Adult Braces: The good, bad and downright painful journey!

I've had my braces on for 11 days now! My dentist warned me that I would be in agony the for the first few days after the braces were put on. I experienced very little pain. In all honesty, I found getting 2 teeth extracted a lot worse and experienced more pain the week following the extractions.  I have been eating mostly soft foods. For the first few days after, everything was either mashed or soup! I'm cutting up all my food and have been eating burgers (without the bap) and sausages in small bites and seem to be okay! I've been sticking to soft fruits like strawberries and bananas. Although, I do struggle to bite into a banana so it needs cut up too!! I tried to eat some shortbread the other day, thinking its a softer biscuit, but even dipping it in my tea, it was still too hard.  I went to a barbecue yesterday and had to cut up my burgers and sausages. I felt like a child 😆 I have experienced...

Today I got my braces on!! I finally have braces!!  Okay, so I was very nervous leading up to the appointment but the minute I sat in the chair I was actually quite excited! I've been wanting this for a long time and for a while it felt like it was never going to happen.... First they cleaned and prepped my teeth and before I knew it, half of the brackets had been put on!! Compared to last week (the ordeal of having teeth extracted) this seemed almost too easy... When it came to putting the wire in and fitting the rubber bands, this was when I started to feel a bit of pressure and it was a little sore! If I'm being honest, the most annoying thing was the plastic holding my mouth open! It was digging into my gums and was very uncomfortable!  It took about half an hour to put the braces on! It's been about 3 hours and I haven't felt any pain yet but I did take paracetamol as soon as I got home, just incase. The dentist said I will be sore ...

Okay so tomorrow I get my braces on!! I decided to do a little post now because I'm feeling a little nervous 😩 My last blog post, I had just had 2 teeth extracted. I had woke the next morning with only a little bleeding and my gums were sore. Little update on that....the second morning I woke up and looked like someone had punched me in the mouth....it was awful. There was blood all over my pillow....all over my mouth...couldn't find my gum through the blood. I don't know what caused it! The dentist did say I might have some bleeding... I cleaned the gum and rolled up a piece of gauze and bit down on it for pressure to stop the bleeding. I put pressure on it for 15 minutes but the bleeding didn't stop and I had to do it a second time. By this point I was a little hysterical...never one to suffer silently....I woke my boyfriend, crying and trying to speak through the wad of kitchen roll in my mouth. It was ridiculous! After half an hour the bleeding stopped and I ha...

Yesterday I had 2 teeth extracted! I would love to tell you that I was brave and it was 'no biggie' etc etc but sadly that was not the case... When I was younger I had an impacted wisdom tooth removed...but for this I was sedated. Apart from that I have never had any fillings, root canals, etc! So getting teeth taken out...and being awake for it scared me silly! My boyfriend came with me for moral support and it was the best thing I could have done. Honestly, don't go alone. It's not a pleasant experience. Don't get me wrong, my dentist was lovely and the dental nurse was lovely too but I was still a mess. The minute the needle was put it my mouth I broke down. I've never experienced these numbing injections either (for my wisdom tooth it was in my arm). As we waited for the freeze to work I could feel my top lip get bigger....and bigger....and I couldn't feel the top of my mouth. It was a very odd feeling.  The first tooth to be extracted was o...

Yesterday my separators came out and I had my Nance Arch fitted. I was really nervous before the appointment. I didn't know what to expect, how it was fitted or if it was going to hurt! It took 10 minutes at the most. The separators had created enough space for the nance arch to slide around my molars. The dentist used dental cement/glue on the metal brackets and on it went! I was surprised how easy it was!  The arch will hold the molars in place throughout the treatment to prevent them moving forward. Next week I will be having 2 teeth extracted. The teeth in front each of the metal brackets are the teeth that are going to be taken out. This will allow the brace to pull the front teeth back to straighten them and reduce the overjet. Until I had the scan for the nance arch I didn't realise just how crowded my upper teeth were!  I haven't experienced a lot of pain so far. The metal brackets rub against the inside...