i got my retainers today. i was secretly hoping that i'll get the transparent kind (whatever you call it), but judging by the fact that the clinic doesn't even have coloured powerchains, i gave up hoping.

when the dentist helped me with the lower retainer, i almost died because it was SO tight. thankfully he was aware of it. then he helped me with the upper retainer. he took both out, helped me with them again, then he told me to try removing them. i did so he went on to see if i knew how to wear them back. easy peasy lemon squeezy.


upper retainer with my surname on it



so that kind summarized my days with braces. i'm missing them right now :( review's in another 4 months' time. till then.

TODAY'S THE DAY! the whole debanding process took approximately 45 minutes, and that included:

1. taking photos before the official removal of the braces.
2. removing of the braces. (which hurt quite a bit. and now my teeth feel kinda shaky, gosh!)
3. polishing my teeth to remove the glue.
4. cleaning of my teeth.
(3 & 4 took quite awhile.)
5. molding my teeth for the retainers. (the paste smelt like thinner, ewww!)
6. taking photos of my teeth after the removal of the braces. (which included - just the teeth, me sitting upright facing the front with my mouth close & another with me smiling, me facing the left with my mouth closed and the last one facing an angle with my mouth closed.)





i am QUITE convinced with the results although i think it could be much better. i feel weird without my braces now :( i hope i'll be able to get my retainers on sat (either sat or tues, the dentist will inform me if i manage to get an earlier slot) because i'm afraid my teeth will start shifting. ok i'm paranoid but i can't help it!

okay so my braces are still intact. the dentist suggested that i wear for another month (not forgetting the elastic bands as well).

"very good, very nice! it's much better than what i've expected. we can deband next month," he said.





so he merely did the usual cleaning and i'm done for the day. OMG DEBANDING NEXT MONTH! x.x

the first thing the dentist said when he looked at my teeth was, "good! we'll set a date next month to deband them."



omg the horror. i raised my problems to him and he kept assuring me my teeth are supposed to look this way and that my "U" shape is perfect. "your progress was better than expected," he claimed. i thought he was just trying to comfort me?

he also "trimmed" my teeth a little because i told him i felt uncomfortable seeing it out of alignment. i know i'm a fussy patient but who wouldn't want to make the best of out the $4k right?




after trimming

anyway i'm still not very convinced about the end result. well, not exactly, cos i'm still wearing my braces, but sigh, i really want nice teeth, not teeth that still look horrible after almost 2.5 years of having braces.

i got my upper wire changed. this time i had to wear my elastic bands in a totally different way. the purpose was to align the upper & lower teeth yet again. the dentist said he could actually not let me try it and remove my braces soon, which i don't think i want to because my teeth are still in a horrible state.





so he's letting me wear the bands this manner for one or two months to see if my teeth can achieve 100% proper align. it's around 90% now. it's not a definite thing, but i hope i'll be able to achieve it.

i will wear my bands religiously now because i seriously don't want my teeth to go back to its original state :(

"good. we're almost there. just 1.5 more." i don't understand what that 1.5 meant, but i think he's referring to the gap.

anyway, the dentist merely cleansed my teeth and changed my powerchains, THAT'S IT. now i have my upper row of teeth being power-chained together, and one random grey band (module) by the side. sigh, i wish it was a full upper & lower set with modules :(

my teeth are actually straighter than this a year back -.-


tiny gap re-appeared in between my teeth

my appointment was at 2.30pm and i only left my house at 2pm so i was in a mad rush. the nurse called me twice and that made me panic. i was practically drenched in my own perspiration when i reached the clinic :(

the dentist changed both upper & lower wires and FINALLY pulled out the “wire that goes around all the teeth” to do some thorough cleaning.

he then said, “okay one more month” but i don’t know if he meant one more month of using elastics or the braces itself. i hope it’s the former because i don’t think my teeth are ready to be naked. sigh sigh. horrible teeth :(

somehow my teeth aren’t making any progress and it’s kinda saddening. i think they look just like how my teeth were before i had braces :( sigh. looking at my teeth pisses me off.

MY BRACES TURN TWO TODAY!

time definitely flies :) i thought i'll probably need a maximum 8 months - 1 year to get my teeth aligned nicely and all but i didn't expect it to take up to this long. not that i mind a single bit BUT why does my upper row still look so screwed and ugly?

i've mentioned this many times but still - WHEN CAN I GET COLOURED BANDS? boohoo.

anyhow, HAPPY 2ND ANNIVERSARY BRACEY! it's definitely a love-hate relationship.

the changes made would probably be the position of the powerchains and rubberbands (upper right & left now).