( I also had to cut up a plum earlier. My teeth don't really hurt, just feel a bit sort of sore and tender, like if I bit into something they would all snap!

I've not really seen many people I know since I've had them on cos I'm on my easter holidays from uni, so I'm yet to see the reaction of my friends, but to be honest I doubt anybody will really care much.

For any girls wondering what boys think of braces, I had a date the other day, and he didn't seem to mind at all! He'd met me without braces so it must've been a bit of a shock when he met up with old metal mouth here! I brought it up during the date cos I kind of felt like it was the elephant in the room and I would feel more comfortable if I just said about it, but the weird thing was he knew exactly what I was talking about with the surger cos he'd been offered it too! At first I thought he was just being one of those annoying people who goes 'oh I've got an overbite too', when they've got the normal 1 or 2mm overbite that everyone has, but when he said 'you're class 2 right?' I realised he knew what he was talking about! It's weird cos I spend my whole life looking at people's jaws, and I never even noticed it on him. He'd had braces and declined the surgery, but to be honest I didn't think his was anywhere near as bad as mine. He was kind of annoying me though cos I was telling him how I got my problems from sucking my thumb, which is what the orthodontist and surgeon have both told me, and he kept saying that it couldn't happen like that and that it was definitely genetic! It was so annoying, he was acting like he knew more about it than me, and believe me, I'm an expert! haha! If it's genetic, then why doesn't anybody else in my family have it?! Cos it isn't! I know it can be genetic, but with me I know for sure it was my thumb sucking! Anyway, the braces didn't put him off going in for a kiss, so at least I know boys aren't completely repulsed by them, and that I can still kiss with them on! haha! I know this probably shouldn't be one of my biggest concerns, but one of the reasons I'm worried about numbness is cos I think it'll stop me being able to kiss properly! I really shouln't be worrying about that I suppose...but I do! haha! Anyway, this boy's been a bit on and off since then, but I really don't think it was cos of the braces, I'd rather attribute it to the general crapness of men and my general bad luck with them! Sorry for the essay about my love life!

I measured my overbite today and I think it's about 8mm. My ortho said it would get bigger, so hopefully using my trusty method of biting into a piece of paper and measuring the distance with a ruler on the paper, I should be able to see if their are any changes.

Anyway, here's some pics of my teeth after 2 weeks of braces. They probably don't look that different, but I can already feel that one of my canines which was kind of behind my front four teeth is starting to be pulled out in line with the others, so that's good.

You can see on the pic below the canine that's behind the front four teeth. It's the one on the left of this pic.


This tooth that my ortho didn't put a bracket on is really annoying me, cos all the others are straigtening up, and that one's all out of place! I hope she puts a bracket on it or does something with it next time I go!

Thought I'd put this pic in of me closing my lips together. You can see from the dimples on my chin how much of a strain this puts on my muscles to do this.

The joy of braces

Just had my lunch, wondered why I still felt hungry, looked in the mirror, and realised that half my lunch was in my braces. Lovely! I'd forgotten all about these things! I definitely won't be eating in public for a while!

Braces at last!!!

Today...I finally got my braces! I say finally, but it's actually been exactly one year since I first went to see my old orthodontist about this, and I've often heard that with the NHS it usually takes about a year to get your braces on, so I'm not doing too bad I suppose! They're aching a bit already, I'm feeling a bit ugly, and am having to cut up food very small...but I'm sure I'll get used to it! I'm just so glad they're on! I spent almost an hour at the hospital today. Before the orthodontist could put my braces on she had to take off the little brace I had behind my front four teeth. It didn't hurt but it was a horrible feeling of having the metal whirring against the back of my teeth and it went on for ages! She told me that my overbite would actually get bigger now I've got the braces on, but I don't mind that too much. But the bad news is...I've got to have my top wisdom teeth out too :( She said she didn't understand why the surgeon didn't just take them out when I had my bottom ones out. Having your top wisdom teeth out isn't as bad as the bottom ones, and it's only a local anaesthetic, but I still can't say I'm looking forward to it! I don't know when I'll be having them out yet though. She also said that because my bottom gum is thin and the bottom teeth will be moving forward, there's a chance they might have to take out one of my bottom teeth...I hope not though :s So my next appointments are to get some elastics put on and to get some metal rings around my back teeth, cos at the moment they're only on my second to back teeth if you know what I mean! At the moment they're booked for 8th and 16th June, but I'm going to ring tomorrow and try and set them back a couple of weeks cos by then I'll have finished uni and won't have to keep travelling back to Kent from Surrey! Anyway, here are some pics of my new braced-up gnashers! Feeling very much like Ugly Betty at the moment...

Dentist update

I finally had my filling sorted out last week. For some reason he said he didn't want to do any fillings on my teeth that have the bands on, even though I'm sure I need them. He said he didn't want to put fillings on them because they're going to be moving, but I don't really know why that matters! But oh well, I suppose he's the expert! Anyway, had the filling that my orthodontist wanted sorted out done, so that's the main thing. So hopefully I might get my braces on at my next hospital appointment on 13th April! I really hope so! I just want things to get moving!