Life After Braces...

How my life has changed....

- I wear a retainer every night and brush it clean with an old toothbrush and toothpaste every morning.
- After my first brush, floss and mouthwash of the day I examine each tooth in the mirror to check they haven't moved or discoloured in anyway whatsoever (OCD)
- So far, the minimum number of times i have brushed my teeth in 1 day is 4.
- Yesterday I brushed my teeth 7 times.
- Every time i talk to someone i find myself looking at their teeth and smugly thinking "Yup, my teeth are nicer than yours now".
- I can whistle again
- The sensation in my front teeth have come back and i can bite into food (although, haven't tried an apple yet)
- My nightmares of my front two teeth falling out have stopped
- I love my teeth and smile at EVERY opportunity

For your viewing pleasure

... and yes, they do feel as smooth as silk ;)

Take it & Go!

WHAT an exhausting day!

It all started by me 'missing' my TWO alarm clocks and waking up too late to meet a friend for breakfast and for my dentist appointment to have my braces REMOVED - can you believe it???

Eventually I made it to the dentist and had the braces taken off, retainer fitted and teeth whitened. I have to say after all the build up over coming months I was neither here nor there about it at the time. My teeth don't look extraordinarily different to how they did before, but upon smiling in the mirror (pretty much all afternoon) and looking through the photo album that the practice put together for me I really do see all the technicalities and changes.

Overall everything looks tighter, neater and brighter - it looks good. I'm happy. I'm pretty certain it was money well spent, although I am in a little discomfort this evening - everything feels a little sensitive and soar. Hopefully that will ease in a few days. If it doesn't then it's probably just because the dentist has totally fucked up my teeth with the rush of it all and they will all fall out and I'll have dentures put in - great!!

This afternoon/ evening I have desperately tried to pack as the removal dudes arrive at 930 AM (I will set 2 alarms, plus bombies is going to give me a wake up call if she remembers - please remember!! haha.)

Bombies and Jude dropped by as i had a shed load of stuff to give them, Bombies helped me throw out 3 bags of "products" from my bathroom in about 5 minutes and then we went for dinner. Once I got back, Kiwi came over and helped out a bit. Took photos of me in my state of "panic" and I played dress up with him (making him wear my jewelry etc). He gave me a bit of light relief so it was good of them all to pop by.

Now it's 02.00am and Kiwi just made a check up call on me. I'm totally spent and sleepy. So I'm gonna do the following in the morning:

- decide which shoes to pack/ ship
- Pack MAC - bye bye computer :(
- put one box aside for "last minute" bits
- Write my insurance itinerary (God help me)

Hopefully all will go smoothly and whatever gets left behind will just have to be chucked!!

Right, time to sleep. I will finish off blogging about my braces etc next week once I'm back in the UK, don't get me wrong, I'm REALLY enthusiastic about it - I'm just really really tired!!!

night night, sleep tight.

Final Countdown

16th June... 16th June... My braces are coming off... 16th June! CONFIRMATIVE!

That's... 4 weeks! That's... 28 days! That's... 912 hours! That's... 54,720 minutes!!

(I'm a little bit excited)

Went to the dentist this morning and wearing those god-awful elastics has paid off - we're nearly there! I can stop wearing the elastics by my next appointment 29th May (my last day at work) which is a relief as I won't have to worry about sporting them (and the pain) round Vietnam and HK. He put an extra "support track" on top of the top teeth today to keep everything tight (it's another clear elastic) and didn't tighten any of the wires (thank the Lord).

I asked him today about the fitted retainer as was feeling apprehensive about what it's going to be like, seeing as I'll have to wear it 2-5 years. He showed me on the clays of my old teeth - ergh! It's just a small/ thin wire that is literally molded to the back of the teeth (first 4-6 of top and bottom) just to keep them in place. It cannot be seen and barely felt. Then I only have to wear the clear fitted retainer at night. I'm going to wear it FOREVER. I haven't gone through this much to just forget about it and have my teeth go back to the way they were.

I'm soooooooooooooooooooo excited. Cannot express in words. My final appointment is at 9.30am on the 16th June :):):)

Get a Grip

Last night something terrible happened. I was out with friends and suddenly I got this excruciating pain in my jaw. I went over to a mirror and suddenly needed to spit out a lot of blood. It was very thick and congealed and a dark red/ black, I felt like I was choking on it. After a while the blood stopped coming and I was able to examine my mouth in the mirror. To my utter shock. All of my teeth on the upper left side of my jaw had cracked off, leaving 4 or 5 of my teeth just hanging in my mouth on the wire on my braces. The root of the teeth were still imbedded in my gum. I was totally shocked and didn't know what the hell to do. I rang my dentist but they couldn't seem to understand what was wrong and kept telling me to come in tomorrow. Then I started being sick and again, there seemed to be blood everywhere.

I suddenly sat bolt up right in darkness, absolutely dripped wet to the core, hair plastered over my face. I reached my hand up to my mouth. It was just a nightmare.

WTF???

Seriously, it was like the most horrible dream I have had in a long while. I think the reason I had it is firstly, because I think about my teeth a lot and secondly, yesterday I was thinking about how i was going to be away for nearly 3 weeks and what would I do if the braces broke of something, right in my last few weeks and I couldn't get it sorted.

Thirdly, i think it's because of how tight the elastics make my jaw. I sometimes find myself sitting working or driving or something and I'm actually clenching my jaw very tightly, teeth pressed hard against one another and i have to remind myself to try and relax my mouth. I imagine last night i was grinding my teeth so hard that's that is why I had the dream.

I went through a patch some years ago that I use to grind my teeth so aggressively that I broke a tooth and after that my dentist made me wear a teeth guard at night. Apparently it can be caused by stress, at that time it probably was. On this occassion, I blame it on the orthodontic work.

Just gotta grin and bear it for a few more weeks.

Abra-Cadabra!

Call me crazy, call me David Copperfield if you like, but i think, THINK, I just might have magical powers.

Despite the fact that i don't remember my 2 alarm clocks going off this morning (or turning them off) I woke up with a jolt at 7.15 and legged it out of bed, knowing I probably had just enough time to make myself look like a human (unlike yesterday). Arrived in the office 09.15.

As i leaped out of bed i went over to the mirror to do a morning teeth examination and to take out the elastics, shower, brush and put the new set in. To my dismay, they weren't there. All 4 elastics were gone.

I fumbled around my mouth in case they had randomly snapped and were just 'somewhere' in there but no, they weren't. I must have taken them out in my sleep. I quickly searched on my bed, my bed side table, in the bathroom but i couldn't find them.

Now i really don't think that i would have been able to get them out in the middle of the night without looking in a mirror, plus, where the heck did they go? So I can only put it down to some magical skill i have.

I'm perplexed.

RE: It hurts dammit

I went to the dentist to check on the whole gap thing, so yeh, apparently that wasn't supposed to happen so they wrapped a clear elastic around the front 4 teeth to hold them tight together. I took a photo but it's so clear you can't see it. Best not eat any curry... don't want dodgy discoloration.. at this rate I'm gonna be anorexic. Did manage to eat 2 slices of bread and butter though...

It hurts dammit

Owch. My mouth hurts :( Foolishly tried to eat a meal with Bombie last night after the gym and think I did more damage than good. Before i went to sleep, i popped 2 pain killers (800mg) and then woke up in the night and popped another two. I only realised that i popped the other 2 when I awoke suddenly at 08.00 thinking shit I overslept! They must have made me drowsy, I don't even remember fumbling with my alarm clock which was set for 6 am. I didn't even have time to make a fruit smoothie, I arrived in the office with wet hair and creases on my face at 9.10.

Somehow I managed to keep the bands in all night but I'm not wearing them today. This dental treatment is so wreckless and fast that over night I have a clearly defined gap in between my front teeth - WTF?

I guess he knows what he is doing so I won't go to the dentist to check. Every time they tighten the braces, add a bracket or an elastic I kind of freak out as the first few days my teeth start to move in an obvious way and I don't like how they look. I know in 2 weeks time I'll be use to it again.

I do wonder if it is normal to experience such pain to the extent that I have done over the last 10 months. I suppose if I had of done the procedure in normal time and not tried to rush through it, they would have taken it slower and the whole procedure would be less painful.

But I can take the pain, I know I moan and complain constantly but to me, painful but quick is better than keeping them on for 2 years... especially at my age (nearly 26).

It's exactly 6 weeks to go. I hope the end result is worth it.

I'm fucking hungry.




~ Before



~ 10 months later

Can't... open... mouth...

I am giving up with vanity, which is ironic, seeing as I originally got braces because i was vain.

Only two more appointments to go and the braces are off, so I'm trying my dam hardest to keep going.

We're talking approx 6 weeks to go, I can't believe it. Only MYR1300 left and then it'll all be over.

Today the dentist changed my wires and tightened them on the top and bottom teeth. He then put my elastics back on, doubled that with an additional 2 elastics towards the back (think of a combination of the last two sets of elastics and the current set - and that's what I now have).

As usual my jaw is insanely painful but I am going to perservere for as long as I can do, today. When I open my mouth it's like a maze of elastics going in different angles, I have never known anyone to have SUCH a combination, in such weird positions. But what can I say, however weird it is, it has worked and my teeth are nearly "perfect" now.

Needless to say it's too painful to eat, I had a smoothie for lunch, it was so sickly sweet I feel sick. Soup for dinner then tomorrow I'll weigh 58K. wahahaha.

Cheese String

Wow, 3 blog entries in 1 day, you can totally see my motivation to work. It's kinda bad as I have to keep reminding myself I have another 5 weeks and 3 days to go yet. Still, as long as I'm getting the main things done, I don't care so much. I feel like I've been pretty much pushed out of the picture now, little or no contact from the UK and NB is on leave until next week so, give a shit? Nope.

I'm a little distressed, following my dental appointment this afternoon. Firstly I mentioned to my dentist how bad the ulcers had been, he kinda laughed it off but then went he put the mirror/ stick thing in my mouth his face was pure classic: shock. He was like "oh my god, I'm so sorry" I was like, er, what? You see the pain was pretty much unbearable, I hardly ate solids for a week and was in agony talking for about 6-7 days. My cheeks were swollen and all, but I thought maybe it was me being pathetic and not having a high enough pain threshold. How wrong was I?

He said he needed to put some sterile solution on them before they became infected and then sealed it over with this banana tasting weird stuff that initially made my whole body do that "scrunch up" thing (you know where you curl your toes, fist your fingers and scrunch your nose) as it was so stingy but then aaaaaah relief. I can't even feel the open wounds now. Thank God.

He said I should have come and seen him and that my mouth was literally all ripped up and white and pusy all along the insides of my cheeks, right at the top of my jaw where I couldn't stretch my cheeks to see. I mean I knew it was bad but i guess I couldn't see right where he could with the mirror. He just kept apologising over and over and I was like, well, um, well there you go. Kinda thing.

He shaved the edges of my canine teeth as they kept knocking funnily and now when I bite my teeth sit perfectly (along the back sides) together. He is desperately trying to finish the correction of the overbite and get some stability in my jaw. As it seems each time I bite down my jaw kinda wobbles and will go one way and then another. That's why my jaw always dislocates itself (well it did do before the braces, anyway). So he has added these new elastics "rabbit elastics" ergh, even the name makes me cringe. Worse still they've in like an upside down triangle shape on my two teeth top teeth (next to the middle ones) and lower canine. It looks fucking awful. He told me (cheekily) that I can take them out for "events" and smiled. Grrrr you arsehole. At least it's only 8 more weeks... 8 and fingers crossed it will be over.

I don't want to rush the ending and not having them look as perfect as they could be, but at the same time, knowing that I'm returning to the UK for a fresh start and what with all the hassle (see passport for life entry - haha) with seeing the dentist there I'd love for it all to just be done and dusted. I've asked for them to be laser whitened too, the day they come off - then i really will have a Hollywood smile :) But again, it's all about the funds.... I'll try and work it out. I just have to be so careful I don't touch my savings, I really want to get my life moving forward and I need those savings for that to happen.

I came out of the clinic and immediately called Bombie, she was in the office and had her serious office voice on so i just blabbered away about how traumatic my life was and tried to make it a comparison to the time she had her double eyelid surgery. She shot me down in one blast - biatch! It worked though ;)

Got back to the office and ate (without them in) at least i can actually eat now - horary! I put them back in after eating, and then my colleague told me, don't worry, you just look like you ate a really cheesy pizza and that there is still some dangling between your teeth. Well thanks. That is really, really reassuring.

No wonder kids are so traumatized by braces. If I had to hear comments like that when I was 12, I'd have probably never have eaten pizza (or cheese, for that matter) again, for the rest of my life.



~ my juicy lips.. pwaaaah

Foreign Object

Also, whilst I'm at it - I woke up this morning and realised I had swallowed one of my elastic bands in my sleep. I'm not really sure what my thoughts are about this. Only that I could have choaked on it and died.

Give it to me!

Why do we always want, what we can't have? Even when it is readily available, we don't necessarily want it. It's only when it is taken away or denied from us then suddenly, we have this overwhelming urge to have it, own it, become it.

For once, I'm not talking about men. Despite the fact that there are several men I wouldn't mind hopping on the good foot and doing the bad thing with at present (i was about to write in a spooky voice "you know who you are" But actually, I'm not sure you do...), they really are, at the bottom of my priority these days. I never thought I'd hear myself say that.

No, I'm talking about food. Food, food, FOOD. Dammit, I wanna eat.

Not only am I restricted to soft foods (such as bread soaked in soup, porridge (had it at Jalan Pudu last night - yum!) wheetbix and fruit smoothies) thanks to my braces, but I have also chosen to cut down my intake of food, in reaction to my blog of becoming suicidal over gaining 5K in 4 months.

The thing is, it seems like suddenly you deny yourself of that yummy apple multi grain muffin in Starbucks, those teeny tiny m&m's in 7-11, that take-my-breath-away cheesecake at the coffee shop and suddenly all you can think about is the sweet taste of the muffin crumbling into your mouth, the m&m's melting on your tongue the strawberry sweetness of the cheesecake tantalising your taste buds - argh!!

And so, I sit in my office, at my desk, drinking a can of coke light, knowing full well that when I meet Manc for dinner later, I will, undoubtedly share a slice of cheesecake with her at Delicious. Besides, it's soft, there isn't much else on the menu I could eat anyway :P

Hammy The Hamster

I haven't spoken in 4 hours.

The insides of my cheeks are ripped to shreds. It burns. Ooooooh it burns. When I do utter the odd word or two, I sound like I have a sock in my mouth. My cheeks are extraordinarily pink (even more so than usual, I didn't even need to apply blusher today). You could probably fry an egg on my cheeks, one each side, they are so hot.

I'm hungry, but I couldn't even finish my coffee. It's staring at me, half empty, and sad. "please sip me" it whispers.... "please". In that sweet little latte voice it does.

I look like a miserable hamster.

Feel sorry for me.... please... (I'm giving you the puppy dog eyes/ miserable hamster pout combo look)....

Chillin me boots

Ah! I love that I have decided to start blogging again, i missed you! I just wanna blog blog blog all day.

It's Friday night and I'm having a relaxing start to the weekend - no real plans. Which is actually just what I fancy for a change. You must think I'm crazy, I'm leaving this country in like, a matter of weeks and yet I'm chilling on my sofa at home, watching trashy TV and browsing through magazines. I love my me time, I hate being alone, but i live for my 'me' time.

Today started out great, I called H at 8 am on my way to work as we hadn't had a skype 'date' in yonkers and he is going away for a couple of weeks. Just speaking to him and hearing his enthusiastic voice all over the phone put a massive smile on my face and set me up for the day. Best friends, no matter what country they live in, rock my world.

I breezed through the morning at work and at lunch went for another dreaded dentist appointment - when will it end? Soon evidently. My little dental genius told me (in layman's terms) that if i stopped fucking about with my elastics and got on and wore them, then the braces just might be off by the time i leave - big cheesey smile! Then, he proceeded to put four brackets on my four teeth at the back that have been brace free for 8 months. Mother fucker, my cheeks are as hot as a bitch on heat and the inside of my mouth feels like its been shredded by a cheese grater. You get the gist. It better be fucking worth it that's all I'm saying!

I worked til 7.30 because I wanted to - how insane. I went food shopping, the usual - 3 cartons of milk, a bottle of orange juice (no added sugar), a loaf of wholemeal bread,half a dozen yacult, 24 pack of wheetabix, 2 potatoes, block of cheese, a bundle of fruit and veg and a six pack of diet coke. LOL. I can actually do my food shopping in 10 mins flat. By 9 i was lying on my sofa with an ice pack on my face.


I met with uh oh, need a name, need a name.... i met with Kiwi - haha so predictable, last night to discuss our Vietnam trip. He's having a shite old time with love and life and we talked more about that than the trip but to be honest, I didn't mind - 1 because i genuinely cared and secondly it was a nice change to hang out with someone different. Vietnam sounds like it's gonna be awesome, we're gonna rough it, train it and be breezy. It's been a while since i let go, i'm looking forward to spending a week with a mate who i barely know, who i find relatively :P entertaining and is happy to go through the motions with me.

I feel very content, its all very weird this "breezyness" that is taking over me. But, as it always is with me, its a controlled breezyness. Now, I've nearly sorted out my schedule up until I move to the UK the next step is finding the job. I must, must, MUST motivate myself to at least do SOMETHING productive this weekend and next. After that, things are gonna pick up. But secretly I kinda love this limbo time, life has been one big fat race for so long, I'm enjoying just living in the moment but I guess i do have to be moderately realistic and start planning now.... I'm sure i said this in my blog about two months ago. And yes Bombie, I know you're reading this with a smirk on your face and an eyebrow raised - II'll get there OK, I'm boardering on arriving now! haha. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.

Think I'm gonna get some shut eye so i can get up early and um, OK, OK, I'll job hunt. Dam you conscience. I'm naming you Jiminey Cricket (JC) from now on. You're so green, and spritely, and positive and upbeat... I guess i can do that too... if i simply HAVE too :P

Good night and God bless.

We're making head way...

6 months - not bad hu?

Elastic-Bombastic!

Oh my gosh I'm sooooooooooooooooo excited! I could scream for joy! But, I can't because my jaw is held together with an elastic band (dammit). I will upload photo over weekend once I'm at home but today I had this elastic fitted over three brackets to the right side of my mouth. It looks like i've got this random bit of weirdness hanging out when I talk and I can only open my mouth about 10mm wide (which i'm sure some people will be pleased about). But do you know what? I don't care! Why? Because my dentist reckons the braces will be off by August! Sorry what was that you said? AUGUST??? YES! AUGUST!!!!!!

I cannot express in words (which is a shame as this is a blog) how EXCITED I am :D I have to wear these darn elastics though for 4 weeks solid and try my best to wear it 24 hours a day - sob! But I'm gonna do it because I know the longer I wear it the quicker this will all be over.

The purpose of the elastic is to make my bite even out on the right side. Basically, the left side now meets but the right still has an overbite. I can REALLY feel it pulling around the teeth and jaw and the dentist has pre warned me the next 48 hours are gonna be painful - but dammit, I'm taking on the challenge! (He said I can take it off when I go "partying" hahaha).

Peace out.

Nearly half way... nearly!

I'm enjoying having my new I Mac, means I can spend more time writing at home when I can collaborate thoughts rather than gushing down randomly at work.

I had my braces adjusted today, I can't believe I've had them for 6 months now! Six! I'm practically half way through. Hurts though, back on the liquid diet now. I had a fruit smoothie for lunch and butternut soup for dinner (and now a can of diet coke! lol).

I had another new wire put on, again a bit thicker (marginally) to add more strength. The dentist actually pre-warned me that the next few days will be painful - thanks. We looked at my molds and I couldn't believe how much my teeth have moved - it's crazy! I'm looking forward to getting those old clays and the final clays at the end and showing people (not that anyone ACTUALLY cares!) how much they have changed. Honestly, the difference is insane.

We talked about the possibility of me leaving KL in the next 6 months which would be before the treatment is finished. Seems it's do-able. My dentist is going to look up clinics in the UK that use my type of braces. He said I can pay for all the brackets, retainer etc here so that the costs are cheaper, thus only having to pay for consultations in the UK. That's something I guess. He was really nice about it actually.

We're moving the treatment forward quicker (hehe cheeky me, thought he might do that) and so in 4 weeks time I'm moving on to the next horrific thing - elastic bands - aiyo! That involves having small bands wrapped around the back brackets. It helps move the teeth. I remember my friends having them as kids and how they snapped randomly in their mouths - great! Oh well, it's an experience hu - just think, 8 months time and I'll have a whole new mouth!

I must reiterate for any random who is reading this and considering braces as an adult. Do it! Once you overcome the initial horrificness (which will be worse if you are vain like me) it's OK you know. I mean it hurts every time they tighten them but in all honesty 80% of the time its pain free - bar the odd mouth ulcer and unattractive bit of spinach hanging out here and there.

I also had them scaled and polished. Crikey, I had no idea how "yellow" they'd gotten, they feel so smooth and clean now and look much brighter and fresher. This is really boring you isn't it?

Shut Your Trap

I feel like my mouth has been raped.

Well that was the last appointment for 2008, next one will be 2009 by which point I'll be about 1/3+ a way through.

Today the orthodontist got right in there with his high pitched squealing drill (bbrr makes my hairs stand on end and my toes curl) and filed away some more of my teeth, as he went for the gap in the middle I literally begged (with hands in a prayer like fashion) for him not to make too much of a gap. He was very gentle with me, I think he finds it funny how uptight I get over a 1mm gap when my whole mouth is invaded with titanium, plastic and what not.

But it was ok la, just a very slight gap. Feels so tight with the new titanium wire on, he only adjusted the top this time, not the bottom. It's amazing really, every time they tighten the brace, my mouth seems to take a new form, my front teeth are practically touching! :) I'm quite pleased that I've got titanium on both rows of teeth now as the white had started to chip off and I always thought it looked kinda weird with the bottom half titanium and top white.

Gosh, my heart is still beating like a little mouse, I really do tense up in that place. And that stupid hygienist, gargh! She winds me up the most with her "Apply lip balm" every time she puts balm on my lips she says in this whiney voice "appppply lip baaaaalm". It's like, yes love, I know what it is now FUCK OFF. Sorry, it's just the way she says it. Annoys me.

All in all, another successful appointment. Every time it makes me more and more happy I chose to finally do this. Wish they'd hire a new hygienist though.

Brace Yourself Update!

Just a quick one, next week I will have been sporting my delightful braces for 3 months - I now have less than a year to go! Waho - 11 months to be exact.

Please see below for self explanatory progress report (it runs back to front because the silly uploader thingy is playing up and I don't have time to faff around with it):

Pic 1) Month 3
Pic 2) Month 2
Pic 3) Month 1
Pic 4) Before

1 Month Down, 13 To Go!

16.09.08 (From Previous Blog)

Wow, I can't believe it! Today i will have been wearing the braces for 1 month - it has flown by! Here is hoping the next 13 go as quickly!

The difference already is crazy, my 'bucked' teeth are pretty much flat now, my lower teeth are starting to straighten up and when i bite down some of the teeth towards the front are actually touching - it feels weird!

I am able to eat solid food now, although anything crunchy (carrots are a complete no-no!) can still be painful or impossible, but everything else is managable.
I'm totally use to seeing myself wearing the braces but of course am looking forward to the day they come off!

Until next time... smile!