Fixed Braces are well under way!

Now at the beginning of October and I have had the Straightwire (train tracks) in place in the upper arch since the end of August along with an upper ALF appliance (pictured & shown using a mirror the roof of my mouth with the ALF in place)

- this fits behind the teeth and stops the space created by the RN Sagital appliance (the removable appliance initially worn to create space) from being lost. I have had the fixed on the lower since the start of September – we don’t fix it all at once as it would be quite a lot to get used to in one go. You can see in the picture the fixed and I have gone for pink elastics which get changed every month, so you can have a different colour every month!

From a patient point of view it was pretty easy getting it all fitted, fairly quickly after it started to get tender, and within a few hours I couldn’t bite into anything as they were so tender. This lasted for about 3 days and then was comfortable again. So it’s a soft diet for the first few days! I did also get a few sore spots from the brackets rubbing, but you get clear wax that you can stick on to stop it rubbing and within a couple of days you get toughened up and used to it. Now I forget I have it on apart from when I eat and clean.

Cleaning is the most difficult part, I have an electric toothbrush which has a 2 minute timer, I now take about 3.5 minutes with the normal brush head and another minute or so with the interspace head which cleans between the teeth. I also still use the TePe brush mentioned and pictured in the previous blog to clean between the teeth and also carry one of these and a small mirror everywhere in case I eat something - it drives you crazy when something is stuck somewhere not to mention looking pretty grim!

Eating can also be difficult to some extent, you can’t bite into something like a sandwich or apple, proper ‘knife & fork’ food is easiest, and last week I really put it to the test and had some peanut brittle that I made and some crackling! (Not together!) I am still really pleased I am doing it; I am surprised at how quickly the teeth are moving considering I only started in March this year.