Hello everyone, I know I haven't updated in a long time and I apologize for that. Anyway, this will the first post in a series called: My Braces Journey.I have been to the orthodontist twice so far and I would like to share my experience with you and hopefully help anyone who is reading this blog by sharing some of my experiences. I have decided to start this series because before my first appointment, I was freaking out!!!! I checked the net for information or blogs but most of it were about the day they got their braces on.......so now I hope I can help people who wants to know what happens during the first appointment. Without further ado........Here it is.
Before I start, I would like to say that I am no expert in all this and the procedure probably differs from clinic to clinic and that this is all based on experience.
Some information before we begin....
My Orthodontist Clinic: Ong Dental Surgery
Name of my Orthodontist: Dr. Eddy Ong
My first appointment was at 8.45 a.m. on the 28th of April 2015. I was very nervous, obviously, but my orthodontist was a very nice man, (hallelujah!!!).
Step 1: Consultation
First he asked me to lie down (on the chair that they have at every dentist and orthodontist), then he asked me to bite down normally, after that he took a metal ruler and measured the space between my top and bottom teeth. After that he told me to sit up and then explained the situation with my teeth. I had a 9mm overjet
and a twisted tooth, my bottom teeth were fine but he would still put the braces on to straighten my teeth out.I was told I would only need to extract two teeth from my upper jaw. He then explained to me the course of my treatment. He said that I would need braces on both my upper and bottom jaw and since my overjet was quite severe, he would need to implant 2 ortho mini implants aka temporary anchorage devices (TAD).
(It’s a very small (1.5 – 2 mm wide) customised titanium alloy screw which acts as an anchor point in your jaw. Mini-implants are frequently placed between the roots of teeth, but may also be sited in the roof of the mouth. They are then connected to a fixed brace to help move the teeth.)
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| Definition of Overjet |
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| TAD |
He said that my treatment would be about 2 years long, and that depends on how well I keep my oral hygiene and avoid hard foods. He also mentioned that my treatment would cost about RM 5500.
Part 2: X-rays and Teeth Impressions
The second and third part of my procedure could have been done on different days, but I decided to do it all at once. They led me into the x-ray room and instructed me to take off my earrings and any other metal objects on my body. Then we started, we used two different machines. The first machine required me to bite down on something while standing up and keeping my eyes closed. The second machine, however needed to stick two poles into my ears, it was very ticklish( they had to wait for me to stop laughing before they started)I had to keep my eyes closed again. Don't worry those procedures do not hurt at all.
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| Impression makers |
After that, I was taken back to my doctor, he took quite a lot of pictures of my teeth:- from the front, the side, a corner, the top, the bottom, with my mouth open, closed, all that jazz........... Then he needed to make an impression of my top and bottom teeth, he made those one at a time, top first then bottom. He simple put something resembling dough with a minty flavour into a container thing the shape of my jaw and told me to bite down, and when the dough semi-hardened, he took it out and repeated the process.
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| X- Ray Machines |
Step 3: Tooth Extraction
Not everyone needs extractions, it all depends on your teeth and jaw, I was lucky enough to only need to extract two teeth, one on each side of the upper jaw ( fourth from front tooth). Before he extracted my tooth, he swiped a gel sorta thing on my teeth (I'm not sure what that's for, didn't do much), then he put spacers in( to make space for the molar bands) That didn't hurt. Then he injected me with anaesthetics( it felt like a pinch) My orthodontist then waited a while for the anaesthetics to kick in. 5 minutes later my lips were numb and they felt swollen.....interesting feeling actually. He then started to extract my tooth. I only felt a bit of pressure, no pain whatsoever(pheww). After that he just asked me to bite down on wire gauze(no biggie). The left side of my jaw decided to be naughty and not stop bleeding so he needed to put in a couple of sutures which would need to be removed a week later on the 5th May 2015.
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| Black sutures that they used for me |
That's all for this post.......REMEMBER I am someone with ZERO pain tolerance, so don't worry if I said that something hurt. The only thing that actually hurt was the injection, that lasted seconds only soo don't fret. The numbness wore out about 5 hours later, I did have some difficulty eating hard and chewy foods for the next few days so I had to cut all my food into little cubes :( it'll go off after a while. Don't worry about anything and remember to brush your teeth before the appointment. See yah guys soon. BYE!!!!!
