Read ‘The Brace Diary: Part 2’ written by one of our patients!

I’ve had my braces on now for 6 weeks, and I can honestly say I love my ‘ceramic smile’! Nearing my first adjustment appointment I thought I’d share my experience so far and tell you a bit more about the appointments I’ve already been to.

After making the decision to go ahead with my treatment and choosing which type of braces I wanted, I made an appointment for what Guy explained is called a ‘case assessment’.

The case assessment:

After a quick chat with Guy the first step was to have some x rays taken, this meant removing an array of hair grips and slides and a rather stubborn earring from my right ear before stepping in to the machine. Rebecca, Guys nurse, talked me through the whole process as I went along, making sure I kept as still as possible at the right moments and 10 minutes later I was back in to the chair to have my photos and impressions taken.

For anyone who hasn’t had impressions taken before it involves biting down in to a gum shield type tray filled with putty. (Not the greatest tasting experience but apart from that completely pain free and simple!). Before it was time to say ‘cheese’… whilst Guy took the photos of my teeth and smile.

Photos, x-rays and impressions taken I was ready to take the next step and make the appointment to get my braces fitted.

Appointment number two. The fit.

I arrived for my appointment with Guy, nervous but excited to think that when I left I’d be one step closer to banishing my crooked smile forever!

Guy and his nurse, Vickie, explained what would be happening during my appointment before giving my teeth a clean and polish in preparation for attaching the ceramic brackets.

Starting on my lower teeth Guy attached each individual bracket, setting the glue as he went along, before moving on to my top teeth. Once all the brackets had been attached Guy fitted the wires linking all the brackets together and I was good to go. As simple as that.

One of the nurses, Amanda, then went through all of the aftercare advice with me, explaining what would happen next and showing me how to keep my new braces nice and clean using the things included in my care pack.

My mouth felt huge! It was a very strange feeling as I spoke to the receptionist and made my next appointment, but eagerly I made my way home to have a proper look at my new smile! (The first thing I did was take a photo of my new smile and send it to my mum .. who remarked I looked a little like Wallace from Wallace & Gromit! … please see below!).

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I could feel the tension on my teeth straight away, and although it wasn’t painful Guy had advised me that holding cold water in my mouth would help, and it did. The first few days of wearing my braces involved eating a lot of scrambled eggs (the squishier the better) and drinking plenty of cold water, but the tension soon eased and I began to get used to my ‘ceramic smile’. I was quizzed by some of my friends mostly with ‘How long will you have to wear it for?’ or ‘Do you think they could straighten my teeth?’ but the rest of them didn’t even notice I had them on (until I told them!).

 

Stay tuned for the next instalment of ‘The Brace Diary’!