hugeass photo of myself in braces.. i figure the first picture of me with braces on my blog had better be super chio.
yes…. i decided on metal braces in the end, cos i felt that i ought to embrace my braces (pun intended!), and rock the look with them!!! woooohoooo. (not to mention that they’re about $700 cheaper… exclusive of GST!!!)
must thank all my kind readers and friends for all your helpful input and sharing! really helped me to make my decision, as well as encouraging me. hee. love you all many many! now i can has straight teeth like all of you who’s already had braces done too!
😀 😀 😀 😀
HELLO METAL TEETH!!!! (stupid YZ keeps on calling me ti-ki now. WTH)
heehee. i actually can’t stop looking at the mirror and grinning at myself cos the braces look so foreign on me!!! but not in a bad way, cos i think i look pretty okay with them! only thing is, i can’t really smile with my lips closed anymore, LOL. cos of the braces protruding in front of my teeth, it’s also making my lips look like they’re thicker… which is not a bad thing i suppose! Angelina Jolie lips, yo.
here’s a close up of all that metal… my lower teeth are so crooked, one of the brackets can’t be fixed to the wire yet! can’t wait for them to start shifting and becoming straight.
regarding the process of putting them braces on, it was easy peasy! a little bit uncomfortable, but nothing too painful at all.
ok.. so, the process of putting braces, just for those who are thinking about getting braces done too!
first, the ortho fitted the O rings (molar caps) onto the molars, to check for a good fit, and cos one of my separators fell out, it was just a leeeetle bit painful on that particular molar when he was trying to fit the O ring! felt a bit like my teeth was gonna become dislodged D: but apparently the orthodontist said i have a pretty high pain threshold so we didn’t really have any problems with that.
and after the O rings were fitted in, the brackets are glued onto your teeth, and man… that dental cement thing tastes really nasty! kind of sourish and gross D: try to keep your tongue out of the way! which shouldn’t be too difficult cos they stuffed a lot of cotton in my mouth. i nearly choked on my saliva though, very glam. good thing they have that sucker thingy that sucks out all your saliva. haha! it’s not painful at all, except you need to have this mouth piece in your mouth to keep it open so that the orthodontist can do his work, and your lips are gonna start feeling really tired from all that stretching. lip balm would probably be a good idea cos keeping your mouth open for so long makes the lips really dry too!
after the brackets are glued on, the arch wire is attached, and the extra ends will be snipped off! better make sure the ends are not poking you in the cheek, cos it will be really annoying later on! the brackets are closed with the arch wire fitted in, and after that you get to choose your rubber bands (or ligatures) and i chose.. pink. hahahaha. for lack of a better color.
once the rubber bands were secured on, they added the molar buildups (a kind of solid glue thingy) to the last two molars on my top row, this is to prevent you from accidentally biting the brackets off, lol. but it’s also doing a very good job of stopping me from chewing, cos my two rows of teeth aren’t even meeting each other now…. -_-
and that’s it! got some dental wax to bring home and all that, but i haven’t used any of it yet. it’s day 3 today, and i’m still feeling all perky and happy, haven’t been experiencing any of that excruciating pain i was expecting at all! i have a couple of small ulcers on the insides of my mouth from the sharper metal bits, but they don’t really hurt nor bother me.
i was given back my dental moulds too! fwah…
crooked bottom teeth all hidden hehe
my top teeth are crooked too! look at the right side on top. severe overcrowding on the bottom teeth 🙁
my lips did feel extra dry on the first couple of days, which made me drink ALOT of water! guess they’re not used to being so protruding. lip balm helps too! as for eating, i can’t really chew very well on tough food anymore, but i can still manage quite a lot of food. LOL. like meat (softer ones), soggy french fries, noodles, and soft veggies! and i’m happy eating my bean curd and froyo. so, nope. no breakdowns from not being able to eat “real” food too.
hope i lose some weight! 😛 😛 😛 and see really straight teeth soon! oh yes, remember to brush your teeth or at least rinse thoroughly after every meal, it’s amazing how much food can get stuck in the metal… lol every time i rinse my mouth i discover bits and pieces of what i ate during my last meal.. so gross! HAHA. but you’d probably get used to it. bits of noodles, green veggie bits… etc etc -.-
for those inquiring, i did my braces at Dr Alfred Cheng, which is at Mt Elizabeth Medical Centre. it costs $3.8 for metal, and $4.5 for ceramic, exclusive of GST.. (for me la! if your case is more severe, i’m not sure if the rates will be different) so far so good, i think Dr Cheng is really professional and nice!
the contact details and address and all that can be found on their website:
http://www.orthodontics.com.sg/
😀 hope that helps those who are also wanting to take that first step towards having a gorgeous smile! don’t get a shock when you step into the clinic, cos the staff are all wearing uniforms that look kind of like colorful pajamas LOL. they even have cute illustrations and graphics of teeth on them! i guess it’s to make the little kids doing their braces feel more at ease. they have a lot of adult patients too, so don’t feel out of place! 🙂
expect to see my metal teeth in future posts from now on. lol. i still have some backlogged photos though! guess my life can now be classified as PB, DB and AB. (pre braces, during braces and after braces) HAHAHA. yay to straight teeth and a beautiful smile in 1.5 years time!