TATA!
Huge pic of me in my braces!
I am going to blog about my whole 2 years or so braces journey as it is one of the biggest decision I've made in recent years.
Yes, I have finally put on my braces after almost 2 years of deliberation?
The first consultation I went for braces was when I was still in NUS, yr 4.
And I actually did my teeth mould and x-ray even! But I chickened out in the end =/ Also because I didn't have the $$ necessary then.
Totally wasted my time & $$.
But, it was always in the back of my mind and last year July during my job-hunting period, I went for a consultation again.
This time, I decided to just do it. But the whole process still dragged quite long because it is super hard to book my orthodontist Dr Seow's timing as she is only at my clinic twice a month.
I was initially supposed to do it in Nov, but coz I knew I was going Japan in Dec, I decided to postpone it... till 2nd Feb, this past Tues.
Which is also not a good timing because CNY is the week after, like now.
And I can't eat T.T
Ok, shall begin from the start:
Reason why I want to do braces
Sorry for the pic of my ugly teeth =x
So, my upper front teeth is slightly crooked, but more importantly, can you see the gap in my teeth on the left? (right in the pic above)
I have an open bite and also under bite (my side profile is terrible) meaning that my problem is mostly a bite > teeth alignment problem.
Also, I have one less teeth on my right lower set of teeth. As such, you can see the midlines for my upper set of teeth and lower set doesn't meet. :(
I had to extract a healthy teeth (so sad) from the left before I started my braces.
My X-ray!
I think the open bite and underbite is more obvious here. (Look at the hole)
Honestly, I didn't expect my teeth to be so horrible. HAHHAA
Coz it's really not an alignment problem and over the years I have learnt how to smile in pics without really showing the gap.
But my bite is still a problem and it shows! Esp in candid pics.
So ugly sigh.
Anw! Dr Seow gave me 2 options: pure braces or braces + jaw surgery
I seriously considered the latter option because she informed me for braces, she can at most do a camouflage and won't solve my jaw problem aesthetically.
Meaning, my jaws will still look protruding even after doing braces.
But, I think is really too invasive. Jaw surgery is literally cosmetic surgery in essence, tempting but i think i am too scared.
Either ways, I'll need to do braces.
So I decided to just opt for the pure braces and see what it can do for me.
Extraction:
I did extraction a week before my ortho appt.
And it was actually a really funny experience on hindsight LOL
I went and sat there for quite some time still deliberating whether I shld do braces or not.
Because once I extract there is no turning back or else I will have a huge gap in my teeth.
And when i finally decided, i still requested for the dental assistant's hand LOL
and the dentist had to hide the extraction claws from me HAHHAA
He joked: 'Just don't break my assistant's hand' LOL
Totally treating me like a kid. =/
But the extraction was quite fast, only the thereafter the anaethesia wore off, it was painful hahha.
There was a dull sore? And I think I didn't bite the same gauze long enough. OH YA, pple, if you do extraction, please do not keep changing gauze like i did zzzz
Just keep biting for 40-45mins? It's the pressure that stops the bleeding.
The day after was painful & it was my last day of HDB orientation, so i still went coz we were meeting CEO, although I only slept for ard 3.5 hours the night before.
Putting Braces On:
So a week after the extraction, I FINALLY PUT ON THE BRACES.
I was quite scared to be honest, coz I really didn't know what to expect.
But luckily I had a lot of colleagues and friends who gave me advice (Thanks LL, HJ and Shilei!)
I had KFC for my last lunch LOL. So worth it omg.
And I bought muah chee before actually going in HAHAHA
Dr Seow was really nice. They basically paste the metal brackets on your teeth and then hook the wires through.
It still took ard 1 hr for the whole process.
But what I didn't know then was that I will need to wear rubber bands right from the start!
OMG. The horror.
I think it is the elastics that make braces look so ugly and I look like a vampire now. :(
HAHAHA
SEE!
And I have to put them on 24/7. Coz it is the rubber bands that aligns the bite. SIGH.
And she put some bite stopper behind my teeth to prevent me from biting the brackets and now my upper and lower teeth can't meet and I can't close my mouth basically.
And the pain. I will be lying to say there was no pain. My teeth felt so tight and sore during the first 2 days, I literally couldn't touch them at all.
And the only sensation i felt was pain and hunger HAHAHA
Coz porridge couldn't fill me and I was on liquid food for 2 whole days.
Heidi had to blend broccoli and then cook pumpkin broccoli porridge for me. I was a BABY. LOL
But, I am so thankful for all my nice colleagues who didn't laugh at me.
Instead, they all asked me if it was pain a not and why I did it before CNY LOL
That was the no.1 question HAHHAA
Oh well.
IT WILL BE WORTH IT.
No comments:
Post a Comment