Week 26

So today was the day – braces are off!! Just shy of the six months promised, by nine days.

Having the wire behind my two front teeth for over a week really helped to settle them, as they felt the most stable and least painful they’ve been throughout the whole experience. I could almost eat with them again!

Today, Dr Wozniak removed that wire and replaced it with my permanent bonded retainer. This was a relatively pleasant experience compared to what else I’ve had done – at one point, I almost laughed because both Dr Wozniak and his assistant had curing lights in my mouth and they were beeping away so much that it felt like they were having some sort of game with the sticks in my mouth!

Once the bonded retainer was done, the brackets and wires were all removed. I was warned that the noise might be a bit alarming, and I quickly realised why – it sounded like my tooth was being snapped in half. I could tell it was only the plastic though so it was fine. The teeth which hurt the most during this process were the ones further back, which I assume is because they had the actual metal end attachments on them.

The strangest thing about having the brackets removed was the feeling of the wire going everywhere in my mouth. Bits of it were flying around and had to be hoovered up by the assistant. My mouth got so so dry with all the hoovering that I really had to concentrate on not gagging, as I was desperate to close my mouth and swallow properly.

Once my mouth was metal and plastic free, Dr Wozniak cleaned and polished everything. This involved a tool which sprayed water absolutely everywhere – the poor assistant tried her best to keep mopping it up and stop it from going down my neck, but at times there was just too much. When it started spraying up my nose I panicked a bit and had to try not to breathe in case I drowned… I was glad when that part was over!

Dr Wozniak then told me that he had to take some more impressions for my removable retainer and lower whitening tray (the retainer acts as the upper tray). I thought that he’d already done that last time, so I quickly figured out that the previous (super super painful) impression must have been for the bonded retainer and/or plaster cast of my teeth. He promised that these impressions wouldn’t be as painful, and he was right – the silicone stuff wasn’t kept on my teeth as long, and came off much more easily. It did smell awful though.

Once he’d picked out some stray flecks of the silicone from between my teeth, we were all done. When he handed me the mirror it was so strange to see my brace-less teeth – they looked all slimy because of the smooth surface. I haven’t been brave enough to look really closely yet, but from what I saw then, they look quite white and don’t seem to have any discolouration where the brackets were.

I’m really pleased with the overall look. I’d never be 100% happy with my smile unless I had veneers, just because of the shape and size of my teeth, which braces can’t change. But considering I’ve only had treatment for six months, I’m really happy!

I’m being treated to dinner tonight by my lovely fiance, at a steakhouse, so I’ll update this post soon to let you know how eating without braces went! And of course I’ll add some photos. My journey isn’t quite over yet as I have the whitening still to do, but in terms of straightness we’re there!

UPDATE:

I still can’t quite believe the braces are off, as it doesn’t feel any different in general. I was so used to the brackets that it felt entirely normal with them. I can’t stop smiling in the mirror, it’s great!

Last night dinner was a bit odd, as I kept wanting to dig food out of my braces – it was almost like I had phantom braces still on. The steak was delicious, so it was a lovely first meal with naked teeth. I did brush my teeth when I got home though, because there was some food in the gaps and I felt weird leaving it there and not brushing! It may take a while to get out of that habit… Not that it’s a bad habit to have, especially because my teeth are so white now from all the brushing.

Talking of colour, the small white areas which appeared on a couple of my teeth during the first month are completely gone. Maybe they weren’t white spot lesions after all, as they are meant to be quite permanent and only reduce with whitening. Or maybe they were mild enough to only need a bit of polishing. Anyhoo, they are gone and I’m very happy about that!

So finally here are some pictures:

The only tooth which isn’t in line is the right canine. That’s the one which Dr Wozniak said would need much more time to move, potentially more than another six months, as it hasn’t twisted at all during the entire process. I therefore chose to leave it, as it doesn’t look twisted until you see it from underneath. It’s slightly further back than I would like, and is therefore also not as white as the other teeth, but I can live with that.

I think I’ll ask for the central incisors to be filed a tiny bit more next week.